Khuzdul

Khuzdul is a fictional language created by J. R. R. Tolkien, and is one of the languages which feature in Middle-earth, and is the secret and private language of the Dwarves.

Khuzdul
Created by	J. R. R. Tolkien
Date	c. 1935
Setting and usage	Middle-earth, the setting of the novel The Lord of the Rings, the secret and private language of the Dwarves.
Purpose	constructed languages artistic languages Khuzdul
Writing system	Cirth
Sources	Influenced primarily by Hebrew in phonology and morphology and other Semitic Languages
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

External history

Tolkien began developing Khuzdul before the publication in 1936 of The Hobbit, with some names appearing in the early versions of The Silmarillion. Tolkien based Khuzdul on Semitic languages, primarily Hebrew, featuring triconsonantal roots and similarities to Hebrew's phonology and morphology. [1][2] Tolkien noted some similarities between Dwarves and Jews: both were "at once natives and aliens in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue…". [3] Tolkien also commented of the Dwarves that "their words are Semitic obviously, constructed to be Semitic." [4]

Although a very limited vocabulary is known, Tolkien mentioned he had developed the language to a certain extent. A small amount of material on Khuzdul phonology and root modifications has survived which is yet to be published.[5]

Internal history

In the fictional setting of Middle-earth, little is known of Khuzdul (once written Khuzdûl), the Dwarves kept it secret, except for place names and a few phrases such as their battle-cry and Balin's tomb in Moria, which read respectively:

Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu!	"Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!"
Balin Fundinul uzbad Khazad-dûmu	"Balin son of Fundin, lord of Moria"

The highest level of secrecy applied to Dwarves' "inner-names", their personal names, with the possible exception of the Petty-dwarves. The names of all Dwarves are "outer-names" either from another language (Dalish) or nicknames/titles, sometimes in Khuzdul: e.g. Azaghâl, Gamil Zirak.

According to the Lhammas, Khuzdul is a language isolate, the sole member of the Aulëan language family, not related to the Oromëan languages spoken by Elves. Aulëan was named from the Dwarvish tradition that it had been devised by Aulë the Smith, the Vala who created the Dwarves. Later, Tolkien dropped the origins of Elvish being taught by Oromë, but kept the origins of Khuzdul the same. It is said in The Silmarillion that Aulë created the dwarves, and taught them "the language he had devised for them", making Khuzdul in both fiction and reality, a constructed language.

The Dwarves had a great reverence for Aulë. Because of this, Khuzdul remained unchanged. As a result, all Dwarven clans could speak with each other without difficulty despite the great distances that separated them and the more than 12,000-year history of the language. Khuzdul was to the dwarves “a tongue of lore rather than a cradle-speech”, and was carefully learned through reverent study as they matured, to make sure Khuzdul was passed down unaltered from one generation to the next. The changeability of Khuzdul versus other languages was compared to "the weathering of hard rock and the melting of snow".

Dwarves were unwilling to teach outsiders Khuzdul, even to their non-dwarf friends. Dwarves would speak the languages of the region "but with an accent due to their own private tongue...",[6] and being careful not to even speak Khuzdul around non-dwarves. Only a few non-Dwarves are recorded as having learnt Khuzdul, most notably the Elves Eöl, Fëanor's son Curufin, and reluctantly the Noldor loremasters of the Second Age:

"They understood and respected the disinterested desire for knowledge, and some of the later Ñoldorin loremasters were allowed to learn enough of both their "aglâb" (tongue) and their "iglishmêk" (gesture-code) to understand their systems."

There were many similarities between Khuzdul and the native tongues of Men of the Far-East of Middle-earth. This is because in the early days of Middle-earth, Men of these regions had friendly contact with the Dwarves, who "were not unwilling to teach their own tongue to Men with whom they had special friendship, but Men found it difficult and were slow to learn more than isolated words, many of which they adapted and took into their own language". Adûnaic, the language of Númenor, retained some Khuzdul influences and was said to have been influenced by Khuzdul's basic structure.

Dwarves were however, willing to reveal the names of places in Khuzdul, with Gimli revealing the names of the landmarks of Moria: "I know them and their names, for under them lies Khazad-dûm, the Dwarrowdelf... Yonder stands Barazinbar, the Redhorn...and beyond him are Silvertine and Cloudyhead:...that we call Zirakzigil and Bundushathûr."[7]

Khuzdul is usually written with the Cirth script, with two known modes used, Cirth Moria and Cirth Erebor.

