Qerenoka

Qerenoka (formally Qerenok'a), commonly known as Sangheili, Pan Sangheili, Common Sangheili, Imperial Sangheili, Common Speech, and known to the UNSC as Covenant-A or Covenant Standard for much of the Human-Covenant War, is the common name for the Covenant's lingua franca, and the most common of the myriad languages spoken within the Holy Ecumene. Qerenoka is descended from the original language chosen as the Covenant's common language at the time of the Writ of Union, but it has since evolved considerably and spawned numerous dialects and offshoot languages.

Qerenoka is a lightly inflectional head-final language with distinctive vowel length and ejective consonants.

History
The proto-form of Qerenoka originated on the Sanghelian continent of Qivro, where it was once the language of several of the planet's early major empires. During this time, it incorporated several influences from other languages, prominently those in Yermo and Tolvuus, through cultural exchange both violent and peaceful. The second major wave of external influence came with the San'Shyuum contact and the founding of the Covenant, when Qerenoka adopted many loanwords from the Reformist language Luwani along with some changes to its phonology due to the San'Shyuum's inability to pronounce some of the original sounds.

Modern Pan Sangheili's relationship to the original, Writ of Union-era Qerenoka is roughly analogous to that of modern Italian to Latin, and perhaps even more distant. Because Qerenoka is spoken by a vast collective, it is by nature highly eclectic, being more aptly described as a language family than a singular language and encompassing hundreds if not thousands of dialects and subvariants, many of which are only barely mutually intelligible or not at all.

The version of Qerenoka documented here describes "Pan Sangheili", or the standardized version of the language spoken in High Charity, as of the 9th Age of Reclamation. Pan Sangheili is spoken natively by much of the Covenant population, but also serves as an auxiliary language to those who speak either divergent dialects or entirely unrelated languages. The language is institutionally regulated by a specific body within the Ministry of Edification of High Charity, though this has not always been so. This has also slowed down the natural evolution of the language, and its structure and core vocabulary have stayed relatively unchanged for centuries. Loanwords and colloquialisms from various other languages do regularly enter it, however, often coinciding with contacts with new species or the incorporation of dialectal trends.

There are also institutions on Sanghelios and other worlds claiming to represent the ultimate authority on the language. The language spoken by the high nobles of Sanghelios is known separately as High Sangheili, Poetic Sangheili or Aristocratic Sangheili, and is considerably more elaborate than Pan Sangheili. "Vulgar" or spoken Sangheili, especially when spoken by non-native speakers, tends to eschew some of the language's more complex features, such as some of the inflections and cases.

Many sounds once present in ancient Qerenoka and other Sangheili languages have disappeared from Pan Sangheili, leaving only sounds that can be produced in some way by most of the Covenant's member species; mainly the San'Shyuum. Overall, Writ of Union-era Qerenoka featured more guttural sounds than the modern Pan Sangheili, which does not utilize the Sangheili's entire vocal range. Some native Sangheili languages also utilize a range of whistles and roars which cannot be reproduced by most species.

As the Covenant's lingua franca, the Qerenoka language family has a noticeable influence on other languages spoken within the collective. Native languages spoken by other species such as Unggoy, Kig-Yar, Jiralhanae as well as regional dialects frequently and often inadvertently pick up diction, concepts, or phrases from either Imperial Sangheili or the local Sangheili dialect, as it almost always serves as the domain-level language of communication between the regional authorities and their subjects, and is often used for commerce. This phenomenon is pervasive enough to have an recognized concept in Covenant linguistics; translated to English, it is styled as "Sangheilization".

Phonology
Romanization of Qerenoka, developed over time by the Office of Naval Intelligence and later various universities, is meant to use the Latin alphabet phonetically, though there are some cases where a word's or name's pronunciation has previously been ambiguous and has caused an erroneous spelling (or a dialectal variant of a name) to be coined as standard.

Stress is regularly antepenultimate, i.e. on the third-to-last syllable.

Phonemes / Romanization

Parentheses denote allophonic sounds; i.e. they occur in certain phonotactic contexts but are not regarded as separate phonemes.

Ejective consonants are written with a following apostrophe, and the r is the tap [ɾ]. The language has long vowels, represented by a doubled vowel, and occasionally has geminates, also written doubly. Likely the most challenging aspect of the phonology are the consonants with a velar release. These are written as if they began with a consonant cluster, but they occur at every point of articulation—namely, pkh [pˣ], tkh [tˣ], kkh [kˣ], and qkh [qˣ], and even the fricative (or fricative-ending) consonants skh [sˣ], shkh [ʃˣ], and chkh [tʃˣ].

The above represent sounds as they're pronounced by Sangheili in the "standard" dialect of the language (as defined by the Ministry of Edification). Other dialects feature a number of different or additional sounds, the most notable of which are listed below. In addition, the various Covenant species' vocal tracts vary greatly and many sounds are substituted by others depending on a species' physical ability to speak the language, though the standard Covenant form already limits the number of sounds because of the need for standardization and mutual usage.

The ejective consonants are sometimes pronounced as their non-ejective counterparts, especially if speaking quickly, or if a speaker cannot easily produce them or is not accustomed to doing so.

Although there are a number of allowed diphthongs, they are not common, with the exception of certain established ones (e.g. ai, au, ei). Others do occur in loanwords (especially from Luwani or Dai'nos Yll), however. They rarely occur word-initially or finally.

