Durinkhâld

Spoken In: Dwôrven communities across Adamah; origin homeland of Norv-Na

Evolved From: No recorded ancestor language; predates written dwôrven history

Script: Bold angular glyphs with deep vowel markers, carved left-to-right along the grain of stone

Type: Fusional (4 cases), SVO

Common Use: Ceremonial speech, oaths, and traditional craft; spoken among dwôrves as an ancestral tongue

Durinkhâld is the ancestral tongue of the dwôrves. It has no recorded ancestor. The written record of the language begins with itself. It was carried out of Norv-Na, where water was wealth and shade was sanctuary, and it still carries the weight of that land in every vowel. The script was built to survive the chisel. Its deep vowel markers and guttural consonants are cut to be legible centuries after the hand that cut them is gone.

"Durinkhâld has forty-seven words for shade. Every one of them is still in use. We don't live in the desert anymore, but we remember exactly what it cost."

— Ghorûn Threkis, dwôrven elder, Ardentmere

Grammar

Noun Case. Paradigm: khral (stone). Four cases.

Verb Paradigm. Root: drok- (to craft).

Pronouns.

Numbers (0–10).

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