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We have seen a couple of questions in which people have translated bits of writing from ancient artifacts in Stargate: Atlantis into meaningful English sentences. The primary example we have seen is this translation of a jumper dashboard warning against entering the gate with the cloak activated.

What are some other examples of Ancient writing in the Stargate universe translating to meaningful English?

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  • This originated from this question, but I thought there were enough examples of ancient writing translating to English that it might be nice to have a question that collected them in one place. I started things off with the translation of the gateroom writing. Hopefully people don't mind the self-answer, and can find some others.
    – Bamboo
    Commented Jan 22, 2017 at 22:20
  • Why don't you post it on Puzzle SE and see if anyone can figure out the gibberish?
    – user21820
    Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 9:55

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I believe much of the Ancient writing that we see in Atlantis (and possibly in Stargate once the Atlantis series began running concurrently) can be translated to english. To make the translations we have the ancient to english dictionary (source: stargate wiki):

Ancient to English translator

Atlantic Gateroom Stairs

(Note: the writing on the main stairs translates to English, but the ancient writing on the stairs up to the platform the gate is on doesn't seem to translate to meaningful English sentences.)

Atlantis Gateroom

We hold these as the truth

A hearty welcome to those of other worlds

Visiting our home for the first time welcome again

To those returning you have been gone too long and your

Absence has weighed heavily on our souls we are

Whole again that you are among us and we celebrate you being here again

As we leave for distant worlds we pledge to respect the lands of

Our neighbours and to act with integrity as ambassadors in peace time

Of our people travellers with open hearts will always be welcome refugees

From tyranny may seek shelter under our roof and our people will lay

Down their lives to protect the weak and the just let this be our pledge to those

Inhabitants of this world and all we may ever know we will always strive to

Come in peace as we go in peace and you will be welcome on our shores forevermore

Puddle Jumper Console

From an answer I gave to another question on why they don't cloak the jumpers before entering the stargate we have more of the ancients leaving messages in english with ancient letters.

Two images are here, taken from the Season 1 episode, The Defiant One *, show the left and center of the console, respectively,

console right

console center

We get the following translation

Gate protocols must be set before launch sequence.
Never attempt gate reentry when in cloak m??? [mode?]

Zero Point Module Interface

We also have the following image from the Season 1 episode, Before I sleep. The writing on the zero point module station (at the bottom of the picture) translates.

Before I sleep

STAY CLEAR

Stargate SG-1: Avalon Puzzles

From the Stargate SG-1 Episode Avalon, Part 1 the team encounters two puzzles with ancient writing (which Daniel Jackson gives us the translations for during the episode):

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The first (the Vala, Daniel Jackson puzzle in the episode) says

THE TREASURE IS NOT IN THIS POT

THE UNIVERSE IS INFINITE

The second puzzle (the Cam / Teal'c puzzle) says

REFLECT ON THE EIGHTFOLD PATH

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  • Where is the alphabet translation from? Is that from one of the shows?
    – Xantec
    Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 4:35
  • @Thunderforge Done. I'm still looking for some more ancient writing in Atlantis episodes. A lot of it does turn out to be gibberish though. For some reason I thought there was a Wizard of Oz quote in one of them at some point, but I can't remember where now.
    – Bamboo
    Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 4:49
  • @Xantec It was never in a show, it was pieced together from information in the shows. A lot of the initial info came from the puzzles in the Avalon episode that I included, since Daniel Jackson actually translates those on screen, and people realized the number of ancient letters corresponded exactly to the number of english letters, and went from there.
    – Bamboo
    Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 4:49
  • It may be worth it to point out which things are gibberish, especially if they are prominent things like things in the Atlantis control room. Regarding the Avalon puzzles, do they actually say what Daniel says they say? Also, it wouldn't surprise me that there is a Wizard of Oz quote, since there are a lot of references to it in the show.
    – Thunderforge
    Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 4:55
  • @Thunderforge The most prominent gibberish is the other writing on the stairs in the control room (the stairs around the outside), the other stuff is just fragment on compute monitors, etc. Yes, a Wizard of Oz reference in Stargate would be about as surprising as a Simpsons reference...
    – Bamboo
    Commented Jan 23, 2017 at 4:57

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