Sauronian: analysis of the Black Speech of Mordor

Now, there are two forms of the Black Language. The first, and oldest, is used by Sauron himself, the Nazgûl and the Olog-hai. This is the pure form of the Black Language, but there is, we said, another more degraded form, used by the Orcs of Barad-dûr at the end of the Third Age.

The Black Language is a mysterious, fragmentary language. Tolkien wrote no songs or poems on it, apart from the One Ring inscription (see: What does the inscription on the One Ring really mean?). By the way, Tolkien mentions the following:

The Black Tongue was not intentionally inspired by any style, but was intended to be self-consistent, very different from Elvish, but organized and expressive, as would be expected of a device of Sauron before his complete corruption. Obviously it was an agglutinative language. I have tried to play fair linguistically, and its meaning should not be a mere casual grouping of unpleasant sounds, although an accurate transcription, even today, could only be printed in the form of higher and more artistically advanced literature. In my opinion, such things are best left to the Orcs, ancient and modern.

Sauron attempted to impose the Black Language as the official language of the lands he dominated, perhaps to unify the different dialects of the Orcs and, thus, have a more fluid military communication, but he was only partially successful. Only the Nazgûl, the Olog-hai, and Sauron’s chief lieutenants and officers learned the Black Tongue, but it was never fully accepted by the Orcs, nor by several of the peoples of Men of the east and south. By their very nature, Orcs tended to corrupt and degrade any language they were exposed to, and although the Black Speech strongly influenced their vocabulary, and perhaps their grammar, it soon became a mixture of intelligible dialects. At the end of the Third Age, the time in which the trilogy takes place, most Orcs communicated in Westron, the Common Language, although very degraded. The Elves, on the other hand, always refused to pronounce it.

Regarding the Orcs in the Elder Days, it is said that they did not have a language of their own, but “they took what they could from other languages ​​and perverted it to their own taste”, however, they ended up forging wild jargons, hardly useful to transmit their own needs. An example of this can be found in one of the Appendices, where we are told that Golug was an orcish name of the Noldor, clearly based on the Sindarin Golodh and, apparently, an arbitrary distortion of this elvish word. However, it is also said that Morgoth, the first Dark Lord, had created a language for those who served him, although we do not know if this mysterious language has any relationship with the Black Language later developed by Sauron.

The Black Language was apparently created by Sauron during the Dark Years, and for many centuries it was the official language of his lands. However, when Sauron was overthrown at the end of the Second Age, the pure form of the Black Speech was forgotten, except by the Nazgûl. When Sauron returned, it once again became the official language of Barad-dûr, but without success, so much so that the only concrete example of the pure Black Language is the inscription on the One Ring:

While Tolkien does not mention it, the Black Tongue certainly must have a name. Sauron was its inventor, and would surely have given it a name. Tolkien never reveals a proper name or offers a clue as to what it might be. In fact, Black Speech is almost certainly a translation of the Black Speech name into Westron, and one could hazard the assumption that its Elven counterpart would be similarly constructed.

Now, the Black Language is not an arbitrary combination of guttural sounds, like for example Lovecraft’s prehuman languages, forged by beings very different from ours, and therefore unpronounceable for our oral apparatus (see: Lovecraft and the extraterrestrial languages ). Sauron’s physical form, although tall in stature, did not differ greatly from that of Elves or Men; Therefore, the Black Language should be perfectly pronounceable by anyone; Furthermore, it had a practical function, not a ritual, so that its construction is similar to that of any other known language.

In Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, called The Languages ​​and Peoples of the Third Age, it states the following:

“It is said that the Black Language was devised by Sauron in the Dark Years, and that he had desired to make it the language of all who served him, but he failed in that purpose. However, from the Black Speech were derived many of the words that, in the Third Age, were widely spread among the Orcs, such as ghâsh “fire”, but after the first overthrow of Sauron, this language in its ancient form was forgotten, except for the Nazgûl. When Sauron rose again, it once again became the language of Barad-dûr and the captains of Mordor. The inscription on the Ring was in the ancient Black Tongue, while the orc’s curse in Mordor was in the more degraded form used by the soldiers of the Dark Tower, of whom Grishnâkh was the captain. Sharku in that language means old man.

