Merci de ne pas poster (du moins pour le moment) à la suite de ce post. Je vais y récapituler toutes sortes de sources sur les Nains et j'aurai certainement besoin de plusieurs posts. J'aimerai autant que ça reste monobloc.

Ce topic généraliste a pour but de faire un tour d'horizon de ce que l'on sait sur les Nains.

A/ Sources Tolkien majeures
Les principales sources d'information un peu denses que l'on a sur les nains, et que les aspirants doivent avoir en tête, sont les suivantes :
(- Bilbo, œuf corse
- Sda, de loin en loin)
- Appendice A III, Durin's Folk
- HoME XII, Des nains et des hommes (essai linguistique dont Erw a donné la traduction française de Dior ici.)


B/ Noms
Il y a beaucoup à dire sur les noms des Nains. Je ne parle ici que des noms du 3A car ceux du 1A sont plus particuliers et nous concernent moins.
Les vrais noms des nains sont en Khuzdûl mais ceux-ci demeurent secrets, et ne sauraient être divulgués, ni à l'oral, ni à l'écrit : on ne les verra ainsi pas gravés sur des tombes.
Les Nains utilisaient donc des noms dans la langue de leur voisin et, avec le temps, si la langue de leurs voisins a pu évoluer, ils ont gardé des noms de cette trempe. Les noms connus des nains sont donc dans la langue des Northmen. Cette langue est rendue par le norrois, comme le rohanais est rendu par le vieil anglais et le Parler commun par l'anglais moderne. D'où l'absurdité de l'inscription de la tombe de Balin dans la Moria, de la main de Tolkien. Mais cela n'importe pas vraiment, ce qui compte pour nous, c'est qu'on va utiliser du norrois.
Et, plus spécifiquement, des noms tirés des Eddas.
Voici un lien vers le Voluspa dont vous aurez droit à une version lue à haute voix. Vous y trouverez les noms de nombreux Nains de Tolkien : Durin, Dwalin, Nar, Nain, Dain, Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Nori, Thrain, Thorin Eikinskjaldi, Thror, Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali, Frar, Loni, Gloi(n), Dori, Ori... certains noms des brouillons, comme Lofar, Hanar ou Anar... Bref, une source plus qu'honorable, que Jari avait utilisée à bon escient.
D'autres noms de Nains chez Tolkien, bâtis sur le même moule, ne sont pas tirés du chant de la voyante : Floi, Gimli, Dis, Fror, Gror, Groin, Groin, Borin, Drerin, Farin, Narvi, Telchar... Donc ce n'est pas exclusif.
Il est très intéressant de souligner que ces noms ont des signification (Durin = Dormeur, Thorin = Audacieux, Bombur = ballonné, Nori = minuscule, etc.) qui sont généralement en accord avec le caractère ou le physique des Nains. Pas toujours de manière claire (Fundin = trouvé... pourquoi ?) et certains noms ont une signification qu'on rattachera difficilement au physique ou au mental du Nain (Kili = bras-de-mer...).
Des traductions sont proposées ici. Le sujet avait été un peu discuté, et des traductions différentes parfois avancées, sur Tolkiendil.


C/ Apparence physique

Juste pour citer quelques essais intéressants des Chroniques de Chant de Fer, le site d'Anglin.
D'abord, une étude assez intéressante sur la taille des Nains. Les conclusions, basées surtout sur les dimensions de la porte d'Erebor et sur un comparatif Gimli/Hobbits, donne des Nains faisant en moyenne un pied (30,5 cm) de large et 4 à 5 pieds (1m22 à 1m52).
Une autre étude spécifique à la barbe qui apporte peu de neuf mais qu'il est toujours intéressant de relire.
Enfin, un mot sur l'apparence des femmes naines

Quelques sources en vrac et VO pour illustrer ces points :

Appendices a écrit:

Dís was the daughter of Thráin II. She is the only dwarf-woman named in these histories. It was said by Gimli that there are few dwarf-women, probably no more than a third of the whole people. They seldom walk abroad except at great need, They are in voice and appearance, and in garb if they must go on a journey, so like to the dwarf-men that the eyes and ears of other peoples cannot tell them apart. This has given rise to the foolish opinion among Men that there are no dwarf-women, and that the Dwarves 'grow out of stone'.
It is because of the fewness of women among them that the kind of the Dwarves increases slowly, and is in peril when they have no secure dwellings. For Dwarves take only one wife or husband each in their lives, and are jealous, as in all matters of their rights. The number of dwarf-men that marry is actually less than one-third. For not all the women take husbands: some desire none; some desire one that they cannot get, and so will have no other. As for the men, very many also do not desire marriage, being engrossed in their crafts.

