Something interesting about the Shuriman language

Slapslapslaps·5/4/2016, 4:31:51 PM·65 votes·26,804 views

So I'm supposed to be doing an English project right now, which of course means that I'm procrastinating about it and looking at league lore stuff. But something weird came up when I was looking at rek'sai's lore. All of the void champs names are ancient Shuriman (too lazy to go find the post confirming that).RekSai Rek'sai's species is called the Xer'sai, and rek'sai is the name of an individual of the species. This makes sense, in the English language we have sort of the same thing, like bears is the general archetype while you can go deeper with something like grizzly bears or panda bears. But if we take another look at rek'sai's name, we can see a similar thing. She keeps the sai part from Xer'sai, while having the rek part indicate what type of sai she is. But if we took this as the rule, why would the Xer'sai have an indicator, Xer, in front of it instead of being just sai?

Well, I was looking around when I noticed another champion had something very similar going on with his name, Xerath Xerath. It was kind of odd. But let's just pretend that xerath's name would be split into two parts like rek'sai. We would then have Xer-ath, with the front being an indicator and the second half being an species name. But that doesn't make sense, so let's call the second half the "family name". But why would Xerath have the same indicator that little void monsters have? Well think about it, the Xer'sai are smaller versions of their queen, rek sai. Xerath was a slave for most of his life. Maybe Xer could potentially mean lesser, or like smaller on a social status kind of thing. This is an made up ancient language, so it doesn't have to have an exact translation. So maybe Xerath was the lesser of the Ath family, or that was his slave given name. Also, maybe there are more versions of sai like maybe medium sized'sai or looks-like-a-cow'sai.

But two other champs have this connection as well, Azir and Sivir . Azir and sivir. Iet's split their names apart as well, az-ir and Siv- ir. Would you look at that, their "family name" parts are the same. It may just be coincidence, might not. But it's pretty strange that it would line up like that.

The only champs I haven't been able to find an explanation for have been Nasus and Renekton . They have nothing similar to their names and renekton even has a three split name (re-nek-ton). But using this rule I did find a similarity between Nasus and rammusRammus . (Nas-us) (ramm-us). What does this mean? Again, probably nothing.

Tl;dr, I have too much time on my hands, shurimans have weird names, I'm gonna fail English because I spend too much time on game languages.

Edit: Wow. I didn't think about the possibility of renekton changing his name or the applications of malzahar or Kassadin, and the other void champs. >.> Also skin idea: xer'ath, xerath but with rek'sai's model.

87 Comments

RiotBioluminescence5/4/2016, 7:57:55 PM47 votes

I really like what you're doing with this (except the procrastinating on the English project - that'll come back and bite you, you just know it) and I've given this a fair bit of thought myself. Even derived my own naming language (complete with ideograms) to support it, but I'm not sure if it's something that the Foundations guys have a use for, or if they already have their own version of. (I am not very connected to League itself, so this is why I wouldn't necessarily know).

The Renekton and Nasus problem could be solved if people generally take on a new name (or modify their name) once they have achieved a certain rank, responsibility, or even become Ascended in their case.

We're used to having a name that's given at birth and is pretty much the same (barring taking on a spouse's surname in whole or part, or explicitly getting a name change) for the rest of your life. But not all cultures do that, and we've not got evidence to the contrary (that I'm aware of - I'm sure someone here will correct me if I'm wrong) that your birth name is the only name you ever get.

Egyptian rulers were particularly known for changing their names - often to revere a god and become associated with it. Akhenaten had a whole passel of names! It could be more complicated than we're used to, is my point.

Also sausages - specifically bangers on a sandwich with brown sauce.

Sophiesuds5/4/2016, 5:19:30 PM18 votes

I loved this thread, such a refreshing change of pace from all the whiny threads at the moment. Thank you.

RiotWAAARGHbobo5/5/2016, 3:29:09 PM14 votes

Neat and well observed. Back when i was working on Rek'sai (and a Sivir story that has yet to be released) I did a mini -breakdown of the modern and ancient shurimian language to try and find patterns we could use. One thing you missed, most shuriman names are compound descriptive words. I.e. Sai is the shuriman word for a type of loose rock desert, while Xer is the word used for "devil" or "hateful."

Helmight5/4/2016, 7:00:20 PM13 votes

In Rek'Sai's teaser story, it's mentioned that Shurima is home to an area called the "Sai," which is a particular part of the desert that xer'sai are common in (and in which Rek'Sai makes her lair). "Xer'Sai" is likely a Shuriman word for "scourge of the Sai" or something similar to that. "Rek'Sai," consequently, means something along the lines of "Queen of the Sai," given that "rek" is similar to Latin "rex."

Asyde5/4/2016, 9:26:32 PM7 votes

Great thread!

Somethings to note: 1: Malzahar and Kassadin are not originally from the void. They were both Runeterra-born men who via special circumstances found themselves intricately involved with the void. So it would make sense that their names do not follow a particular Void pattern.

The Xer'Sai are specific to the Sai Desert in southern Shurima. While it is possible the desert was named after the Xer'Sai, it may be more likely that the Xer'Sai were appropriately named because they live in the Sai desert.

The ZZ'Rot are only void-born who enter the world through portals. Considering Cho'Gath, Kog'Maw, Kha'Zix, and Vel'Koz all have differen't "last ' names" I think it is safer to assume that the second half of the name refers to where you are from, and the first part of your name is your given name.