Phonotactics
The language permits the following syllable structures: CV(C) / CVV / CV / V / VV. Most consonants and all vowels can occur as onsets, but only /n/, /m/, /s/, and /ng/ may serve as codas (with m and ng being rare word-finally). Because of the limited number of allowed codas, consonant clusters are also uncommon. Most of these involve one of the permitted codas (i.e. n, s, or ng) followed by the onset consonant of the next syllable, e.g. nk', nj, nt, sz, mb, sm, ngh, though a small number of them can occur word-initially (e.g. sz). Sequences such as "shkh" or "chkh" represent singular sounds and are not consonant clusters.

English transcriptions of Covenant names often drop vowels from Covenant names, a phenomenon especially common with reduced word-final vowels, which occur in certain phonetic contexts and dialectal variants. This commonly happens if the preceding sound is one of the ejective consonants and the final vowel is not emphasized, e.g. Malurok'a > Malurok. Older varieties of the language may have allowed more coda consonants, and several dialects still do. In colloquial speech, many speakers may also use shortened forms of words, especially when speaking fast, e.g. waruut'o > waruut > wort. Many established Sangheili names also have various other consonant sequences (e.g. Rtas, Wattinree). These are the result of either nonstandard romanization (e.g. "Wattinaree" losing an intermediate vowel in translation), or dialectal varieties of the language.

The human confusion involving word-final vowels also partly has to do with the way Covenant orthography notates vowels, which may not always be marked depending on the writing system used, or the marking is unclear to non-natives.

Romanization irregularities
Since Covenant orthographic systems do not map neatly onto the Latin alphabet, and because members of the Covenant speak a variety of dialects, there is a great amount of variety in the spellings of romanized Sangheili terms and names. Some of these variant spellings use characters not featured in the "standard" mode of romanization, or do not line up with the phonotactic rules described here. Humanity initially decoded the language based on audio, which gave rise to various spelling modes. Transcriptionists faced considerable difficulty in interpreting many of the more exotic sounds, which cannot be produced by a human vocal tract, and this confusion was compounded by dialectal variety or different registers among speakers.

While the formal romanization mode lacks c, f, th, and x, all of these occur in some established names as well as regional dialects of Qerenoka in some capacity. This is not uncommon; many Sangheili from provincial backgrounds have more than one accepted form of their name in different dialects. More often, however, divergent spellings are merely the result of different human transcriptionists following different standards at a time when target identification was more important than strict phonemic accuracy or consistency. In addition, some of the more exotic consonants in the table are sometimes simplified in non-academic romanization. This happens especially with the names of places or individuals in English. Although it is better practice to use the full form, many now-established names use nonstandard romanization. Common idiosyncrasies of simplification include:
 * C usually represents /k/, sometimes /ch/
 * While not notable enough to be listed in the table, /f/ occurs in some dialects as a variant of b/v. In the standard dialect, f (as in e.g. Orna 'Fulsamee or Sesa 'Refumee) becomes /phk/, /w/, or /b/ depending on context (word-initially, it's usually a /b/; mid-word, it may either be a /b/ or /w/).
 * X, as in Xytan Jar 'Wattinree, represents /z/, /kkh/, or /qkh/ (the latter in Xytan's case). In some dialects, the /kh/ sound may also manifest as something approximating /ks/.
 * The dental fricative θ or /th/ occurs in some dialects, but it is rare and not phonemically distinct from /t/. The use of the digraph /th/ in many romanized names of Covenant origin is partly the result of ONI's translators (who tend to be English-speaking) interpreting various sounds, such as a word-initial /t/, word-final /s/ or word-final /t'u/, as /th/ when translating names for phonaesthetic reasons (e.g. Chenas > Chennath, Samat'u > Sammath).
 * tkh, ts, tskh, dz, and ts' are often used interchangeably in romanization as "tk" or "ts"
 * ch, chkh, j, ch', which are allophones of the same phoneme, are often spelled interchangeably as either "ch" or "j".
 * sh, shkh, zh may be spelled as "sh" or "zh".
 * skh may be rendered as "sk" or "sh"
 * qkh and kkh may both be rendered as "x".
 * The various nasal "n" sounds are spelled in a number of different ways (e.g. /ng/, /nj/, /nn/), often as a simple "n".

Note also the appropriate uses for apostrophes in the above table; i.e. they are mostly used to represent the ejective consonants p', t', k', q', ts', and ch'. One other notable use is to divide up vowel strings to indicate that two or more vowels are pronounced separately, as in "Yanme'e", or breaking up overlong vowel sequences, e.g. "aa'e" rather than "aae". Apostrophes should not be used decoratively or simply for the sake of making a name look more "alien". Though they are phonemically distinct from their non-ejective counterparts, the apostrophes signifying the ejectives are sometimes omitted in non-academic usage, e.g. T'uluba > Tuluba.

Grammar
Typologically, Qerenoka is a strongly head-final language that generally uses a subject-object-verb word order, though the use of case marking technically allows the subject and object to switch places in certain contexts. Its morphosyntactic alignment is ergative-absolutive. It has some case-like postpositions, with no agreement. Adjectives and possessors precede the nouns they modify, as do relative clauses. There are no definite/indefinite articles; definiteness is indicated by context. Similarly, the language does not distinguish between the plural and singular forms of most nouns; this is indicated by context as well as demonstratives and pronouns. In addition, many verbs function as nouns depending on context, and vice versa.

Case particles
Cases are, in this case, little tags that let you know what role a noun plays in the sentence. Ergative and absolutive are grammatical; vocative is for direct address; the rest aside from the benefactive are locative.