SdA 1 a écrit:

Bombur was now so fat that he could not move himself from his couch to his chair at table, and it took six young dwarves to lift him.

Bilbo a écrit:

I suppose
hobbits need some description nowadays, since they have become rare and shy of
the Big People, as they call us. They are (or were) a little people, about
half our height, and smaller than the bearded Dwarves.

Bilbo a écrit:

'Five feet high the door and three may walk
abreast' say the runes

Bilbo a écrit:

Poor Bilbo could not reach his hand even when he climbed down to the bottom branch and
hung his arm down as far as ever he could. So Dori actually climbed out of the
tree and let Bilbo scramble up and stand on his back. […]He waited till he had clambered off his shoulders into the
branches, and then he jumped for the branches himself.

Bilbo a écrit:

If Balin noticed that Mr. Baggins' waistcoat was more extensive (and
had real gold buttons), Bilbo also noticed that Balin's beard was several
inches longer, and his jewelled belt was of great magnificence.

Bilbo a écrit:

"I should turn dizzy and
tread on my beard, and then you would be thirteen again. And the knotted ropes
are too slender for my weight."

D/ Sources Tolkien diverses

À venir... et en nombre.

Les Nains et le feu

Bilbo a écrit:

Dwarves can make a fire
almost anywhere out of almost anything, wind or no wind; but they could not do
it that night, not even Oin and Gloin, who were specially good at it.

Bilbo a écrit:

since Oin and Gloin had lost their tinder-boxes. (Dwarves have never
taken to matches even yet.)

Bilbo a écrit:

If Oin and Gloin
have not lost their time tinder-boxes, perhaps we can make a little light, and
have a look round before the luck turns.

Bilbo a écrit:

After a while a twinkling gleam showed them returning, in with a small
pine-torch alight in his hand, and Gloin with a bundle of others under his
arm.

Les Nains et la musique

Bilbo a écrit:

Kili and Fili rushed for their bags and brought back little fiddles;
Dori, Nori, and Ori brought out flutes from somewhere inside their coats; Bombur produced a drum from the hall; Bifur and Bofur went out too, and came
back with clarinets that they had left among the walking-sticks Dwalin and
Balin said: "Excuse me, I left mine in the porch!" "Just bring mine in with
you," said Thorin. They came back with viols as big as themselves, and with
Thorin's harp wrapped in a green cloth. It was a beautiful golden harp, and
when Thorin struck it the music began all at once, so sudden and sweet that
Bilbo forgot everything else, and was swept away into dark lands under strange
moons, far over The Water and very far from his hobbit-hole under The Hill.

Bilbo a écrit:

And suddenly first one and then another
began to sing as they played, deep-throated singing of the dwarves in the deep
places of their ancient homes; and this is like a fragment of their song, if
it can be like their song without their music.

Bilbo a écrit:

Goblets they carved there for themselves
And harps of gold

Bilbo a écrit:

So after that the party went along very merrily, and they told
stories or sang songs as they rode forward all day, except of course when they
stopped for meals.

SdA 1 a écrit:

Beneath the mountains music woke:
The harpers harped, the minstrels sang,
And at the gates the trumpets rang.

SdA 1 a écrit:

He rose and standing in the dark he began to chant in a deep voice, while the echoes ran away into the roof.

Bilbo a écrit:

Fili and Kili were almost in merry mood, and
finding still hanging there many golden harps strung with silver they took
them and struck them; and being magical (and also untouched by the dragon, who
had small interests in music) they were still in tune.

Bilbo a écrit:

The hobbit felt quite crushed, and as there seemed nothing else to do he
did go to bed; and while the dwarves were still singing songs he dropped
asleep.

Les Nains et le tabac

Bilbo a écrit:

Then they went back, and found Thorin with his feet on the fender
smoking a pipe.

Bilbo a écrit:

So they spread out
their wet things on the floor, and got dry ones out of their bundles; then
they made their blankets comfortable, got out their pipes and blew smoke
rings.

