Tolkien

1. Tolkien Thomas Honegger t.m.honegger@gmx.de

2. http://www.db-thueringen.de/content/top/index.xml

3. Languages

4. ‘Early’ Languages • Animalic (invented by his young cousins Mary and Marjorie Incledon) • Dog nightingale woodpecker forty = You are an ass • Nevbosh (New Nonsense; developed by Marjorie and Ronald)

6. Nevbosh • Dar fys ma vel gom co palt ’HocPys go iskili far maino woc?Pro si go fys do roc deDo cat ym maino bocteDe volt fact soc ma taimful gyroc!’ • There was an old man who said ‘How / Can I possibly carry my cow? / For if I were to ask it / To get in my basket / It would make such a terrible row!’ (Carpenter 44)

7. ‘Early’ Languages • Naffarin (showed a great deal of Spanish influence); abandoned in favour of • Gothic • Joseph Wright, 1910, Primer of the Gothic Language, Oxford: At the Clarendon Press. • historic language which had ceased to be spoken in the 16th or 17th centuries (‘Krimgotisch’)

10. Gothic • Gothic texts: Ulfila Bible translation (4th century) • commentaries on the gospels (‘skeireins’) • list of 68 words written down by the Flandrish nobleman Ogier Ghiselin of Busbecq (ambassador to Constantinople in 1560-62).

12. Gothic • Example from Marcus X, 14-15 • ‘letiππo barna gaggan du mis jah ni warjiππo, unte πize ist πiudangardi gudis. amen, qiπa izwis: saei ni andnimiππiudangardja gudis swe barn, ni πauh qimiπ in izai.’ • ‘Let the children go to me and not hinder them, to such is the kingdom of God. Amen, I tell you: who not accepts the kingdom of God like a child, not comes into it.’

14. Gothic • Example by Tolkien • Brunaim bairiπ Bairka bogumlaubans liubans liudanei,The birch bears fine leaves on shining boughsgilwagroni, glitmunjandei,it grows pale green and glitteringbagme bloma, blauandeithe flower of the trees in bloom

15. The Languages of Arda

17. Valarin • Valarin = language of the Valar; according to Kloczko, some of the names in Valinor cannot be explained within an Elvish framework, e.g. Lake Irtinsa • further examples: mirub = wine; maxal = legal, in accordance with authority; phana = illuminated

18. Valarin • the Valar, when communicating with the Elves, use Elvish and Valarin remains a ‘secret’ language used by the Valar and Maiar among themselves. Nevertheless, some of the words in the Elvish languages and in Khuzdul show strong similarities to Valarin words.

20. Khuzdul • secret language of the dwarves • names of places and mountains: Azanulbizar = Vale of Dim StreamsBarazinbar = Caradhras = RedhornBundushathûr = Fanuidhol = CloudyheadZirakzigil = Celebdil = Silvertine • single words: baruk = axe, kheled = mirror, gabil = great, powerful

22. Entish • slow, sonorous language of the Ents and the Huorns (Sind. hu- = speaking; orn = tree) • a-lalla-lalla-rumba-kamanda-lindor-burúme • part of the name of the hill in Fangorn where Merry & Pippin meet Treebeard

25. Black Speech • Ash nazg durbatulûk,One ring to rule them all ash nazg gimbatul,One Ring to find themash nazg thrakatulûkOne Ring to bring them all agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.and in the darkness bind them.

26. Black Speech • created by Sauron during the Dark Years of the Second Age. Intended as an ‘evil Esperanto’ for his servants, yet proved too complex for most of the orks and trolls, so that the main speakers were the Nazgûl and the higher-ranking officers of Sauron (‘Mouth of Sauron’)

28. Black Speech • Ash nazg durbatulûk,One ring to rule them all • ash = one • nazg = ring • durba- = to govern • -tul- = them • -ûk = all

29. Black Speech • ash nazg gimbatul,One Ring to find them • gimba- = find • ash nazg thrakatulûkOne Ring to bring them all • thraka- = to bring

30. Black Speech • agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.and in the darkness bind them • agh = and • burzum = shadow, darkness • ishi = into • krimpa- = bind

31. Black Speech • individual words and sentences • Uglúk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob búbhosh skai. (‘The Uruk-hai’ 466) • Uglúk to the cesspool, sha! the dungfilth; the great Saruman fool, skai! • Uglúk to the dung-pit with stinking Saruman-filth - pig-guts gah! • ghâsh = fire; olog = troll; oghor = wild men

33. Orkish • mostly names: Bolg, Gothmog, Gorbag • origin: Melkor-Morgoth ‘creates’ the orks during the First Age. It is assumed that the orks of Angband all spoke the same language, Orkish • from the Second Age onwards, the orks developed as many dialects/languages as there are tribes and peoples of their race

35. Human languages

38. Westron = Common Speech • Westron = sôval phâre • origin goes back to the 19th century of SA when Númenorean mariners established permantent settlements in Middle-earth (primarily for trade) • The Adûnaic spoken in these towns begins to be influenced by the surrounding languages => Adûnaic based pidgin

39. Westron = Common Speech • After the downfall of Númenor, Adûnaic is more and more replaced in Middle-earth by either Westron (creolisized pidgin) and Sindarin (due to language-policiy of the last Númenorean kings)

41. Rohirric • Rohan? Rohanese? Rohanic? • A northern speech, more archaic than the Westron • translated as Old English (Mercian)

43. Hobbitic • originally also a northern speech (hobbits lived on the upper part of the Anduin close to the Rohirrim) • gave up their original language when entering the Shire and adopted Westron as their first language • Westron names of hobbits: • Maura • = Frodo

45. Hobbitic • Ban (< Banazîr) Galpsi • = Sam (Samwise) Gamgee • Razar (Razanur) Tûk • = Pippin (Peregrin) Took • Kali (Kalimak) Brandagamba • = Merry (Meriadoc) Brandybuck

46. Hobbitic • kuduk (kûd-dûkan) • = hobbit • kûd = hole => hol- • dûkan = dweller => bytla • => kûd-dûkan = hol-bytlan • kûd-dûkan > kuduk • hol-bytlan > hobbit

47. Hobbitic • banakil • = halfling (half-man) • the Shire = Sûza < ON sysla = district • Laban-neg • = Bag-end

48. Other Human Languages • Dunlending (forgoil) • Wose • Haradric • Khandic • etc.

50. The Languages of Arda • Edouard Kloczko, 2002, Dictionnaire des Langues des Hobbits, des Nains, des Orques etc. Argenteuil: Arda. • Ruth S. Noel, 1980, The Languages of Tolkien’s Middle-earth, Boston: Houghton Mifflin.