Iglishmêk

Besides their aglâb, spoken tongue, the Dwarves used a sign language, or iglishmêk,[8] which was also just as secretive as Khuzdul. According to The War of the Jewels, it was learned simultaneously with the aglâb from childhood. The Dwarvish sign language was much more varied between communities than Khuzdul, which remained "astonishingly uniform and unchanged both in time and in locality".

Tolkien described of their structure and use among the dwarves:

"The component sign-elements of any such code were often so slight and so swift that they could hardly be detected, still less interpreted by uninitiated onlookers. As the Eldar eventually discovered in their dealings with the Naugrim, they could speak with their voices but at the same time by ‘gesture’ convey to their own folk modifications of what was being said. Or they could stand silent considering some proposition, and yet confer among themselves meanwhile."[8]

Tolkien only gave a few examples of the Iglishmêk sign language in his unpublished notes. The command to "Listen!" involved a slight raising of both forefingers simultaneously. The acknowledgment "I am listening" involved a slight raising of the right-hand forefinger, followed by a similar raising of the left-hand forefinger.[9]

Phonology

The following phonemes are attested in Tolkien's Khuzdul vocabulary.

	Labial	Alveolar	Postalveolar	Palatal	Velar	Uvular	Glottal
Plosive	b	t d			k ɡ		ʔ^1
Aspirated Plosive		tʰ			kʰ (ɡʰ)^2
Fricative	f	s z	ʃ		(ɣ)^2		h
Nasal	m	n
Trill		(r) ^3				ʀ ^3
Approximant		l		j

	Front	Central	Back
Close	i iː		u uː
Close-mid	e eː	ə^4	o oː
Open-mid			ʌ^4
Open		a aː

Only one diphthong is attested in Khuzdul: ai [ai], as seen in ai-mênu.

¹ Often at the start of words that begin with a vowel, often not written in the Latin alphabet, but has its own rune in Angerthas Moria.
² Supposedly in Azaghâl, 'gh' [ɣ] is used to represent this sound in Black Speech and Orcish, but wasn't said of Khuzdul. Could also be [ɡh] or [ɡʰ].
³ Alveolar trill [r] a later variant in pronunciation, the uvular trill [ʀ] being the original Khuzdul pronunciation.
⁴ No examples found, Tolkien explicitly states these were frequent in Khuzdul, and have their own Cirth runes. Possibly in between incompatible consonant formations or current vowels in known corpus.

Khuzdul features a CV(C(C)) syllable structure. Words that begin with either a vowel or diphthong have a glottal stop at the beginning to fill the place of an initial consonant. Words can not start with a consonant cluster, but these are found in medial or final positions in a word. It is unknown what all the consonant clusters are. Few are attested as shown in the corpus above, but presumably are more flexible and varied than of the consonant clusters found in the Elvish languages, as the language was said to be "cumbrous and unlovely" (Silmarillion ch. 10) to the elves, with Tolkien describing it as having a cacophonous quality.

Writing

Tolkien wrote most of Khuzdul in the Latin alphabet, and in Cirth within Middle-Earth. The dwarves had adopted the Cirth from the elves by the end of the first age, and made changes to their liking to represent the sounds of Khuzdul. There were two methods known of writing Khuzdul, Angerthas Moria when the dwarves still lived in Khazad-dûm before its fall, and Angerthas Erebor once they fled and further developed the Cirth when they settled at Erebor, The Lonely Mountain.

The following tables present the corresponding Cirth and Latin alphabet characters by using the keymapping devised by Daniel Smith,[10] and will display correctly only on devices with Smith's Cirth Erebor typeface installed.

Angerthas Moria
2	3	6	8	8V	9	@	%	w	e	eV	r	uI,	a	d	f	g	l	ll ?	;	S	D	z	x	c	v	b	nIM	.	/ >	Z ?
b	f	m	t	th	d	r	sh	z	k	kh	g	n	l	nd	h	ʔ, ‘	i	î	y	u	û	e	ê	a	â	o	ô	s	ə	ʌ

Angerthas Erebor
2	3	6	8	8V	9	@	%	e	eV	r	uI,	a	d	fIg	l	lÌ	;	S	SÎ	D	z	zÎ	c	cÎ	b	bÎIn	.	/ >	Z ?	X	C
b	f	m	t	th	d	r	sh	k	kh	g	n	l	nd	s	i	î	y	u	û	z	e	ê	a	â	o	ô	h	ə	ʌ	ps^1	ts^1

The Cirth runes used to write Khuzdul.

