Languages of Dune [part 1/2]

This week: the in-universe languages and why Chakobsa isn't the native tongue of the Fremen.

One of the things that really stood out to me during my first read-through of Dune was Herbert’s use of language for world-building.

Yes, every sci-fi will need to come up with its own set of made-up words to describe things that do not exist in the real world - whether it’s warp cores or glowglobes, there are things that literally need naming -, but what made me a fan is the subtle use of words to communicate cultural backgrounds and allegiances.

“Pity!” the Sardaukar sneered. He advanced, looked down at Leto. “So that’s the great Red Duke.”

If I had doubts about what this man is, that would end them, Yueh thought. Only the Emperor calls the Atreides the Red Dukes.
— Dune [1965]

You don’t need more than someone referring to a sandworm as the Maker to identify them as Fremen - because no off-worlder would even know about the religious significance. (I had a whole rant about it when Dune: Prophecy managed to mess this up.)

Language plays a significant role in my love for Dune, so I thought to do a deep dive in two parts:

• This week, we’ll check on the in-universe languages that are used or referred to in the original books.

• Next week, we’ll try to identify all the real-world languages (and words) that show up as part of the fictional ones.

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SPOILER WARNING: CONTENT FROM THE ORIGINAL 6 BOOKS

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While Tolkien made up a family tree of languages for The Lord of the Rings (or made up The Lord of the Rings to house his languages) and Asimov opted to have a single language, Galactic Standard, across the galaxy in his Foundation series, Herbert decided to do something in between.

We have languages for different worlds and cultures (though none of them are well-developed), and we also have a lingua franca.

Galach | The common tongue of the known universe

Unless specified, characters in the novels are generally assumed to be speaking Galach.

GALACH: official language of the Imperium. Hybrid Inglo-Slavic with strong traces of cultural-specialization terms adopted during the long chain of human migrations.
— Terminology of the Imperium, Dune [1965]

Like so many other things, it’s a direct descendant of our Earth.

And since that is the default language everyone uses, and it’s already “translated” for us into English (or your language of choice), we don’t really get much in terms of what Galach sounds like.

But we do get some tidbits about its vocabulary.

“There are twenty-eight different words for melange in common Galach. They describe it by its intended use, by its dilution, by its age, by whether it came through honest purchase, through theft or conquest, whether it was the dower gift for a male or for a female, and in many other ways is it named.”
— Leto II, God Emperor of Dune [1981]

With plenty of loanwords from Earth languages (from Bashar to Landsraad), we also get brand new terms for concepts that didn’t need a single word in our time.

CHAUMAS (Aumas in some dialects): poison in solid food as distinguished from poison administered in some other way.
CHAUMURKY (Musky or Murky in some dialects): poison administered in a drink.
RICHECE: Houses Minor, planet-bound entrepreneur class
OUT-FREYN: Galach for “immediately foreign,” that is: not of your immediate community, not of the select.
— Terminology of the Imperium, Dune [1965]

Not only does Galach have dialects that differ in pronunciation, but there are patterns of speech that can identify you as a native of a particular planet, if you know what to listen for.

Now, sitting at table with her son and her Duke and their guests, hearing that Guild Bank representative, Jessica felt a chill of realization: the man was a Harkonnen agent. He had the Giedi Prime speech pattern—subtly masked, but exposed to her trained awareness as though he had announced himself.
— Dune [1965]

And as with any language, Galach isn’t static. It evolves, even if at a glacial pace - here’s Duncan Idaho 5 millennia after his childhood, still understanding and talking to people.

There obviously had been many linguistic drifts since the Dune days of Muad'dib. For that matter, Duncan recognized that all of the people in the Gammu Keep, including Teg and Lucilla, spoke a Galach that had shifted from the one he had learned as a pre-ghola child.
— Heretics of Dune [1984]

But then again, Galach is the common tongue of the Imperium - maybe it can’t evolve faster, or it’ll disrupt galactic communications.

And Galach’s not the only way to express yourself. We know from Paul that different worlds (at least some of them) do retain their own languages.

“[…] she said a good ruler has to learn his world’s language, that it’s different for every world. And I thought she meant they didn’t speak Galach on Arrakis, but she said that wasn’t it at all.”
— Dune [1965]

You know what they did speak on Arrakis?

Chakobsa | Everyone’s secret language

Here’s my confession: when I started my research into this topic, I was absolutely convinced that the native tongue of the Fremen was Chakobsa. Maybe I was influenced by the new Dune movies that conflate the Fremen language with Chakobsa, maybe I just never gave it much thought.

But if you, like me, had this misconception, boy, do I have news for you.

CHAKOBSA: the so-called “magnetic language” derived in part from the ancient Bhotani (Bhotani Jib—jib meaning dialect). A collection of ancient dialects modified by needs of secrecy, but chiefly the hunting language of the Bhotani, the hired assassins of the first Wars of Assassins.
— Terminology of the Imperium, Dune [1965]

So what’s my proof for Fremen and Chakobsa being too separate languages?

The very first time we hear about it, a Fremen identifies it as an ancient tongue. She doesn’t say it’s her own native tongue - she says it’s an ancient one.

“My husband told me of your title, Shadout,” Jessica said. “I recognized the word. It’s a very ancient word.”

“You know the ancient tongues then?” Mapes asked, and she waited with an odd intensity.

“Tongues are the Bene Gesserit’s first learning,” Jessica said. “I know the Bhotani Jib and the Chakobsa, all the hunting languages.”
— Dune [1965]

Mapes must not have told Stilgar’s troop about this because later, when Paul and Jessica meet them, they go ahead and use it anyway.

“Cignoro hrobosa sukares hin mange la pchagavas doi me kamavas na beslas lele pal hrobas!”

It was the man to their right calling out across the basin.

To Paul, the words were gibberish, but out of her Bene Gesserit training, Jessica recognized the speech. It was Chakobsa, one of the ancient hunting languages, and the man above them was saying that perhaps these were the strangers they sought.
— Dune [1965]

The Zensunni wanderers, the ancestors of the Fremen, likely adopted Chakobsa as a secret language, later integrating parts of it into their own language.

She turned the word over in her mind: sietch. It was a Chakobsa word, unchanged from the old hunting language out of countless centuries. Sietch: a meeting place in time of danger.
— Dune [1965]

So while the Fremen do speak Chakobsa, it seems to be reserved for specific, often sacred or secret, militaristic purposes.

Sidenote: for Villeneuve's films, linguist David J. Peterson expanded Chakobsa into a more structured conlang, incorporating some of Herbert's examples but adding extensive grammar and vocabulary.

But as far as secret languages go, the Fremen weren’t the only ones with the bright idea to adopt this one. So how secret is it, really?

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🔒 In the full article:

• Who else spoke Chakobsa?

• Other secret languages: the ones for battle

• Fremen words (that are not Chakobsa)

• The Tleilaxu, Islamiyat, and the language of God

• Humming, double-talk, and other notable mentions

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