Dwarfs (Discworld) - Language

Language

The language of Discworld Dwarfs (Kad'k) bears a superficial resemblance to Tolkien's Dwarven language Khuzdûl, in that it has a lot of guttural k's and z's. Drudak'ak tend to converse entirely in the language. It is not spoken much in front of humans in general, possibly because humans themselves find it difficult to master. Dwarfs who speak Morporkian invariably translate any meaningful parts of their name when doing so.

Kad'k is famed for having no words for rock. It has hundreds of words describing different kinds of rock, but not a single word that simply means "rock" (a trait apparently shared with Trolls), much like the Inuit language supposedly has many words for different kinds of snow (in fact a fallacy, see here). "Show a dwarf a rock and he sees, for example, an inferior piece of crystalline sulphite of barytes." (Witches Abroad)

Known words and phrases, besides those mentioned above, include:

• AaDb'thuk - "Okay" (literally, "All correctly beamed and propped")

• Aargk ot Aork - "Say"

• Bura'zak-ka - "Town hall"

• 'Bad'dhakz - "Yeast bowl"

• B'tduz - A game in which two dwarfs stand a few feet apart and throw rocks at each other's heads.

• B'zugda-hiara - "lawn ornament"; a deadly insult, unless used by a very close friend (Wyrd Sisters).

• D'hrarak - "Not dwarfs", seems to refer to dwarfs who have been cast out of dwarfish culture

• Dhwe - "open", in the sense of "open a book"

• Dr'zka - "Not really a dwarf", refers to dwarfs who do not obey all dwarfish traditions, but are not quite d'hrarak.

• Drudak'ak - Dwarfs who don't get out into the fresh air often enough. The traditionalists. (The Fifth Elephant)

• G'daraka - "Fresh" is a loose translation. Dwarfs who have just married and have had their debts paid off are said to be in a state of G'daraka. This means they are "free, unencumbered, new dwarfs."

• Gr'duzk - "Good day"

• Ha'ak - Exact translation unknown, but it is an offensive term for an openly female dwarf.

• Jar'ahk'haga - Literally "ideas taster". This is the title of the senior advisor to the Low King (The Fifth Elephant)

• K'ez'rek d'b'duz - "Go around the other side of the mountain", according to Nanny Ogg. A name for Granny Weatherwax.

• Kruk - "Law". The kruk is mostly about mining rights, but covers all aspects of dwarfish culture.

• Kzad-bhat - "Headbanger"; Carrot's dwarfish name.

• Sh'rt'azs - A family name, translated as "Littlebottom" (and, when pronounced, sounds like "shortarse" in non-rhotic forms of English).

• T'dr'duzk b'hazg t't - "Today is a good day for someone else to die." The famous well-thought-out dwarfish battle-cry. After being declared somebody HAS to die. It is an obvious parody of the Klingon "Today is a good day to die."

• Zadkrdga - "The one who smelts". Also, as explained above, "investigator". One who finds the pure ore of truth in the dross of confusion. (Thud)

The (admittedly small) lexicon of Dwarfish words reveals only 15 letters: a, b, d, e, g, h, i, j, k, n, r, s, t, u, and z. The capital "D" in AaDb'thuk may be a separate letter, or it may simply be a differently inflected "d."

The word Hnaflbaflwhiflsnifltafl (a predecessor to the game of Thud) could be a Dwarfish word, but since it is obviously derived from the Scandinavian "Hnefatafl", and since it contains a number of letters (f, l, w) not found in any Dwarfish words and lacks any of the diacritics one would expect in a Dwarfish word that long, it is probably of human, rather than Dwarfish origin.

The enclitic -ak or -'ak appears to mean "not," and generally to indicate the opposite of something.