For example: Cho'Gath: Cho from Gath (in the void) Kog'Maw: Kog from Maw (in the void) Kha'Zix: Kha from Zix (in the void) Vel'Koz: Vel from Koz (in the void)

Using a modern analogy: Xer'Sai: The Xer of the Sai Desert /// Human'Seattle: The humans of Seattle Rek'Sai: Rek (Species: Xer) from Sai Desert /// Asyde'Seattle: Asyde (Species: Human) from Seattle

DrCyanide5/5/2016, 7:00:14 PM4 votes

Myth Busted:

He named him Xerath, which means ‘one who shares,’

http://na.leagueoflegends.com/en/featured/shurima/xerath

Captain Aishi5/4/2016, 6:49:53 PM2 votes

the rek in reksai's name souns a lot like Rex, latin for king/ruler

also remember that nasus and renekton were originally not from shurima when they were added to the game

also, xer-ath and cho-g'ath maybe meaning something?

CrimsonCobra35/4/2016, 9:53:35 PM2 votes

I love languages, and I've made a few of my own. (Fairly structurally complete in some cases.) This is a decent analysis, especially for the first two name-sets. Although I am not sure it is safe to assume that each name has a 'family name' piece. If it is a good assumption though, than the fact that Renekton and Nasus' names are different may be an indicator of their rank. (Which I believe is a paraphrase of Bioluminescence' comment.) The main question that comes after that of course is why the case isn't the same with Azir. Perhaps Renekton is the odd one out here. It could be possible that his name is different for a another reason. For instance, his ordeal could be a reason for the name change. All records of the event are given afterwords, so we wouldn't know. I suggest this because Renekton's name is the most different, being three syllables instead of 2, a trait shared only with Taliyah. That and Renekton has the hard k sound only shared with Rek'sai. It's an interesting point, but still there's no hard evidence. (I also doubt Riot cared too much at the time they made Renekton's name, so there probably wasn't a reason at the time, except that he was a sort-of 'cursed' villainous champion.)

Shadragon5/4/2016, 8:49:46 PM2 votes

One thing I'm curious about is Malzahar. He was born as an ordinary Shuriman dude and was likely given an ordinary Shuriman name. What I want to know is if Malzahar was his birth name, or if he renamed himself after he the Void overtook him.

I'd also like to know if the original Malzahar is still alive and in control, or if the Void just erased him and hijacked the body, but that's offtopic isn't it?

Nixtarma5/4/2016, 8:10:17 PM2 votes

Yesss.... linguistics.

If I recall, someone on Foundations said something about basics of different Runeterran languages being internally established.

Personally, I think that the newer names are probably better examples of that because if that system exists, they were made in it (so Nasus and Renekton's names might not fit the pattern as well).

Here's hoping Foundations shares more!

Cheers, -Nixtarma

Lord Zeta 13135/15/2018, 5:19:04 PM1 votes

Xeraths name means "one who shares"

ironic i know

Tesla Effect5/15/2018, 6:19:29 PM1 votes

Azirs full name is Omah Azir as stated in Rek Sais colour story. So technically Sivir would be called Omah Sivir if she was from a direct male line of Azir.

td5222855/1/2019, 12:43:49 PM1 votes

'Sai' means desert, by itself.

MendicantECT7/10/2019, 3:09:40 AM1 votes

I believe that Rek'sai means something on the grounds of "Queen of the Desert" or something of the like. If we were to go this route, it gives us an "aha" moment when you realize that regina is "queen" in Latin. I don't wanna make any wild inferences here. If we were to continue on this inference, the species name xer'sai could mean, by extension, "desert being" or something or other (drawing from Xerath's name being "one who shares" and assuming they share the same root, and that no homophones exist in Shuriman).

Vel'koz's name was stated in a loading screen tooltip (really the only reason I ever read those once in a while) to mean something along the lines of "I learn by taking things apart" or something like so.

And by the way, Kassadin's real name, Kassaiadyn translates to "whom does the desert know."

Under these assumptions, we can hypothesize the Shuriman language features no noun declension from comparing Rek'sai's and Kassadin's names, since the genitive form (present in Rek'sai 's name) and the nominative forms (present in Kas sai adyn) are the same. Of course, given the little development in LoL's linguistics, this is merely a hypothesis.

Dragon Fang Shot5/4/2016, 9:07:22 PM1 votes

Interesting theory. We know for a fact that the void monsters have their species, so there's other 'Sai, 'Gath, 'Zix, 'Maw, and 'Koz out there. But are those their names in the Shuriman language, or in just a more common tongue? I think it's merely just a coincidence. There's probably more to Azir and Sivir's full names than we currently know. They could have numbers (like Henry VIII kind of numbers) or titles that better indicate familial bonds.

rtbf2256182415/4/2016, 9:18:38 PM1 votes

Well it propably means nothing as Xerath had his name way before he ascended and i'm pretty sure it wasn't given to him by Void creatures as he was encased in a sarcophagus for a millenia. Maybe his name is of a Voidborn origin but he himself is nowhere in that hierarchy as he doesn't relate to them.

Fasmodey5/4/2016, 5:58:55 PM1 votes

I doubt Riot thought that much deep about the Shuriman language and name meanings. But I also can't say they didn't because those are so much to be coincidence. You had a good point. It was nice to read.

5umm1n3r5/15/2018, 1:26:43 PM1 votes

Well I mean apparently in the lore Sivir and Azir have royal blood, so technically their related so that must mean that ir means monarch/king/queen/royalty anything that has to do with royalty