Nogrod

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Nogrod
Mark Fisher - Belegost.gif
General information
Other namesHollowbold, K. Tumunzahar, Q. Návarot
LocationBlue Mountains, south-east of Mount Dolmed
People
PopulationDwarves of Nogrod
LanguageKhuzdul, Sindarin
GovernanceLord of Nogrod
History
FoundedBetween Y.T. 1050
and Y.T. 1250[1][2]
DestroyedF.A. 587
AbandonedS.A. 40
Followed byKhazad-Dûm

Nogrod was one of two Dwarven cities in the Ered Luin, the other being Belegost, that prospered during the First Age. It was home to the Dwarves of Nogrod.

Description[edit | edit source]

Nogrod lay in the north-central part of the mountain range, near Mount Dolmed where the Dwarf-road of Beleriand crossed into Eriador.[3] It guarded one of the only passes through the mountain range.[4] Nogrod was also the home to the great Dwarven smiths Gamil Zirak and Telchar.[5]

History[edit | edit source]

The city was built sometime during the Years of the Trees when the western Fathers of the Dwarves awoke from beneath the Ered Luin.[6]

Nogrod traded with throughout Beleriand and the Dwarves were employed for delvings and crafts, most famously the Nauglamir for King Thingol.[7] Eöl the Dark Elf often went there, as did his son Maeglin.[8]

At the end of the First Age, Nogrod was ruined in the War of Wrath,[9] and around the fortieth year of the Second Age the Dwarves of the Blue Mountains began to migrate to Khazad-dûm, abandoning Nogrod and Belegost.[10] However, there always remained some Dwarves on the eastern side of the Blue Mountains in days afterward.[11]

Other versions of the legendarium[edit | edit source]

In the Lost Tales Nogrod is located "a very long journey southward beyond the wide forest on the borders of those great heaths nigh Umboth-muilin the Pools of Twilight, on the marches of Tasarinan".[12]

Etymology[edit | edit source]

Nogrod is a Sindarin name; it was originally known as Novrod which means "hollow delving" aka Hollowbold, like its original Khuzdul name Tumunzahar [8] and the Quenya translation Návarot.[13]

Novrod was altered to Naugrod under the influence of the similar-sounding word Naug "dwarf".[14] Therefore while the name Hollowbold is provided as the translation of Nogrod[15] it is not a literal translation; the new name means rather "Dwarf dwelling".[16]

The second element of Novrod/Nogrod is Sindarin groth/grod meaning "delving, underground dwelling".[14]

In The Etymologies the name is labelled as Noldorin and is said to contain the element Naug ("dwarf"). The second element -rod is not explained, but a note by Christopher Tolkien points to entry ROD, an etymological root meaning "cave". Relevant Noldorin words include rhond ("cave") and rhaud ("hollow, cavernous").[17]

References

  1. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Sindar"
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals and Related Writings — Part Two" (edited by Patrick H. Wynne), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 48, December 2005, p. 24 ("...which had certainly been founded long ago ... before the coming of the exiled Noldor, probably before the Eldar of the Great Journey ever reached Beleriand")
  3. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Map of Beleriand and the Lands to the North"
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals and Related Writings — Part Two" (edited by Patrick H. Wynne), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 48, December 2005, p. 24 ("But the Dwarves had built some great Mansions in those mountains [the Ered Luin] (commanding the only passes)")
  5. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "Narn i Hîn Húrin (The Tale of the Children of Húrin)", The Departure of Túrin
  6. J.R.R. Tolkien, "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals and Related Writings — Part Two" (edited by Patrick H. Wynne), in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 48, December 2005, p. 24 ("...which had certainly been founded long ago ... before the coming of the exiled Noldor, probably before the Eldar of the Great Journey ever reached Beleriand")
  7. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Ruin of Doriath"
  8. 8.0 8.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Quenta Silmarillion: Of the Sindar"
  9. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix A, "Durin's Folk"
  10. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix B, "The Second Age"
  11. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Unfinished Tales, "The History of Galadriel and Celeborn", "Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn" p. 235
  12. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.) 1984: The History of Middle-earth, vol. 2, The Book of Lost Tales, part two, p. 225.
  13. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The War of the Jewels, "Part Four. Quendi and Eldar: Appendix B. Elvish names for the Dwarves", p. 389
  14. 14.0 14.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names"
  15. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Silmarillion, "Index of Names"
  16. Robert Foster, The Complete Guide to Middle-earth, entry "Nogrod"
  17. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", entries NAUK, ROD