KMC Forums - Black Speech

The following is taken from here http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/orkish.htm:

I: Orkish
Concerning the language of the Orcs in the Elder Days "it is said that they had no language of their own, but took what they could of other tongues and perverted it to their own liking, yet they made only brutal jargons, scarcely sufficient even for their own needs, unless it were for curses and abuse" (LotR Appendix F). One example of their taking "what they could of other tongues and pervert[ing] it" can be found in UT:92, where we learn that Golug was an Orkish name of the Noldor, plainly based on Sindarin Golodh pl. Gelydh and apparently an arbitrary distortion of this Elvish word. However, it is also said that Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, "had made a language for those who served him" (VT39:27).

In Frodo's day, the linguistic situation was unchanged: "The orcs and goblins had languages of their own, as hideous as all things that they made or used, and since some remnant of good will, and true thought and perception, is required to keep even a base language alive and useful even for base purposes, their tongues were endlessly diversified in form, as they were deadly monotonous in purport, fluent only in the expression of abuse, of hatred and fear" (PM:21). Indeed "these creatures, being filled with malice, hating even their own kind, quickly developed as many barbarous dialects as there were groups or settlements of their race, so that their Orkish speech was of little use to them in intercourse between different tribes" (LotR Appendix F). Hence there is no single "Orkish" language for us to analyze. The only thing that seems to be true of all Orkish languages at all times is that they were "hideous and foul and utterly unlike the languages of the Q[u]endi" (LR:178). Indeed "Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love of words and things" (Appendix F). Hence their attitude towards Language was totally different from that of the Elves, who loved and cultivated their tongue. Tolkien was himself a philologist, which title literally implies lover or friend of words, and in his invented world, total absence of love for language could only be a characteristic of evil.

The diversity and mutability of the Orkish tongues was of course an obstacle for a Dark Power using Orcs as its storm-troopers. So for the purpose of efficient administration (sc. absolute totalitarianism), Sauron took the time to make an Esperanto for his servants. In doing so he apparently imitated his original master Morgoth, as is evident from VT39:27 cited above.

II: The Black Speech
"It is said that the Black Speech was devised by Sauron in the Dark Years," Appendix E informs us, "and that he had desired to make it the language of all those that served him, but he failed in that purpose. From the Black Speech, however, were derived many of the words that were in the Third Age wide-spread among the Orcs, such as ghâsh 'fire', but after the first overthrow of Sauron this language in its ancient form was forgotten by all but the Nazgûl. When Sauron arose again, it became once more the language of Barad-dûr and of the captains of Mordor." Later it is stated that the Olog-hai, the fell Troll-race bred by Sauron in the Third Age, knew no other tongue than the Black Speech of Barad-dûr. Olog-hai was itself a Black Speech word. The term "Black Speech" may not have been Sauron's own name for his language, but rather one given in contempt by others. On the other hand, the Black Speech name of Barad-dûr was Lugbúrz, meaning Dark Tower just like the Sindarin name, so perhaps Sauron himself actually liked to be associated with darkness and used black as his official colour. It certainly seems to be the dominant colour in the uniforms of his soldiers.

Tolkien himself did not like the Black Speech at all. One admirer sent him a steel drinking goblet, but to his disappointment he discovered that it was "engraved with the terrible words seen on the Ring. I of course have never drunk from it, but use it for tobacco ash" (Letters:422). He evidently shared the opinion of Elves and Men back in the Third Age, who certainly did not think any better of the Black Speech than they did of the other tongues used by Orcs: "It was so full of harsh and hideous sounds and vile words that other mouths found it difficult to compass, and few indeed were willing to make the attempt" (PM:35). There being no objective standards for what constitutes a "harsh and hideous" sound or a "vile" word, these statements must be seen as subjective, reflecting a general prejudice against all things Orkish and everything proceeding from Sauron (though it can of course be argued that this prejudice was a thousand times deserved). It is difficult to pinpoint the "harsh and hideous sounds". The Black Speech possesses the plosives b, g, d, p, t, k, the spirants th, gh (and possibly f and kh, attested in Orc-names only), the lateral l, the vibrant r, the nasals m, n, and the sibilants s, z, sh. This may not be a complete list, given our small corpus. The vowels are a, i, o, u; the vowel o is stated by Tolkien to be rare. The Black Speech does not seem to use e. Long â and û are attested (the latter is also spelt ú, but An Introduction to Elvish p. 166-167 is probably right in assuming that this is simply inconsistent spelling on Tolkien's part). There is at least one diphthong, ai, and au occurs in an Orc-name. (As it is uncertain what language such names belong to, they are not further dealt with here.)

What, then, was perceived as unpleasant by the Elves? It is stated that the Orcs used a uvular r, like the R that is common in French and German, and that the Eldar found this sound distasteful. It has been suggested that this was the standard pronunciation of r in the ancient Black Speech (An Introduction to Elvish p. 166). The Black Speech also had certain consonant clusters that did not appear in contemporary Sindarin: sn, thr, sk initially and rz, zg finally. Whatever the cause, the language was generally perceived as singularly harsh: When Gandalf quoted the inscription on the Ring during the council of Elrond, "the change in the wizard's voice was astounding. Suddenly it became menacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun, and the porch for a moment grew dark. All trembled, and the Elves stopped their ears" - quite a reaction! The conclusion that this was largely based on hatred of everything "under the Shadow" rather than some inherent ugliness in the Black Speech itself seems inescapable.

Where did the vocabulary of the Black Speech come from? Surely Sauron had no more "love of words or things" than his servants had, and one might well think that he simply invented words arbitrarily. This may be true in some cases, but it appears that he also picked words from many sources, even the Elvish languages: "The word uruk that occurs in the Black Speech, devised (it is said) by Sauron to serve as a lingua franca for his subjects, was probably borrowed by him from the Elvish tongues of earlier times" (WJ:390). Uruk may be similar to Quenya urco, orco or Sindarin orch, but it is identical to the ancient Elvish form *uruk (variants *urku, *uruku, whence Q urco, and *urkô, whence perhaps S orch). But how could Sauron know Primitive Quendian? Was he the one who took care of the Elves Morgoth captured at Cuiviénen, and perhaps even responsible for the "genetic engineering" that transformed them into Orcs? As a Maia, he would easily have interpreted their tongue (WJ:406). To the first Elves, Morgoth and his servants would be *urukî or "horrors", for the original meaning of the word was that vague and general, and Sauron may have delighted in telling the captured Elves that they were to become *urukî themselves. In his mind, the word evidently stuck.

But there were also other sources for Black Speech vocabulary. The word for "ring" was nazg, very similar to the final element in the Valarin word mâchananaškâd "the Doom-ring" (WJ:401, there somewhat differently spelt). Being a Maia, Sauron would know Valarin; it could indeed be his "mothertongue", to use the only term available. If it seems blasphemous to suggest that the tongue of the Gods may have been an ingredient in Sauron's Black Speech, "full of harsh and hideous sounds and vile words", it should be remembered that according to Pengolodh, "the effect of Valarin upon Elvish ears was not pleasing" (WJ:398). Morgoth, technically being a Vala, must have known Valarin (or at least picked it up during the ages he was captive in Valinor). According to LR:178 he taught it to his slaves in a "perverted" form. If so, Valarin naškâd "ring" may have produced nazg in one Orkish dialect of the Second Age, from which Sauron took it.

What happened to the Black Speech after the fall of Sauron? In ever more debased forms it may have lingered for a while among some of his former subjects. Even today, it is not wholly dead.