Krakish

SPOKEN BY

The ancient language of Krakish is spoken by the owls from the Northern Kingdoms.

DOCUMENTED BY

Kathryn Lasky (1944– ) wrote about the owl civilizations in the Guardians of Ga’Hoole series: Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 1: The Capture (2003), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 2: The Journey (2003), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 3: The Rescue (2004), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 4: The Siege (2004), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 5: The Shattering (2004), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 6: The Burning (2004), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 7: The Hatchling (2005), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 8: The Outcast (2005), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 9: The First Collier (2006), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 10: The Coming of Hoole (2006), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 11: To Be a King (2006), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 12: The Golden Tree (2007), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 13: The River of Wind (2007), Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 14: Exile (2008), and Guardians of Ga’Hoole Book 15: The War of the Ember (2008).

BEHIND THE WORDS

The fifteen novels that are part of the series tell the story of a conflict between the guardians of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree and a group of evil owls, called The Pure Ones, who seek to take over all owldom with the aid of strange particles called flecks. The owls in the Southern Kingdoms (S’rythgar) speak Hoolian, and the owls in the Northern Kingdoms speak Krakish, an unpleasant-sounding language.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LANGUAGE

Verbs are conjugated into six forms in Krakish.

A TASTE OF THE LANGUAGE

blaue (adjective)—blue

frisen (noun)—friend

frissah (noun)—fires

hordo (noun)—snake

issen (noun)—ice

plurrh (noun)—blood

yoicks (adjective)—crazy

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Review the works listed above, the resources listed in the bibliography, and the web pages: “Guardians of Ga’Hoole” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guardians_of_Ga%27Hoole) and “Krakish” (http://guardiansofgahoole.wikia.com/wiki/Krakish).

SPEAKING OF LANGUAGES

Nothing exists except through language.

—Hans-Georg Gadamer