¹ Cirth used only by dwarves. It's unknown if ps was written for Khuzdul or for other languages, as [p] is yet to be attested in Khuzdul.

As an example, the dwarvish battle-cry can be written thus:

Mode	Khuzdul
Moria
Latin	baruk khazâd khazâd ‘aimênu
Erebor
Latin	baruk khazâd khazâd aimênu

And the only source of Khuzdul written in Cirth in the Angerthas Moria mode, as seen in The Lord of the Rings:

Angerthas Moria	Latin
	balin
	fu(nd)inul
	uzbadkhazaddûmu

Grammar

Too little is known of Khuzdul grammar to even construct a sentence, but the language was known to have its morphology based mainly on Hebrew, and other Semitic languages. Tolkien states that Khuzdul was complicated and unlike the other languages of Middle-Earth at the time in terms of phonology and grammar. It has been said the grammar of Khuzdul influenced the basic grammar of Adûnaic, but little material is given to show these influences other than the mention of where Adûnaic's grammar differs from Quenya. Even then, differences could be influenced by other languages than Khuzdul.

Nouns and adjectives

Nouns and adjectives are known to have singular and plural forms, and like the Semitic languages, can be in the absolute state, or the construct state. The construct state is used to indicate a connection with a following noun, being a quality, belonging or part of that noun. The construct comes before the absolute noun and when compounding words. e.g.: Baruk Khazâd! ('Axes' + 'Dwarves') "Axes of the Dwarves" stating that the Axes belong to the dwarves, Khazad-dûm ('Dwarves' + 'Delving') "Dwarrowdelf", stating it's a Dwarvish delving. The construct can also be used for compounding words, in which it is the composition state, and may be the same or slightly different to the construct form based on conjugation. There are no known (if any) definite or indefinite articles in Khuzdul.

Khuzdul appears to have case endings similar to Arabic, having nominative, accusative/genitive cases, and an adjectival suffix akin to the Nisba in Arabic.

Title
Nominative	Accusative/Genitive	Nisba
-ø	-u	-ul
Khuzd	Khuzdu	Khuzdul
Khazad-dûm	Khazad-dûmu

Nouns and adjectives appear to share different declensions that dictate the formation and number. How many declensions there might be in Khuzdul is currently unknown. Tolkien has stated that plural formations were said to be similar to Arabic's broken plurals, which would make for many irregular plurals, but only two examples are known: baruk, the plural of bark "axe", and Khazâd, the plural of Khuzdul.

1st Declension
	Root		Dwarf: √KhZD		Orc: √RKhS		Shadow: √ʔZN		Head: √BND
	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural
Absolute	CuCC	CaCâC	Khuzd	Khazâd	Rukhs	Rakhâs	‘uzn	‘azân*	Bund	Banâd*
Construct	CuCC	CaCaC	Khuzd	Khazad	Rukhs	Rakhas	‘uzn	‘azan	Bund	Banad*
	Root		Hill: √HND		Cave hall: √GND		Beard: √TRG
	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural	Sing.	Plural
Absolute	CuCC	CaCâC	Hund	Hanâd*	Gund	Ganâd*	Turg*	Tarâg
Construct	CuCC	CaCaC	Hund	Hanad*	Gund	Ganad*	Turg*	Tarag*

Note that only Khuzd "Dwarf" and Rukhs "Orc" are the only nouns fully attested in this table. Words that are theoretical constructions are marked with an asterisk *, as their forms are based on the attested forms of "Dwarf" and "Orc", but could differ from declension and/or broken plural patterns.

