Dunlendish

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Dunlendish was the Mannish tongue used by the Dunlendings,[1] who inhabited the lands west of the Misty Mountains and northward from the Gap of Rohan.

The language was Pre-Númenórean, akin to the language of the Haladin of the First Age. At one time, a language akin to Dunlendish was spoken by some of the Hobbits of Stoor-kind, but by the later Third Age their descendants in the Shire had long abandoned it for the Common Speech. However such alien elements remained in their dialect.

Apparently Dunlendish was known also beyond the other side of the Misty Mountains; the Great Gates of Moria included Dunlendish inscriptions in Cirth.[2]

To this language belongs the word forgoil, literally meaning 'strawheads', and used as an insult for their enemies, the Rohirrim.[3]

The only analysis that can be done with some degree of credibility, is that the final part -il could be the plural marker of the word; then, it would be reminiscent to the Elvish partitive plural -li, and perhaps related.[4]

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F, "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age", "Of Hobbits"
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "X. Of Dwarves and Men", "Notes", #8
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, The Two Towers, "Helm's Deep"
  4. "Mannish", Ardalambion (accessed 27 February 2019)
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