Yrksk Orðabók
Although there is quite a bit of Orkish in the films of The Hobbit, the vocabulary involved in the dialogue is quite small. This is for two reasons: first, the dialogue is fairly repetitive; second,...
View ArticleGimla ok Þorins bǫlvan
One of the most common questions I’ve been asked about neo-Khuzdul is “what does Gimli say to Haldir?” This has been asked since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring way back in 2001. With the...
View ArticleQuestions and Answers
I get a lot of questions about particular lines of dialogue in The Hobbit films, requests to translate and so forth. I would like to comply, but unfortunately I don’t have a complete script of all the...
View ArticleFurther Dwarvish
Some more material prepared for The Hobbit, from the early stages of production. I present the forms exactly as I first wrote them, with some suggested emendations based on later developments. Lu...
View ArticleContinuing Dwarvish
Lu kalzatha bark “Couldn’t lift an axe” lu: “not” kalzatha: root √ʔ-l-z “rise” > causative √ʔ-l-z-th “cause to rise, lift, raise” > ka- prefix indicating ability or potentiality + alzatha perfect...
View ArticleDwarvish #4
Ikhf’ id-ursu khazâd “Feel the fire of the dwarves” ikhfi: imperative of √kh-f, “receive, accept,” elided to ikhf’ before another word beginning with i- id-ursu: “the fire (of)” the noun urus “fire”...
View ArticleDwarvish #5
After those phrases, there follows a list of much shorter phrases and words, none more than two words long: Insid, pl. insidî “Sit down!” Imperative from the root √n-s-d. inkhir, pl. inkhirî “Come...
View ArticleDwarvish #6
banak magar “well done” banak “well”: adjective used adverbially from the root √b-n-k “good” (in an ethical or moral sense) magar: past participle from the root √g-r “do” zanag bakarsu, pl. zangâ...
View ArticleDwarvish #7
Risrithî ‘t-tebud “Burn the corks” risrithî: imperative plural of √r-s-r-th, causative (with -th suffix) from √r-s-r “burn”: “cause to burn” = “burn (something)” it-tebud: id-, definite accusative...
View ArticleDwarvish #8
Ansaru kitnul, ifridî bekâr! Centre company, ready weapons! ansar: company, group; from the root √n-s-r “come together, form a group”; with the construct suffix -u kitnul: adjectival derivative of...
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