Tark

2011-11-09T22:07:38Z

72.152.41.111: added a quote from the recently released Lord of the Rings game.

{{quote|There's a great fighter about, one of those bloody-handed Elves, or one of the filthy '''tarks'''.|[[Snaga (Orc of Mordor)|Snaga]], [[The Return of the King]], [[The Tower of Cirith Ungol]]}}

{{quote|They must be great warriors. Bloody handed Elves or some of those filthy '''tarks'''.|[[Tharzog (Orc serving Agandaur)|Tharzog]], [[The Lord of the Rings: War in the North]], [[Fornost Erain]]}}

'''Tark''' is an [[Orkish]] word that was often used by the [[Orcs]] of the later [[Third Age]] to describe a [[Men|Man]] of [[Númenóreans|Númenórean]] heritage (such as the [[Gondorians]]). Considering the enmity between the Orcs and the Men of [[Gondor]], the word ''tark'' tended to be used in an insulting way.<ref>{{RK|VI1}}</ref><ref name=PE17/>

==Etymology==

There exists at least two, only slightly different, etymological explanations of ''tark'':

#a corrupted version of ''[[tarkil]]'', a [[Westron]] borrowing from [[Quenya]] that literally meant "[[High Man]]".<ref>{{App|F1}}</ref><ref>{{HM|RC}}, p. 603</ref>
#unknown etymology, but "possibly a mere abbreviation of ''[[tarkil]]''".<ref name=PE17>{{PE|17}}, p. 101</ref>

==Portrayal in Adaptations ==
'''2007: ''[[The Lord of the Rings Online]]'':'''
:Whenever a keep is flipped in favor of the Servants of the Eye, an orc calls out "look at the feeble târks run!"
{{references}}
[[Category:Orkish words]]

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Tark