While they are romanized here as separate words from the parent noun, the case markers can occasionally be appended into the noun, sometimes with an intervening apostrophe. This is done especially when transcribing names, as separating the case marker is not strictly necessary to distinguish it from the rest of the word.

The ergative “o” is placed directly after a noun that effects the action of the verb. For example, in K’uucho o domo ruuk’inatan, “The warrior attacks the human”, k'uucho “warrior” is followed by “o” because it’s the one that causes the attacking to happen. Domo gets no tag.

Some of the case particles (mostly the adessive, allative, benefactive, elative, and rarely the inessive) fulfill many functions besides their direct meaning and some of them can be used to do interesting things with names, for example. E.g. the name Reheba is formed by combining Rehe ("hope") with a version of the elative case marker, which gives us a meaning of roughly "Borne of hope" or "Hope-borne". Note that not every appearance of a case-like word ending is a grammatical usage of that postposition, e.g. the names Reme or Dazreme are not using the inessive.

Some case constructions are sometimes omitted in everyday speech, especially by non-native speakers. One example is the benefactive, which is sometimes considered archaic and is mostly used in formal speech. When speaking in a casual register, it is usually replaced with the allative.

Possession
Qerenoka has no dedicated genitive case, and possession is described with several different cases depending on the nature of the possessive relationship.
 * For example, K’uucho oni zhuro would be “the warrior’s weapon”. Presumably this is one the warrior owns.
 * K’uucho ni zhuro would also be “the warrior’s weapon”, but the implication would be it was one they just picked up, or was an improvisational weapon—one they happened to have.

Now, let’s say the warrior has their father’s weapon. You’d probably say something like K’uucho oni nejo ga zhuro. That is, “the weapon FROM the father TO the warrior”. You can also make fun distinctions like K’uucho me ik’o “the warrior’s eye(s)” (presumably still in there), and k’uucho ba ik’o “the warrior’s eye(s)” (which, regrettably, have been removed for some reason).

The inessive case is used for innate characteristics and abilities, e.g. Hirajo me haat'u "The blessed one's ability".

The benefactive case is used to indicate that something is for the purpose of another thing. It is also used to signify appositive relationships indicated in English with the preposition "of", including the names of institutions as well as certain honorific titles, etc. It is debatable whether the benefactive is an actual case or more akin to a suffix, and its uses are more common in formal speech and poetry than day-to-day communication.

Pronouns
The third-person pronouns only distinguish between animacy/inanimacy; there are no gender-specific pronouns (c.f. the English singular "they"). The inclusive/exclusive distinction in the first person plural pronouns (i.e. “we”) signifies a difference between “you and us” vs. “us and not you” (“riin” vs. “jaari”). The second-person pronouns make a distinction between plural and singular "you", similar to the archaic English thou/you distinction. The plural "you" may be used deferentially when addressing superiors.

Verbs
There is a distinction between dynamic and stative verbs. The understanding of the tenses will change depending on the type of verb. This should be familiar to English speakers, as we do the same thing. (Cf. “I like pizza”~“I’m liking pizza” vs. “I eat pizza”~“I’m eating pizza”.)

A dynamic verb is one where there has been some actual change in the world—where some action has taken place (e.g. “call”, “crush”, “send”). A stative verb is one that reflects more of an internal state (e.g. “understand”, “be useful”, “forget").

Sangheili has eight tenses, but the meanings of those tenses vary depending on whether the verb is stative or dynamic. The forms are relatively simple, except for the reduplicative, which enjoys a lot of use. For dynamic verbs, it’s the imperfect tense ("I was x'ing"); for stative verbs, the emphatic.

Here are some examples:
 * ch'in ~ ch’injin “stab”
 * naya ~ nenaya “fertilize egg"
 * opkho ~ pkhaapkho “bend"
 * pkhungo ~ pkhubungo “sleep"
 * qkhoso ~ qkhoghoso “walk"
 * satkha ~ sasatkha “be sure"
 * tkhop’o ~ tkhaadop’o “name”
 * zaya ~ zaazaya “expand"
 * ik'o ~ ch'anik'o "see"

Something that’s missing from these are the question forms. When asking a yes/no question, there are special forms for the verbs used with a reduced set of tenses (4). You’ll hear them when questions are asked.

For example, Jan o tkha q’unqijaga, k’e daaghajahe? “Are you worried I’ll forget?” Before the comma is the “I’ll forget” part. K’e is “you”. Daagha is “worry”, and the -jahe suffix is the one you’ll hear with questions. (= "That I'll forget, you worry?")

The demonstratives are more or less explicable (this, that, yonder, at an unknown place, nowhere).

Lexicon
Qerenoka makes use of compounding in word formation, both by joining verbs and nouns as well as various derivational affixes. Most compound words are closed, i.e. the distinct stems are treated as one word as opposed to separating them with spaces or special characters like apostrophes or hyphens. However, the glottal stop is sometimes used to indicate a word boundary where a word-final consonant (e.g. k, r, h, etc) has been lost.

Verb construction
Instrumental prefixes are used to derive new verbs from verb bases. This is similar to English verbs like “deduce”, “produce”, “induce”, “adduce”, etc.

The prefixes are often used in a fairly abstract sense. A basic verb would be duje “to molt”. From that, the following have been derived:
 * moduje: lose track of
 * juunduje: make look good
 * gaiduje: sully

Another example using ghaina “to hear”:
 * banghaina: sense
 * t’ighaina: understand

This is khawa “to say”:
 * gaikhawa: guess
 * khekhawa: respond
 * juukhawa: claim
 * t’ikhawa: chat, speak with

If you compare the prefixes and their original meanings plus approximate uses, then combine them with the original verbs, you can get a sense of how the words are built. The instrumental prefixes are variously used for nouns as well.

