Khuzdul
| Khuzdul | |
|---|---|
| Created by | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Date | c. 1935 |
| Setting and usage | Middle-earth, the setting of the novel The Lord of the Rings, the secret and private language of the Dwarves. |
| Purpose | |
| Cirth | |
| Sources | Influenced primarily by Hebrew in phonology and morphology and other Semitic Languages |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Khuzdul is a constructed language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien. It is one of the many fictional languages set in Middle-earth. It was the secret language of the Dwarves.
Tolkien noted some similarities between Dwarves and Jews: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…". Tolkien also commented of the Dwarves that "their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic." Tolkien based Dwarvish language on the Semitic languages. Like these, Khuzdul has triconsonantal roots: √Kh-Z-D "dwarf", √B-N-D "head", √Z-G-L "silver (colour)". Also other similarities to Hebrew in phonology and morphology have been observed.
Although only a very limited vocabulary is known, Tolkien mentioned that he had developed the language to a certain extent. It is unknown whether such writings still exist.
In the fictional setting of Middle-earth, little is known of Khuzdul (once written Khuzdûl), the Dwarves kept it secret, except for place names and a few phrases such as their battle-cry:
The highest level of secrecy applied to Dwarves' real personal names, with the exception of the Petty-dwarves. The personal names of all Dwarves in Tolkien's stories are "outer-names" either from another language (Dalish) or nicknames/titles. Dwarves do not even record their true names on their tombstones. The runes written on Balin's tomb in Moria can be transliterated to read
Only few non-Dwarves are recorded as having learnt Khuzdul, most notably the Elf Eöl and Fëanor's son Curufin.
According to the Lhammas, Khuzdul is a language isolate, the sole member of the Aulëan language family, not related to the Oromëan languages spoken by Elves. Aulëan was named from the Dwarvish tradition that it had been devised by Aulë the Smith, the Vala who created the Dwarves.
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