Steppe Language

Pathologic=

Alphabet

 * The runes of the Steppe—the "long marks of Turokh"—could be considered the alphabet of the native people. They are more similar to "signs" than letters, with every mark having multiple meanings: each is "akin to a song" with layers of history attached to it.
 * Cattle are ritually branded with the symbols, and the rune can correspond to both the owner or the age of the bull. Branding a bull is a stage in an intricate ritual that spans years.

Locations

 * Egeh Gola: A rise near the cattle breeding camps, days away from the Town. Isidor Burakh often wandered near there. Egeh and gol mean, respectively, 'to return' and 'river' in Mongolian.
 * Golghoy Khen: The former name of Andrey Stamatin's pub -- now called Factus.
 * Golgur: The name of the spring in the Stone Yard; Vlad the Younger notes that "[t]he etymology of the word is unclear, but it means something along the lines of "a smooth mouthful"".
 * Gorkhon: The river whose tributaries divide the Town into three. The name bears some resemblance to the Russian word gor'kiy (горький), a word for 'wormwood', which is a bitter herb used to make absinthe, much as twyre is used for twyrine; in Mongolian, gorkhi (горхи) means brook.
 * Sugagh Khadugh: A spring on the boundary between the Steppe and the Rotten Field. Its water is considered sacred, but people still fear to drink from it because of the nearby burial mounds. Khad (хад) means 'crag' in Mongolian, and sug means 'water' in Tuvan (a Turkic language of Siberia).
 * Typkhe: The name of the spring in the Spin-a-Yarn Square; Vlad the Younger translates the name simply as "a well".

Other Terminology

 * Bai Uraggha: An old man in folktales, said to have the head of a bull and cow's hooves instead of hands. His legs "stretched all across the earth, sinking into it like gigantic roots". He ate everything around him, turning the ground to desert. Then, starving, he died. This story purportedly explains the origin of the Gorkhon river, but its end, which might link it to said river, is not provided.
 * Bos: An honorific title given to leaders. For example, Big Vlad is referred to as "Bos Vlad" by the Kin. Within the story, the title may be derived from the name of Bos Turokh. Bos (from Latin bōs: cow, ox, bull) is the name of the genus of all types of cattle.
 * En: A prefix; Maria calls Daniil en-Daniil at one point. It seems to be a term of respect or endearment.
 * Holaeghe-ut golghoy ekh gerkhen syakhyl! Oluhn ekhe-barag!: An insult which an angry butcher addresses to the Bachelor.
 * Mara: An evil spirit. In Germanic and Slavic folklore, a demon called the Mare, Mora, or Mara, would cause bad dreams by standing on a person's chest or strangling them.
 * Olon zuun jeley urda te'e hunde ubshen shulu'un de'egu'ur ebakha...: (In Cyrillic Олон зуун жэлэй урда тээ хундэ убшэн шулуун дээгуур эбаха…) A gatherer threatens Klara with this curse. It means something like "Many centuries ago the deadly stone plague… ”
 * Oynon: A title of respect used for doctors or scientists, meaning 'wise man'. The Burakhs, Daniil Dankovsky, and Stanislav Rubin are all referred to as oynon. In Mongolian, oi (ой) means 'mind'.
 * Souvilag'sh: "The one who teaches how to walk." Aspity tells Bachelor that this is her title in Pathologic: The Marble Nest.
 * Taglur: Defined variously as "a circle" or "a kin circle". It also refers to a pagan game described as a "roundelay of sorts". Notably, Simon Kain had a chosen group of taglur--various people bound by fate--who then formed the Bound of the protagonists, and who were also referred to as Gobo's Taglur (Gobo being a character from an epic local to the Town-on Gorkhon). In German, the verb tagen means 'to convene' and the noun Tagung means 'conference'.
 * Tekhe: Something "like a soul, but smaller."
 * Udurg: Literally "a body that contains a world". Protecting an unknown udurg was the goal of Isidor Burakh.

 

Alphabet

 * The runes of the Steppe—the "long marks of Turokh"—could be considered the alphabet of the native people. They are more similar to "signs" than letters, with every mark having multiple meanings: each is "akin to a song" with layers of history attached to it.
 * Cattle are ritually branded with the symbols, and the rune can correspond to both the owner or the age of the bull. Branding a bull is a stage in an intricate ritual that spans years.

Terminology

 * Yargachin: Butcher
 * Khetey: Sister-elder
 * Khatangher / Khatange: The Kin
 * Bayarlaa: Thank you
 * Kharaan: To skin, to decry, sacrilege, scold
 * Xaraa: Sight