Orhyo was a language which originated in the Mezlag sector of the Unknown Regions. Its system of origin is unknown, though both Mezlagob and Telacia claimed to be the homeworld of the language. By the time the Tetrarchy of Mezlagob was formed, Orhyo had at the very least spread to Mezlagob, as it was the official language of the Tetrarchy. After the Tetrarchy fell to the Golden Empire in the Great Liberation, Queen Rin Sakaros adopted Orhyo and the official language of her government.
Linguistics[]
Polyglot Rin Sakaros considered Orhyo to be something of an inversion of the Chiss language Cheunh; whereas Cheunh followed a logical structure and was difficult for non-Chiss to pronounce, Orhyo was fairly easy for most humanoids to pronounce, but had a complex and not-entirely-logical vocabulary. Orhyo was famous for its specificity; it had a different word for almost everything. While a single root word might be the base of many similar words, compound words (combining two words to describe something that was a combination of the two nouns) were almost nonexistent.
There was no instance in Orhyo in which one word meant two different things. Consequently, Orhyo had well over a million distinct words, and truly competent Orhyo lexicographers were in short supply and great demand as government consultants for the writing of legislation. Even Rin Sakaros, who could extract languages from other minds with the Force, had to "download" Orhyo from three different people before she considered herself fully fluent in the language.
While learning Orhyo as a first language was not markedly more difficult than any other—most children acquired basic conversational ability around the age of six or seven—learning it as a second language was considered extremely difficult by many species who had to do so, often taking over a decade.
Orhyo had its own script, but when Rin Sakaros made it the official language of the Golden Empire, she introduced the Aurebesh script, ordering the chief scholars on Telacia to integrate one into the other, in the hopes of providing a simpler alternative and in full awareness that learning Orhyo would be difficult enough for the known galaxy when she conquered it, let alone also requiring them to learn another writing system.
Known words and phrases[]
| Orhyo | Basic |
|---|---|
| Jedera | "Exemplary personal worth derived from service to a cause greater than oneself" (precise) "Merit" (common translation)[1] |
| Kava sei ta Rejialith | "Long live the Queen" |
| Rejial Rejialith |
"King" "Queen" |
| Shiaf | "Fortitude"[2] |
Usage[]
The Tetrarchy of Mezlagob made Orhyo its official language in full awareness of its labyrinthine complexity, making only passing effort to teach the tongue to its vassal worlds. This allowed representatives of the prime worlds more influence, as they could communicate more eloquently with government officials, and also allowed Tetrarchy security police to enforce laws which the citizens themselves could not always understand.
While the Golden Empire also adopted Orhyo as its official language, Rin Sakaros did so because she appreciated the language's ability to express her exact meaning in legislation. She directed the Educational Expansion Corps to spread the language equally to every member world of the Empire to ensure that her citizens all had equal access to government and communication. All public addresses and government documents were issued in Orhyo, though on newly acquired member worlds they were often translated to the native tongue as well.
Education[]
The Educational Expansion Corps developed a wide range of books, holovids, and training programs designed to teach basic conversational Orhyo to all age ranges. Some universities in the Golden Empire became famous for having higher-level Orhyo programs specializing in literature, poetry, or governmental writing; the most esteemed of these was the Grand Academy of Arts and Letters on Telacia.
As the state language, Orhyo had a defined, official vocabulary. The Royal Lexicon maintained this database, which citizens of the Golden Empire could access for free via the Royal HoloNet, and had the final authority on admitting new words to the language.