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What's the word in Black speech for medal?

Science Fiction & Fantasy Asked by Jeutnarg on August 31, 2020

Is there any even somewhat canonical word for ‘medal’ or ‘medallion’ in the Black Speech? If not, is ‘gozg’, a mash-up of the words for shield (goshur) and ring (nazg,) close enough for casual use?

I’ve seen references to a more expansive dictionary of Black Speech in this question: What do we know about the Black Speech of Mordor?, but haven’t been able to find the notes that are referenced.

Why, you may be asking…
well, I’m making a custom medal, and as a joke I want to put an altered version of the inscription on the One Ring onto it. The One Ring’s inscription, in case you don’t have it at hand, is:

Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul,
Ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul.

It’s pretty, but it won’t work as is, since I’m giving the person a medal, not a ring.

One Answer

As far as I can tell, there is no word for what you're looking for; the Black Speech was not a very well-developed language, by Tolkien's standards, and he only invented a few words for it.

Regrettably I don't have Parma Eldalamberon 17 myself; it's out of print, and I've never been able to find an online copy. However, two sources I find particularly excellent for this kind of thing are Ardalambion1 and the Eldamo lexicon, both of which discuss the Black Speech and demonstrate no word that even comes close to conveying your meaning.

Instead, I'd suggest referring to the person rather than the medal. It might be easier to compose some compliments2 from the small selection of words we do have, for example:

  • gimbum; something approximately meaning "the discovery"
  • durbum; roughly "the domination"

Personally, I'd recommend tark ("man of Gondor").


1 Don't let the website design fool you; this is one of the most complete discussions of Tolkien's invented philology I've ever encountered

2 For some definition of "compliment", anyway; we are talking about the language of Sauron and Mordor, after all

Answered by Jason Baker on August 31, 2020

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