Language in the Twelve Colonies
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You have found a link that leads nowhere... deliberately.
Reasons?
The reason for this is to clean up the Special:Wantedpages, thus making our lives easier behind the scenes.
So, what links lead here?
There are too many to bother wasting our time listing. So here's a list of pages that link here. English, or some language that is universally translated into it (à la Tolkien) is standard. Loanwords from foreign languages ("fascist", "karma", "esprit de corps" etc.) occur with normal frequency, as do chronologically enigmatic borrowings such as the battlestar Columbia. Most religious terms are explicitly shared with ancient greek beliefs (either antecedent to or descendent from them).
Vocabulary
Anachronisms
Battlestar Galactica uses many terms from modern day naval aviation, which appear somewhat anachronistic but also lend the show a flavor of realistic jargon. These include:
- Adama: You keep my planes flying. I need my planes to fly. (Litmus)
Ersatz
In contrast to its predecessor, the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica employs relatively little in the way of ersatz vocabulary. It does employ a few terms outside of a normal american english vocabulary, mostly military jargon. These are mixed in haphazardly with the real-life naval aviation terms above.
- Constellation - Charlie (As used in the sense of radio alphabetic code, e.g.: "Alpha, Bravo, Constellation".)
- Dradis - Radar
- Fumarella leaf - Tobacco
- Frak - A bowdlerized version of "Fuck" (c.f. "Frell" (Farscape), "Frag" (Babylon 5), "Smeg" (Red Dwarf))
- G-4 - C-4
- Krypter - Mayday
- Morpha - Morphine
- Serisone - Prednisone
- Wireless - Radio
Invented Terminology
As all science fiction shows must, Battlestar Galactica has a set of vocabulary referring to technologies and other items not shared with the real world.
- Ambrosia - a bright green alcoholic beverage
- Carom - the angle above or below the XY plane of a vessel, perpendicular to bearing (c.f. "Mark" (Star Trek))
- Chamalla - an entheogen used by priests
- Red Line
Enigmas
Language in Battlestar Galactica have terms whose origins are a curiosity due to chronology or uniqueness to the real-world Earth that likely wouldn't have a parallel of the same name in the Twelve Colonies. See an interpretation of the origin of humanity on Kobol that could support the derivation of these terms.
- Columbia: This battlestar name's origin is strange since its popular Earth derivation comes from Christopher Columbus, a man unlikely to have existed in the Twelve Colonies.
- RSVP: This term was used at the start of the episode, "Scar". It is an abbreviation of the French term, "réspondez, s'il vous plaît," or "please reply." While it is likely that differing languages are spoken in the humanity of the Colonies, it hasn't been actually established in aired content.
- Elosha's prayer in the Service of the Dead at the end of the Miniseries comes from a set of prayers of Hindu origin.
Honorifics
Although civilians use the honorific "Madam" or it's shortened form "ma'am", in the Colonial military all superior officers are referred to as "Sir", regardless of gender. According to RDM's blog on January 20th, 2006, the series follows the system established in "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan", where the term "sir" has become gender-neutral in military usage. Thus, Laura Roslin is refered to as "Madam President" or "ma'am" in a civilian context, but in her capacity as Commander-in-Chief, she is always addressed as "sir".
Accents
Most characters speak with a Standard American accent, with some exceptions.
English Accent
Two characters speak with the Received Pronunciation, Dr. Gaius Baltar of Caprica and ship's medic Layne Ishay. Other characters from Caprica do not share this accent.
Canadian Accent
Occassionally when Col. Saul Tigh is shouting or barking out orders, he exhibits a faint canadian accent. Michael Hogan is a noted Canadian actor, and on the show his speech is usually indistinguishable from Standard American English, but observant fans can occassionally detect a trace of an accent.
Spanish Accent
Giana, a woman rescued from Caprica by Sharon Valerii, spoke with a Spanish accent, and inquired after the whereabouts of her husband, who she stated was "stationed on Gemenon". Her place of origin is unclear, but no other characters from either Caprica, Gemenon, or anywhere else have shared this accent. The actress, Lymari Nadal, is from Puerto Rico.
Aerelon Accent
In the episode "Flesh and Bone", Baltar noted that Sharon Valerii spoke with a trace of an Aerelon accent. The actress who portrays her, Grace Park, is fluent in both English and Korean, but speaks Standard American English without a foreign accent.
Kiwi Accent
The reporter D'anna Biers speaks with a Kiwi/New Zealand accent (this is actually the accent that actress Lucy Lawless speaks with when off screen, because she is from New Zealand). However, the same episode revealed that D'anna is actually a Humano-Cylon, and another copy of D'anna on Cylon-occupied Caprica does not speak with this accent, but a Standard American one. This seems to imply that D'anna's entire personality was for show, and that the Cylons seem to use more standardized pronunciation when amongst themselves (Final Cut).
Liturgy
During the funeral service at the end of the Mini-series, Priest Elosha chants a prayer in a foreign language. It is recognizable as a common Sanskrit prayer, found in Part I, Chapter III, Verse 28 of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.
Devanāgarī Transliteration Translation अस्तो मा सद् गमय ásato ma sád gamaya Lead me from unreal to Real तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय támaso ma jyótir gamaya Lead me from darkness to Light मृत्योन् मा अमृतं गमय् mrtyór mamrtam gamaya Lead me from death to Immortality
Although the lyrics are identifiable, it should be noted that the actress's performance is closer to the chanting of biblical Hebrew, and does not resemble the traditional melody.
This chant is also found in the end-credits music used in the motion picture, The Matrix Revolutions, another science fiction story of humanity fighting against an oppressive machine society.