More Pretty Pictures

Apparently, while we were growing up with Brothers Hildebrandt as the measuring stick for Tolkien illustrations, the Russian edition had these illustrations:
(Again, I won't violate copyright by reposting the pictures themselves.)

http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/85739410808/my-childhood-russian-edition-of-lord-of-the-rings
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/85739549878/quasi-medieval-tolkien-illustrations-by-sergey
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/85739762858/quasi-medieval-tolkien-illustrations-by-sergey
http://egelantier.tumblr.com/post/87223083158/more-sergey-yuhimovs-lotr-illustrations-slightly

Same artist, different post, with some pictures not in the previous series:
http://www.liveinternet.ru/community/2281209/post116167073

I think the Russians got the better deal.

There are two pictures in the last post that can't place which scene they refer to.
 • small figure walking down a long red, torch-lit hallway
 • a dark lake with the broken pillar
Anyone have any guesses about those?

11th Annual Tolkien Conference at UVM

"Bombadil and Other Middle-earth Mysteries"
April 11-13, 2014
University of Vermont

They finally have a website!
http://tolkienvt.org/

Based on the list of speakers, it looks like no one is going to tackle the question of Bombadil, after all.

The Climate of Middle Earth

1.  Climate of Middle Earth

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2013/10013.html

In which we learn that the climate of the Shire is very similar to Lincolnshire and Leicestershire in the UK {no surprise there}, but also to Belarus, and a few spots in New Zealand.  

Much of central Middle Earth would naturally tend to support dense forests -- as Treebeard said was once the case.

The climate in Mordor was hot and dry, even before Sauron moved in, and tends toward low scrub vegetation.  It resembles the climate of Los Angeles or western Texas in the US, or New South Wales or Alice Springs in Australia.

{This might be a good point to refer back to Tolkien's own ambivalence. One the one hand, Middle Earth was intended to actually be Western Europe, at a much earlier era.  On the other hand, the early history of Arda, as described in the Silmarillion, is quite different from our world.  Tolkien never resolved this to his own satisfaction.}

http://tolkiendiscussion.blogspot.com/2011/04/music-of-ainur-round-earth-version.html

2.  Carbon Emissions

http://www.csag.uct.ac.za/2014/01/27/carbon_emissions_in_the_hobbit/

In which we learn that a dragon has a surprisingly small overall environmental impact, much less than, say, the industrialization of Isengard.  The carbon footprint of the warhorses of Rohan is estimated to be 68 times greater than that of a dragon.

Human and Hobbit Calendars

Happy Afteryule 17!

By our reckoning, we are in the first week of the new year. Hobbits are already half-way through the first month.  In honor of the new year, I have made charts comparing the Shire calendar with Human calendars of Middle Earth, and with our own.

Tolkien left detailed explanations of the Human and Shire calendars, in Appendix D of Return of the King. The notes about Elvish calendar are much less detailed. (The calendars of Elves, and of Dwarves, would be a topic for a different post.)

Humans

All the calendars used by Westron ("Common") -speaking Humans and by Hobbits derive from the calendar used in Númenor.  They all feature 12 months of 30 or 31 days, and all start at the Winter Solstice.

The Númenorean calendar (or “Kings' Reckoning”) was used in Númenor, and during the time of the Kings of Gondor. It was eventually replaced by the Stewards' calendar. This Stewards' Reckoning was the “common” calendar used by most Humans of Middle-Earth in the later Third Age.

There is no record whether Rohan uses the common "Stewards'" calendar (from their long historic association with Gondor), or whether they retain some unique ancient calendar system.

Tolkien, in his books, generally translated the names of months into their modern approximate equivalents, for convenience. 

The Quenya names of the months – widely used among “Common”-speaking Humans of Middle-Earth – are Narvinyë, Nénimë, Súlimë, Víressë, Lótessë, Nárië, Kermië, Úrimë, Yavannië, Narquelië, Hísimë, Ringarë. 

