Gnommish for Mudpeople
An Introduction

Please Note! Gnommish, like all languages, evolves and changes over time. The Gnommish discussed on this page was completely correct according to the first printing of Artemis Fowl in the United States. Variations exist! For instance, the 'E' sometimes appears above the first letter in a word. Sometimes a 'double-E' is represented by two marks on top of each other. The following instructions are not "wrong", they simply might be based on a slightly different verison than you have. - Sincerely, The Phlegm Pot

The Alphabet
Basic Rules
Gnommish and the Languages of the Mudpeople
Rudimentary Transcription
Putting it all together
Basic Vocabulary

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The Alphabet

A	B	C	D	E	EE	F	G	H	I
J	K	L	M	N	O	P	Q	R	S
T	U	V	W	X	Y	Z	Ä	Ö	Ü
	Indicates a space between words
	Indicates the end of a sentence

Gnommish contains characters corresponding to each of the 26 letters in the English alphabet, along with three umlauted letters (ä, ö, and ü). Gnommish makes no distinction between upper and lower case.

If additional Gnommish characters are found, please let us know. In particular, our scholars are searching for accented letters, such as é and à.

Basic Rules

While Gnommish is normally written in a complicated spiral pattern, with an arrow directing the reader in which direction to follow the characters, most texts available to Mudpeople have been laid out in a fashion similar to European languages. That is, the text is read from left to right and top to bottom. A filled dot () separates words. The end of a sentence (a carryover from the need to show what direction to follow the text in Gnommish writings) is indicated by an arrow ().

Gnommish and the Languages of the Mudpeople

So far, all known Gnommish texts are based on modern European languages. Therefore, once transcribed to Roman characters, they can easily be read by many mudpeople. Recent study suggests that most discovered Gnommish writings are training manuals for the People to improve their language skills, since these texts, when spoken, differ greatly from spoken Gnommish. For example, a fairy who wishes to communicate vocally with the Mudpeople must rely on her advanced language skills.

Rudimentary Transcription

Once the Gnommish alphabet is deciphered, reading most texts is easy if one is familiar with the modern language upon which the Gnommish is based. This study assumes we are looking at examples based on English. Simply transcribe the Gnommish characters directly into Roman characters, and read the English result. For example, the word Mudman is written in Gnommish as such:

M	U	D	M	A	N

The only character that might cause some trouble is the 'E' (see additional notes below on regional variations - and quit e-mailing messages saying we're "wrong"). The 'E' is written as a jagged underscore (), which is emphasized by elongation and darkening when it represents a double 'E' (). This underscore is placed below the character that directly precedes the 'E' or 'EE'. For example, Head is written:

HE	A	D

Note: Some newer uses of Gnommish is the placement of the 'E' over the letter it precedes, rather than under it.

Need has two consecutive 'E's, so the underscore is more pronounced. Watch out for writers who become lazy and don't distinguish the single 'E' and the double 'E' very well.

NEE	D

Note: There is some evidence that many Gnommish texts represent a double 'E' by stacking two 'E' symbols on top of each other. This appears to be regional, and is probably correct as well.

Occasionally, a word begins with 'E', such as Eat. In this case, no character is placed over the 'E'.

E	A	T

Due to its popularity in words, the 'E' is often left out by writers of Gnommish either by accident or on the idea that it is understood in the context of the word.

Putting it all together

A simple sentence in Gnommish contains the words separated by a dot (), and an arrow () at the end. Here is how one writes My name is Holly:

M

Y

N

A

ME

I

S

H

O

L

L

Y

.

Adding more sentences in Gnommish simply requires that one separates each sentence with an arrow. Also note that Gnommish words often move onto the next line; even in the middle of a word. This is one reason why words have a symbol between them.

M

Y

N

A

ME

I

S

H

O

L

L

Y

.

Y

O

U

A

RE

O

U

T

O

F

Y

O

U

R

LE

A

G

UE

.

Basic Vocabulary

All

But

Every

He

Him

In

Is

My

People

That

The

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Any questions, errors, or boastful lies regarding this document may be sent to thephlegmpot@yahoo.com.