Old Speech

Also known as: True Speech, Language of the Making, Speech/Words of the Making, True Language of the Making, True Words, Eldest tongue, Dragon tongue, spellwords

The language of magic, spoken by dragons and learned by wizards. All languages of Earthsea are ultimately derived from it, but Hardic has the closest roots. Words of the Old Speech are termed spellwords by some, denoting their inherent power: 'Spellwords act'^a. Humans are bound to the truth speaking it; not so dragons

[Major sources: The School for Wizards, WoE; A Description of Earthsea, TfE; Dolphin, OW (a)]

'"That is the language dragons speak, and the language Segoy spoke who made the islands of the world, and the language of our lays and songs, spells, enchantments, and invocations. Its words lie hidden among our Hardic words. … Any witch knows a few of these words in the Old Speech, and a mage knows many. But there are many more, and some have been lost over the ages, and some have been hidden, and some are known only to dragons and to the Old Powers of Earth, and some are known to no living creature; and no man could learn them all. For there is no end to that language."'

[The School for Wizards, WoE]

See also: Language