 

The Sindarin names of the months – “used only by the Dúnedain” Tolkien says – are Narwain, Nínui, Gwaeron, Gwirith, Lothron, Nórui, Cervath, Úrui, Iavanneth, Narbeleth, Hithui, Girithron.

Hobbits

The Hobbits made different modifications to the Kings' Reckoning, adding holidays in different dates. This means that, for about half the year, Shire dates are slightly different from the Human calendar of Middle-Earth. The hobbits also arranged that the days of the week should fall on the same dates every year, by declaring that Midyear's Day was part of no week. This meant that Monday in the Shire might not be Monday elsewhere. 

 “[The Shire-folk] found this quite convenient at home, but not so convenient if the ever travelled further than Bree.” (Return of the King, Appendix D)

On the calendar, I used the English translations of Hobbit days of the week. More authentic spellings would be Sterday, Sunday, Monday, Trewsday, Hevensday, Mersday, Highday. Tolkien points out that the Hobbit's work week begins on Saturday. 

“The last day of the week, Friday (Highday), was the chief day, and one of holiday (after noon) and evening feasts.” (Return of the King, Appendix D)

Bree uses the Shire calendar, though with slightly different names for the months.

The Calendar Charts

Tolkien was writing from the Northern Hemisphere, and Middle-Earth is set in the Northern Hemisphere, so the seasons marked on this calendar are the Northern Hemisphere seasons.

Click on any of the charts to enlarge.
 {In my browser, the View Full Size link is much more helpful than clicking directly on the image.  This may depend on which browser you are using.}

Human / Hobbit Calendar Part 1 - View Full Size

Human / Hobbit Calendar Part 2 — View Full Size

Human / Hobbit Calendar Part 3 -- View Full Size

Human / Hobbit Calendar Part 4 — View Full Size

“It appears … that Mid-year's Day was intended to correspond as nearly as possible to the summer solstice. In that case, the Shire dates were actually in advance of ours by some ten days, and our New Year's Day corresponded more or less to the Shire January 9.” (Return of the King, Appendix D) 

In my chart, Modern January 1 works out to Shire January 11. If anyone can explain this discrepancy, please put it in the Comments, or email me ( lihan_taifun(at)yahoo(dot)com ).

 

Leap Years

Part of the evidence that "Middle Earth" is intended to be our own world, at an earlier era, is the fact that calendars in Middle Earth are designed for years of 365 1/4  days, just like our own.

Both Hobbits and Humans added an extra leap-year day, at Midsummer, every four years. Hobbits call the extra day Overlithe. Humans call the two days at Mid-year “Middle Days” (“Enderi”). In Appendix D, Tolkien discusses at length which years of the Second and Third Ages were leap years. If we assume Middle-Earth calendar leap years are currently synchronized to our leap years, the calendar looks like this during a leap year:

Human / Hobbit Calendar Leap Year — View Full Size

The 1985 Hobbit Movie from Russia

http://io9.com/5969220/

Don't think of it as a "movie."  That will only lead to disappointment.

Think of this as a video of a stage performance of The Hobbit.  In fact, the more I look at it, the more convinced I am that this is based directly from a stage performance.

I don't speak Russian, but you don't really need the words.
Here are the scenes:
   2:57 Bilbo meets Gandalf
   6:19 The Dwarves arrive at Bilbo's house
  20:36 Travelling
  23:56 The goblin's cave
  33:45 Gollum
  44:50 Forest with spiders
  49:07 Laketown
  51:26 Approaching the Lonely Mountain
  54:30 Bilbo finds the Arkenstone,  and talks to Smaug
  59:22 Smaug at Laketown
  59:55 Using the Arkenstone to negotiate
1:01:54 The Battle of "Five" Armies (though only three appear in this version)
1:03:01 Thorin's last words
1:05:15 Farewells
1:07:38 Happily ever after

If you were writing a script for a stage performance of The Hobbit - with a community theater or high school  budget - which scenes would you include?  How would you handle the special effects (Smaug, invisibility?)  How would you handle the size differences among the races?