Other affixes
The language also has a variety of additional prefixes and suffixes that may be used to modify words, or derive new words from roots. Note that the affixes are always used contextually and meant to blend with the original word, e.g. vowels are added between consonants where phonotactically necessary. If it's an old and well-established word, parts of the affix may also disappear over time. In addition, not all words are formed like this. Many are loans from other languages or formed other ways. The vowel in the parentheses can typically be substituted with any vowel that the preceding word ends in.

Numbers
Qerenoka, and the Covenant in general, uses a base-12 numeral system.
 * one = dzi
 * two = yoto
 * three =  ghoyo
 * four = kkhoni
 * five = ghezi
 * seven = wesa

Determiners and conjunctions

 * eya = no
 * q'a = but
 * ze= and

Dictionary
Boldface denotes root-level words that see a lot of use in compounds and derivations. Most of these words refer to biological and familial concepts, landscape features, and basic tools, and are exceedingly ancient.

The rest are words that have supposedly emerged in later phases of the language's evolution, including many terms derived from roots as well as loanwords. Most of the latter come from other Sangheili languages in early phases of intercultural contact, with later ones mostly being from Luwani or Dai'nos Yll after the Writ of Union; these tend to be very specialized religious terms. Some words have also been borrowed from other species' languages, such as those of the Unggoy and Kig-Yar, but these are considerably more rare outside colloquial contexts. In later generations, the institutional regulators of the standard language have become fairly conservative about loanwords, and preference compounds or affixing derivations over direct loans.

A

 * aamu = god, divine being
 * aamujaani = "divine wind" or "god-wind"; comes from a specific mytho-historical context; predates the idea of the Great Journey by millennia but has since become associated with the daramoku/idiom "Wind From the Rising Sun" (tkhazho-has ba jaani, lit. "From-the-rising-sun wind"), which connotes to a cleansing, divine wind.
 * aana = to stand
 * achkhun = broad, big; may have originally meant "full/fully"; possibly related to okko
 * achkunguro = beautiful, neat or agreeable
 * ajanu = sky/weather/air; may have been a sky-spirit or deity; c.f. aamu, jaani
 * akhaan = rift, gap, canyon, cavity or absence of something
 * akhawo = the throat/throat cavity; by extension, language/speech (c.f. later khawa)
 * akke = hand (usually refers also to the arm)
 * aludu = a monastic order or organization
 * aq'iinu = smoke
 * aq'oje = to smell
 * atkhada = to strike, to hit
 * atkhe = din, great noise, especially of battle; also understood as "clashing"; possibly related to older words for "punch" or "strike"; may be related to matkha "kill"
 * aya = egg

B

 * baan = spine; related to things in the back or rear
 * baika = root, roots
 * baikhu = network or web, also metaphorically
 * bak'ontu = justice
 * beka = snow
 * bekkhajo = creature, beast, animal; may have once connoted to concepts of prey animals
 * bojo = mother
 * bundanti = teacher or professor

C

 * ch'aanani = pillar
 * ch'abojo = older aunt/mother or matron; honorific term (see also bojo & dzana)
 * ch'anu = head; by extension, important things; used as a derivational prefix
 * ch'adomo = Spartan (alternative for ghashank'o, or "demon"; ch'a + domo)
 * ch'ahanamo = "great times" or "glorious times"; refers to the end times or the immediacy of ascension, in the context of the Covenant religion
 * ch'amaaro = "the great search", the Covenant's holy mission
 * ch'ambuujo = Hierarch
 * Ch'anggagomo = Halo/Sacred Ring (no distinction exists between these in the language since the idea of a halo is very culturally specific) (note "Ch'an" intensifier - is the "ring" part "gagomo" or "gomo"?)
 * ch'apkhaat'u = grace
 * Ch'awaruut'u = Great Journey (note relation to "going"; "Ch" indicates it's a bigger/more important such thing)
 * chigaha = to write; from ch'in "stab/carve" + gakha "stone"
 * chiiwe = inside/within; comes from an old word for lungs or thoracic cavity, over time came to mean inner life overall through euphemistic usage
 * chik'e = to run
 * ch'ikiis = radiation
 * ch'in = to stab
 * chuke = flying creature; analogous to "bird"; may have also meant "to fly" and connote to various flying-related words
 * chkhan = all/everything/ever/always
 * chkhiwaje = storm, tempest
 * chkhoda = vessel/container/pot; may be related to words for clay/soil; possibly also "to hold" or "to contain"

D

 * daagha = to worry
 * daramoku = metaphor, specifically a type of idiom specific to Sangheili or overall Covenant culture, history and myth. Daramoku are often used in the names of worlds or ships, as well as in coded communication, something that became especially common during the Human-Covenant War, where the humans could not possibly have known the meanings of most cultural metaphors even if they had decoded the surface-level language.
 * darhingu = outer space, from "beyond firmament"
 * domo = human
 * duje = to molt
 * duusani = abiding/enduring/lasting
 * durat'u = sea monster/sea serpent; mytho-historical origin
 * Dzaaro = one of the names for the Forerunners. Loanword.
 * dzana = woman, adult female
 * dziit'u = hydrogen
 * dzima = brave
 * dzudziit'u = tritium
 * dzuka = nail/claw(s)
 * dzukajo = large/dangerous animal, predator
 * dzuk'u = to battle
 * dzumu = sharp / to be sharp; used for weapon-related things or things that are sharp/dangerous
 * dzukhunt'u = dominance
 * dzuna = blade/bladed weapon
 * dzushkha = to aim
 * dzuucha = memory

