Kittât


The Kittât (or Sith alphabet) was one of the writing systems used by the ancient Sith, a Force-wielding species hailing from Korriban and Ziost in the Stygian Caldera. When the Dark Jedi Exiles enslaved the Sith, their language and alphabet were recuperated by the newly founded Sith Order.

Overview


Kittât was generally written from left to right in horizontal lines. It consisted of 37 glyphs, including 6 vowels, 2 diphthongs, 17 basic consonants and 12 consonant clusters. Consonants were constructed by the combination of a long vertical stroke and various hooks or barbs. The vowels were indicated by diacritics which appeared above the consonant which preceded. When vowels came at the beginning of a word or stood on their own, the diacritics appeared alone. Besides the uniliteral glyphs, there were also biliteral or triliteral signs, representing compound consonants like mw or tsw.

Usage


This variant of Sith writing lent itself to both calligraphy and other uses such as printing and stone carving. Some ancient rituals in Sith, like the Dwomutsiqsa ("Summon Demon") were written in this runic alphabet, and so were ritual inscription on mummy shrouds.

Behind the scenes


This alphabet was designed by Ben Grossblatt for the 2012 reference book Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side, but was first identified as Kittât in Speak Like a Sith, an article featured in the Star Wars Insider 134.

Due to its various ecclesiastical uses (such as incantations and ritual writing), the Kittât might in fact be High Sith, but neither the Book of Sith nor Speak Like a Sith have specified it.

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Appearances