Warning: This article contains spoilers for Peaky Blinders season 6.
What does Tikna Mora O Beng mean? That's the most pressing question for Peaky Blinders after its long-awaited return. The shocking first episode of Peaky Blinders season 6 was packed with revelations, but what was the gypsy phrase that made Tommy so concerned, and what did little Ruby's vision mean? Having seemed happy to remain in North America alone after the first reveal of Ruby's illness, he quickly changed his mind when Lizzie explained the details of their daughter's feverish visions.
Tommy Shelby is a man defined by the links to his bloodline: he believes his family to be cursed, at least partly, seems taken in by the idea of the gypsy curse, and took his own visions and those of Aunt Polly (Helen McCrory) as guidance for his actual strategies. And given that Tommy's fears over being betrayed - based on his black cat dreams - were confirmed by the reveal that barman Mickey Gibbs was selling him out to Titanic Boys, it's hard not to accept that there's something supernatural going on with the Shelbies. That adds a different dynamic entirely to Tommy's visions of Grace, which could otherwise have been dismissed as the result of his PTSD and his heavy self-medication with alcohol and opium. Perhaps his ghosts are genuinely real.
In the devastating Peaky Blinders season 6 opening episode, Tommy is also faced with the possibility that daughter Ruby is gravely ill when Lizzie explains how her fever manifested in apparent rambling and visions of a green-eyed man. Here are all of the key questions answered about what Ruby's Romani words mean, what the significance of the green-eyed man in her fever visions is, and why Cillian Murphy's Tommy Shelby is so concerned of what Lizzie tells him.
What Does Tikna Mora O Beng Mean - Romani To English Translation?
While translating Romani language is a prospect made difficult by the nomadic nature of traveler culture and vast differences across different gypsy groups, some of what Lizzie says Ruby said can be vaguely translated. "Tikna" (or Tickner as the BBC subtitles spelled it) means little girl or daughter, while "beng" is a supernatural being, and sometimes the Devil himself. "Mora" (subtitled as "maura") is the hardest word to translate, given that the only existing Romani glossary to list it translates it as "friend", but that could be a problem with Lizzie's understanding of what Ruby said. Either way, the combination of the words daughter, friend, and Devil is clearly ominous, and would explain Tommy's reaction. So too would the fact that "mora" seems to derive from the Latin "mors", which is linked to death, and which would explain why he demands Johnny Dog's wife put a black madonna around Ruby's neck.
What Is Wrong With Ruby In Peaky Blinders Season 6?
The most curious thing about Ruby's vision is Tommy's specific insistence that Ruby stay away from horses and away from the river, and that Curly stays with her horses to watch over them. That suggests that he believes Ruby's visions and her fever have revealed a dangerous illness linked to horses and water. Though the transmission of disease between horses and humans is rare, it's possible, and one disease that matches both the concern over water and Ruby's feverish conditions is Glanders, which, sadly, is usually fatal if not treated properly.
Why Ruby Sees A Green-Eyed Man In Peaky Blinders Season 6
Ruby's vision in Peaky Blinders' season 6 opening episode includes the sight of a green-eyed man, which also seems to concern Tommy Shelby. This presumably is not linked to the cause of her illness, but rather seems to be Tommy's belief that she has the second sight that Polly was gifted with. Green-eyes have one overriding association in symbolism - jealousy - and Tommy could see Ruby's vision of a green-eyed man as further confirmation of his own visions of black cats. It would be his belief, after all, that Michael and Gina's desire to take over the Shelby company was borne out of envy.
New episodes of Peaky Blinders air every Sunday in the UK, with a Netflix date for the US to follow.