What does ceruval and cerum mean?

LindsC · May 2018

NPCS in Summerset keep calling me it and I have no idea what it means

Ajaxandriel · May 2018

Perhaps corresponding to "serjo" and "sera" / "muthsera" of the Dunmer ?

DoctorESO · May 2018

It means the person who's saying it is a snobby Altmer.

ArchMikem · May 2018

Ajaxandriel wrote: »

Perhaps corresponding to "serjo" and "sera" / "muthsera" of the Dunmer ?

Most likely this. Every Race has their own native language, even though in-game we hear everyone speaking in "Cyrodiilic". Those Altmer as just calling you Mister or Miss in their own tongue.

DoctorESO · May 2018

But if they call you nebarra or n'wah, then they are not exactly calling you "ma'am" or "sir."

Kahsa · May 2018

I don't believe the "Sir" and Ma'am" translations are correct, as NPC's will call a single person both ceruval and cerum in the same discussion (i.e. Tarnavir, the former Chief Inquisitor uses both in addressing the questor during his initial conversation).

Dracan_Fontom · June 2018

Didn't the jerk face Earl of Clavius Vile say that cerum meant unwelcomed or something? Maybe I'm confusing it for something else.

WhiteCoatSyndrome · June 2018

Dracan_Fontom wrote: »

Didn't the jerk face Earl of Clavius Vile say that cerum meant unwelcomed or something? Maybe I'm confusing it for something else.

No, that was neberra.

Dracan_Fontom · June 2018

WhiteCoatSyndrome wrote: »

Dracan_Fontom wrote: »

Didn't the jerk face Earl of Clavius Vile say that cerum meant unwelcomed or something? Maybe I'm confusing it for something else.

No, that was neberra.

Yea that's it. My bad. :P

PrinceShroob · June 2018

Based on when it's used, I assumed it was a polite version of "outsider." At least its usage is more consistent than "f'lah."

ShadowWolf44 · November 2018

I'm thinking it may be a version of "Hero". Having just finished the quest where the Illumination Academy was under a powerful enchantment, the main Character, whom I'll call "The Bore", called me this a couple of times. it would make sense, to me at least, if that was his finally title for me, after saving all of his friends, and "his" girl. Could be wrong, but it feels right.

Danikat · November 2018

Kahsa wrote: »

I don't believe the "Sir" and Ma'am" translations are correct, as NPC's will call a single person both ceruval and cerum in the same discussion (i.e. Tarnavir, the former Chief Inquisitor uses both in addressing the questor during his initial conversation).

Maybe the altmer don't use gendered titles and instead it's dependent on context/tense/place in the sentence? Without knowing enough about their language it's difficult to say for sure but I know that's the case with some real life cultures. (For example the Japanese suffix -san is usually considered the equivalent of Mr/Mrs and is used for both men and women.)

In real life there's hundreds of variations of titles and greetings which aren't always directly equivalent so it would make sense it's the same in Tamriel.

Although they don't (yet) have the added minefield of automated translations. Someone I work with still has a letter they received addressed to "Beloved man woman" because that's how the software had translated an attempt at "Dear Sir/Madam". The rest of it is nearly as bad.