Les Nains voyageurs

SdA 1 a écrit:

There were, however, dwarves on the road in unusual numbers. The ancient East-West Road ran through the Shire to its end at the Grey Havens, and dwarves had always used it on their way to their mines in the Blue Mountains. They were the hobbits' chief source of news from distant parts – if they wanted any: as a rule dwarves said little and hobbits asked no more. But now Frodo often met strange dwarves of far countries, seeking refuge in the West. They were troubled, and some spoke in whispers of the Enemy and of the Land of Mordor.

SdA 1 a écrit:

The Inn of Bree was still there, however, and the innkeeper was an important person. His house was a meeting place for the idle, talkative, and inquisitive among the inhabitants, large and small, of the four villages; and a resort of Rangers and other wanderers, and for such travelers (mostly dwarves) as still journeyed on the East Road, to and from the Mountains.

SdA 1 a écrit:

There's a party that came up the Greenway from down South last night – and that was strange enough to begin with. Then there's a travelling company of dwarves going West come in this evening. And now there's you. (Mr Butterbur)

SdA 1 a écrit:

Barliman Butterbur was standing near the fire, talking to a couple of dwarves and one or two strange-looking men. On the benches were various folk: men of Bree, a collection of local hobbits (sitting chattering together), a few more dwarves, and other vague figures difficult to make out away in the shadows and comers.

SdA 1 a écrit:

The Men and Dwarves were mostly talking of distant events and telling flews of a kind that was becoming only too familiar. There was trouble away in the South, and it seemed that the Men who had come up the Greenway were on the move, looking for lands where they could find some peace.

SdA 1 a écrit:

The lands ahead were empty of all save birds and beasts, unfriendly places deserted by all the races of the world. Rangers passed at times beyond the hills, but they were few and did not stay. Other wanderers were rare, and of evil sort: trolls might stray down at times out of the northern valleys of the Misty Mountains. Only on the Road would travellers be found, most often dwarves, hurrying along on business of their own, and with no help and few words to spare for strangers.

Bilbo a écrit:

At
first they had passed through hobbit-lands, a wild respectable country
inhabited by decent folk, with good roads, an inn or two, and now and then a
dwarf or a farmer ambling by on business. Then they came to lands where people
spoke strangely, and sang songs Bilbo had never heard before.

Bilbo a écrit:

It is true that for ever after he remained an elf-friend, and had
the honour of dwarves, wizards, and all such folk as ever passed that way

Les Nains et les jouets

SdA 1 a écrit:

There were toys the like of which they had never seen before, all beautiful and some obviously magical. Many of them had indeed been ordered a year before, and had come all the way from the Mountain and from Dale, and were of real dwarf-make.

Bilbo a écrit:

Altogether those were good days for us, and the poorest of us had
money to spend and to lend, and leisure to make beautiful things just for the.
fun of it, not to speak of the most marvellous and magical toys, the like of
which is not to be found in the world now-a-days. So my grandfather's halls
became full of armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the toy-market of
Dale was the wonder of the North.

Mœurs naines : le salut

SdA 1 a écrit:

He rose clumsily and bowed in dwarf-fashion

Bilbo a écrit:

"Well, it is the first time that even a mouse has crept along carefully
and quietly under my very nose and not been spotted," said Balin, "and I take
off my hood to you." Which he did.

Bilbo a écrit:

Just at that moment
Balin and Dwalin appeared and bowed so low that their beards swept the stone
floor. The big man was frowning at first, but they did their very best to be
frightfully polite, and kept on nodding and bending and bowing and waving
their hoods before their knees (in proper dwarf-fashion), till he stopped
frowning and burst into a chuckling laugh; they looked so comical.

Goûts culinaires des Nains

Bilbo a écrit:

"Come along in, and have some tea!" he managed to say after taking a deep
breath.
"A little beer would suit me better, if it is all the same to you, my
good sir," said Balin with the white beard. "But I don't mind some cake-seed-
cake, if you have any."

Bilbo a écrit:

Already it had almost become a
throng. Some called for ale, and some for porter, and one for coffee, and all
of them for cakes; so the hobbit was kept very busy for a while.

Bilbo a écrit:

I hope there is something left for the late-comers to eat and drink!
What's that? Tea! No thank you! A little red wine, I think, for me." "And for
me," said Thorin. "And raspberry jam and apple-tart," said Bifur. "And mince-
pies and cheese," said Bofur. "And pork-pie and salad," said Bombur. "And more
cakes-and ale-and coffee, if you don't mind," called the other dwarves through
the door.

