Tark

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 07:31, 16 June 2010 by Mithbot (talk | contribs) (Bot Message: changing link to Númenóreans)
"There's a great fighter about, one of those bloody-handed Elves, or one of the filthy tarks."
Snaga, The Return of the King, The Tower of Cirith Ungol

Tarks was a name used among the Orcs to describe the Men of Gondor. It was used in the Common Speech to describe Men of Númenórean heritage. To the Orcs of the later Third Age, such Men would always be enemies, and so the word tark tended to be used in an insulting way, as in Snaga's comments quoted above.

Etymology

Tark was a corrupted version of Tarkil, a Westron borrowing from Quenya that literally meant "High Man"

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!"