WORDLIST AND NOTES ON DAVID SALO'S PSEUDO-KHUZDUL
in The Lord of the Rings Movie Trilogy
partial analysis and compilation by Elhath
based on various glosses and a commentary by David Salo
green = Tolkien's Dwarvish
abad (n.) mountain [#(?-)B-D]; undoubtedly an isolation (with a value assigned) from
the unglossed name Gundabad (PM:301)
abzag (n.) bane [#B-Z-G]; see also bazaga and udrig
addad (n. pl.) fathers collective? — not "addâd" de arrâs (< urus; cf. Sindarin adar, ada)
ala (dem. pn.) this
amrad (n.) death (= #gan- in ulganul) [#M-R-D]; cf. PIE *merd-, et al. hoc
-ân a plural ending in mabazgân "the slain (ones)" the Aramaic fem. pl. absolute is
-ān; see bazaga
askad (n.) shadow [#S-K-D]; any relation to Eldarin SKAL-1?
atam (n.) air [#(?-)T-M]
atkât (n.) silence [#T-K-T]; hence *takat or *takit = silent? [tacit; tacitus admodum...]
au (prep.) by means of, with (instrumental) cf. the last paragraph of WJ:366
(inspiration?), the Eldarin cooperative root WO- (PQ *wā inverted?), and also Lat. ab, Swedish
av (prepositions like English by that point out the agent in a passive description)
azgâr (n.) battle [#Z-G-R], probably from Adûnaic azgarâ- to make war
aznân (n.) darkness [Z-N]; the post-prepositional form of this type actually adds a short
vowel (azanân) and does not lose the first one (**znân) as in Arabic
bakana (v. perf. 3 sg.) he/it awoke [#B-K-N]; compared to verbs like gunud, this
class looks "archaic"; perhaps Salo thought it up as a way to tell and explain the difference
since there are both CVCVC verbs and 1a2a3 nominals (also attested) in the language — see
also zahra (beside #zahar "†bold, building")
bashukimâ our bones including the construct of pl. *bashâk "bones" á la Hebrew? (cf.
zu; see also mâ)
bazaga, bazg- (v. perf. 3 sg.) he/it slew (pp. stem #mabazg-) [B-Z-G]
bazar (adj.) deep, profound (elative ubzar, also used as an adverb) [#B-Z-R]
bin (prep.) without [#B-N]; cf. Sindarin pen- < PEN (WJ:408)
buzra (n.) depth, abyss [#B-Z-R]
galab (n.) word [#G-L-B], from aglâb language (WJ:395)
gilim (n.) glint [#G-L-M]; probably from Eldarin NGIL, S gîl
gurd (v. imp.) fear thou! [#G-R-D], probably from Ad. #?UG'R (ugrudâ-) which refers to
the workings of the Shadow; see ugrûd
hu (pn.) 3 sg. masc. indicator for personified things cf. Adûnaic u- and hu-
(SD:433-4), Semitic hû
iklal (n.) coldness, cold [#K-L(-L)]; cf. Eldarin KHEL
irkat (n., cons. st.) bolt, shaft; *arrow (of)
ishkHaqwi I spit with pn. affix #ish- and a root #Kh-Q-W? (note also perhaps incidentally
similar Egyptian enclitic pronoun w-j and the pseudo-participial 1 sg. marker -k-w-j)
ka- capability prefix, i.e. "can, is able to"
kâmin (n.) earth [K-M-N]; evidently inspired by Eld. KEM, Q cemen (vocalically, a close
attested "elemental name" is zâram)
karaka (v. perf. 3 sg.) he/it broke or got broken [K-R-K]; evidently inspired by Eld.
KIR, KIRIK (with a possible linguist's pun — English crack)
karasha (v. perf. 3 sg.) he/it cut [K-R-Š]; evidently inspired by Eld. KIRIS
ku (rel. ptl.) that, which, who compare also with PIE *ko- and *kwe-
lai (interj.) behold! cf. S alae
lu (interj.) no! cf. Eldarin LA
lukHud (n.) light [#L-Kh-D]; via metathesis (into "IE-resemblance") from calad?
ma (neg. ptl.) don't; (used postpositively) no, not (one) cf. Adûnaic bâ, Arabic ma
mâ (pn.) 1 pl. indicator cf. Q me, etc.
mernak (v. imp.) remember! (possibly for 2 pl. – cf. #mê- "ye")
nât (n.) end [#N-T]
ni (prep.) in, at also used to indicate destination, like English in, BS -ishi
nîd (adv.) down cf. Eld. NDŪ
ra (conj.) and metathesized/inverted AR2 / ar?
rayad (n.) heir [R-Y-D]; compare Bëorian rêda (and Old Italian reda!) of same meaning
sull-, sullu totality, all; a word similar in use to Arabic kull and kulliyya [#S-L];
hmm...
shakâl sg. *shukl (n. pl.) shores [#Š-K-L], probably inspired by Adûnaic sakal
shakar (adj.) sharp [#Š-K-R]
tablugi he/it swallows; *they swallow [#B-L-G]; cf. Arabic balac
tabriki (tr., intr.) he/it cleaves, is cracked; *they cleave, are cracked
[#B-R-K]
takalladi he/it trembles; *they tremble [#K-L-D]; "intensific class" (or pres. prog.)
takarraki (tr., intr.) he/it breaks; *they break [K-R-K]; present 3rd person of
karaka, q.v.
takluti he/it hears; *they hear [#K-L-T]; next to lasta-, the consonants compare as in
Ad. sakal vs. Q falassë
talbabi he/it licks; they lick [#L-B(-B)], from Eld. LAB?
tanakHi he/it comes; *they come [#N-Kh], from Adûnaic nakh-?
tansasi he/it saves; *they save [#N-S(-S)]; cf. PIE *nes-1
tarsisi he/it rises; *they rise [#R-S(-S)] — simply inspired by the Germanic element?
tashfati he/it moves; *they move [#Š-F-T]
tashniki he/it rips; *they rip [#Š-N-K]
tashurruki he/it surrounds; *they surround [#Š-R-K]; "intensific class" (or pres.
prog.)
tur (prep.) through from Eld. TER, N tri (with a linguist's pun at MnE spelling thru)?
udrig (n.) bane [#D-R-G]; compare to more or less synonymous abzag
udlag (elat. adj., *adv.) very distant; further [#D-L-G]
udu (prep.) from cf. the Sindarin variant od (WJ:367); a phonetic inspiration could have
been Udush-inbar (TI:174)
ugmal (elat. adj.) eldest, elder from pos. gamil (Gamil Zirak, UT:76)
ugrûd (n.) fear [#G-R-D]; U-variant of the abstract pattern (see gurd)
ulfat (n., cons. st.) puff, breath (of)
ulganul (priv. adj.) deathless (probably with privative prefix #ul-) on #gan- cf.
Adûnaic agan "death"
undu (prep.) beneath, under cf. Eldarin NDŪ, UNU; Q undu down
urkHas (n.) demon [#R-Kh-S]; same personal noun pattern as in uzbad "lord, ruler"
urus pl. arrâs (n.) fire, (esp. pl. > collective?) flame(s) from Valarin uruš?
za- (pref.) future prefix added to aorist/present cf. S -tha
zahra (v. perf. 3 sg. + obj.) he/it built it [#Z-H-R]; most likely a form with suffixed
object, q.v. bazaga, bakana
zibdîn (n.) realm [#Z-B-D]
zu (pn.) 2 sg. indicator (poss. -zu; -izu w/ type CaCaC, as in galabizu "your word")
Main page