Other noun declension types likely exist, but little detail is provided to show any full declensions or identify any broken plurals. Of these, the only hints that point to their existence is in compounded attested words and single words:

Known Noun & Adjective Forms
Absolute				Construct / Composition
Singular
Root		Pattern	Word	Root		Pattern	Word
Axe	√BRK	CaCC	bark	Black	√NRG	CaCC	narg-
River-course	√NLʔ	CâCaC	nâla’	Staff	√ThRK		thark-
Pool, Lake	√ZRM		zâram	Red	√BRZ	CaCaC	baraz
Black	√NRG	CaCâC	narâg	Black	√NRG		narag
Fortress	√GThL	CaCoC	gathol	Hollow	√ZHR		zahar
Hewer	√FLK	CeCaC	felak	Great in size	√GBL	CaCiC	gabil
Spike, Tine, Peak	√ZRK	CiCaC	zirak	Glass, Mirror	√KhLD	CeCeC	kheled
Horn	√NBR	‘iCCaC	‘inbar	Silver (metal)	√KBL	CiCiC	kibil
Dwarf	√KhZD	CuCC	khuzd	Valley	√DBN	CuCaC	duban
Hall	√TM / √DM	CûC	tûm/dûm	Lord, Ruler	√ZBD	‘uCCaC	‘uzbad
Plural
Root		Pattern	Word	Root		Pattern	Word
Orc, Goblin	√RKhS	CaCâC	rakhâs	Shadow / Dim	√ʔZN	CaCaC	‘azan
Axe	√BRK	CaCuC	baruk	Dwarf	√KhZD		khazad
Cloud	√ShThR	CaCûC	shathûr	Axe	√BRK	CaCuC	baruk
Gesture	√ShMK	‘iCCêC	‘ishmêk	Long	√SGN	CiCiC	sigin

The word baruk is both the absolute and construct plural form of bark, likely the result of being a broken plural.

Some patterns can be seen that hint at some details of what state and/or number a noun is in:

• A CVCVC pattern, seen in CaCaC, CeCeC and CiCiC for common singular construct patterns:

baraz, kheled, zigil.

• A VCCVC pattern, seen in iCCaC and uCCaC for a common singular pattern:

inbar absolute form

uzbad, construct form.

• Vowel orders of "i-a" and "u-a" seem to apply for absolute and construct nouns respectively:

zirak, inbar

duban, uzbad.

• Long vowel sounds seem to appear only in the absolute state, and can be any number, but more likely in plural forms:

Singular: nâla’, zâram, narâg, dûm / tûm.

Plural: khazâd, tarâg, shathûr, ishmêk.

Another possible declension based from Nâla’ and Nulukkhizdîn, construct likely singular, but uncertain:

Possible Declension
		Sg. Absolute	Sg. (Pl.?) Construct
Pattern		CâCaC	CuCuC
River-course	√NLʔ	Nâla’	Nulu’^1
Pool, Lake	√ZRM	Zâram	Zurum*

¹ Possible assimilation of (’kh) → (kkh): Nulu’khizdîn → Nulukkhizdîn

Another noun form that may exist is the collective numbers, along with the singulative form. This is from observation of the names Buzundush and Tumunzahar, where they're biconsonantal roots √BZ and √TM/√DM and the suffixes of "-n-, ân-, -în-, -ûn-" meaning a person / place; as seen in Gabilân, Nargûn, Nulukkhizdîn, Tharkûn are applied. Thus making a singular instance of what makes the collective, e.g. a single hall, out of a group of halls. Although being "absolute" in state within names, it's shortened to "-un-" as in the composition form, due to long vowels possibly being shortened before a consonant cluster.

Collective Nouns
	Root Template		Root: √BZ		Hall: √TM
Number	Collective	Singulative	Collective	Singulative	Collective	Singulative
Absolute	CûC	CuCûn	bûz*	buzûn*	tûm^1*	tumûn*
Construct	CuC	CuCun	buz*	buzun	tum^1*	tumun

¹ Possible assimilation of (dt) → (dd): Khazad-tûm → Khazad-dûm.

Most compounded words feature an Adjective-Noun pattern, but a Noun-Adjective pattern has also been observed. This could hint at a flexible pattern that allows both forms of Adjective-Noun and Noun-Adjective patterns, with the adjective taking the construct state. This could be done to stress the first element or for artistic purposes.

