Belegost

Belegost
File:Belegost map.gif
General information
Location	Northeast of Mount Dolmed
Capital	Belegost
People
Language	Khuzdul, Sindarin

Belegost was one of two great Dwarven cities in the Ered Luin.

Description

Belegost lay the north central part of the Ered Luin, and was home to the Dwarves of Belegost. During the mid First Age its king until Nirnaeth Arnoediad was Azaghâl.

History

The Dwarves of Belegost were friends to the Sindar and later also the Noldor of Beleriand. They did not join the Dwarves of Nogrod in the Sack of Doriath, and actually attempted to dissuade them from from doing so.

At the end of the Fist Age, Belegost was ruined in the War of Wrath, and apparently abandoned. Many Dwarves from Belegost joined Durin's folk in Khazad-dûm 60 years after the war, however there were always Dwarves on the Eastern side of the Blue Mountains.

Etymology

Belegost (beleg + ost) is a Sindarin translation of the original Dwarvish name Gabilgathol and all mean "Great City".

Unlike other names of the Silmarillion, the texts gives us also an English rendering, which is possibly from Westron: Mickleburg. Mickle is a root meanng "big"; see also Michel Delving.

The city's Khuzdul name Gabilgathol obviously contains the elements gabil "great" and gathol "fortress".

Inspiration

Note that Hebrew gadhol means "great".

In adaptations

In Karen Wynn Fonstad's The Atlas of Middle-earth the fortress is incorrectly called Gabilgathod.

References

• The Silmarillion
• Unfinished Tales
• The Peoples of Middle-earth

[[fi:Gabilgathol]