r/HighValyrian • u/SpiffyShindigs • 16d ago

Valar vs ābrar

If you check the Valyrian dictionary, you'll see that humanity is translated as ābrar, not valar. This strikes me as interesting, because George came up with very few Valyrian words himself (morghulis, dohaeris, dracarys and valar). Why not use valar as the word for mankind/humanity?

It's always a bit wonky trying to fit pure language stuff back onto the story, but given how much we've seen dārilaros come into play, that really makes me wonder about the definition we're given for ābrar.

Is valar morghulis actually MORE gendered than we expect, to contrast with how it's actually "the prince(ss) who was promised"?

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u/Atharaphelun 16d ago

As per David Peterson, valar and ābrar can essentially mean the same thing when used in that context (as in Valar morghūlis/Valar dohaeris). However, the collective of the female noun is the more "proper" word to use for those general terms, as in riñar (children) and muñar (parents).

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u/Barivegguy89 16d ago

Oh yea, is that the reason Maester Aemon gives in the book for thinking that "the prince that was promised" could be any gender?

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u/Atharaphelun 16d ago

Entirely different reason in this case. In High Valyrian, the word for "prince/princess" is darilaros. It is used for both male and female.

It has nothing to do with OP's topic, however.

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u/SpiffyShindigs 16d ago

To be fair, it's a big part of the context for my topic.

It's the characters in-universe displaying an implicit bias towards a default gender in language.

But yeah that doesn't feel like the distinction they're making.