Caveat: zam arr arh bagbagh bang bang manz

In the deepest depths of the world of conlang geekery, someone (or several someones) has invented a language for fictional zombies called Zamgrh. It has an actual grammar and is not just a cypher for English, as some naive conlangs tend to be. A linguistics website called EvoLang mentioned it, which is how I found out about it. What I found most entertaining was that some fans of this invented language have been translating texts into the zombie language. For example, you can read the first chapter of Beowulf in the Zamgrh.

It begins:

Rh!zzan :
Gaa haz arr rh!zzan ah zah Znag raz harmanz Raz harmanz
ahn zah arr rahnah an haah
zam arr arh bagbagh bang bang manz.
Zh!rgman, zah zan ah Zhahman,
grab mannah an bar harmanz azzbag,
zzzzargh mannah hra bang bang man,
ahgr h b hng an rzg babah,
H barg nabah na ann zah zg!
ng!r harmanz abarannah
rh!zzanb hhan h gab,
H b hra nabah raz harman !

The original Old English:

HWÆT, WE GAR-DEna in geardagum,
þeodcyninga þrym gefrunon,
hu ða æþelingas ellen fremedon!
oft Scyld Scefing sceaþena þreatum,
monegum mægþum meodosetla ofteah,
egsode eorlas, syððanærest wearð
feasceaft funden; he þæs frofre gebad,
weox under wolcnum weorðmyndum þah,
oð þæt him æghwylc ymbsittendra
ofer hronrade hyran scolde,
gomban gyldan; þæt wæs god cyning!

This can only be surpassed by that guy supposedly translating the Bible into Klingon.

[daily log: walking, 6km]

 

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