Bilbo a écrit:

"But I agree about bed and breakfast. I like eggs with my ham, when
starting on a journey: fried not poached, and mind you don't break 'em."

Bilbo a écrit:

(If you want to know what cram is, I can only
say that I don't know the recipe; but it is biscuitish, keeps good
indefinitely, is supposed to be sustaining, and is certainly not entertaining,
being in fact very uninteresting except as a chewing exercise. It was made by
the Lake-men for long journeys).

Relations diplomatiques des Nains

SdA 1 a écrit:

`But their tolls are high,' he added with a shake of his head; `and like Beorn of old they are not over fond of dwarves. Still, they are trusty, and that is much in these days. Nowhere are there any men so friendly to us as the Men of Dale. They are good folk, the Bardings. '

Bilbo a écrit:

Dain has crowned their chief with gold, and sworn friendship with
them [the Eagles] for ever.

Bilbo a écrit:

They [Orcs] did not hate dwarves especially, no more than they hated everybody and everything, and
particularly the orderly and prosperous; in some parts wicked dwarves had even
made alliances with them. But they had a special grudge against Thorin's
people, because of the war which you have heard mentioned, but which does not
come into this tale.

Architecture naine - Khazad-Dûm

SdA 1 a écrit:

`I need no map,' said Gimli, who had come up with Legolas, and was gazing out before him with a strange light in his deep eyes. `There is the land where our fathers worked of old, and we have wrought the image of those mountains into many works of metal and of stone, and into many songs and tales. They stand tall in our dreams: Baraz, Zirak, Shathûr.
`Only once before have I seen them from afar in waking life, but I know them and their names, for under them lies Khazad-dûm, the Dwarrowdelf, that is now called the Black Pit, Moria in the Elvish tongue. Yonder stands Barazinbar, the Redhorn, cruel Caradhras; and beyond him are Silvertine and Cloudyhead: Celebdil the White, and Fanuidhol the Grey, that we call Zirak-zigil and Bundushathûr.
`There the Misty Mountains divide, and between their arms lies the deep-shadowed valley which we cannot forget: Azanulbizar, the Dimrill Dale, which the Elves call Nanduhirion.'
`It is for the Dimrill Dale that we are making,' said Gandalf. `If we climb the pass that is called the Redhorn Gate, under the far side of Caradhras, we shall come down by the Dimrill Stair into the deep vale of the Dwarves. There lies the Mirrormere, and there the River Silverlode rises in its icy springs.'
`Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram,' said Gimli, `and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla. My heart trembles at the thought that I may see them soon.'

SdA 1 a écrit:

'Caradhras was called the Cruel, and had an ill name, said Gimli, `long years ago, when rumour of Sauron had not been heard in these lands.'

SdA 1 a écrit:

They found themselves in a wide corridor. As they went along it the glimmer grew stronger, and they saw that it came through a doorway on their right. It was high and flat-topped, and the stone door was still upon its hinges, standing half open. Beyond it was a large square chamber.

SdA 1 a écrit:

The chamber was lit by a wide shaft high in the further eastern wall; it slanted upwards and, far above, a small square patch of blue sky could be seen. The light of the shaft fell directly on a table in the middle of the room: a single oblong block, about two feet high, upon which was laid a great slab of white stone.

SdA 1 a écrit:

The Twenty-first Hall should be on the Seventh Level, that is six above the level of the Gates.

SdA 1 a écrit:

'Dark is the water of Kheled-zâram, and cold are the springs of Kibil-nâla, and fair were the many-pillared halls of Khazad-dûm in Elder Days before the fall of mighty kings beneath the stone.'

SdA 1 a écrit:

'Dwarf-doors are not made to be seen when shut,' said Gimli. `They are invisible, and their own masters cannot find them or open them, if their secret is forgotten.'

SdA 1 a écrit:

'Yes,' said Gandalf, 'these doors are probably governed by words. Some dwarf-gates will open only at special times, or for particular persons; and some have locks and keys that are still needed when all necessary times and words are known. These doors have no key. In the days of Durin they were not secret. They usually stood open and doorwards sat here. But if they were shut, any who knew the opening word could speak it and pass in. At least so it is recorded, is it not, Gimli? '
'It is,' said the dwarf. `But what the word was is not remembered. Narvi and his craft and all his kindred have vanished from the earth.'

