ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

English

Proper noun

ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

1. A fictional occult phrase from H. P. Lovecraft's The Call of Cthulhu, said to mean "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming".
   • 1926, H. P. Lovecraft, The Call of Cthulhu

     What, in substance, both the Esquimaux wizards and the Louisiana swamp-priests had chanted to their kindred idols was something very like this: the word-divisions being guessed at from traditional breaks in the phrase as chanted aloud: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn."

     Legrasse had one point in advance of Professor Webb, for several among his mongrel prisoners had repeated to him what older celebrants had told them the words meant. This text, as given, ran something like this: "In his house at R'lyeh dead Cthulhu waits dreaming."

   • 1976, Lyon Sprague De Camp, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy - Page 99

     ... produces a stone statuette of a similar monster and tells of the chant of the cultists: "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn".

   • 1999, Stefan R. Dziemianowicz, Robert E. Weinberg, Martin Harry Greenberg, 100 Hilarious Little Howlers - Page 51

     "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn," he responded eruditely; these occultists know many unfamiliar toasts.

   • 2007, Asenath Mason, Necronomicon Gnosis: A Practical Introduction

     Then begin the meditation: gaze into the symbol and chant the mantra "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn". Visualize that the seal becomes a gate...

Usage notes

While this phrase appears in English fiction, it is intended to represent an ancient (fictitious) language as conceived by H. P. Lovecraft.

There is no formal pronunciation for this phrase: Lovecraft left it up to interpretation.

Quotations

• For examples of the usage of this term see the citations page.