# HIGH GOTHIC and low gothic



## Tymax (Jun 13, 2011)

What are these languages. I know in the game and fluff it's usually represented as Latin and english respectively, except in Eisenhorn Malleus they just speak Old English. I am asking what do these languages sound like, or are they actually what GW says they are.


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## constantin_valdor (Apr 8, 2011)

To me Gothic was always a kind of generic imperial language either Latin or English, high Gothic is what the upper classes speak and low Gothic is the lower class version less fancy and more of a bastardised version of it. Thats my understanding of it anyway


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## Hellados (Sep 16, 2009)

latin = high gothic
english = middle gothic
american (broken englihs)= low gothic

hehehehe


alternatively low gothic could be some kind of txt speach


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## Ahriman's Loanshark (Jan 25, 2011)

Also, if you read the Gaunt's Ghosts novels, Eszrah Ap Niht originally spoke a kind of forgotten old gothic that sounded like a mix of Latin and incredibly old english. the imperium at large has phased out this language, but according to gaunt they still taught it at the Progenitorum (i think thats how its spelled?) and the Nihtgane used it because of their isolation.

if so, it seems like that is the 40k equivelant of Latin 

its actually a pretty fun language to decipher if you like literature.


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## Dracnye (Jul 8, 2011)

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Low_Gothic

Low Gothic is a bastardised version of High Gothic, combining additional elements from several of the oriental languages of ancient Earth. 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/High_Gothic

High Gothic (or "Tech") is the hieratic tongue of the Imperium, used in the titles of ancient institutions and organisations (such as the Adeptus Terra). It represents an older language and is regarded as holy. In the Age of the Imperium, it is the equivalent of Latin or French during the medieval age. High Gothic (represented in the game by Latinised English) is unintelligible to most Imperial citizens.


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## TheSpore (Oct 15, 2009)

what I always wondered was what nostraman was built off of


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## Serpion5 (Mar 19, 2010)

They would be the languages that have developed over the tens of thousands of years that humanity has plied the stars. 

Given lingual evolution in the past, it is reasonable to assume that neither language would actually bear any resemblance to modern today languages. 

English and latin is simply for the reader`s benefit, just as old english was used in one of the Eisenhorn novels to represent _Proto-Gothic_, an older dialect of gothic.


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