Architecture naine - Erebor

SdA 1 a écrit:

Glóin began then to talk of the works of his people, telling Frodo about their great labours in Dale and under the Mountain. 'We have done well,' he said. `But in metalwork we cannot rival our fathers, many of whose. secrets are lost. We make good armour and keen swords, but we cannot again make mail or blade to match those that were made before the dragon came. Only in mining and building have we surpassed the old days. You should see the waterways of Dale, Frodo, and the fountains, and the pools! You should see the stone-paved roads of many colours! And the halls and cavernous streets under the earth with arches carved like trees; and the terraces and towers upon the Mountain's sides! Then you would see that we have not been idle.'

Bilbo a écrit:

It was a passage made by dwarves, at the height of their
wealth and skill: straight as a ruler, smooth-floored and smooth-sided, going
with a gentle never-varying slope direct-to some distant end in the blackness
below.

Bilbo a écrit:

Though all the old adornments were long mouldered or destroyed, and though all was
befouled and blasted with the comings and goings of the monster, Thorin knew
every passage and every turn.

Bilbo a écrit:

"This is the great chamber of Thror," said Thorin; "the hall of feasting
and of council. Not far off now is the Front Gate."

Bilbo a écrit:

Beside it ran a stone-paved road, wide enough
for many men abreast.

Bilbo a écrit:

"Here," said Balin, "in the old days we used always to keep watchmen, and
that door behind leads into a rock-hewn chamber that was made here as a
guardroom. There were several places like it round the Mountain. But there
seemed small need for watching in the days of our prosperity, and the guards
were made over comfortable, perhaps - otherwise we might have had longer
warnings of the coming of the dragon, and things might have been different.
Still, "here we can now lie hid and sheltered for a while, and can see much
without being seen."
[…]
In the rock-chamber there would have been room for a hundred, and there was a small chamber further in, more removed from the cold outside. It was
quite deserted; not even wild animals seemed to have used it in all the days
of Smaug's dominion.

Références aux outils et à la forge

SdA 1 a écrit:

Not even the anvils and furnaces of the Dwarves could do that. [destroy the ring]

Bilbo a écrit:

Tools were to be found in plenty that the
miners and quarriers and builders of old had used; and at such work the
dwarves were still very skilled.

Bilbo a écrit:

Part of the wall, moved by levers, fell outward
with a crash into the pool.

Anneaux des Nains

SdA 1 a écrit:

Seven the Dwarf-kings possessed, but three he has recovered, and the others the dragons have consumed.

Ecriture des Nains

SdA 1 a écrit:

Not far down the bank Strider pointed out a stone in the grass. On it roughly cut and now much weathered could still be seen dwarf-runes and secret marks.
'There!' said Merry. 'That must be the stone that marked the place where the trolls' gold was hidden.'

SdA 1 a écrit:

Frodo and Gimli standing at his side could see, as he gingerly turned the leaves, that they were written by many different hands, in runes, both of Moria and of Dale, and here and there in Elvish script.

SdA 1 a écrit:

'That would be Ori's hand,' said Gimli, looking over the wizard's arm. `He could write well and speedily, and often used the Elvish characters.'

Bilbo a écrit:

"Moon-letters are rune-letters, but you cannot see them," said Elrond,
"not when you look straight at them. They can only be seen when the moon
shines behind them, and what is more, with the more cunning sort it must be a
moon of the same shape and season as the day when they were written. The
dwarves invented them and wrote them with silver pens, as your friends could
tell you. These must have been written on a midsummer's eve in a crescent
moon, a long while ago."

Moeurs naines : formules

Bilbo a écrit:

With cries of "Moria!" and "Dain,
Dain!" the dwarves of the Iron Hills plunged in, wielding their mattocks, upon
the other side; and beside them came the men of the Lake with long swords.

Bilbo a écrit:

May your beards never grow thin!

Moeurs naines : divers

SdA 1 a écrit:

`If you really wish to hear of us, I will tell you tidings gladly. But stop me when you are weary! Dwarves' tongues run on when speaking of their handiwork, they say.'
And with that Glóin embarked on a long account of the doings of the Dwarf-kingdom. He was delighted to have found so polite a listener; for Frodo showed no sign of weariness and made no attempt to change the subject, though actually he soon got rather lost among the strange names of people and places that he had never heard of before.

