Tolkien compared this idiosyncratic nature with that of the Jewish diaspora: a unique people, ‘at once native and alien in their habitations, speaking the languages of the country, but with an accent due to their own private tongue’. Possibly influenced by this thought, he constructed Khuzdul, the Dwarvish language, along Hebraic/Semitic lines, with triconsonantal roots and a comparable phonology. The comparison could even be extended, with both Jews and Dwarves at times subject to cartoonish stereotyping, both known for expertise in the working of precious stones and metals, and both recipients of great jealousy and/or distrust.
Chapter Six - The Dwarves
David Rowe
To be published by Oloris Publishing on 18th November
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