E

 * ebewo = face/likeness; appearance
 * eewoi = personal honor/valor, dignity
 * enganu - bride, betrothed
 * et'o = sword
 * et'ojo = swordsman

G

 * gaama = cloud
 * gadi = lower mandible(s), connotes to uncertainty due to involuntary twitch movements of the lower mandibles that betray emotional states and are difficult to master
 * gaibaat'u = fortune
 * gaihira = solace, consolation
 * gaik'inat'u = regret (also the High Prophet of Regret)
 * gainejo = uncle
 * gaiwaruut = to walk clumsily or stumble
 * gaju = right (side)
 * gakha = rock/stone
 * gakhadzuucha = archive or vault; from "stone-memory"
 * gakhaebe = statue
 * gakhakhawa = to give a speech or public address
 * gasa = a large, formally defined group of something
 * ghaina = to hear
 * ghaqabaat'u = oblivion or "hell"; negative afterlife
 * ghaq'o = noxious, ill, foul; may have related to corpses
 * ghashank'o = demon/monster
 * ghazhu = a form of communal dining hall and social space used by warrior-cohorts and aristocrats
 * ghorabeno = veil, shroud, covering
 * ghoti = "fish" or fish-like sea creature
 * ghutkho = combat, fight
 * goduuka = heavy/weighty
 * golo = grub, worm, snake or serpentine creature
 * guulo = master/lord

H

 * haala = strong; (as a verb) to be able to
 * haalajo = "strong one", typically used to refer to a hero
 * haalu = strength, power
 * haat'u = ability
 * hadaanu = bare, pure or perfect
 * hana = time; possibly also year/season early on
 * harusi = tradition, way, school of thought, usually in a secular/philosophical sense (loanword)
 * has = sun, Urs, also associated sun-god (phonetic transcription of early word form)
 * hilootu = carbon / graphite / coal (khilut'u + ootu, black + shard)
 * hira = (to) praise/bless


 * hirajo = "blessed one", formed with the adjectival suffix -jo
 * hodu = to wait

I

 * ikkas = many, multiple, myriad; early loan.
 * ikhu = river or stream, flow, possibly vein > misc. flow- and water-related words
 * ik'o = eye(s) (noun); also used to refer to sensors in general; to see (verb)
 * immu = swamp or marsh
 * isma = strength and/or fortitude. Loanword.
 * iwe = to maintain or sustain; from an old word for "to brood" or "raise", may be related to (h)iiwe "lungs"
 * izhu = string/rope/tendon/thread (c.f. later zhuuni)

J

 * jaani = wind, stream (likely derived from jana)
 * jakkho = road, path, any route by which one travels
 * jana = neck
 * jeraaku = union or band
 * jiile = money/currency
 * jono = a small group, originally used to refer to flying creatures
 * joori = red, red one, distant tertiary star Joori/Urs C
 * joot'u = crimson
 * juukhojo = Prophet/Prophets
 * juukhuut'a = brother/comrade, in a non-biological sense; usually a respected brother in arms or friend
 * juumunnu = prudent, taking appropriate care
 * juun = upper mandible(s); connotes to certainty
 * juuni = good, agreeable (see also juun)

K

 * kaasha = merit
 * kaidon = king/high lord; etymology uncertain, possibly from an earlier language; possible original meanings include "ship-maker" (after early statesmens' ability to have fleets built) or simply "family chief/elder"
 * kaluuka = coward, general insult (from earlier lakaluuka "water-blood")
 * kedaro = home, abode (from Middle Sangheili Skhettaro)
 * kel / kel'o = "divine light"; associated with ascension beyond physical existence, derived from Kel Darsam
 * kelen = wing
 * keleguura = principle, precept
 * kelesaba = a difficult-to-translate concept that connotes a specific religio-cultural piety or righteous normative behavior
 * ken = destiny/fate
 * khamushi = a fighter or soldier; one who fights but does not warrant the title of warrior
 * khanu = army, host, often one assembled for a specific theater or operation
 * khanguulo = general/commander
 * khakhet'a = manor, household, or (by extension) any building, usually residential
 * khawa = to say
 * khech'imo = to reclaim
 * kheluuga = artifact/relic. Formed using the general instrumental prefix + "luuga", which may mean an object or a thing in general, though it could also be something more specific.
 * khilut'u = black
 * khobu = fire/shoot (command)
 * khojo = to know; used in a wide variety of related terms
 * khoya = wise
 * khuut'a = brother
 * k'iis = light
 * kilu = new, early
 * k'ina = tooth/fang/to bite, by extension relates to various sharp or spike-like things
 * kkhewuuso = tribe, "meta-clan", usually translated as "phyle"
 * kkho = insect, crawling thing (possibly related to gol)
 * kola = trust
 * koma = mountain or hill
 * kozhuro = ranged weapon; gun
 * k'iisho = Luminary
 * k'iicha = beacon
 * k'iisokko = lit. "light-plain" or "plain of light", afterlife from one of the early Sangheili religions; used euphemistically for any positive afterlife and sometimes still used to refer to the Great Journey. Analogous to "paradise" or "heaven".
 * k'utkho - (to) fight
 * k'uucho = warrior
 * k'uuchogasa = legion
 * k'uuchotkhet'a = warrior creche
 * kuudo = to push
 * kuudokha = a reaction drive or rocket engine, lit. "pusher"

