carolinisimah-blog - Tumblr blog

[carolinisimah-blog]

And the lessons are pretty cool! I cant wait till the next lesson!!!... I think I'll took another course until I could speak like Thorin Uthâyindul, khâzad Ubadhûn ni 'Urdek ra Thorinuldûm ♡

A little wait & more dwarvish good stuff

Shamukh!

HEADS-UP: Because of the current Neo-Khuzdul Initiate Course I’m giving these past weeks I’m having a bit less time for the tumblr requests. Yet, I will slowly but surely start to answer the pending queue in the days and weeks to come. 

Note though that those replies that may need a bit more of in debt answer will have to wait a bit longer for their answer. Yet more dwarvish good stuff to come, don’t fear!

Thanks for your understanding and till soon.

[carolinisimah-blog]

Sorry if you have already answered this but I was wondering where you weighed in on dwarrow aging. Do they reach adulthood at 85, at 40, or at another age? Are there any other significant factors to consider with their aging?

Thank you for that question. I indeed get asked that question every now and then, but happy to answer it again none the less.

For some reason people believe this is one of those areas where Tolkien was vague, contradictory, or didn’t give us a clear answer. I don’t think that is the case here actually.

In short, dwarves reach adulthood at BOTH 40 and around 70…. confused? 

Well, the “History of Middle Earth” tells us this:

“Dwarves remained young - e.g. regarded as too tender forreally hard work or for fighting - until they were 30 or nearlythat (Dain II was very young in 2799 (32) and his slaying ofAzog was a great feat). After that they hardened and took on the appearance of age (by human standards) very quickly. By forty all Dwarves looked much alike in age, until they reached what they regarded as old age, about 240. They then began to age and wrinkle and go white quickly (baldness being unknown among them), unless they were going to be long-lived, in which case the process was delayed.”

Some have said that Thorin, in The Hobbit Movies, should have looked older (as he would have been 195 at the time), but as you can see from the above quote from the History of Middle Earth it is actually one of the things the makers of these movies (perhaps completely unintentionally) got very nearly spot on! As he indeed looks much alike regardless of age. On a side note, Balin - with his white beard - seems to be a rare example of going white prematurely (at “only” 178 at the time of the quest).

All credit for the above picture to The Tolkienist blog

Now, the above might lead you to believe that a dwarf would be considered adult at forty, yet culturally accepted adulthood and being physically adult seem not to be the same things in dwarvish culture. A perfect example of that is Gimli, who had wanted to accompany his father Glóin and the others in the company of Thorin Oakenshield on their quest to reclaim Erebor in the year 2941 T.A, but at the of age sixty-two was deemed too young.  If physical adulthood at the age of forty would have equaled cultural adulthood, surely he would not have been considered “too young”. 

Gimli’s mother (left) and young Gimli (right) as depicted in Glóin’s locket in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. This drawing of Gimli seems to be at least twenty-five years old to me, seeing he looks a dwarf boy, clearly not having reached the physical adulthood of forty. 

One might argue that perhaps Glóin was overly protective of his son Gimli and this would have been a rare exception, yet when we listen to Gimli’s own words on the matter he says this to Gandalf: 

“…I wish I had been there, but I was away at the time of your first visit to us. And I was not allowed to go on the quest: too young, they said, though at sixty-two I thought myself fit for anything.” From The Book of Unfinished Tales (III - The Quest of Erebor).

The keyword in the above text from Unfinished Tales being “they said”. Though we don’t know who Gimli is talking about exactly, I deem it unlikely he would be talking about both his parents and very likely he is talking about his father and the others in the company (and perhaps the dwarves of Thorin’s Halls in general). So it seems to be a cultural thing that dwarves don’t go on adventures or join companies before an age they are considered to be adult (even-though physically they are already very much adult).

Though, granted, Gimli’s grumble about not being allowed on the journey was somewhat understandable, as Kíli, who was a “mere” fifteen years older, WAS allowed to join the quest.  As such, from my point of view, we have a relatively clear divide. Anyone below the age let’s say 70 (65-75) was too young to venture out the halls, while anyone above that age would be considered adult.

Kíli, seventy-seven at the time and (just) old enough to join the company

And seeing that most dwarves that venture into marriage (though, granted, few go on that adventure) do so shortly after, at the age of 90-100, that further solidifies this argument in my view.

