Editing Black Speech (section)

=== Parallels to natural languages ===

[[File:Foundation tablet, dedication to God Nergal by Hurrian king Atalshen, king of Urkish and Nawar, Habur Bassin, circa 2000 BC Louvre Museum AO 5678.jpg|thumb|Black Speech has been compared to the [[Hurrian language]], seen here on the Foundation Tablet, {{circa|2000 BC}}|alt=Photo of an ancient tablet with writing in the Hurrian language]]

The Russian historian Alexandre Nemirovski claimed a strong similarity to the extinct [[Hurrian language]] of northern [[Mesopotamia]],<ref name=Fauskanger/> which had recently been partially deciphered at the time of the writing of ''The Lord of the Rings'', [[E. A. Speiser]]'s ''Introduction to Hurrian'' appearing in 1941.<ref>The annual of the American Schools of Oriental Research, v. 20, N.H. 1941.</ref><ref name="Speiser 2016">{{cite book | last=Speiser | first=Ephraim A. |author-link=Ephraim Avigdor Speiser | title=Introduction to Hurrian | publisher=Wipf and Stock Publishers | publication-place=Eugene | year=2016 |orig-year=1941 | isbn=978-1-4982-8811-8 | oclc=957436981 }}</ref> Fauskanger corresponded with Nemirovski, and notes that Nemirovski argued that Tolkien designed Black Speech "after some acquaintance with Hurrian-Urartian language(s)."<ref name=Fauskanger/> The evidence that Nemirovski presented for this is entirely linguistic, based on similarities of the elements of the agglutinative forms of Black Speech; Hurrian was similarly agglutinative.<ref name=Fauskanger/>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Parallels perceived by Nemirovski between Black Speech and Hurrian<ref name=Fauskanger/>
|-
! Black Speech !! English !! Hurrian !! Meaning in Hurrian''<br/>(possible Black Speech interpretation)''
|-
| ''durb''- || to rule || {{Transliteration|xhu|turob-}} || something predestined to occur<br/>''(perhaps: an evil destiny)''
|- 
| -''ûk'' || completely || {{Transliteration|xhu|-ok-}} || "fully, really"
|-
| ''gimb''- || to find || {{Transliteration|xhu|-ki(b)}} || to take, to gather
|-
| ''burz''- || dark || {{Transliteration|xhu|wur-, wurikk-}} || to see, to be blind ''<br/>(perhaps: in the dark)''
|- 
| ''krimp''- || to tie  || {{Transliteration|xhu|ker-imbu-}}  || to make longer fully ''<br/>(perhaps: if of a rope, to tie tightly)''
|}

<!--David -->Ashford writes that the Black Speech is at once agglutinative and [[Ergative–absolutive alignment|ergative]], "something of a rarity even now".<ref name="Ashford 2018"/> Further, in the 1940s ergativity was a recent linguistic discovery, so that Tolkien was making use of the newest research in his favourite field. In Ashford's view, given the "striking parallels" in both syntax and morphology, the "mysterious history", and the "topical interest" of Hurrian at that time, the case for a Hurrian connection is persuasive.<ref name="Ashford 2018"/>

Tolkien stated that when coining the Black Speech word ''nazg'', he might have been influenced by the [[Irish language|Irish]] word ''[[wikt:nasc#Irish|nasc]]'' ("ring, fastening, tie").<ref name="Parma Eldalamberon"/> He denied that ''nazg'' had any connection to [[Old English]].<ref>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#297 draft to Mr Rang, August 1967 }}</ref>

Mark Mandel, writing in the ''[[Tolkien Journal]]'' in 1965, wrote that ''-ishi'' is "a [[Preposition and postposition|postposition]] of location, or (to borrow a term from [[Finnish grammar]]) an [[Inessive case|inessive]] suffix."<ref name="Mandel 1965">{{cite journal |last1=Mandel |first1=Mark |title=The Ring-Inscription |editor1-last=Plotz |editor1-first=Dick |editor1-link=Richard Plotz |journal=Tolkien Journal |date=1965 |volume=1 |issue=2 ([[Winterfilth]] 1965) |page=2 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=tolkien_journal}}</ref>