Uruk runes used to write the Black Speech and other Orcish tongues.
Orcish (Or.) was a collection of tribal dialects spoken among the Orcs. While the eldest Orcish tongues derived from the language of Angband and Melkorin of Utumno, later Orcish was largely influenced by the Black Speech of Mordor. Other tribal dialects, however, might be closer to Westron or the tongues of the Northrons, Easterlings, and Haradrim.
Written Orcish[]
While the more civilized and educated (often mannish rather than orcish) upper classes of Mordor or Dol Guldur relied on a mordorian , slightly modified, variant of the Tengwar to write in the Black Speech, in everyday life most orcs and other members of the military class who were literal used "Uruk runes", a number of related but quite distinct, slightly modified variants of the Cirth derived either from the Angerthas Moria or even the older Doriathrin Cirth. A far lesser known script, developed originally among the the goblin-tribes of the north, was the so called "Goblin letters", which were believed to have originally been simple pictograms, later arranged into a proper phonemic alphabet by some unknown goblin-sage or loremaster.
Orcish dialects[]
- Bal-gûyâb - Gorgoroth Orcish
- Cardolandren Orcish - heavily influenced by Dunael.
- Daumaprap - barter dialect; Westron interspersed with loanwords from the Black speech and Easterling dialects.
- Gûyûb - Angmarean Orcish
- Guldur Orcish - closely related to mordorian Orcish, strongly influenced by the Black Speech but with some Rhovanian influence.
- Ice-Orcish - archaic orcish, still very close to Angbandian-Orcish and Melkian.
- Isengard dialect - heavily influenced by Dunlandish
- Yûgflash - Núrnean Orcish
- Lufûshflash - War-speech
- Mirkwood Orcish - related to both northern Orcish and Guldur Orcish.
- Morbeth or Murmog - the Black Speech
- Mordorin or Zîflash - Mordorean Orcish or Mordor Common Speech, Westron with elements of the Black Speech and Nûradja.
- Mosh-Gûyâb - middle-orcish or Hill-Orc-dialect.
- Nalt-Gûyâb - high-orcish, or Mountain-Orc-dialect.
- Nî-gûyâb - Mordor Orcish
- Northern Orcish - degenerated Westron with Black Speech and Melkorin influences
- Ûl-Gûyâb - low-orcish or lowland-orc dialect.
Orcish wordlist[]
- Afûkhaush - Commander
- Albai - Elves
- ash - one, the one, "He" (reverent term for Sauron)
- bag - rank
- bag(h) - dung, feces, urine (also used as curse or profanity see "shrak" and "garn")
- bagronk - cesspool, dung-pit
- Bol - mighty, might
- Bolg - wild, cruel
- bolwag - curse
- bûb - pig, warthog
- bûbhosh - pig-guts (literally), great (informal figure of speech or phrase)
- Bukra - large claw
- Bûrdrasak - Orc liquor
- Burgûl - shadow
- Burz - black, dark, night
- Burzum - darkness
- htol- - to copulate with
- Dagalush - imp, Orc child
- Dog, Daug - soldier
- Doraz - gate
- Doryabu - adolescent
- Drartûl - Sergeant
- Dur - land, rule
- Durub-atha - master craftsman
- Durub - ruler, lord
- Dush - sorcery, sorcerer
- Dushgoi - Minas Morgûl
- Fha, Fla - great
- Fimbûl - great, giant, powerful
- Foshnu - imp, Child
- Gayutar - hunter
- Garn - dung, feces (also used as curse or profanity)
- Gazat - Dwarf
- Ghâsh - fire
- gimb - find
- Gimba - finder, tracker
- Glob - filth, fool
- Goi - city
- Gol - knowledge
- Goll - shout, din
- Golug - Noldor
- Gong - lesser goblin
- Gor, Gur - horrible
- Goth - Master, Lord, Morgoth
- Gothmog - voice of the Master
- Gothsnaga - literally "slave lord", leader of a confederation or legion
- Gothûl - lieutenant
- Gru - female Orc
- Gûl - ghost, wraith
- Guyub, Guyab - tongue, language
- Gurz - death, dead
- Hai - tribe, people, race
- Hank - broad
- Hankshar - an Orcish broad sword
- harri - go!
