Of Dwarves and Men

From Tolkien Gateway
The Peoples of Middle-earth
  1. The Prologue
  2. The Appendix on Languages
  3. The Family Trees
  4. The Calendars
  5. The History of the Akallabêth
  6. The Tale of Years of the Second Age
  7. The Heirs of Elendil
  8. The Tale of Years of the Third Age
  9. The Making of Appendix A
  10. Of Dwarves and Men
  11. The Shibboleth of Fëanor
  12. The Problem of Ros
  13. Last Writings
  14. Dangweth Pengoloð
  15. Of Lembas
  16. The New Shadow
  17. Tal-Elmar


Of Dwarves and Men is the tenth chapter of The Peoples of Middle-earth, the twelfth book in the series The History of Middle-earth. This chapter is an extensive commentary and history of the languages in The Silmarillion and in The Lord of the Rings, arising from consideration of the Book of Mazarbul, but attempting to clarify and where necessary to correct or explain the references to such matters scattered in The Lord of the Rings, especially in Appendix F and in Faramir's talk in the conclusion of the chapter The Window on the West in The Two Towers. It was written on printed papers supplied by Allen and Unwin, of which the latest date was September 1969. A portion of the work was printed in Unfinished Tales, Part Four, Section 1.


The chapter consists of two sections. The first section describes the native and acquired languages of the dwarves and the relations between the Longbeard dwarves and men. The second section with the title "II. The Atani and their Languages" describes the history of Men and their native and acquired languages.