I’ve made a full article on this topic some five years ago on the dwarrowscholar wordpress blog HERE - have a look if you need some further information on the matter.

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar 

[carolinisimah-blog]

Greetings, Comrade! I need a Khuzdul epithet/title for a female character (who saves the Heirs of Durin) based on the word "guard", and was wondering if you could translate "Durin's Guardian" or "Heir-Guardian" as the epithet and "Guardian of Durin's Heirs" as the title, indicating a female? Thanks!

Well met fellow…. uhm, wait… what am I a comrade of exactly? Dwarvish Appreciation Society? 

Right, let’s see.. “Durin’s Guardian”, “Heir-Guardian”, “Guardian of Durin’s Heirs”  (taking into account this would all be a female). Yes, I think we can manage that. How about:

Durin’s Guardian( ♀ ):  “Ushmarûna Durinul”   

Heir Guardian( ♀ ):  “Rayad-Ushmarûna"

Guardian( ♀ ) of Durin’s Heirs:  “Ushmarûnayu Rayyad Durinul” 

Blimey Comrade! It’s the heirs of Durin!

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Hail and Well Met, Dwarrow Scholar! I hope All is Well with You and Yours, and Thank You for all Your Hard Work Here! Now I Finally have a Question! Could You translate "Early Blessing" for me? It's a Special Nickname for a Certain Dwarf, born two months early, in the World of My Writings! Thank You for considering this, and Have A Wonderful Day!

Hello there Anon!

With pleasure.

I would translate this as:

Note though, normally we would write “mahd ganin” (”blessing early”) - as in Neo-Khuzdul we swap the place of nouns and adjectives (compared to English word order), yet as this is a “title” this reversal doesn’t take place, hence becoming Ganin-mahd.

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Neo-Khuzdul Sources

As I regularly get some questions on the sources for the material I have made available, related to the extent in which it is “compatible” with other sources, which languages are used, etc… I thought a post might be in order to clarify this in a bit more detail.

The lessons one will find on dwarrowscholar.com were made by myself. However the material used for it includes all of the Khuzdul-related published material of JRR Tolkien and David Salo (which can be found on his blog), among others. 

In fact the aim of this project has always been to combine all we know from both the Professor and other valued sources and expand that into a fully speak-able Dwarvish language, an aim I’m getting ever closer too by now. 

During the second phase of this project, in 2012/2013 I was in contact with mister Salo via email and Skype and we exchanged some of our thoughts and concepts on the matter.  Obviously to create such a language I could not merely copy-paste ideas, words and concepts, adaptations were required (the main goal was never to alter any facts stated by Professor Tolkien however).

The below diagram can give you a rough idea in which manner the Dwarrow Scholar Neo-Khuzdul was compiled. As you can see it uses all of the original Khuzdul, the majority of David Salo’s work (exceptions are some verb forms and noun declensions - Salo’s Neo-Khuzdul lacks a/e/u types for instance) and it included some of what is found in SSG’s Lotro too.

Basing myself on all these sources (while protecting the original Khuzdul of Professor Tolkien at its core) I am able to come to new structures and new words. The manner in which this is done is detailed HERE (amongst other posts on the topic).

Meaning that, if we look at all words and concepts from my Neo-Khuzdul version and compare that with others, we should see the following:

100% of J.R.R. Tolkien’s original published words and structures have been included.

About 95% of Salo’s version has been included (exceptions as listed above)

About 80% of SSG’s Lotro words have been included, though almost all as an inspiration, in most cases I could not include words directly, as they would at times contradict grammatical rules. Only about 5% of these words were in fact used without any change to them.

The remainder of the words I invented were bases on Hebrew, Arabic, Aramaic on one hand (for grammatical structure) and Gothic, Icelandic, Old Norse, English or Proto-Germanic (for radicals) - as detailed HERE.

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

I need a bit of help understanding the dictionary. I'm looking for the term "Be silent" or "Silence" but like, in context of it being a command, not a suggestion? And I found "be silenced" in the dictionary but I'm not sure if it's what I want?

Well met!

“Be silenced” would be the passive form, so no need to use that here.

In this case, “silence!”,  would either be “itkit!” when commanding one person or “itkitî!” when commanding several people. These are the forms (iCCiC/iCCiCî) used in the imperative form, meaning “silence!” or “shut up!” 

