Question about Haradrim...

[Starlit Jewel]

Did Tolkien ever specify a language for them? You know, as he did for Elves (Quenya, Sindarin), Dwarves (Kuzdul I think?) and of course Westron.

It's just that I'm writing a fanfic involving Haradrim and I'm just curious to know whether Tolkien gave us any words at all or if there's nothing. If there's not, can anyone suggest to me what sort of a language I should base it on? Not copy; just base it on...

Thanks very much! wink  

[zylaxidia]

As far as I know, Tolkien himself did not specify a language for the Haradrim, though RPG groups call it Haradric or something like that. Tolkien did say that Gandalf was called "Incanus" in the South, meaning "north-spy" though Tolkien also said that it might be Quenya for "Mind-leader." It's probably somewhat related to the language of Khand, though we don't know much about that either... sweatdrop

Considering that no one goes to Far Harad, and Near Harad only comes into contact with the occasional Black Numenorean early on, and then go ally with Mordor, so its probably closer to Black Speech than anything else. Then again, they had prolonged contact with Umbar, which was taken over by Gondorians....

I'm not helping, am I?  

[SYFFER]

Ofcourse all creatures in Middle Earth have a language or means of communication. I believe the Harad do have their own language but it's never mentioned in any of the main books or even HoME (as far as I've read). Even the Lhamas (languages of ME) in HoME Volume 5 mention anything about it. As advice, I suggest you either use English, Westron, Orch, or just don't have them speak at all.  

[Starlit Jewel]

Ok! biggrin Thanks very much for the advice! 3nodding I think I'll just spatter some Black Speech in there... not all the time, maybe just some curses if I can find them. Thank you again! wink  

[Falathrim]

No, no Black Speech.

That was an artificial language Sauron devised in an attempt to get the innumerable Orc-bands to speak one unified langauge. It failed completely.  

[SYFFER]

No problem smile

And yes he's right, Black speech may not be such a great idea. Maybe you'll accidentaly put in some evil spell Sauron devised and he'll come out of the book and kill us all! gonk And yes, I am weird. Do you have a problem with that? stare  

[Starlit Jewel]

SYFFER

No problem smile

And yes he's right, Black speech may not be such a great idea. Maybe you'll accidentaly put in some evil spell Sauron devised and he'll come out of the book and kill us all! gonk And yes, I am weird. Do you have a problem with that? stare

No, not at all... after all if I did that would just be hypocritical of me, seeing as I honestly believe that Hobbits exist... they're just hiding from us... 3nodding

TO EVERYONE:

Ok then; no Black Speech! Do you think there's any languages in the world that I can loosely base it on or something? (Falathrim; I knew I could rely on you to give me some advice! Lol!!! wink )  

[SYFFER]

Well ofcourse Hobbit exist. That's old news 3nodding . If you mean any languages in Middle-earth, then I suggest the same ones I said before. If you mean languages in our world, then I'd go with Russian or Mongolian.  

[Menegil]

There is much that we don't know about the Haradrim. Language, way of life...

When someone asks me about the Haradrim, just say "Their life is, basically, Sauron-worshipping in the morning, Gondorian slaying in the afternoon, and a little more worshipping in the evening."

confused  

[Starlit Jewel]

Menegil

There is much that we don't know about the Haradrim. Language, way of life...

When someone asks me about the Haradrim, just say "Their life is, basically, Sauron-worshipping in the morning, Gondorian slaying in the afternoon, and a little more worshipping in the evening."

confused

Would you actually believe me when I say that's actually helped me out a lot?

I hope you do, because it really has!!! 3nodding Thanks!  

[Falathrim]

It's not so much Sauron-worshipping as it is "Do what Sauron says or he KEELS us."  

[Starlit Jewel]

Lol!!! Ok then... wink  

[cattirun]

i don't know.. maybe some english mixed with arabic for haradrim  

[Tirno]

I would say the best language for the Haradrim would be Adunaic, since they probably had a lot of contact with Black Numenoreans in the South, like the ones at Umbar. And we know that the King's Men, from whom the Black Numenoreans come from, used Adunaic instead of Elvish, unlike the Faithful. However, something Semitic (like the Arabic Cattirun suggested) might work, seeing as how Tolkien intended Adunaic to have a Semitic feel anyways.  

[Nolah de Fanel]

Tirno

I would say the best language for the Haradrim would be Adunaic, since they probably had a lot of contact with Black Numenoreans in the South, like the ones at Umbar. And we know that the King's Men, from whom the Black Numenoreans come from, used Adunaic instead of Elvish, unlike the Faithful. However, something Semitic (like the Arabic Cattirun suggested) might work, seeing as how Tolkien intended Adunaic to have a Semitic feel anyways.

That makes sense