- Ho La! - Hi!, Hello
- Hoi - shouts
- Hrizgthrakî - literally "pain bringer", slave overseer, slave master
- Huka - squat
- Hûr - master, chief
- -i; -ai - Group, Plural ending (some dialects use other plural forms like Sindarin -rim)
- Iarn, yarn - iron
- Kapûl - goblin
- Karg-Kragor - chieftain
- Kopak - an Orcish club
- Korlash, Korlagz - maw, jaw
- Kra, Krah - claw
- Kragash - fang, tooth warrior, soldier
- Kragashard - Tooth-Sabre, Tooth-Sword
- Kragnif - Tooth-Knife
- Krag, Kragor - fang
- Kri-krishur - chieftain
- Krir - slash, slasher, troop leader
- Krîtar - leader, Chief
- Kû - old, ancient
- Kûz - Halberd
- Lag - Hill, Mountain
- Lak - Bow
- Laugash - Priest (lit."Law-one" or "law-man)
- Lob - spider
- Lug - tower, fortress
- Lûgât - Vampire
- Lugburz - Barad-dûr
- Lurg - squad, pack
- mat - die
- Mikog - heal, Orc medicine
- mog - voice, language
- Mur - black
- Murdur - Mordor
- Nadak - fighter
- Nar - not, no
- Naz - hill
- Nazburz - Dol Guldur
- Nazg - ring
- Nif, gnif - knife, dagger, blade
- Oghor-Hai - Drúedain
- Olog - troll
- Ong - iron
- Ongushar - iron mine
- Orgabu - Bodyguard
- pushdug - stinking, dung-filth
- ra - claw
- Rim, Grim, Ri - group, troop (plural Ending)
- Rog - fast, guard
- Ronk - pit, hole
- Ruk, Rog - demon
- Rum, Rûm, Grûm - skull
- , Shard, Shar - sword, scimitar
- Shauruk - literally "dread demon"; Sauron
- S(h)aur - dread, terror, abhorrent
- Shakhburz - Sauron
- ska(r) - green
- skara - green claw, wolf
- Skara-Gûl - Fell Warg
- Shagît - Arrow
- Shara - human, man, mortal
- Sharog - heal, Orc medicine
- shataz - a brute
- she - female
- Shiruk - sergeant, captain, leaper
- shrakh - literally "gathering" or "collection", but commonly used as profanity (though probably meaning "hustle","mass" or "Awkward" or simply "stuff, thing" but not, as often proposed, "dung, feces", except perhaps figuratively speaking)
- shurr - urine
- skai - gah! (Orcish curse; expression of anger or irritation)
- Snaga - slave, lesser Orc
- Srûtaru - Captain
- straiull - Flintstone
- Tark - Dúnadan, man of Gondor
- Thrak - to bring, bringer, messenger
- Thrug - murderer
- Tûtûl - smith
- Uglúk - murderer, killer, defeater
- Uyâk - troop leader
- ûk - all
- Ûl - servant
- Ûn - death
- Uruk - great warrior Orc
- Ushar - mine, hole
- Wir - star
- Warg - great wolf, wolf-demon
- ya - when, now
- Yîk - "Squeaker";a weak Lesser Orc or Snaga
- yoi - boys
- Zangur - Obsidian
See also[]
Notes[]
The few known orcish words suggest that, like the Black Speech, orcish, or at last the most common dialects, did not know the letters c, ch, e, j, q, s (except for the combinatios sk, sh and sn), v and x. C was usually substituted by k, ch by kh, j by y or i, q by ku, v by w or f, and x by ks, though it is not known if this was true for all of it´s dialects, as orcish used to be an umbrella term for a number of pidgins the opposite seems more likely, though the dialects of Mordor, Angmar and Dol Guldur probably were still pretty close to Black speech. It remains unknown if the sound e was omitted or substituted by ai or another syllable, it is also unclear if orcish knew the vowels f and ph or if these were regularly substituted by fh.
A lot of the "neo-orcish" used on this project is based, though often slightly modified, on Lugrekh's excellent "red hand orcish wordlist", which is in itself a compilation of Tolkien, MERP, and orcish from several other sources.
References[]
- Middle-Earth Roleplaying Game: Gorgoroth
- Middle-Earth Roleplaying Game: Lords of Middle-Earth III
- Black Speech Wordlist compiled by Red Hand Orcs, a live-action roleplaying society
- A Second Opinion on the Black Speech by Craig Daniel
- Ardalambion - Orkish and the Black Speech
- Uruk Runes at Omniglot