An example of Adjective-Noun pattern include:

• Barazinbar : Redhorn

Baraz "Red" + Inbar "Horn"

• Kibil-nâla : Silverlode

Kibil "Silver (metal)" + Nâla "Path, Course, River-course or Bed"

• Kheled-zâram : Mirrormere

Kheled "glass, mirror" + Zâram "Pool, Lake"

• Sigin-tarâg : Longbeards

Sigin "Long" + Tarâg "Beards"

One example of a Noun-Adjective pattern:

• Zirakzigil : Silvertine

Zirak "Spike, Tine" + Zigil "Silver (colour)"

One example of the use of a preposition/accusative case ending used to make the following noun adjectival:

• Bundushathûr:

Bund "Head" + -u "in/of" + Shathûr "Clouds"

A different example of a verbal noun in a compound name, followed by a noun that the verbal noun applies to:

• Felak-gundu:

Felak "Hewer" + Gund "Cave" + -u "of"

Verbs

Only four verb words are known. The exact tense or use of these verbs are unknown:

Felak : To use a tool like a broad-bladed chisel, or small axe-head without haft.

Felek: hew rock.

Gunud : delve underground, excavate, tunnel.

√S-L-N, Sulûn, Salôn : "fall, descend swiftly" (VT48:24).

Lexicon

Placenames & Names

Khuzdul Names	Translation	Khuzdul Names	Translation
Azaghâl	Presumably an 'outer name' or title. Not an inner name.	Mahal	Aulë, known to the dwarves as the Maker.
Azanulbizar	'Dimrill Dale' lit: "Shadows of streams/rills" or "Dark stream dale".	Mîm	A Petty-Dwarf, possibly an 'inner name'.
Barazinbar	'Redhorn' (Caradhras), also shortened to Baraz 'Red'.	Narag-zâram	'Black-lake', early name, Mirrormere?
Bundushathûr	'Cloudyhead', also shortened to Shathûr 'Clouds'.	Nargûn	Mordor, and Sauron, lit: "Black one/place".
Buzundush	'Blackroot', earlier name of the Silverlode.	Nar(u)kuthûn	Nargothrond, possible later name.
Felakgundu	Cave-hewer; epessë of Finrod. Origin of Felagund.	Nulukkhizdîn	Nargothrond, the Petty-Dwarvish name
Gabilân	'Great River'. a portion of the river Gelion	Sigin-tarâg	The Longbeards, the house of Durin.
Gabilgathol	'Great Fortress' (Belegost).	Sharbhund	Amon Rûdh, possibly meaning 'Bald Hill' as is in Sindarin.
Gamil Zirak	'Old Spike', Nickname of a Firebeard smith.	Tharkûn	Gandalf, said to mean 'Staff-man'.
Gundabad	Mount Gundabad.	Tumunzahar	'Hollowbold' (Nogrod).
Ibun	A Petty-Dwarf, possibly an 'inner name'.	Udushinbar	Earlier name of Bundushathûr.
Kibil-nâla	The name of the Silverlode.	Uruktharbun	Earlier name of Khazad-dûm or Azanulbizar, meaning unknown.
Khazad-dûm	Dwarf-mansion, Dwarrowdelf' (later known as Moria).	Zigil-nâd	earlier name of the Silverlode.
Kheled-zâram	'glass-lake', i.e. Mirrormere.	Zirakinbar	'Silverhorn', earlier name of Zirakzigil.
Khîm	A Petty-Dwarf, possibly an 'inner name'.	Zirakzigil	'Silvertine' (Celebdil), also shortened to Zirak 'Spike'.

Words

Khuzdul	Meaning	Khuzdul	Meaning
-âb / -b	abstract collective?	kheled	glass, mirror
‘aglâb	spoken language	Khuzd / Khazâd	Dwarf / Dwarves
‘aya, ‘ai-	upon	Khuzdul	Dwarvish language, lit. "Dwarf-of(gen.)"
‘azan	dark, dim	kibil	silver, the metal
‘iglishmêk	sign-language of the Dwarves	ma-	passive participle?
‘inbar	horn	mazarb	written documents, records
‘ûl	streams	mazarbul	records (the Chamber of Mazarbul, Book of Mazarbul)
‘uzbad	lord	mên* / mênu	2nd person plural, "you" - Nom.* / Acc.
‘uzn	dimness, shadow	-n / -ân / -în / -ûn	one, person or place.
baraz	red	nâla’	path, course, river-course or bed
bark / baruk	axe / axes	narâg	black
bizar / bizâr?	dale or valley	Rukhs / Rakhâs	Orc / Orcs
bund	head	sigin	long
buz / bûz	root?	sulûn / salôn	fall, descend swiftly
duban	valley	sharb	bald?
dûm / tûm^1	delving, subterranean mansion, hall	shathûr	clouds
dush / dûsh?	black, dark?	tum / tûm	hall / delving^1
felak	tool for cutting stone	thark / tharuk*	staff / staffs*
felek	hew rock	turg* / tarâg	beard / beards
gabil	great	-u	of / accusative marker
gamil	old?	-ul	of, patronymic genitive ending
gathol	fortress	zahar	hollow?
gund	underground hall	zâram	pool, lake
gunud	delve underground, excavate, tunnel	zigil	silver, the colour
hund	hill?	zirak	spike

