Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Thuum.org

A community for the dragon language of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

Question Board


Kahvozein
March 27, 2020

Is "Nun" canon ?

I was looking at the Word Walls and found "Vonun" (Unseen) in the Word Wall of "Sah". I checked on the dictionary if "Nun" existed but it wasn't the case, so I checked the word "Vonun". On the "Etymology" section it said : "From an unattested word "nun" ‘seen’ (possibly ‘to see or spot’) with the prefix vo- ‘un-, opposite of’."

It makes sense that this word means "See, Spot" given the prefix "Vo-" and the translation "Unseen". So, does the fact that it only appears in its negative form not suffice to consider it as a Canon word ?

Category: General


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Zinrahzul
March 27, 2020

"From unattested..." is just commentary from Paarthurnax. It's not canon. In the Official Source section, you just have "unseen". It's entirely possibly that nun might be "seen", but we don't have in-game usage, so anyone who comes across "nun" wouldn't be able to immediately cross-reference what it's supposed to mean.

My take is to use alternatives with canon words as much as possible. In this case I'd just use koraavaan, although the -aan ending is in itself an interpretation of the sources we have (qahnaaraan - "defeated", spoken by the dragons at the Skyrim epilogue; mahlaan - "fallen", sizaan - "lost", etc.)


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Kahvozein
March 27, 2020
I understand, and it's true that the word itself is not very useful since we already have "Koraav". Thanks for your answer, Zin.