Incidentally, in “The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey (An Unexpected Party)” we see Thorin shout out “ATKÂT!”, seen in the video above at 2:19 (Apologies for the poor quality video but was unable to find any better).

“Atkât” also means “silence” (notice the same radicals TKT as seen in “itkit”), however, this is the noun, as in “the silence”. A word that was introduced back in the days of the Lord of the Rings movies (where it was first used in the song “The Abyss” in the phrase “The silence will take you”) - using the noun type 10 form (aCCâC), used for abstract concepts, such as language (”aglâb”).

So, Thorin’s shout in this scene should have been “itkitî!” and not “atkât”. Seeing he now shouts “the silence!”, which clearly isn’t the point as he is commanding the other dwarves to be silent, requiring the imperative to be used, not a noun form. So, this seems a Neo-Khuzdul mistake by linguist David Saloin this scene, … or who knows perhaps PJ’s team thought “atkât” sounded better than “itkitî” and thought no one would ever notice anyway…. 

Think again PJ :)

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Do you know the khuzdul word for "Arkenstone"?

I do indeed, the word is “Raklaban”

(or more correctly “Rakl’aban” - including the glottal stop)

A word consisting of the elements

“rakl” (precious, dear, darling)*

“’aban” (stone).

Extremely fine ears will have heard the word in the soundtrack of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”.

Where it is used in the phrase “You will know it when you see it. It is the Arkenstone” (Translated by D.Salo as “Tân sanki zasairadihu. Ata Raklaban)

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Hi there, I am still figuring out my tattoo design where you helped with the text. I had a new idea. Dwarves are known for their geometric symbols and architecture. So I am looking for dwarven geometric symbols/ornaments, that have a special meaning for them (maybe with regards to Kili and Fili, but "just" the culture in general is fine too). Do you know any of those? Thank you very much for all the work you do for this community! =)

Hello again!

Professor Tolkien didn’t really give use any information on geometric symbols/ornaments that had meaning to these two dwarves. Yet their clan, that of the Longbeards (Durin’s Folk) does have some clear symbols. Mainly those of “the hammer and anvil”, and “the seven stars of Durin’s crown”, as seen on the doors of Moria (here circled in red):

That’s the best I can do for you I’m afraid, any other guesses on Longbeard geometric shapes or symbols would best be done by graphical artists I would suggest.

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Hi, I was wondering if you had any khuzdul translations for songs? particularly the song of durin? i want to use the last verse in a knit project but i can't find it anywhere.

Hello there!

I have in the past translated some songs in Khuzdul. It is rather a labour intensive task to be honest. As in some cases it isn’t merely a matter of translating a lot of lines, but also ensuring the words you go for fit the metre of the song.

These are two examples of songs I’ve translated in the past:

Far Over the Misty Mountains Cold (the song sung by Thorin II Oakenshield and Company in The Hobbit)

I See Fire (Ed Sheeran)

The translation for “I See Fire” resulted in this fantastic collaboration with Rebekah Mui called “Asakhi ‘Urs”

Sadly, I’m yet to translate The Song of Durin. It is an interesting one for sure (one very close to my heart), but something that would take a great deal of time to do justice. 

So, a day may come when I indeed translate it in full, yet it is not this day… (hmm, sounds vaguely familiar) ;)

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Thranduil’s using his “Elven Jedi Mind Trick” to force you to like @thegnotesots. Is it working yet?

Kíli: Don’t look at us. We don’t know what he’s doing.

Fíli: He’s doing whatever he wants.

Kíli: Is that an elf thing or a Thranduil thing?

Fíli: Both I think.

Kíli: What’s the dwarf in the red shirt think?

Fíli: You mean the director.

Kíli: Whatever.

Elrond: I don’t think I’m supposed to be talking to you.

PJ: Why not?

Elrond: Because you’re not wearing a red shirt.

PJ: I do have more than one shirt, you know.

Elrond: Why?

Legolas: Finally! We’ve been looking everywhere for you.

PJ: What do you mean?

Bard: You’re the director, aren’t you? You’re wearing a red shirt.

Legolas: It’s not really red. It’s more of a visually distracting plaid.

PJ: What’s my shirt have to do with anything?