WTЖ?

I sometimes read the stats for my website.
Do I even want to know the story behind this one?

Quenya Language Class

I am now consolidating my Quenya Language course to one website.  Read the entire course at

 the Tolkien Language Discussion site.

 

Sentences in Khuzdul (Dwarvish)

 «Khuzdul Words «        Dwarvish Index          
 

Everything we know about forming sentences in Khuzdul comes from one war cry and four isolated verbs.  That is to say, we know practically nothing!

known examples:

Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu! "Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!"

felek:  to hew rock

felak:  a stone-cutting tool, also to use such a tool

salôn, sulûn:  to descend swiftly (used of rapids on a river)

gunud:  to dig underground

Khazâd means “Dwarves,” ai (shortened from aya) means “upon”, and mênu means “you” (plural pronoun, accusative case).  Notice that there is nothing in this sentence that explicitly means “are”!  Apparently, in Khuzdul, as in some other languages, the form “____ ____” can be used to mean “____ is _____.”

That suggests that the inscription on Balin's tomb:  Balin Fundinul uzbad Khazaddûmu – traditionally translated "Balin son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." – might equally well be translated “Balin, son of Fundin, is Lord of Moria.”  Under the circumstances, maybe “was Lord of Moria” would be more appropriate.

However, we still don't know how to form any other sentences, or how to use the few verbs we know.  I regret to tell you that the information we need just doesn't exist.

 «Khuzdul Words «        Dwarvish Index        
mirrored from Tolkien Language Discussion site
 

Illustrations for Ainulindalë

Rajani sent me these links.

Fanart/comic of the Ainulindale.
(Click on the first picture in each page to make it bigger, and then keep clicking on it for each next panel.) 
Pretty much perfect.

http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/post/60248601430/part-1-of-j-r-r-tolkiens-the-ainulindale-read

http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/post/60319123248/ainulindale-part-2-thanks-for-all-the-positive

http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/post/60407063957/j-r-r-tolkiens-ainulindale-part-3-the-song-of

http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/post/60512411466/j-r-r-tolkiens-ainulindale-part-4-ea-the

http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/post/60666000172/the-ainulindale-part-5-the-birth-of-the-valar

http://evanpalmercomics.tumblr.com/post/60731398940/and-finally-part-6-of-j-r-r-tolkiens

Forming Khuzdul (Dwarvish) Words

 « Khuzdul Language «        Dwarvish Index         » Khuzdul Sentences »     

Each basic idea in Khuzdul is represented by a group of consonants (most often 3 consonants).  This is called the “stem.”  Nouns, verbs, and other words are then formed by adding vowels in appropriate patterns, and sometimes adding a prefix or suffix.

example:

Kh-Z-D (stem for “Dwarf”  Notice that “Kh” is one consonant sound.)
Khuzd (Dwarf)
Khazâd (Dwarves)
Khuzdul (Dwarvish)

As noted in the lesson on Writing Dwarvish, “Th,” “Dh,” “Sh,” “Zh,” “Kh,” and “Gh” are each a single consonant in Dwarvish.

This system of consonant stems is typical of Hebrew, Arabic, and related languages.  A dwarf would probably look at the English words

wake (present tense verb)
woke (past tense verb)
awake (adjective)

and conclude that English has a “stem” W-K, designating the state of being awake.

‹«◊»›

What are the patterns for converting a root to a usable word?  We can figure out a few patterns, but often the analysts are guessing, based on one or two known Dwarvish words.

