Hello my friends,
It has been quite some time since the last post here. Though it must be said the reason for that is nothing but good news (in my view). As I have been spending this time mainly on Neo-Khuzdul, both new documentation, video lessons, as well as some applications. So you can expect quite a bit of new info heading your way in the weeks and months to come.
This morning in fact I published the second installment of the Neo-Khuzdul video lessons, which you can watch HERE
I wanted to use this post also as an opportunity to talk about translation requests. Every now and then, either on this very blog or via email I get translation requests. I have always said that my goal concerning this blog is to ensure people get all the information they could ever need concerning J.R.R. Tolkien’s dwarves, whether concerns their culture, language or history, so obviously my mailbox is always open for such requests.
At times though I do get requests from (mainly) writers of fan-fiction to translate words or sentences into Neo-Khuzdul. I’m always grateful to get these and happy to work on the translation if time permits. Some of those requests are brilliant phrases that would be a great addition for the document on sayings, or words that previously I had not added to the dictionaries. At other times people ask me to translate poems or longer pieces of literature. I remember I once got a request to translate “The Hobbit” into Neo-Khuzdul. Though perhaps one day (when I’m retired) I might find the time, spirit and energy to start on such a massive job, at present that time isn’t here yet. So do take that into account when sending translation requests. Any reasonable request will of course be translated, as always free of any charge, just send them to kstrongbeard[at]aol.com where, with a bit of patience, you’ll get your request translated.
When it comes to translations for tattoos (and I do get a few of those), I do want to stress that you must always take into account of course that Neo-Khuzdul, is not original Tolkien Khuzdul. It obviously uses all that Tolkien published on the language, yet much of it are inventions of myself based on my understanding of Tolkien’s work and Semitic Languages.
It’s important that all understand that before they would have anything inked permanently on their skin that they might regret later. In addition, I generally do not respond to request on tattoos on this blog, as I think the matter is a private one, hence anyone that has such requests should think of sending these to the email address listed above.
In closing, I wanted to share with you all a heartrending request I got recently from a reader in Brazil. This reader had told me that his brother was in hospital going through a terrible ordeal. And as his brother and him were such great fans of Dwarves and Neo-Khuzdul in particular he had kindly asked me to translate “The Lord’s Prayer” into Neo-Khuzdul, so he could pray for his brother’s speedy recovery in very personal way. I obviously could not refuse such a touching request and send him the text below, along with the best wishes of myself and my family.
Uzbadul Agrâf (The Lord’s Prayer)
‘Adadmâ ni khulthu, (Our Father in heaven,)
mailgin akhrâmzu. (hallowed be your name.)
Zibdînzu nekha, (Your kingdom come,)
amnâdzu muhula, (your will be done,)
ai-kâmin, azafr ni khulthu, (on earth, as it is in heaven.)
Ikhjim mâ ‘ala nurt hamdmâ nurtul (Give us this day our daily bread,)
ra latunsu mâ shakâdmâ, (and forgive us our debts,)
azafr ya lutunmâ ushkâdmâ. (as we also have forgiven our debtors.)
Ra ma sazbadi mâ ni ansâkh, (And lead us not into temptation,)
ini mahsansisi mâ udu ‘azn. (but deliver us from evil.)
The Dwarrow Scholar 
It’s always an exciting morning when I receive an e-mail notification that you’ve made a new post. 🙂 It’s very touching to see the Lord’s Prayer in Neo-Khuzdul, thank you very much for sharing that request with us.
On a related note: do your prefer e-mailed translation requests over comments on your blog posts?
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Either way is welcomed. Unless it concerns translations of personal texts or tattoos. Merely to respect the privacy of the person that is requesting the translation I would prefer these would arrive via email.
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Since this is something that everyone might find useful, I figure I’ll post the request here. I want to say “I am learning to speak Dwarven.” I came up with “abhari aglibi Khuzdul.” I’m pretty confident that the first and last words are correct, but I feel like “aglibi” is either the wrong form, or altogether unnecessary. How would you say it?
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Indeed, I would not use “aglibi” in this case, as that would translate as “I’m learning I’m speaking Khuzdul (I learn I speak khuzdul). In this case you would need to use “to+infinite”. I would translate the whole line as: “abhari d’aglub Khuzdul”. “d’aglub” is a contraction of “du aglub” meaning “to speak”.
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(It won’t let me comment any further on your reply)
Akminruki astû! I won’t inquire much about the infinite form, since I’m sure it’s going to be the subject of a future lesson, but thank you for your translation assistance. Just to help expand my/our grasp of the language, could the “d’aglub” be omitted, simply saying “abhari Khuzdul”, or would this phase be too vague? What about “abhari aglâb Khuzdul” (“I am learning the Dwarven language”)?
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No, you could indeed just say “abhari Khuzdul” (I’m learning Khuzdul), or even “abhari aglâb Khuzdul” (I’m learning the Dwarven Language), but then again the latter might sound a bit strange perhaps. It’s like saying “I’m learning the English language”… you could say that, but it would sound more “natural” perhaps to just say “I’m learning English”, no?
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What happened to the end of The Lord’s Prayer? “For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.”?
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As far as I know it is not a standard part of the Lord’s Prayer, hence did not include this last piece of text.
This last piece of the Lord’s Prayer, known as the doxology of the prayer, is not contained in Luke’s version, nor is it present in the earliest manuscripts of Matthew. I’m no Bible Scholar but I believe it is often added at the end of the prayer by Protestants mainly and, in a slightly different form, by Eastern Orthodox (spoken by the priest only as the conclusion of the prayer). I believe the Anglican Book of Common Prayer adds it in some services but not in all. If not mistaken it is also excluded in critical editions of the New Testament, such as that of the United Bible Societies. Hence I went with the standard version that does not include it. Seeing I received no complaints from the person I wrote the translation for, I am assuming they were content with the standard translation. 🙂
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Ah, being a Lutheran/Protestant myself I had no idea it was left out in some versions. Thanks.
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