L

 * laka = water; root for various liquid words
 * lakabuudo = shore, coastline
 * lakackhuwuni = deuterium
 * lek'o = many, much
 * lugama = fog (possibly related to gaama)
 * luuka = blood
 * luukaikhu = family, house, or clan
 * luukaghaina = to intuit, to know instinctively
 * luukatkhopo = "blood-name"; family name
 * luukawadu = artery, channel, tunnel, by extension any such passage

M

 * maaro = to seek/search
 * maikhu = tool, device
 * malu = firm, settled, decided
 * mashaani = calm, serene; blissful (originally of wind in the sea)
 * matkha = to kill
 * meedoluyi = divine, godly, numinous; loanword
 * mobaat'u = revelation
 * mogha = wave
 * moq'a = pious
 * Moq'achawaalu = "sacred dominion/empire"; usually translated as "Holy Ecumene".
 * mos = mind or brain, reason
 * mosudawi = a trance-like state of calm, originally when stalking prey
 * mudo = lord/aristocrat; loan, c.f. guulo
 * muja = pure, esp. in a ritualistic sense
 * munnu = deliberate, careful
 * muulo = shout, yell

N

 * naamu = correct, proper, true
 * nawe = spear (c.f. aawe)
 * naya = to fertilize an egg
 * nejomuulo = summons/command; lit. "father-shout"
 * nekka = man, adult male
 * nelekkha = immediate family; close household-group
 * nejo = father, sire
 * nesa = to guide, raise, assist
 * ngaara = fortress or citadel; comes from a different cultural/historical background than keeps, more urban/imperial; originally ennaara
 * ngachuwo = government or church department, usually translated as "ministry".
 * ngachenuu = government official, usually female
 * ngiit'a = (verb) to be named/called
 * nguro = shoulder/shoulders
 * nila = to fall, to drop
 * nilatu = gravity
 * noro = kind, kin, by extension any category or group
 * nuju = cowardly; possibly from "weak", c.f. nujut'u "weakness"
 * nujut'u = weakness

O

 * ogha = foot; may refer to things that are basic-level or foundational
 * okko = plain, steppe or desert, any wide area; also anything wide or big
 * okkona = breadth, expanse, by extension any flat and wide surface; also functions as an adjective (c.f. ackhun)
 * okojuunu = symbol, sigil, emblem
 * on'kalu = celebration of triumph
 * ootu = shard or splinter, usually of rock; later also key
 * opkho = to bend
 * oq'o = noble/glorious/honored, likely as a general concept and as a honorific (e.g. "Noble Prophets") (possibly comes from the same root as okko; may have originally related to large size or stature)
 * oq'ogakha = "holy/noble stone", translated as "keystone"
 * oq'okhawa = to swear, to make a vow
 * oq'otu = glory
 * oskha = usually translated as "reconciliation"; used in various religio-political contexts. Loanword.

P

 * pkha = multipurpose exclamation/curse/intensifier
 * pkhada = stop, imperative
 * pkhungo = to sleep, to be unconscious
 * p'uuka = question

Q

 * qadaati = lance (small military unit)
 * q'iitu = mercy; also the High Prophet of Mercy
 * qikos = Qikost, possible early loan
 * qikosi = "like Qikost"; has various mytho-cultural connotations
 * qkhaamo = shrine
 * qkhan = enemy/foe
 * qkhoso = to walk
 * q'onaya = to be disheartened, lose will (especially to fight)

R

 * raahana = the universe/cosmos, or continuum
 * raahu = a religious or philosophical teaching or school of thought, especially relating to the afterlife; c.f. Eng. "way", "path"
 * ragomu = spiral
 * rehe = hope, specifically a virtuous kind of hope (contrasted with an unfounded or foolish hope)
 * rhenu = old word for death; early loan; chiefly poetic
 * rhi = star
 * rhingu = heaven, firmament, sky associated with the numinous
 * rhiruq'a = plasma (from "star-fire")
 * rhuumo = a specific term for the integrity or "wholeness" of a social group or community. Possibly a loanword.
 * riikha = crowd (c.f. riikhe "together")
 * riikhe = together
 * ran = life
 * rok'a = heart, usually used to refer to both Sangheili hearts similar to how humans typically refer to the lungs as a single unit
 * rotkho = flesh, meat
 * rulaka = fuel
 * ruq'a = fire, heat, etc


 * ruq'ota = to burn
 * ruuhi = left (side)
 * ruuk'ina = (to) attack

S

 * saawa = to smell; to perceive with the sense of smell
 * saba = filial/familial piety
 * saepa = intense joy, elation (loanword)
 * saka = boy, originally had the "son" meaning as well (c.f. shabu)
 * sanu = daughter, girl, maiden
 * satkha = to be sure
 * shaadat'u = loyalty
 * shabu = son, of any age
 * shabui = collective noun used for sons/siblings; typically used to refer to a given group of such, or metaphorically to any cohort.
 * Shak'o = the Path (in reference to the Covenant religion)
 * Shal'annu = possibly a derivation of archaic words gizhali + lahanu - (hidden) dagger + feud (loan)
 * Shandi = The Covenant
 * shanga = to hunt
 * shon'ai = a state of zen-like calm in the middle of combat; loosely translated to "Whatever will be, will be"
 * shuluchin = vault, crypt, treasury, reliquary
 * shurma = will, fortitude
 * shurmat'u = willful, forceful
 * siakaru = an avioid creature found on Nesaroka as well as several other worlds, and the symbol of several early Sangheili colonial clans. Loan from Chiwanu; originally siakar, and still rendered as such in the Ikanoro dialects.
 * subuuna = high tide, deluge, flood
 * subat'u = "subanine", adjectival form of Suban; connotes to things that are ascendant, willful, or powerful
 * subawo = tidal force
 * suda = to prowl/lay in wait; may relate to things that are secret
 * suju = song/poem
 * sujuni = "one who is sung of"; a hero