So, Sauron developed the Black Tongue towards the end of the Second Age, when he was gaining dominance over much of Middle-earth. He failed to enforce the use of it among all his creatures, but his most powerful minions used it as his primary language, if not exclusively.

Now, why would Sauron bother creating his own language?

The answer may lie in your own personality. Sauron was a Maia of Aulë, probably the most “scientific” of the Valar; and at his core was a desire for order, for rigor, and disdain for what he would consider an irrational use of any resource at his disposal. The fact that his troops, made up of different races and peoples, are communicating in a mixture of dialects, would surely disrupt military “order.” Furthermore, consider Sauron’s admiration for Melkor, whose ideal was to be self-sufficient in his power; that is, to be at the level of Eru the Creator. In this context, it would seem reasonable that Sauron would view the languages ​​of Middle-earth with the same kind of disdain that an engineer would feel for a product that puts form before function, and doubly so if its origin is Eru, against whom Melkor, his master , tried to rebel. Replacing natural languages ​​with his own creation is one more tool for trying to reshape the world in his own image.

Tolkien never developed the Black Language extensively, rather working with a superficial list of words and names. So there’s not much more than a verse and a few single words, and even less a fully formed grammar, which makes sense insofar as the forces of good in Middle-earth, the only view we have of that story , they refuse to pronounce it. Gandalf refuses to use the Black Tongue at Bag End; and he is admonished by Elrond for speaking it in Rivendell. In practical terms, what would be the point of developing a complete grammar for a language that will not be used in history?

This reluctance of the Elves to speak the Black Tongue, according to some, has to do with the possibility that its vibrations somehow attract the Eye of Sauron. It would be extremely strange if he did, since Gandalf used it safely enough in Rivendell after all. In fact, there are no specific references to the Black Tongue attracting Sauron, although there are certainly hints that it is dangerous to speak. Gandalf’s reluctance to use the Black Tongue is one. When Strider warns Pippin not to say the word “Mordor” out loud on the way to Weathertop is another. However, although the Black Tongue has a more practical than psychological effect, its pronunciation seems to be a taboo subject in Middle-earth, and could function inversely to the languages ​​of the Elves, which have a very practical effect. in the bad ones, like the Ghosts, who recoil in terror at the phrase: To Elbereth Gilthoniel!

In Frodo’s time, the linguistic situation of the Black Tongue was not the best among the Orcs. By the way, Tolkien mentions the following:

“The Orcs had their own languages, as horrible as all the things they made or used, and since some remnant of good will, thought and perception is required to keep alive even a language useful for basic purposes, their languages ​​were infinitely diversified in form, as they were deadly monotonous in their meaning, fluid only in the expression of abuse, hatred and fear. These creatures, full of malice, hating even their own kind, quickly developed as many barbarian dialects as there were groups or settlements of their race, so that their native speech was of little use to them in relations between different tribes.

Therefore, there is no single orcish language. The only thing that seems to be true of all the Orcish languages ​​is that they were “horrible and disgusting and completely different from the languages ​​of the Elves.” Here, again, we have the essence or nature of a race to explain its attitude to language. The Orcs had no love for words, hence their attitude towards language was totally different from that of the Elves, who loved and cultivated their languages. That is to say that the absence of love for words is a characteristic of evil. Perhaps that is why Sauron had so much difficulty imposing the Black Language as a kind of Common Language of Mordor.

The diversity and mutability of the Orc languages ​​was, of course, an obstacle to Sauron, whose purpose was to achieve more efficient administration of his storm troops. One wonders if these difficulties in communication had anything to do with the obvious disorganization of the Orcs on the battlefield.

Appendix F of The Lord of the Rings, then, says that Sauron devised the Black Language in the Dark Years, and that he intended to make it the language of all who served him, but he failed in that purpose. However, many words of the Black Speech spread among the Orcs during the Third Age, although it was only preserved in its purest form among the Nazgûl. Furthermore, in the same Appendix we can read that the Olog-hai, the Troll race raised by Sauron, “knew no other language than the Black Language of Barad-dûr.” By the way, Barad-dûr’s name in the Black Language is Lugbúrz, which means “Dark Tower”, just like his name in Sindarin, so perhaps Sauron himself liked to be associated with darkness and used black as its official color. It certainly seems to be the dominant color in the uniforms of his troops (see: Gender diversity in “The Lord of the Rings”).

The problem here is that…