Black Speech
The Black Speech is a fictional language created by J. R. R. Tolkien.
One of the languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien in Tolkien's legendarium, it was spoken in the realm of Mordor. Tolkien describes the language as being created by Sauron as a constructed language to be the sole language of all the servants of Mordor, thereby replacing the many different varieties of Orkish, Westron, and other languages used by his servants. Tolkien describes the language as existing in two forms, the ancient "pure" forms used by Sauron himself, the Nazgûl, and the Olog-hai, and the more "debased" form used by the soldiery of Barad-dûr at the end of the Third Age.
Development by Tolkien
The Black Speech is one of the more fragmentary languages in the novels. Unlike Elvish, Tolkien did not write songs or poems in the Black Speech, apart from the One Ring inscription. Tolkien statedFrom a fan, Tolkien received a goblet with the Ring inscription on it in Black Speech. Because the Black Speech in general is an accursed language, and the Ring inscription in particular is a vile spell, Tolkien never drank out of it, and used it only as an ashtray.
Fictional history of the language
Sauron attempted to impose Black Speech as the official language of the lands he dominated and all his servants, but he was only partially successful. The Nazgûl, the Olog-hai, and several of Sauron's major lieutenants and officers learned and used the Black Speech, but it never really caught on with the Orcs, or the various groups of Men from the east and south that Sauron conquered. The Orcs tended to corrupt and debase any language they were exposed to, so while Black Speech strongly influenced their vocabulary and perhaps grammar, it soon mutated into the myriad Orkish dialects, which are not mutually intelligible. By the end of the Third Age, while Orc vocabulary was peppered with certain terms from Black Speech, even they generally communicated using Westron, albeit heavily debased.The Elves refuse to utter Black Speech, as it attracts the attention of the Eye of Sauron.
The One Ring inscription
The only example of "pure" Black Speech is the inscription upon the One Ring:Translated into English:
These are the last two lines of a verse about the Rings of Power. This corresponds to the following table as explained by J.R.R. Tolkien.
| Black Speech | English |
| ash | one |
| nazg | ring |
| durb- | constrain, force, dominate |
| -at | verb ending, like a participle |
| -ulûk | verbal ending expressing object 3rd person pl. "them" in completive or total form "them-all". |
| gimb- | seek out, discover |
| -ul | them |
| thrak- | bring by force, hale, drag |
| burzum | darkness |
| ishi | in, inside. |
| krimp- | bind, tie |
Other examples
A few Black Speech words are given by Tolkien in Appendix F of The Return of the King. These include Lugbúrz, meaning "Dark Tower", snaga, "slave", and ghâsh, "fire". The name Nazgûl is a combination of "nazg" meaning "ring" and "gûl" meaning "wraith", hence "ringwraith". The only known sample of debased Black Speech/Orkish can be found in The Two Towers, where a "yellow-fanged" Mordor Orc curses the Isengard Uruk Uglúk:In The Peoples of Middle-earth, Christopher Tolkien gives the translation: "Uglúk to the cesspool, sha! the dungfilth; the great Saruman-fool, skai!". However, in a note published in the journal Vinyar Tengwar, it is translated: "Uglúk to the dung-pit with stinking Saruman-filth, pig-guts, gah!"
Film use
For The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the linguist David Salo used what little is known of the Black Speech to invent two phrases:The word burzum-ishi is taken from the Ring Verse, and three other abstract nouns are invented with the same ending –um. The word ashi, meaning 'only', is taken from ash in the Ring Verse. The other words were made up by Salo.