Languages in Denis Villeneuve's DUNE Movies

Thanks for drawing attention to this, Herbert was 100% aware of Chakobsa that he pulled directly from Sabres of Paradise which mentions a few but it would be hard for him to access the whole language (it’s not so much a super secret coded warrior language as pig Latin of an Adyge dialect which is a Caucasian isolate). Anyway, so much more to say but glad to see Herbert’s inspiration from the Caucasian nested defense cultures he studied (we appreciate the nod, however butchered)

I've always read galach to derive from "galactic", as it is the galactic standard language

It's not surprising to me that the studios did not want to go anywhere near the islamic holy war association. Perhaps even going as far as having fear of some kind of random violence associated with the next film

Frank Herbert wasn't a Tolkien and honestly it is more realistic if languages 20 000 years later aren't similar to recent languages, however they can be based on recent languages. Peterson still could have used Arabic as a base just he had to change the words to become less recognizable.

To be honest, Herbert was more interested in the environment and political philosophies of Dune rather than creating a fully functional language, like what Tolkien aimed for. That's not to say he made Fremen carelessly, but the point is he didn't master linguistic skills. I myself could probably just study a good amount of Arabic, and then just take it and modify it slightly. Still, Peterson could've dedinately worded things better than saying stuff equivalent to "Herbert knew nothing", or that he was including Islamic vocabulary "semi-problematicly."

The sound of Chakobsa and visuals in Dune Pt2 seem much more based on Amazigh culture than Arabs. Which kind of makes sense, as Taureg (a branch of Amazigh) means "free men".

It’s a tangent but “Caladan” also makes me think of “Caledonia”, one of the older names for Scotland. While the Atreides seem like a mashup of Scottish and Spanish influences, it’s worth remembering that Spain was inhabited by Celtic peoples prior to the Roman and later conquests of the Iberian peninsula.

I can't realize from what the Giedi Prime language in Part Two was based on. But I think it should have been based on Uralic and Slavic languages. Description of Lankiveil from the House trilogy is basically Siberia.(Though Bifrost Eyrie seemed more like Tibet for me) The name Harkonnen itself is Finnish. Meanwhile they also use Russian names like Vladimir. In my opinion the Harkonnens were probably Russian and Uralic peoples' descendants.

Maybe a video about the Zen Sunni Wandering would be a good companion to this. It smashes two nearly opposite world views together because they had to learn to live together. Much like the Orange Catholic Bible does.

I also didn't mention that Gurney literally reads from a German book "Vier Bücher vom wahren Christenthum" by Johann Arndt in Dune: Part One before he steps foot on Arrakis. German survived in Denis Villeneuve's movies also. Somehow, Arabic did not.

As a North African i barely see any show or movie based on my culture. And when it is, the characters are portrayed by black actors. And i think this situation is pretty much the same for subsaharian Africans, writers/producers would rather race swap historical white figures into being black for their show rather than making a proper show based in Africa and educate people about REAL African history, like emperor Mansa Moussa. This whole race swapping trend could definitely give western people the impression that Africans do not possess any historical legacy and that this would be the reason why those producers/writers would need to modify their own history to fit Africans in it for inclusion. In my opinion, the reason they do it is based on hypocrisy and literal contempt towards African history. Last scandal was about the new Assassin’s creed game set in Japan with a black main character, why didn’t they have the game be set in Africa ? Why do we almost never see Africans in histories set in Africa ? Dune was the occasion to finally tell a story HEAVILY inspired by North African culture in a blockbuster with no race swap, or culture theft. Strangely, 95% of the elements inspired by my culture seemed to have been erased in the movie. When they finally get a shot at real culture inclusion they disrespect it.

I think it's more respectful to not only stay true to FH, but to include the Arabic (and other language) references. And you can't just remove the jihad(s)! They are critical to the entire storyline, the entire Dune universe. I agree with you. I think the erasure is disrespectful.

It seems like Peterson used Chakobsa to show off talent. He may have seen it as an opportunity to create something completely new like he did in GoT. If that's the case then, its a shame.

The ancient Greeks had the gaida, a type of bagpipe, and house Atreides descends from house Atreus. You can even see Greek letters on the old Duke's tomb in the scene on the cliff/cemetery.

As a Circassian I recognize stuff from Dune (everyone carrying daggers is very Caucasian tradition). It is an interesting mix of a lot of different cultures. The book had more of this than the movie though...

to throw my two cents in, while peterson did great work, the corporate urge to say nothing negative about islam is STRONG, even in the face of some of the horrific shit we've lived through in the past few decades and is very often reflected in sentiments like his the fun part about making a far flung future based on real world culture is that you CAN do things like that, because in your world, none of the people that would be offended still exist and you should write as if your audience would feel the same way

I respectfully disagree with your conclusion regarding Frank Herbert’s use of various languages in the Dune novels. While it’s unlikely Herbert knew every nuance of each language he incorporated, he didn’t need to. Herbert was an exceptional world-builder, standing alongside giants like J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert Heinlein, Poul Anderson, and Jack Vance. His ability to weave diverse cultural elements into a cohesive and immersive universe is a testament to his skill. The use of language in a work of fiction can be challenging for any author (unless you're Tolkien). However, crafting an engaging "otherworld" story for your intended target audience—that’s the real skill.

Mandarin should not have been used; rather, a descendent "conlang" should have been invented, just as was done with Chakobsa.

Galas language is Anglo slavic... this is because the book was written in bipolar world of USA and USSR

I'm sorry. But Peterson, although very talented, comes across as rather precious. Which only makes him look more insecure. In comparison, look at interviews with Zimmer. He's like... "Isn't it fun just to be like you are twelve again?" (not direct quote). When you are sure of your craft, you learn when working with others, to let things go. That also means not bitching about it after the fact.