Following Ardalambion's notation, let us represent the consonants of a 3-letter root by the numbers 1, 2, and 3.  Using Kh-Z-D as an example: 1=Kh, 2=Z, 3=D.

stem: 1-2-3

singular noun: 1u23  (frequently)

Kh-Z-D (stem for “Dwarf”) → Khuzd (a Dwarf)
B-N-D (stem for “head”) → bund (a head)
R-Kh-S (stem for “orc”) → Rukhs (an Orc)

plural noun:  1a2â3 (frequently)

Kh-Z-D (stem for “Dwarf”) → Khazâd (Dwarves)
T-R-G (stem for “beard”) → tarâg (beards)
R-Kh-S (stem for “orc”) → Rakhâs (Orcs)
Other known plurals, such as shathûr (clouds) and bizâr (valleys) do not follow this pattern exactly.

a person, place, or thing characterized by the root:  1a23ûn

Th-R-K (speculated to be the stem for “staff”) → Tharkûn (Gandalf's Dwarvish name, speculated to mean “staff-man”)
N-R-G (stem for “black”) → Nargûn (Mordor)

one who does:  a1a2â3 (based on one example)

Z-Gh-L (speculated to be the stem for “make war”) → Azaghâl (name or nick-name speculated to mean “warrior”)

adjective:  frequently 1a2a3 or 1i2i3

B-R-Z (stem for “red”) → baraz (red)
N-R-G (stem for “black”) → narag (presumed adjective “black”)
S-G-N (presumed stem for “long”) → sigin (long, used of a plural noun)
Does that mean adjectives for singular nouns are 1a2a3, and adjectives for plural nouns are 1i2i3?  No one knows for sure.  Several known adjectives do not fit either pattern.

adjective, patronymic, genitive: suffix -ul

Khuzd (a Dwarf) → Khuzdul (Dwarvish)
Fundin → Fundinul ([son] of Fundin)

When the root has only two consonants, then often (though not always), use those as letters 2 and 3 of the pattern.

Z-N (stem for “shadow, dimness”) → uzn (a shadow) (singular noun: 1u23)
Z-N (stem for “shadow, dimness”) → azan (shadows) (plural noun:  1a2â3) (Why not azân?  Possibly the second vowel appears short because it is in a compound word, Azanulbizar, Dimrill Dale. No one knows for sure.)

For nearly every one of these “patterns,” there are examples of words that do not fit the pattern.  Take everything with a grain of salt!

‹«◊»›

Ardalambion has a listing of all the known Dwarvish words, from all of Professor Tolkien's writings and letters.

 « Khuzdul Language «        Dwarvish Index         » Khuzdul Sentences »     

mirrored from Tolkien Language Discussion site 

Khuzdul – The Dwarvish Language

 « Dwarf Runes «        Dwarvish Index         » Khuzdul Words »   

This material is mostly based on Ardalambion's analysis. 

Dwarvish is a difficult language to study – not least because we have very little information about it. Don't expect to be conversing fluently in Dwarvish. Tolkien simply didn't leave enough information about the language.

Tolkien explained that the Dwarves kept their own language private , and learned the languages of neighboring folk when dealing with non-Dwarves. Even the names we know for Dwarves – Gimli, Thorin, Balin, etc. – are not those Dwarves “true,” private, Dwarvish names, but rather “public” names, mostly in the Human style.  (The one exception seems to be the Petty Dwarves in the Silmarillion, or perhaps only Mîm the Petty-Dwarf – if “Mîm” is in fact his private name.  Azaghâl (Silmarillion, Chapter20) and Gamil Zirak (Unfinished Tales) could be descriptive nicknames, rather than true private names.)

We do know a number of Dwarvish place names.  Most of what is known about the Dwarvish language comes from place names.  We also have one war cry:  Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu! "Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!", and the inscription on Balin's tomb:  Balin Fundinul uzbad Khazaddûmu, "Balin son of Fundin, Lord of Moria." 

