“his world-dominion by creative act: not his to worship the great Artefact, man, sub-creator, the refracted light through whom is splintered from a single White to many hues, and endlessly combined in living shapes that moved from mind to mind.” (Mythopoeia)
It is no secret that Tolkien was a linguaphile, therefore, it should come as no surprise that he holds language in high esteem, believing that human language is the same form of creation that was used by God when he created the universe. For Tolkien language is not just the giver of life but is alive itself and this ability to constantly evolve is what gives life to language. The Oxford English dictionary, which he contributed to, comes out every year with a list of new words, keeping the English language alive. Tolkien gives the Orcs, the foulest of all races in Middle Earth, a dead language in their Black Speech to portray their corrupted nature. Contrasting Black Speech with the languages of Elves, which are ever evolving, as portrayed by the Tree of Tongues, only emphasizes this point.
Tolkien states that the Dwarves “are not evil by nature”, yet their language has “changed little by the years”. Why then are the Dwarves and their language more closely linked to the Black Speech than the Elvish languages? I believe that this question can be answered through a look at Tolkien’s opinion on naming and how it relates to language.
“I like history, and am moved by it, but its finest moments for me are those in which it throws light on words and names!” (Letters, 264)
With a background in, and passion for, philology one might be surprised to learn that Tolkien did not view people trying to find the meaning in his characters’ names favorably.
“I remain puzzled, and indeed sometimes irritated, by many of the guesses at the ‘sources’ of the nomenclature, and theories or fancies concerning hidden meanings.” (Letters, 379)
“looking around for more or less similar words or names is not in fact very useful even as a source of of sounds, and not at all as an explanation of inner meanings and significances.” (Letters, 387)
Tolkien created the languages and names solely as pleasurable exercise in “linguistic ‘æsthetic’”, where there is no meaning for these words outside of the stories, they are created in. Any link of names to “real” languages is purely a coincidence and it is a waste of time to try and sort through all of these. These names are Tolkien’s version of the Cellar Door concept, and by searching for a meaning in names outside of the story you will miss the forest for the trees. It is infinitely more worthwhile to just take Tolkien’s names and languages as a given and work with them in the framework they were intended for. This is why Tolkien’s nomenclature does not place emphasis on concepts like “true names”, such as one might find in the story of Rumpelstiltskin, but rather on how names define relationships. Take Gandalf for example, who goes by many different names and what he is called depends on his relationship to those people. To the people of Gondor, he is Mithrandir, meaning “Grey Pilgrim”, and to the hobbits and the north men he is Gandalf, meaning “Wand-elf”, among many other examples. While the meaning of these names in their respective languages is important, what is more important is the relationship that these names convey. Even Earendil, the one name he admits to lifting directly from Anglo-Saxon language, was only given meaning in his story once it had been incorporated into the “Elvish linguistic situation”. Therefore, in Tolkien’s world, nomenclature is inseparable from the languages that he created.
Therefore, I would invite you to look at the language of the Dwarves as a critique on this dismantling of language by the likes of Ursula Le Guin, Robert Graves, and all those who seek meaning in names where there is none. The notion of holding power over an entity through the knowledge of its true name, like in the story of Rumpelstiltskin, is, in my opinion, why the Dwarves hide their language and their names. The Dwarves are so secretive of their native tongue that they even refuse to inscribe their “true names” on their tombs. Through this practice, the Dwarves lose their connection to this language they valued so much and leave their legacy translated into a different language and, therefore, a different people. I believe that this is why Tolkien describes them as “a race apart” from Elves and Men. Unlike the Orcs, the Dwarves are not evil by nature, but they have bastardized their language the same way the Orcs did the Black Speech. The Dwarves’ mistaken beliefs around secrecy killed the very language they sought to protect, turning it into “a tongue of lore rather than a cradle-speech” (The Lord of the Rings, Appendix F). The result of the Dwarves’ actions concerning their language that was valued as “a treasure of the past” is a warning against the dismantling effects that digging too deep into a language triggers.
The scholars who seek a “real world” meaning behind every name and the Dwarves who destroy their language while trying to guard it have both toppled the metaphorical tower to read the inscriptions on the bricks. Therefore, the language of the Dwarves should serve as Tolkien’s warning to all those who seek to find meaning in every single name and word: that by dismantling these languages you risk missing the point of the narrative and, therefore, ruining the story for youself.
-CG
2 comments:
The secret language of the Dwarves is, indeed, a conundrum—particularly given that Tolkien took the names of so many of his dwarves from a real world source, the Voluspa. Yes, the dwarves of his stories seem to fall into the "secret name" trap of much fantasy, but it is not clear whether they think this is because their names are magical, as such. Something to add to the mix: their language comes from Aulë alone, rather than, as with the Elves from long conversation with the Valar more generally. Perhaps this singular craftsmanship is a key to why they "hoard" their names, like gems? It is definitely worth unpacking! RLFB
I think you bring up a really interesting point about the Dwarf and Orc languages by emphasizing how they fell out of use. Despite your warning about reading meaning into every word and trying to dismantle the languages, I found myself trying to project my understanding of our languages into your post. In our world, a language generally dies out due to empires falling, colonialism, systemic oppression, and genocide. However, as you point out, the dead languages of Middle-Earth become so for an internal reason (the evil nature of the Orcs and the pride and secrecy of the Dwarves). Just as Tolkien discouraged seeking meaning in the names and attempting to read too much into the linguistics, we can also pull ourselves out of the narrative by attempting to force a historical or political framework onto the story. (I suppose in this case I also have not heeded Tolkien’s warning against allegory.)
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