Haradrim

[windsurfbabe]

I need a haradrim word for "caretaker" or "trainer" (for animals). Does anyone have an idea, or know where I could find this?
Thanks a lot in advance for your replies!

[elleth]

Apart from Mûmak(il), which is lacking an etymology (and which Ardalambion contradicts, saying it is of Khand/Eastern origin), there isn't a single word of Haradrim in the texts as far as I know. Not even the word Haradrim itself, which is a Sindarin collective plural meaning South-folk or South-host. Plus, Harad was home to multiple tribes and/or kingdoms, but nothing in particular is known about them.

Conjecture allows that some of the tribes might be speaking a form of Adûnaic or Quenya (in fact, Gandalf's name in the south was Incánus, which can be translated as Q 'Mind-leader', and this was Tolkien's preference over the Haradric etymology meaning North-spy), since the Númenoreans kept a Haven at Umbar in the Second Age, and several of the Black Númenoreans later settled in the land. For the rest, considering that the approximate geographical location of Harad corresponds to the Middle East and Africa in our world, you could perhaps borrow the appropriate term from Arabic or one of the African language families?

[windsurfbabe]

Thanks elleth! I think I'll have to do that - I didn't find anything about this language, and was wondering whether it was my research that was faulty...

[surgicalsteel]

I'll echo what Elleth said - there really wasn't much written about the 'Southron' languages. When I've needed a word or a name I've either gone to the Adunaic word lists and cobbled something together, or if it seemed more appropriate, I tried to find either a word from an African language or one from Arabic.

My personal bias has been to steer a little away from Arabic, but that's because I've read a ton of fic in which the people of Umbar are thinly veiled Arab Muslims, and I've tried to avoid that tendency - but that's up to each writer to make that call.

[mariamaria]

You could use some sort of dialect of the Berber language ... I am not sure if geographically it would be the equivalent in
Tolkien's middle earth, but North African Berber tribes have their own language, and they are not easily mistaken with the also Afroasiatic Arabic. Arabic belongs to the Semitic subdivision while Berber has its own subdivision.

I am by no means an authority in languages or anything. I do love linguistics, but it may be that my information is incomplete, so I am giving the caveat. I do hope this information is of some help.

[windsurfbabe]

Thank you, surgicalstreel and mariamaria! I wonder now where I can get a source of those languages - berberic does sound interesting! If I can't find anything about that, I'll have to ask one of the guys from work that speak arabic...

[surgicalsteel]

I found this link on Google which looks as if it might be useful:
www.africanlanguages.org/berber.html

[windsurfbabe]

Yay, thanks a lot, surgicalstreel!

[oshun]

Wow! I am impressed with you folks. Such world builders.