The Treason of Isengard (81 page)

(i)

The Elvish Alphabets.

These have three main forms: the alphabets of Rumil, of Feanor, and [of] Dairon; also called the Valinorian, Tunian, and Beleriandic letters.

The first two are of Noldorin origin and ultimately related; the last is distinct and of Ilkorin origin.

The oldest is the Alphabet of Rumil. This is a final cursive elaboration of the oldest letters of the Noldor in Valinor. Only the completion and arrangement of this system was actually due to Rumil of Tuna; its author or authors are now forgotten.

Though originating in Tuna it is called 'Valinorian' because it was mainly used for writing of Qenya, and was later ousted from use among the Noldor by the alphabet of Feanor. It is said still to be used by the Lindar of Valinor; but is not in general use among the Qendi.*

The Alphabet of Feanor was partly derived from this, and partly devised afresh to fit a different system of writing (from left to right). Its actual author - in all forms except the later modifications to fit the changed conditions of Noldorin after the Exile, which were made after his death - was Feanor. He constructed it both as a general phonetic alphabet, and devised special arrangements to fit the characteristics of Qenya, Noldorin, and Telerin. This alphabet is the one generally used for Qenya, and for all purposes by the surviving Qendi.

The so-called Alphabet of Dairon was in origin a 'runic'

script devised for inscriptions, especially on wood, that origin-ated among the Ilkorins. It is usually said to have arisen in Doriath, and it certainly there developed most completely, even (* With this passage cf. the Lhammas in Vol. V, pp. 173-4.) producing a written form. But probably its actual invention was due to the Danian elves of Ossiriand (who were ultimately of Noldorin race).* The name 'alphabet of Dairon' is due to the preservation in this script of some fragments of the songs of Dairon, the ill-fated minstrel of King Thingol of Doriath, in the works on the ancient Beleriandic languages by Pengolod the Wise of Gondolin. The Noldor did not use this script much, even in Beleriand, though Pengolod cites cases of inscriptions at Nargothrond and Sirion's mouth that are in Noldorin tongue.

[Added in pencil: But this runic alphabet spread eastward from Ossiriand to the Dwarves, and was largely used by them.) (ii)

The 'Alphabet of Dairon'.

The Ilkorins of Beleriand devised an alphabet of 'runes', or angular letters used in inscriptions. This became widespread in Beleriand, already before the exile of the Noldor of Valinor, and showed various divergences in forms and uses at different times and places. Its chief elaboration took place in Doriath, where a, written form was developed. Owing to the ruin of Beleriand, before the departure of the Noldor to Eressea, no actual inscription or book in this script is now preserved. Knowledge of it [changed in pencil to: no actual Elvish inscription or book in this script was preserved. Knowledge of its use by the Elves]

is now preserved only in books in Eressea - in the works of '

Pengolod of Gondolin upon the Beleriandic languages, and other similar writings. Pengolod copied and gave extracts from, various inscriptions and books that were still extant in his day.

Of the books, or written form, his principal source was some fragments of the songs of King Thingol's minstrel Dairon. From this fact is derived the [struck out: erroneous] name: Alphabet of Dairon.

The origin of the script is probably to be placed in Ossiriand among the Danian elves, many of whom were incorporated in Doriath after the coming of Morgoth and the fall of their king, Denethor.f- The Danian elves were ultimately of Noldorin race, and inventions of this sort were a special aptitude of the (* On the Danian elves or Danas see especially V.176, 188 - 9.

+ See the Quenta Silmarillion in Vol. V, p. 263.)

Noldor.* Moreover a related alphabet was early in use among the eastern branch of the Danians, beyond the Blue Mountains, whence it also spread to Men in those regions, becoming the foundation of the Taliskan skirditaila or 'runic series'. [Added in pencil: Related alphabets were (> A related alphabet was) also borrowed (from both Men and Elves) by the Dwarves; the western Dwarves early borrowed and adapted the full inscrip-tional 'Alphabet of Dairon', and most of the inscriptions in this form that survived the Great War in Eriador and elsewhere are of Dwarvish origin, though their language is seldom the secret tongue of the Dwarves.]

This alphabet was not much used by the exiled Noldor, but in certain cases, in the absence of parchment or for carving on wood, or where as at Sirion's mouth they were mingled with Ilkorins, they employed these letters during their exile, and modified their forms or applications to fit their own language.

Pengolod gives some examples of this Noldorin usage. [Added in pencil: The greatest elaboration was reached in Eregion and Moria, where during the Second Age Elves and Dwarves lived in harmony. This later form was called the 'Runes of Moria', because it remained long in use among the Dwarves, and most of the inscriptions employing it survived in the halls and chambers of Moria.]

With this view of the origin of the name Alphabet of Dairon cf. The Lord of the Rings Appendix E (II): 'Their richest and most ordered form was known as the Alphabet of Daeron, since in Elvish tradition it was said to have been devised by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath.'

The reference to Taliska (for which see V.179, 191, 196: 'the language of the three houses of Beor, of Haleth, and of Hador') is very interesting as adumbrating a relationship between the runes of Beleriand and the ancient Germanic runes; cf. V.279 on the 'Indo-European' word widris 'wisdom' in the ancient tongue of the people of Beor. It seems clear that the second element of Taliskan skirditaila

'runic series' is to be understood as an ancestral cognate of the word seen in Old English teal (with a sense 'number, reckoning, series'; Old Norse tal, etc., and cf. Modern English tale, tell); the first element may perhaps be connected with the Germanic stem sker-, seen in Old Norse skera 'cut, carve', Old English sceran (Modern English shear, cf.

ultimately related shard, potsherd).

