MUME Dictionary
KHUZDUL
The Dwarves' name for their own secret language, of which
only a few words were ever discovered by outsiders. With the exception of a few
fragments and place-names, Tolkien gives us little insight into the Dwarvish
tongue (as the Dwarves kept their tongue secret, it is
natural that little of it should have survived in records). Our main sources
are in words such as Khazad-dûm
(Khazâd being Dwarvish for
'Dwarves') and Khuzdul itself, and in the Dwarvish
war-cry, 'Baruk Khazâd!
Khazâd aimênu!' (Axes of the
Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!)
During the Third Age, the Dwarves seem to have considered Khuzdul in much the same way as the Elves of Middle-earth looked on Quenya, as an ancient and noble tongue of the past. The Dwarves would more commonly speak, even among themselves, in the native tongues of the regions in which they lived, to the extent that they took their names from these languages.
Generated on Mon Apr 17 22:48:49 2023