T

 * tala / talla = bow, possibly meant bowstring at one point
 * tama = tree or tree-like plant
 * tamata = a group of trees, a grove
 * t'iidiya = to live, to be alive
 * t'iis = word; various derivations have to do with words
 * t'iiwajo = heretic
 * tiphko = dry; possibly also desert > misc. desert/dryness-related words, incl. geographic features.
 * tkhe = kin, clan, family
 * tkhekhojo = family saga/history, usually in poetic/sung form
 * tkhet'a = nest, a lot of derivations have to do with kinship/family relation
 * tkhet'aghutkho = family feud
 * tkhojuun = pride, especially in a righteous sense
 * tkhop'o = name, to name
 * tkhulo = old, age, aged; later also ancestor
 * tkhungat'u = herald
 * Tkhuyujo = The Ancients / Forerunners

U

 * umatu = general term for the range of colors ranging from what humans perceive as purple to ultraviolet; comes from the color of many Sanghelian plants
 * umazha = leaf
 * usu = night, darkness
 * usuuba = rest/respite (especially unihemispheric Sangheili sleep; also rest in general); also to be disinterested or to ignore
 * usuwaruut'u = dream (chiefly poetic)
 * uuna = sea, ocean; possibly lake

V

 * valuun = one who is faithful, devoted, zealous (chiefly in a positive sense); also spelled baluun
 * vieda = Fied; lesser sun (early form unclear); possibly related to associated seasonal cycles; possible early loan
 * vuraan = accord, alliance; usually translated as "concord" specifically in the name of the Concord of Reconciliation. Also spelled buraan due to the use of v-like sounds in the place of word-initial /b/ in some dialects.

W

 * waadeja = to shake
 * wadu = trunk, of a tree or any plant
 * wani = language (loanword)
 * waru = motion (older word)
 * warut'o = to go
 * waruut'u = journey
 * wattu = rain
 * wele = ship, vessel (by extension any vehicle)
 * welejono = flotilla/battle group or impermanent fleet
 * welekkhosa = retreat/flight, especially with ships; possibly poetic
 * wena = cold
 * woludabo = an exclamation of alert to draw attention to something
 * wuja = to hatch; may later have come to mean word related to coming or arriving
 * wujano = newly-hatched; by extension, new or fresh
 * wuunsi = sleep/dream

Y

 * yos = soil, ground, land
 * yuru = the right heart

Z

 * zaya = to expand
 * zesiyi = silver
 * zhaha = bright, luminous, radiant; loanword.
 * zhahalootu = crystal ("luminous shard")
 * zhuro = weapon
 * zhuuni = strand, strip, of cloth or metaphorically, especially in astronomical use (loanword)

A few notes on naming things
One may note that there are many names that diverge from the phonetic rules of Qerenoka listed above (e.g. nonstandard consonant clusters, characters, or non-permitted consonant endings). This is not too bothersome, given the ambiguities listed above; not only is the romanization of the language approximate at the best of times due to the alien sounds present, there is also much variety even among native speakers due to differing dialects as well as different species speaking the language. Humanity had to transcribe the language based on vocal utterances, and throughout the decades since first contact, differing spellings and romanization standards have been the norm; only in the post-war era has a more fixed romanization system gained ground, but by that point many "creative" spellings or reinterpretations had become established in common use.

Not all Covenant names are in Qerenoka, though many are; members of the Covenant speak many languages, and human xenolinguists are not always sure which language a name or word is from. Though most Covenant worlds have a "Sangheilized" name, it's by no means a guarantee that a Kig-Yar trader, for example, will use it or that he will pronounce it the "right" way. This also means that not all names have a direct meaning in Sangheili specifically.

With all that being said, it's best practice to at least try and mimic the aesthetic of the language when creating names- e.g. something like "Poxhagh" doesn't really sound like Sangheili, and neither does 343i canon's "Codisfold". Some good rules of thumb to follow:


 * Avoid consonant clustering, and follow each consonant with a vowel
 * End the word either in a vowel or -n, -s, -m, -k, -l, or -ng, though the last one is pretty rare. If it ends in an -m or a -k, we can assume there's a final vowel that got lost at some point. Vowels as well as -n, and -s are the best options.
 * Avoid c, f, th, and x, or use them responsibly. These all do occur in various names (e.g. Thel, Xytan) but working with the letters and letter combinations listed in the sound table helps maintain the distinct sound of the language. Any deviations from this can be assumed to be either dialectal or flourishes by the translator.
 * Double vowels work well too, though there should generally be only one per word.
 * As mentioned above, apostrophes shouldn't be used just to make a name look more exotic.
 * Similarly, avoid weird stylistic flourishes like capital letters mid-word. Something else to avoid are special diacritics, like so: á, ê,ï. Like extra apostrophes, these just make a name harder to remember and type properly.
 * Additionally, a name will be more interesting if you can actually make it meaningful using the various derivational systems listed on this page. If not, it's fine to assume it's a loanword.