‹«◊»› 

The two original Dwarf cities in the Blue Mountains were named Tumunzahar (translated into Sindarin Elvish as “Nogrod”) and Gabilgathol (translated into Sindarin Elvish as “Belegost,” Great Fortress).  We do not know the Dwarvish names for the cities at the Lonely Mountain or the Iron Hills.  “Erebor” is Sindarin Elvish (for “Lonely Mountain”); I can't imagine Thorin's Dwarves using the Elvish name “Erebor” for their home. 

‹«◊»› 

Internal History 

The Vala Aulë, creator of the Dwarves, invented a language for them, and taught this language to the first Dwarves.  The Dwarvish language changed only slowly with time.  Tolkien stated that, even in the Third Age, Dwarves from any part of Middle-Earth could easily understand each other's spoken language. 

Dwarves found the first Humans; the early Human language was influenced by Khuzdul, as well as by the languages of Elves who did not relocate to Aman.  The Human language of Númenor (Adûnaic) has strong similarities to Khuzdul. 

 « Dwarf Runes «        Dwarvish Index         » Khuzdul Words »   

mirrored from Tolkien Language Discussion site 

Download Some Dwarvish Fonts

 « More About Dwarf Runes «        Dwarvish Index          » Khuzdul Language »  

Are you looking to download some fonts for Dwarf Runes?  These are good places to start:

fontspace.com
dafont.com
fonts2u.com

Keep in mind that the people compiling these fonts don't always  distinguish between the runes we have been learning (Cirth, from Appendix E of Lord of the Rings), the runes on Thror's Map in The Hobbit, and runes from any other generic fantasy dwarves.

From those sites, here are some of the more useful fonts:

“Angerthas Moria”

classic look
dafont.com/angerthas-moria

The “Cirth Erebor” set 

classic look
This is the font I have used for my examples.
Be aware that the characters do not correspond directly to the keyboard.
fontspace.com/dan-smiths-fantasy-fonts/cirth-erebor
dafont.com/cirth-erebor
fonts2u.com/cirth-erebor

“Angerthas”

handwritten (brushstroke) look
fontspace.com/bruce-kvam/angerthas
fonts2u.com/angerthas-runes


“Moria”
informal look
Has phases of the moon in place of the numerals.
dafont.com/moria

“Angerthas Moria” (a different "Angerthas Moria" font)
informal look
fonts2u.com/angerthas-moria

«‹◊›»

Here are runes in Thror's Map style.  
“Dwarf Runes”
 classic look, incomplete alphabet
fonts2u.com/dwarf-runes 


“Moon Runes” handwritten (brushstroke) look
A complete alphabet, though not all the numerals are in rune-style
fonts2u.com/moon-runes  


“Tolkien Dwarf Runes” handwritten  (blobby-pen) look
incomplete alphabet
dafont.com/tolkien-dwarf-runes
fonts2u.com/tolkien-dwarf-runes 


Thror's Map uses Anglo-Saxon Runes, so consider just downloading an Anglo-Saxon Rune font. Most of these are "complete" alphabets, but not all the letters may correspond to characters found on Thror's map.
The lower-case letters are more likely to be "standard" characters, with variant forms in the capitals.  The C/K character on Thror's map might be in the C, c, K, or k position.
fonts2u.com/anglosaxon-runes
fontspace.com/dan-smiths-fantasy-fonts/anglosaxon-runes
fonts2u.com/anglo-saxon-runes-regular
fonts2u.com/futhark-aoe
dafont.com/futhark-aoe
dafont.com/ancientrunes
dafont.com/oxford-runes
dafont.com/english-runic
dafont.com/beowulf-runic
dafont.com/modraniht-runic
dafont.com/historical-runes

«‹◊›»

Just for fun, here are a couple of fonts with "ordinary" letters in a runic-looking style.

fontspace.com/dan-smiths-fantasy-fonts/ds-runenglish-2
fontspace.com/manfred-klein/runish-quill-mk
dafont.com/odinson


 « More About Dwarf Runes «        Dwarvish Index          » Khuzdul Language »  

mirrored from Tolkien Language Discussion site