Litany against fear

The Litany against fear is an incanation of fictional Bene Gesserit order in Frank Herbert's “Dune” book series. It was taught by Lady Jessica to her son Paul Atreides to withstand the test by Agony Box with Gom Jabbar poison inside.

I must not fear.
Fear is the mind-killer.
Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my fear.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me.
And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.

The List of required words

English	Nûrlâm	Etymology and comments
and	agh	TK, RI
be	kul-	LOS, compare with Quenya “cuilë” (life) < Etym. “KUY” (come to life, awake)
bring	thrak-	TK, RI
death	gurz	MERP, probably from Sindarin “gurth”
eye	hont	LOS < Quenya, Sindarin “hend” < Etym. “KHEN-D-E”
face	tad-	HORN < MERP “bartas” (brawl)
fear (n)	ufur	LOS “ufum” (fear), “ufur-” (to fear), “uf-” (to frighten)
fear (v)	furg-	NL, LOS “ufur-” + Quenya “þorya”
go	ukh-	LOS used to translate “fear has gone”
go	bhan-	more like “pass away”, “leave” NL < Quenya “vanya”, “vana” < Etym. “WAN”, Quenya and Telerin “auta” used to translate “go past”
I	da	HORN, Urartian “-də”
inner	nâdûrz	NL < MERP “nâdar” + Primitive Elvish “ndē̆”
it	ta	all dialects < EL “tak” (they), from Etym. “TA” (that), Qenya “ta” (that, it)
killer	thrug	MERP
little	mik	SV
me	izish	LOS standalone colloquial pronoun is used because the verb has two objects with postpositions which cannot join the verb in such case
mind	furm	NL, merging LOS “frûm” < MERP < Albanian “frymë” with Quenya “fairë”, Sindarin “faer”
must	maug-	NL < Noldorin “bui” (I must), “baur” (need) < Etym. “MBAW” (compel, force, subject, oppress)
my	dab	Genitive case of “I” (= “da”)
not	nar	AN < TK interjection of disagreement
nothing	narash	NL, lit. “not one”
obliteration	shoshurm	NL “shosh-” (to remove, delete) < SV “shoshog-”
only	tug	EL
over	thu	LOS (more like “beyond”)
pass	laut-	NL < Quenya “lahta” < Primitive Elvish “LA”, “LAGH”
past	hoirarz	NL “hoir” (adj) < EH “hoir” (n)
path	mûl	LOS < Quenya “malle” (road) < Etym. “MBAL”
permit	dabh-	NL < Noldorin “dâf” (permission) < Etym. “DAB” (give way, make room, permit, allow); requires object in dative case
remain	irn-	NL < Qenya “erin” (v) (remains)
see	hon-	LOS < Quenya “hen(d)”
that	zamash	NL, (relative clause)
there	zîgin	NL
through	as	LOS (more like “across”)
total	ûk	TK “all, completely, fully”
turn	bhad-	HORN
when	amil	NL, (relative)
where	amin	NL, (relative)

The Translation

Nûrlâm	Gloss
Danarmaug furgut	1SG=NEG-must fear-INF
Ufur kulâ furmthrugum	fear be-3SG mind=killer-DEF
Ufur kulâ gurzmikum zamash thrakâ shoshurmûk	fear be-3SG death=little-DEF that bring-3SG obliteration=total
Datadub ufurdab	1SG=face-FUT fear=1SG.GEN
Dadabhub tazûr lautut izish thu agh izish as	1SG=permit-FUT 3SG-DAT pass-INF 1SG-ACC over and 1SG-ACC through
Agh amil tabhanuz hoirarz, dabhadub hontum nâdûrz honat mûltab	and when 3SG=leave-PST past-ADV, 1SG=turn-FUT eye-DEF inner see-GERV path=3SG.GEN
Amin ufur ukhuzâ narash kubâ zîgin. Tug da irnub	where fear go-PST-3SG nothing be.FUT-3SG there. Only 1SG remain-FUT

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Litany against fear

The List of required words

The Translation

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Litany against fear

The List of required words

The Translation

Nûrlâm –
Black Speech
dialect wiki