Place names
The Covenant tendency to use "Adjective Noun" in names is most often integrated to the structure of the language via affixes and word compounding. But sometimes these kinds of names aren't even formed from separate words in the original language. Often the original Covenant names (for ships, worlds, etc.) may also contain more semantic content than is conveyed in the English equivalent, but ONI and UNSC translators especially seek to keep their translations as curt as they can; yet we do end up with names like "Long Night of Solace", which is an approximation of a shorter phrase in the original language; "Truth and Reconciliation" is also obviously a case of human translators picking the closest term that fits with the original concept. Such names are most likely to be culturally specific metaphors or idioms (daramoku) that mean a lot to the Covenant (or Sangheili in particular), and often have their roots in millennia-old legends and philosophical tomes.

A lot of place names end in -os or -ok(a), though this is by no means universal. At least one of these (likely -os) may be specifically associated with place names given the name Sanghelios (though this may also be a translated name given how well it fits with English conventions). This is also partly due to the language not permitting most consonants in word endings; when in doubt, it's best to just use a vowel.

Examples
 * Saepon'kal = Joyous Exultation (Saep(a) + on'kalu, intensifying prefix + triumph-celebration)
 * Malurok = Decided Heart (Malu + roka, feat. dropped final vowel)
 * Nesarok = Guiding Heart (Nesa + roka, feat. dropped final vowel)
 * Beledokra = Faithful Perseverance (Bele + dokra)
 * Sabaaro = Filial Piety+(suffix denoting place)

Notes
 * "Sangheili" as a name is somewhat equivalent to "Earthling", in that it is derived from the planet and came after space travel? Different word for "people" or species designation that got gradually supplanted? "Sanghelios" means (or originally meant) "earth-sphere" or "earth air sphere" (could also have evolved into a word for world or planet)? (note that the Lights of Sanghelios are called Helios for short, so this also has to make sense unless we assume a very lax translation convention)
 * Other species' names and homeworld names are a mix of Sangheilized species' endonyms (e.g. Jiralhanae, Kig-Yar) and Sangheili/Covenant exonyms (e.g. Unggoy, Balaho).

Given names
Sangheili honorific suffixes (e.g. ee, ai) are contextual and harmonized to the name, following the same phonotactic rules as usual. Sometimes we see irksome consonant clusters like in Wattinree, but in such cases it can be assumed that whoever translated the name missed an intermediate vowel, and the name is pronounced more like "Wattinaree".

One important note about Sangheili names is that they don't regularly use -a as a feminine suffix like many Indo-European languages do; many male Sangheili names end in -a (e.g. Zuka, Koida, Tokra, Orna). Some feminine names do have -a endings as well, but this is hardly indicative of a trend. It is possible that feminine names use more vowel endings than male ones, especially u or i or long vowels (e.g. -uu, -ee), but it is equally possible that there is no definite pattern.

Sangheili given names are often meaningful, though not always in a form of the language familiar in the modern day. Some may be based on mythological figures or one's ancestors. There are names that are used regularly in given families and areas, and a single individual may have more than one name for different uses.

High Sangheili
High Sangheili or Poetic Sangheili is a high-register version of the language used by the higher aristocracy, in governance, as well as in poetry and literature. It retains a number of "archaic" phonetic, grammatical and lexical traits that have long disappeared from the Common Speech, and is claimed by some to be Sangheili distilled to its "purest" form, retaining the classical Sangheili of old literature and poetry. At times, influential authors and philologists attempt to introduce what some other scholars wryly recognize as more or less artificial constructions that seek to make the language even more artful or "classical" in style; one common strategy is to minimize the amount of loanwords going back thousands of years. To the average speaker of common Sangheili, many of the archaisms, elaborate word constructions and obscure inflections used in High Sangheili would be almost unrecognizable. It is a matter of pride for orators, poets and philosophers to master these nuances as well as the associated ideogrammatic systems. Consequently, it is mostly spoken by Sangheili, hence the name.

Ecclesiastic dialect
Spoken by most San'Shyuum and some Sangheili involved with the clergy, the Ecclesiastic dialect is effectively Qerenoka spoken with a Dai'nos Yll or Luwani accent. This involves a generally "softer" and more musical sound as well as distinctive retroflex consonants. It also features several loanwords from religio-philosophical terms not commonly used in standard dialects.

Vulgar dialects
Vulgar Qerenoka is a blanket term for the "spoken" varieties of the language, particularly those among the lower classes and other species. This often includes varying degrees of simplified grammar, basic lexicon, many cases of vowel dropping, and a high amount of loanwords depending on the context. The spacer creole dubbed Voidspeak is sometimes considered an extreme form of vulgar Qerenoka.

Ikanoro dialects
A notable and old group of dialects most prominent in the Covenant's spinward side. The common trade tongue of the Irshun League is also a prominent example of an older Ikanoro variant, though it has lost its former predominance due to the influence of Standard Qerenoka. The Ikanoro dialects allow a higher number of syllable codas than the standard language (e.g. l, r) and have more lax rules about consonant clustering. The Ikanoro continuum includes a variety of borrowed traits from the old Tolvuusan trade language Chiwanu.

Solbeni dialects
The Solbeni dialects (or Solben-Mersale dialects depending on the definition) are notably influenced by Zhakhan, one of the other Sangheili languages. They include a distinct f-like sound in place of standard Qerenoka's /b/, though the sound could be equally transcribed as "th" or "dh" depending on the speaker. For example, the name "Fulsamee" likely comes from a Solbeni dialect.

Resources

 * David J. Peterson's documentation of dialogue in the TV show
 * Peterson's reference for romanization
 * Peterson's notes on transcribed lines
 * Peterson's draft for a writing system
 * The Ballad of Kel Darsam, translated