Black Speech
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The Black Speech is the fictional language of Mordor in The Lord of the Rings. Sauron created the Black Speech, as an artificial language, to be the sole language of all the servants of Mordor, replacing the many different varieties of Orkish and other languages used by his servants. Tolkien describes the language as existing in two forms, the ancient "pure" forms used by Sauron himself, the Nazgûl, and the Olog-hai, and the more "debased" form used by the soldiery of the Barad-dûr at the end of the Third Age. The only example given of "pure" Black Speech is the inscription upon the One Ring:
- Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
- ash nazg thrakatulûk, agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.
- One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
- One Ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them.
| Black Speech | English |
|---|---|
| ash | one |
| nazg | ring |
| durb | rule |
| at | verb infinitive |
| ul | them |
| ûk | all |
| gimb | find |
| thrak | bring |
| bürz | dark |
| um | |
| in (case suffix) | |
| krimp- | bind |
Many Orkish dialects had adopted words from it. The Black Speech was likely based entirely on Valarin, as Morgoth and his Maiar (all of whom would have spoken Valarin) minions did not possess the Secret Fire, but were only able to corrupt things to their service. It may have also been based on Quenya.
In real life, J. R. R. Tolkien created this language with the intention of making it harsh and ugly. The Black Speech is unfortunately one of the more incomplete languages in Tolkien's novels, because the forces of good refuse to utter it, as it attracts the attention of the Eye of Sauron[[Citing sources citation needed]]. Unlike Elvish, there are no poems or songs written in it (apart from the Ring's inscription, and the lyrics of 'Mirdautas Vras', a song played by the Austrian band 'Summoning', and written by Stefan Huber), and because Tolkien designed it to be unpleasant in his own eyes (or ears?), he did not enjoy writing in it. According to Tolkien, he once received a goblet from a fan with the Ring inscription on it in Black Speech, and Tolkien, finding it distasteful, never drank from it and used it only as an ashtray. The result is a random collection of words that are hard to actually use in day-to-day conversation. The ring inscription and its translation show that the Black Speech is a strongly agglutinating language.
For The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, the linguist David Salo used what little is known of the Black Speech to create enough of a language for use in the movies. This is usually referred to by Tolkienists as neo-Black Speech.
Some speculate that Tolkien may have drawn upon the language of the ancient Hittites and Hurrians for his Black Speech. [link]
See also
External links
- [Orkish and the Black Speech - base language for base purposes]
- [Black Speech analysis by Craig Daniel]
- [Orcs of the Red Hand Black Speech]
- [Land of Shadows Black Speech]
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