The Greetings

We learn from the games that the Protoss have very specific greetings. In the first StarCraft series we are saluted by the advisor, as soon as we start the Protoss campaign, with "En taro Adun!". We learn from the manual that Adun is actually a historical figure very important in Protoss lore, among other things he helped the Dark Templar escape to Shakuras after the retreat of the Xel'naga and the division between the Khalai Protoss and those who rejected the Khala. The salute is oft translated "In honor of Adun!", the actual rendering is closer to

en      tar       -o      Adun

/ɛn ˈtaɾɔ aˈdun/ 

for    name     his     Adun

The structure obeys Khalani rules of syntax. The possessive construction in Khalani is

noun + possessive + "possessor"

So literally means "for his name Adun" which translates to "for Adun's name" or, what is the same, "for Adun's fame/glory/honor", tar is actually a concept which englobes what we regard as fame or renown. This is a very common and standard greeting among the Protoss. We are also told that both Khalai Protoss and Dark Templar acknowledge Adun as a very important figure, and the Nerazim (or Dark Templar) have another salute which they commonly use among themselves

Adun toridas

/aˈdun ˈtɔridas/

Adun shelter-DEF-PRES

Which translates literally as "Adun shelters (you)" but can also be translated as "May Adun give you refuge" as he did historically to the Dark Templar allowing them to scape the madness in Aiur. Here the verb is tor both the definite and present suffixes to mark the Present Simple. I will further explain how these are used in following posts.

It is worth mentioning that before Adun's time Protoss used the greeting "en taro Khas" (featured in my profile) with the same meaning but using the name of the famous Khas which discovered the psionic link all Protoss share and instituted the Khala discipline. Other common salutes included

Khas arashad

/kʰas aɾaʃad/

Khas be-praised

 This would most likely be used only by the Khalai, the followers of the Khala. Also there were many other salutes available for Protoss, similar to these, "Adun guide us", "Honor guide us" and so on, this could be used in this way:

tar        -o    Adun   ruulas

/ˈtarɔ aˈdun ˈruːlas/

name    his   Adun   guide-PRES

This would be translated as "May Adun's name guide us", which could be shortened to "Taro ruulas", "his name guide us", and another common greeting:

var         -un       ruulas

/varˈun ˈruːlas/

honor    our        guide-PRES

Oft translated as "Our honor guides us", which can in turn be used with some other possessive suffix and combinations to denote "my honor guide us" or "Adun's honor guide us" as the moment demands. Next time I'll be writing about the possessive suffixes.