¹ Seen in Tumunzahar in 'Hollowbold', with 'bold' as an obsolete term for dwelling. Assimilates to 'D' when precedes one, e.g. d-t = d-d : Khazad-dûm

Consonantal Roots

Biconsonant Roots
Khuzdul Root	Translation	Khuzdul Root	Translation
√ʔL	streams	√HL	??? - Azaghâl
√DM	excavation, hall, mansion	√ND	see √NLʔ - Zigil-nâd
√DSh	dark, darkness	√TM	excavation, hall, mansion

Triconsonant Roots
√ʔBD	??? - Gundabad	√MHL	Create, Maker?
√ʔGL	speech, language, dialect	√NBR	horn
√ʔRK	??? - Uruktharbun	√NDD	see √NLʔ - Zigil-nâd
√ʔZG	??? - Azaghâl	√NLʔ	path, course, river-course or bed
√ʔZN	dimness, shadow	√NRG	black
√BND	head	√RKhS	Orc, Goblin
√BRK	axe	√SGN	long
√BRZ	red	√SLN	fall, descend swiftly
√BZR	dale, valley	√ShMK	gesture, hand, sign?
√BZZ	root (of a plant)	√ShRB	bald?
√DBN	valley	√ShThR	cloud
√DMM	excavation, hall, mansion	√TMM	excavation, hall, mansion
√FLK	hew, hewer	√TRG	beard
√GBL	great in size	√ThRB	??? - Uruktharbun
√GML	old, great in age?	√ThRK	staff (rod)
√GND	cave, tunnel	√ZBD	lord
√GThL	fortress	√ZGL	silver (colour)
√HND	hill?	√ZHR	hollow?
√KBL	silver (metal)	√ZRB	write, inscribe
√KhLD	glass, mirror	√ZRK	spike
√KhZD	Dwarf	√ZRM	pool, lake

References

1. Fauskanger, Helge K. "Khuzdul - the secret tongue of the Dwarves". Ardalambion. University of Bergen. Retrieved 23 November 2018.
2. Åberg, Magnus (2007). "An Analysis of Dwarvish". In Stenström, Anders (ed.). Arda Philology 1. First International Conference on J. R. R. Tolkien's Invented Languages. Stockholm, 4–8 August 2005. pp. 42–65.
3. Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, #176, ISBN 0-395-31555-7
4. "An Interview with J.R.R. Tolkien". BBC Four. January 1971. Archived from the original on October 19, 2009.
5. Hostetter, Carl F. (November 26, 2004). "reply to: Khuzdul - mostly to Aelfwine/Carl Hostetter". Lord of the Rings Fanatics Forum. Retrieved April 21, 2017.
6. Carpenter, Humphrey, ed. (1981), The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 176, ISBN 0-395-31555-7
7. The Lord of the Rings, Book II, chapter 5.
8. J. R. R. Tolkien (1994), The War of the Jewels (volume 11 of The History of Middle-earth), Harper Collins, part 4 appendix D p.395; ISBN 0261 10314 8
9. Tolkien, J.R.R. (July 1998). Hostetter, Carl F. (ed.). "From Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D". Vinyar Tengwar (39): 5, 10.
10. Tolkien Gateway, Dan Smith

Further reading

• Hostetter, Carl F (2006). "Languages Invented by Tolkien". J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment. Routledge. ISBN 0415969425.

External links

• An analysis of Dwarvish
• Ardalambion site; discussion of Khuzdul
• Eldamo: Khuzdul Compilation
• Khuzdul Documents & Dictionaries - Neo-Khuzdul, based on Tolkien's attested Khuzdul.
• A suggested expansion of Khuzdul into a fully functional language
• http://midgardsmal.com/
• Fan made compilation of useful Tolkien terms