Bard: Kíli told us the dwarf in the red shirt was in charge.

PJ: Dwarf?

Legolas: You are kinda short, PJ.

Bard: You remind me of Thorin.

Legolas: No way! More of an Ori. Maybe a Dwalin. Maybe.

Bard: Too much hair on top.

PJ: What is wrong with you people?

Fíli: Live from Middle-Earth on Saturday Night…

Kíli: That’s it, Brother. We’re done here.

Fíli: Yep.

[carolinisimah-blog]

In spite of all the funny moments and silliness, both the books and the films emphasize the importance of family and friendship, bravery and courage and acceptance of each other’s differences. Even in writing TKWR (The Kingdom of the Woodland Realm) I do not lose sight of this because it is what makes Thranduil what he becomes and what gives each character their strength and propel them to do things they never thought they could do. Circumstance is what it is; fate is what happens when character is challenged. The outcome belongs to us.

[carolinisimah-blog]

DON’T TELL ME IT WASN’T REAL ANYTHING THAT ACHES THIS BADLY AT ALL HOURS OF THE DAY AND NIGHT IS REAL NOT GOOD, BUT REAL

REAL // abby, day 343 (via elysianink)

[carolinisimah-blog]

Okay, there a few things I want to point out in the scene where Kili gives Tauriel the rune because the little things Tauriel does kill me. 

The first is how after Kili says “I think you do,” Tauriel starts to move towards him before she senses that Legolas is approaching and her entire body tenses back into ‘Guard Captain’ position. Was she going to move towards the boat? I like to think she could been convinced by Kili to go with them if Legolas hadn’t made an appearance

The second is after Legolas tells her to ‘take leave’ of Kili and that she’s needed elsewhere. When their eyes lock again you can just see her shake her head slightly before Kili looks away and gets that absolute look of hurt on his face. She couldn’t actually bring herself to say no to him (because moments before it seemed as if she might)so she gives him the best answer she can. 

Another is just the fact she tries so hard to keep her face composed so she doesn’t give away too much

but then once she sees just what he gave her she lets her guard down just slightly,

and the last good glimpse of her Kili would have gotten when he turned around in the boat to see her would be her trying to keep herself from crying.

[carolinisimah-blog]

I noticed in the excel translator that there is a word for the guild of engineers (Niddînaban). Do you have names for other guilds, or how did you make the name of the guild so I could make my own?

Well met Anon,

The name for “Brotherhood of Stone” (an exclusive guild-like organization for dwarven engineers) is indeed “Niddînaban” in the dictionary.

It consists of the words “niddîn” - brother-place, “u” - “of” and “’aban” - stone. This gives us “niddînu’aban”, which becomes “niddînaban” (due to “u’a” becoming “a” - see document on crasis for more info).

Though I currently have no other guilds listed in the dictionary (nor in the upcoming version), others could easily be created indeed.

The only thing you need to take into account to form new names is if the word starts with a vowel or consonant(or glottal stop).

A couple of examples:

“Niddînutalâkh” (”Brotherhood of Smiths”)

“Niddînubekhaz” (”Brotherhood of (the) Hammer”)

“Niddinaglâb” (”Brotherhood of Language”) - in this example (compared to the earlier two) you not only see that we lose the “u” after “niddîn” (seeing that “u’a” becomes “a”), but also the “î”, in “niddîn”, which becomes a short “i”. This is because in compound words the long vowels of the first compound element become shortened when the second element of the compound also contains a long vowel - in this case the “â” of “aglâb” (language). - More information on compound words can be found HERE.  Another well known example of that is the word  “Khazad-dûm”. Separately these words are “Khazâd” (dwarves) and “dûm” (halls), yet when we put them together the “â” in Khazâd, turns into a short “a”.

A noble guild it must be the “Brotherhood of Stone”, consisting of many master engineers to create such beauty. - Khazad-dûm as seen in Lord of The Rings Online.

Ever at your service,

The Dwarrow Scholar

[carolinisimah-blog]

Awesome book!

I just love it… I never thought that I will be able to understand the sindarin phrases of the books or the movies! Love phrases and a lot of cool stuff!!!

Even if you want for write a fanfic!   :-D

https://realelvish.net/store/

[carolinisimah-blog]

[carolinisimah-blog]

“Legolas, please shut up” - Aragorn [x]