Editing Dwarves in Middle-earth (section)

== Analysis ==

=== Norse myth ===

{{further|Tolkien and the Norse}}

In Tolkien's ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'', the very few Dwarves who appear are portrayed as evil beings, employers of [[Orc (Middle-earth)|Orc]] mercenaries and in conflict with the [[Elf (Middle-earth)|Elves]]—who are the imagined "authors" of the myths, and are therefore biased against Dwarves.<ref name="Evans 2013 (Drout)">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Evans |first=Jonathan  |author-link=Jonathan Evans (scholar) |title=Dwarves |editor-last=Drout |editor-first=Michael D. C. |editor-link=Michael D. C. Drout |encyclopedia=[[The J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia]] |year=2013 |orig-year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |location=Abingdon, England |isbn=978-0-415-86511-1 |pages=134–135}}</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984|loc="Gilfanon's Tale"}}</ref><ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1984|loc="The Nauglafring"}}</ref> Tolkien was inspired by the [[Norse dwarves|dwarves of Norse myths]]<ref>{{cite book |first=Thomas |last=Shippey |author-link=Thomas Shippey |title=[[J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century]] |publisher=[[HarperCollins]] |location=London, England |isbn=978-0-262-10401-2 |orig-year=2000 |year=2001 |pages=14–17}}</ref><ref name="chance">{{cite book |last=Burns |first=Marjorie J. |author-link=Marjorie Burns |chapter=Norse and Christian Gods: The Integrative Theology of J.R.R. Tolkien |editor-first=Jane |editor-last=Chance |editor-link=Jane Chance |title=Tolkien and the Invention of Myth: A Reader |year=2004 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=Lexington, Kentucky |isbn=0-8131-2301-1 |pages=163–178}}</ref> and of later Germanic folklore<!--same article as prev. link, Norse dwarves--> (such as that of the [[Brothers Grimm]]), from whom his Dwarves take their characteristic affinity with mining, metalworking, and crafting.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm.html |title=Grimm Brothers' Home Page |last=Ashliman |first=D. L. |website=www.pitt.edu |publisher=[[University of Pittsburgh]] |location=Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/dwarves/ |title=Dwarves |last=McCoy |first=Daniel |website=Norse Mythology}}</ref>

=== Jewish history ===

In ''The Hobbit'', Dwarves are portrayed as occasionally comedic and bumbling, but largely as honourable, serious-minded, and proud. Tolkien was influenced by his own selective reading of medieval texts regarding [[Jewish]] people and their history.<ref name="HotH">{{harvnb|Rateliff|2007|loc=Part One ''Mr. Baggins'', pp. 79–80}}</ref> The dwarves' characteristics of being dispossessed of their homeland in<!--this is not the place for a summary of The Hobbit--> [[Erebor]], and living among other groups but retaining their own culture, are derived from the medieval image of Jews,<ref name="HotH"/> while, according to the Tolkien scholar [[John D. Rateliff]], their warlike nature stems from accounts in the [[Hebrew Bible]].<!--Please do not add anything here without citing a suitable source--><ref name="HotH"/><ref name="The Secret Jews of The Hobbit">{{Cite web |date=2016-08-11 |title=The Secret Jews of The Hobbit |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/meir-soloveichik/the-secret-jews-of-the-hobbit/ |access-date=2025-01-26 |website=Commentary Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> Medieval views of Jews also saw them as having a propensity for making well-crafted and beautiful things,<ref name="HotH"/> a trait shared with Norse dwarves.<ref name="chance"/><ref name="names">''[[Poetic Edda]]'', translated by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]].</ref> The Dwarf calendar invented for ''The Hobbit'' reflects the [[Jewish calendar]]'s [[Rosh Hashanah]] in beginning in late autumn.<ref name="HotH"/><ref name="Eden2014">{{cite book |last=Eden |first=Bradford Lee |author-link=Bradford Lee Eden |title=The Hobbit and Tolkien's Mythology: Essays on Revisions and Influences |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ariQBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 |year=2014 |publisher=[[McFarland (publisher)|McFarland]] |location=Jefferson, North Carolina |isbn=978-0-7864-7960-3 |page=40}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 1em auto;"
|+ Tolkien's use of Jewish history for his Dwarves<ref name="HotH"/>
! Aspect !! Historical element !! Application to Dwarves
|-
| Dispossession of homeland || [[Jewish diaspora]] || Living in exile from [[Moria (Middle-earth)|Moria]] and [[Erebor]], retaining own culture
|-
| Warlike nature || Medieval image of Jews || Warlike Dwarves 
|-
| Skill || Medieval image of Jews || Propensity for making well-crafted, beautiful things<br/>(like Norse Dwarves, too)
|-
| [[Jewish calendar]] || [[Rosh Hashanah]], the Jewish New Year (September/October) || Dwarves' new year is in late autumn 
|-
| Private language || Medieval Jews spoke [[Yiddish|Hebrew-derived language]] alongside local languages || Dwarves spoke "Semitic"<ref name="Lebovic 2013"/> [[Khuzdul]] amongst themselves, shared language ([[Westron]]) to others<ref name="Letter 176" group=T/>
|}

=== 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!"
|}

=== Spelling ===

The original editor of ''The Hobbit'' "corrected" Tolkien's plural "dwarves" to "dwarfs", as did the editor of the [[Puffin Books|Puffin]] paperback edition.<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#138 to [[Christopher Tolkien]], 4 August 1953 }}</ref> According to Tolkien, the "real 'historical' plural" of "dwarf" is "dwarrows" or "dwerrows".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=dwarf |title=Dwarf |website=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=6 April 2018}}</ref> He described the word "dwarves" as "a piece of private bad grammar".<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Carpenter|2023|loc=#17 to [[Stanley Unwin (publisher)|Stanley Unwin]], 15 October 1937 }}</ref> In Appendix F of ''The Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien explained that if people still spoke of "dwarves" regularly, English might have retained a special plural for the word "dwarf", as with the irregular plural of "goose", "geese".<ref name="On Translation" group=T/> Despite his fondness for it,<ref name="On Translation" group=T/> the form "dwarrow" only appears in his writing as "Dwarrowdelf" ("Dwarf-digging"), a name for Moria. He used "Dwarves", instead, corresponding to his "Elves" as a plural for "Elf". Tolkien used "dwarvish"<ref group=T>{{harvnb|Tolkien|1937|loc=Preface}}</ref> and "dwarf(-)" (e.g. "[[Rings of Power#Ring Verse|Dwarf-lords]]", "Old Dwarf Road") as adjectives for the people he created.<ref name="On Translation" group=T/>