Detailed exposition from this time of the ancient Elvish runes seems (* Cf. the Ainulindale' in Vol. V, p. 162.)

to be restricted to a series of five manuscript pages - which are indeed extremely informative. In style and bearing they seem to me to belong with substantial work on Noldorin phonology that certainly comes from the time not long preceding the start of The Lord of the Rings.

Since it would be extremely difficult to print these pages as part of the text, and since they would be unclear in facsimile reproduction (and require a lot of unnecessary explanation and annotation), I have rewritten and redrawn them as a series of plates, numbered I to IV, at the end of this Appendix. I have attempted to remain very faithful to the originals, and have only edited them in a few minor points that in no way alter their purport; I have not attempted to smooth away the various inconsistencies of presentation. There are a very few pencilled changes that are ignored. At the head of the first sheet my father wrote: 'All this has been revised and rewritten. See Appendices to Lord of the Rings.'

On plate V I reproduce a separate manuscript leaf entitled 'Dwarfrunes for writing English (phonetic)', which I shall refer to in this Appendix as 'E'. This is obviously quite distinct from the other pages, but it will be found that it agrees well on the whole with 'the later Noldorin use' on plate II (referred to subsequently as 'N'), though there is some difference in the application of signs, notably in the nasals and in those representing English s (sh), z (as in vision), ts (ch), and dz (j as twice in judge), which are either used for different sounds in N or not found there. As will be seen shortly, this page evidently dates from the time of my father's return to the Moria story, as described in this book. Curiously, kw (qu) is absent from E, and the rune V for kw in the Doriath and Noldorin usage is there given to ts (ch). In E, also, h is represented by C, but by > in the others.

At the bottom of plate V I have transcribed the runic inscription on Balin's tomb from the end of the original first 'Moria' chapter in Vol.

VI (see p. 460 and note 40). As noted there, it was at that point that my father decided to use the Runes of Beleriand in preference to Old English runes, for he first wrote the inscription in the latter but at once wrote it in the former as well - in two forms, which I have marked (i) and (ii). The words Runes of Dwarves on the same page (VI.460) no doubt have some significance in this connection; cf. also Gandalf's words in the second version of the chapter ('The Lord of Moria', p.

186): 'These are dwarf-runes, such as they use in the North.' - On the name Burin of Balin's father see VI.444.

Version (i) of the tomb-inscription agrees with E (and with N) in every point save one: the use of the rune > for s in son instead of ...

In E > is used for the vowel [...] (as in English cup); while in N it is used for h.

Version (ii) agrees with (i) in the s-rune, but reverses o and o in lord and Moria, and for l in lord substitutes (...) for (...): the former is found in the Doriath and Noldorin use. Here the rune (..) is used for the vowel in son, where (i) has the unphonetic V (o). In E this rune has the value ai, in N the value ae (later changed in pencil to ai in a reversal of the values ai and ae).

The next (third) version of the tomb-inscription, at the end of the second version ('The Lord of Moria') of the chapter, is hidden by a fourth version pasted over it; but Taum Santoski has been able to read the underlying inscription by lighting the page from the back. With Fundin for Burin (see VI.444) the runic writing thus recovered is almost as in version (i), with the same use of > for s; but very curiously this same rune is used for o in both occurrences of the word of, although V' for o appears in son, lord, and Moria. In addition, the Dwarvish words Balin Fundinul Uzbad Khazaddumu are added beneath, the rune for (..) being apparently (..), which is s in all the alphabets given here.

The fourth version of the inscription, that pasted over the third, and the fifth, at the end of the typescript text that followed, are identical in all forms; the latter is reproduced on p. 186. So far as the brief text goes, agreement with E is here complete, with s represented by (..), z represented by (..), and (..) used for the vowel [ .. ], which here appears in the word son, treated phonetically.

On plate VI I have redrawn the runic writing from the two earliest illustrations of a burnt and blackened page from the Book of Mazarbul. These redrawings are intended to show the runes and their relative placing and nothing more. The earliest form (i) is found on the back of the last page of the original 'Moria' chapter (see VI.460, 467).

This is the merest sketch, an indication of what might be done in this direction: it was made very hastily, scribbled down, with little attempt at verisimilitude, the illegible parts of the page being represented by rough scribbled strokes (and the number of missing lines in my redrawing is approximate and impressionistic). The right-hand bottom corner is shown as a triangular detached piece, on which only the word Kazaddum is written. The second form (ii) is a much more developed representation of the slashed and discoloured leaf, done in pencil and coloured chalks; here again the bottom corner is shown as torn right off. (The evolution of this page is emblematic in miniature of my father's mode of work: the evolution of the details of shape is progressive and continuous. In this second version there are two holes on the right hand side of the page and a bite out of the top; in the third and fourth versions these remain, but the bottom corner is added back, with a triangular indentation above, continuing into the page as a black line. In the final form, reproduced in Pictures by J. R. R.

Tolkien no. 23, the central hole is enlarged and moved to the left, but the black line remains where the bottom corner was originally shown as torn off and separate.)

The words of the original sketch have been given in VI.467, but I repeat them here in phonetic form:

1. We drouv aut the orks fro[m].... gard.

2. ... [f]irst hol. Wi slu meni ~ndr the brait s~n.

3. in the deil. Floi woz kild bai ~n arou....

4. Wi did ..........

9. Wi ha[v] okjupaid the twentif~rst hol ov.

10. norp end. Der dr iz..........

11. ............ saft iz..........

12. [B]alin haz set ~p hiz tser in the tseimbr ov Mazar.

13. bul......................Balin iz lord ov.

14. Moria..........

18. Balin..........

20. Kazaddum.

Here there is close but not complete agreement with E. The s-rune is (..) not >, the latter being used for [ ~ ], as in E; but there is divergence in the w-rune, which is here (..), to which E gives the value dz (j) and N