Chapter Text
Written by Harry Potter and Jewel the Karait
Due to the differences in language, we decided (you decided, Jewel) to start this book off with a dictionary so that our (probably predominately human) readers will be able to understand. So without more ado, here is a basic parseltongue dictionary to get you started. Note: The italics marks Jewel's commentary. Second Note, since Hethi didn't mention it: this particular dictionary is of commontongue, the main dialect of parseltongue. There is another dialect that is considerably older, a sort of proto-parsel, and then there are the various dialects of common, such as ethnic dialects like sandtongue, reeftongue, fentongue, and leaftongue, as well as what we call Tropic. Basilisks speak in a more formal and powerful dialect than the common snakes, while the nagas and medusas have their own language entirely.
Archeparsel, noun. 1: The oldest known snake language. Note: this term is naga in origin, because they are the only ones who have a written language and thus care about snake etymology.
Bighood, noun. 1: Hero, bigwig, or celebrity (cobras with larger hoods are more powerful and respected). 2: It also has a second, inappropriate meaning. No, I will not translate it, Hethi! From proto-parsel archhood, meaning a powerful snake which can obtain lots of mates.
Birthgiver, noun. 1: mother. Can be literal or metaphorical. It is usually literal though, since most snakes don't form that kind of association with their younglings. This is straight from the proto-parsel word.
Blood-mate, noun. 1: family member. From the proto-parsel word bloodsharing, one who shares blood, which came from the archeparsel word scentsharing, because the oldest snakes did not consider blood as part of heredity and figured out relations by similarities in scent.
Carrion-eater, noun. 1: jerk, nasty person. Lit. 'having so little class that he/she would eat carrion rather than hunt'. 2: Also lazy, shiftless, or having bad breath. The adjectives carrion-eating comes from this word. (Very handy to use on school rivals!) Hethi! We're publishing this! 3: Scavenging bird of prey. Eg, a buzzard or vulture.
Carrion-eating, adj. 1: see carrion-eater. 2: (archaic) desperate. Lit. So hungry one would settle for eating carrion.
Cave, noun. 1: room (obviously. Why are we putting this in here?)
Chatty one= nickname we gave to the Hufflepuff girl Hannah Abbott (Is it really necessary to put this in here? Jewel! You were the one who said this should be like a proper human dictionary...)
Chunky= nickname we gave to the Slytherin boy Vincent Crabbe
Commerce leaf-stack, noun 1: a catalogue. This is a word that I came up with myself, from the human word commerce mixed with the parsel word leaf-stack, meaning a book, codex or pamphlet. The interesting thing about snake language is that because most of us don't write things down (no thumbs, obviously) we make up new words constantly as needed. If another snake doesn't know it, we just explain it, and that is how the language evolves.
Common cave, noun 1: common room, general place to hang out. See cave.
Competitor, noun 1: one who takes resources or mates from you. Obviously. From the older word compet, meaning exactly like it sounds.
Core-light, noun 1: one's soul. 2: someone's character, warmth. 3: will to live.
Core-light-venom, noun 1: bad for one's soul. Made up.
Dark-water-feather, noun 1: a quill pen. Yet another word I made up, from feather and dark water, since "ink" is not a snake word. I believe the nagas have the word "inkplume" which means much the same, but I'm not an expert in naga culture.
Dizzy-drink, noun 1: alcohol. Derived from the proto-parsel dizzy-fruit, meaning fruit left in the sun until it ferments. Snakes obviously don't drink alcohol, but it is to our benefit if our prey eats so much fermented fruit that they are easy to catch, so we developed a word for it.
Egg-layer, noun 1: mother. Lit: a slightly more impersonal word than birthgiver, implying that your mother left your nest or died. See birthgiver.
Emulators, noun 1: fans. I unapologetically made it up on the fly.
Fentongue, noun 1: a parselmouth dialect associated with snakes that live in bogs, wetlands, and marshy areas. From proto-parsel fenspeaker, one who lives in fens.
Flower-scent, noun 1: perfume. Modern invented word. Read, I made it up.
Fire-mud-mountain, noun 1: volcano. From fire-mud, meaning lava, and mountain, obviously.
Fire-mud, noun 1: lava, from the words for heat and mud.
Food-venom, noun 1: orally-administered poison. Venom means poison in every sense of the word, so we have to use modifiers to make it make sense in context.
Great-seething-brine, noun 1: the sea, ocean
Gorging day, noun 1: feast day. Basically the day we gorge. Comes from a paradisetongue word for a day when a snake, (usually an anaconda) either by luck or due to good hunting finds an antelope or some sort of large prey and eats it all, then sleeps for a month.
Happy one= nickname we gave to the Hufflepuff girl Susan Bones
Heisssha Hussleshff= the snake vocalization of Helga Hufflepuff (we can't pronounce human vowels).
Hethi= Harry in parseltongue. My whole name is actually Hethi Spessther, and it (sadly) means Hethi Mud-thrower. There's no word for "potter" in the language of a species that doesn't have thumbs!
