Editing Dwarves in Middle-earth (section)

=== Semitic-style language ===

{{further|Khuzdul}}

In ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien continued the themes of ''The Hobbit''. When giving Dwarves their own language, [[Khuzdul]], Tolkien decided to create an analogue of a [[Semitic language]] influenced by [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] [[phonology]]. Like medieval Jewish groups, the Dwarves used their own language only among themselves, and adopted the languages of those they live amongst for the most part, for example taking public names from the cultures they lived within, whilst keeping their "true-names" and true language a secret.<ref name="HotH"/> Tolkien further underlined the [[diaspora]] of the Dwarves with the lost stronghold of the Mines of [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria]]. Tolkien elaborated on Jewish influence on his Dwarves in a letter: "I do think of the 'Dwarves' like Jews: at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue..."<ref name="Letter 176" group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#176 to [[Naomi Mitchison]], 8 December 1955 }}</ref><ref name="The Secret Jews of The Hobbit"/> In the last interview before his death, Tolkien said "The dwarves of course are quite obviously, wouldn't you say, that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic."<ref name="Lebovic 2013">{{cite news |last1=Lebovic |first1=Matt |title=Are Tolkien's dwarves an allegory for the Jews? |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/are-tolkiens-dwarves-an-allegory-for-the-jews/ |access-date=13 March 2023 |work=[[The Times of Israel]] |date=11 December 2013 |quote=Tolkien spoke about the Jewish-dwarvish connection during a BBC interview. 'I didn’t intend it, but when you've got these people on your hands, you've got to make them different, haven't you?' said Tolkien during the 1971 interview. 'The dwarves of course are quite obviously, wouldn't you say that in many ways they remind you of the Jews? Their words are Semitic, obviously, constructed to be Semitic.' |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213083919/https://www.timesofisrael.com/are-tolkiens-dwarves-an-allegory-for-the-jews/ |archive-date=13 December 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref> This raises the question, examined by Rebecca Brackmann in ''[[Mythlore]]'', of whether there was an [[Tolkien and race|element of antisemitism]], however deeply buried, in Tolkien's account of the Dwarves, inherited from English attitudes of his time. Brackman notes that Tolkien himself attempted to work through the issue in his Middle-earth writings.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brackmann |first=Rebecca |title="Dwarves are Not Heroes": Antisemitism and the Dwarves in J.R.R. Tolkien's Writing |journal=[[Mythlore]] |publisher=[[Mythopoeic Society]] |date=2010 |volume=28 |issue=3/4 |at=article 7 |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol28/iss3/7}}</ref> It has been suggested that the formation of the deep friendship between the dwarf [[Gimli (Middle-earth)|Gimli]] and elf [[Legolas]] in the ''Lord of the Rings'' overcoming longtime mutual suspicion can be seen as Tolkien's reply toward "Gentile anti-Semitism and Jewish exclusiveness".<ref>[[Owen Dudley Edwards]], ''British Children's Fiction in the Second World War''(2008) Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-1651-9, pages 458/459</ref>

The philologist [[Helge Fauskanger]] analyses Khuzdul, finding in it features of [[Semitic languages]].{{sfn|Fauskanger|2018}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Helge Fauskanger's analysis of [[Semitic languages|Semitic features]] of the Dwarves' language, [[Khuzdul]]{{sfn|Fauskanger|2018}}
|-
! style="width: 120px;" | Element 
! style="width: 270px;" | Description
! style="width: 220px;" | Example
|-
| [[Word stem]]s || Not pronounceable words, only [[consonant]]s || R-Kh-S "Orc-"
|-
| [[Part of speech|Parts of speech]] || Nouns, verbs etc formed by inserting [[vowel]]s into word stems; sometimes with doubling of a consonant || ''Rukhs'' "Orc"; ''Rakhâs'' "Orcs" 
|-
| [[Construct state]] || Word before noun taken as [[genitival]],<br/>i.e. X Y = "The X of Y", "Y's X" || ''Baruk Khazâd!'' "Axes of the Dwarves!"
|-
| [[Nominal sentence]] || Verb "to be" can be implicit || ''Khazâd ai-mênu!'' "The Dwarves [are] upon you!"
|}