Hightrees, noun 1: a forest in snake legend, home to the High Queen, who was the first basilisk. She was given the power to turn other creatures to stone to protect her kingdom, but she was so vain that she spent all her time in front of a mirror, ignoring her people, until the gods turned her powers on her and she became a stone statue.
Ishtar!, noun 1: the snake equivalent of Merlin
Leaf-mold, noun 1: dirty, the mulch found on the forest floor. 2: crude, vulgar, old fashioned. There is a prejudice against snakes that make their home in leaf-litter among most kinds of snakes.
Leaf-mold-covered son of an impotent slug= mostly just mangled insults stuck together, as what I was trying to say in English was: "Dirty bastard who was the son of a slug". Leaf-mold-covered means dirty, or not having shed your skin for a long time, and the rest, of course, is self-explanatory. Snakes, of course, have no word for bastard as we know it; their term is "one whose father's mate has chosen another because he can't give her eggs".
Leaftongue, noun 1: parselmouth dialect associated with snakes that live in leaf litter or bracken. Note: This is sort of like slang or pigeon for snakes, or at least is considered so because of the prejudice against snakes that live in leaf litter.
Mate, noun 1: lover, partner. Self-explanatory.
Nestmate, noun 1: biological sibling. Lit. Coming from the same nest.
No-scales, noun 1: non-reptilian, usually used as a word for 'human'. Jewel started using the parseltongue translation of 'human' instead of 'no-scale' on my request.
One-who-eats-often: nickname we gave to the Gryffindor boy Ronald Weasley
Plump kind one= nickname we gave to the Gryffindor boy Neville Longbottom
Predator, noun 1: something, or someone who is an actual threat to your life. May, of course, be literal. Once again, self-explanatory. Most snakes are more focussed on dinner than higher learning, unless one is a naga...
Prey, noun 1: food, also something of one's own, something that belongs to you. If used as an epithet, you are saying that someone is lesser and does not pose a threat to you, someone who you could quite literally eat. Do I really need to explain that?
Pretty dark-skinned ones= the Patil twins, two cute Indian girls in Ravenclaw. Hethi wants to form a mating ball. Jewel! *very fast muttering in parselmouth* Damn, is that dictaquill still on?
Queensnake, noun 1: basilisk. From "Queen" and snake, obviously.
Queensnake Nest, noun 1: Slytherin house at Hogwarts. (I made this one up when needed. Since the students are associated with basilisks, I just used that word, along with the equivalent for "house".)
Reeftongue, noun 1: the dialect of parseltongue commonly associated with water snakes and sea snakes.
Salt-rain, noun 1: tears. Obviously snakes cannot cry, and thus they do not have a word for crying or tears, so I had to make this one up too, from the word for salt, brine, or blood and the word for falling water.
Salt, noun 1: salt, or salt water. 2: (archaic) blood (because of its saltiness).
Sandtongue, noun 1: a desert dialect of parseltongue
Seed-giver, noun 1: father. Please don't ask Jewel to explain that one...
Shiny rock-powder, noun 1: makeup, especially eyeshadow. Also fabricated. Snakes don't really want or need to adorn themselves and put all sorts of weird, possibly venomous things on their scales.
Short frizzy one= nickname we gave to the Gryffindor girl Hermione Granger
Slippery= nickname we gave to the Slytherin boy Draco Malfoy
Small-prey, noun 1: usually rodents; may also apply to insects, though those are usually called "winglets"
Soft-sweet-food, noun 1: fudge
Stinking-water-mixes, noun 1: potions
Sunbrother/sunsister, noun 1: best friend. Lit. Someone you would go to chat with at a sunrock.
Sunrock, noun 1: a place to rest or sunbathe or chat. 2: a place to find a mate, form a mating ball. This second meaning is not often used anymore, but the vulgar word "sunrocking" derives from this meaning.
Sunrocking, noun 1: going to a sunning place specifically to find a mate (rather like humans go clubbing). 2: Forming a mating ball. You figure it out.
Sweet-prey, noun 1: candy, dessert, etc.
Talking-leaves, noun 1: papers
Talking-leaf-stacks, noun 1: books
Tall dark one= nickname we gave to the Slytherin boy Blaze Zabini
Talloncat, noun 1: gryphon
Talloncat Nest, noun 1: Gryffindor house (see Queensnake house for more information).
Territory= country, city, world, etc. Snakes don't have the same concept of boundaries that you humans do.
Time-of-Lit-Trees-and-Shared-Prey= Christmas. Rather self-explanatory, if you ask me...
Tropic (also paradisetongue) noun 1: the dialect spoken by snakes who live in tropical regions.
Ugly= nickname we gave to the Slytherin boy Gregory Goyle
Winglets, noun 1: flying insects. Lit: Little things with wings. Pretty much all we care about is if they crawl on us or if they fly away.