==> bavardent volontiers sur leurs réalisations

SdA 1 a écrit:

`The legs of Men will lag on a rough road, while a Dwarf goes on, be the burden twice his own weight, Master Boromir! '
[…]
'Well, here we are, and here we must pass another night,' said Boromir. `We need sleep, and even if Aragorn had a mind to pass the Gates of Argonath by night, we are all too tired-except, no doubt, our sturdy dwarf.'
Gimli made no reply: he was nodding as he sat.

==> Quoique forts (cf. les gens de Dain aussi), un peu vantards

Bilbo a écrit:

Fathers would beg us to take their sons as apprentices, and pay us handsomely,
especially in food-supplies, which we never bothered to grow or find for ourselves.

Bilbo a écrit:

But at any rate
hobbits can move quietly in woods, absolutely quietly. They take a pride in
it, and Bilbo had sniffed more than once at what he called "all this dwarvish
racket," as they went along

==> peu discrets (plusieurs autres occurences dans Bilbo)

Bilbo a écrit:

They drank his health, and they patted him on the back, and they made a great fuss of him

==> ils boivent à la santé des gens qu'ils apprécient !

Bilbo a écrit:

There it is: dwarves are not heroes, but calculating folk with a great
idea of the value of money; some are tricky and treacherous and pretty bad
lots; some are not, but are decent enough people like Thorin and Company, if
you don't expect too much.

==> ils sont calculateurs

Bilbo a écrit:

and when the heart of a
dwarf, even the most respectable, is wakened by gold and by jewels, he grows
suddenly bold, and he may become fierce.

Bilbo a écrit:

I have been told that dwarves are
sometimes politer in word than in deed

Mithril

SdA 1 a écrit:

'For _mithril_,' answered Gandalf. `The wealth of Moria was not in gold and jewels, the toys of the Dwarves; nor in iron, their servant. Such things they found here, it is true, especially iron; but they did not need to delve for them: all things that they desired they could obtain in traffic. For here alone in the world was found Moria-silver, or true-silver as some have called it: _mithril_ is the Elvish name. The Dwarves have a name which they do not tell. Its worth was ten times that of gold, and now it is beyond price; for little is left above ground, and even the Orcs dare not delve here for it. The lodes lead away north towards Caradhras, and down to darkness. The Dwarves tell no tale; but even as _mithril_ was the foundation of their wealth, so also it was their destruction: they delved too greedily and too deep, and disturbed that from which they fled, Durin's Bane. Of what they brought to light the Orcs have gathered nearly all, and given it in tribute to Sauron, who covets it.
`_Mithril!_ All folk desired it. It could be beaten like copper, and polished like glass; and the Dwarves could make of it a metal, light and yet harder than tempered steel. Its beauty was like to that of common silver, but the beauty of _mithril_ did not tarnish or grow dim. The Elves dearly loved it, and among many uses they made of it _ithildin_, starmoon, which you saw upon the doors. Bilbo had a corslet of mithril-rings that Thorin gave him. I wonder what has become of it? Gathering dust still in Michel Delving Mathom-house, I suppose.'
`What? ' cried Gimli, startled out of his silence. `A corslet of Moria-silver? That was a kingly gift! '
'Yes,' said Gandalf. `I never told him, but its worth was greater than the value of the whole Shire and everything in it.'

Mobilier nain

SdA 1 a écrit:

There were many recesses cut in the rock of the walls, and in them were large iron-bound chests of wood. All had been broken and plundered; but beside the shattered lid of one there lay the remains of a book.

Bilbo a écrit:

They passed through the ruined chamber. Tables were rotting there; chairs
and benches were lying there overturned, charred and decaying.

Bilbo a écrit:

and there in rows stood great jars
and vessels filled with a wealth that could not be guessed.

Eclairage nain

SdA 1 a écrit:

In shining lamps of crystal hewn

Nécessaire de repas nain

Bilbo a écrit:

Goblets they carved there for themselves

Bilbo a écrit:

So my grandfather's halls
became full of armour and jewels and carvings and cups, and the toy-market of
Dale was the wonder of the North.

Bilbo a écrit:

So now there was nothing left to do but to fill their water-skins at a
clear spring they found close to the forest-gate

Bilbo a écrit:

He grasped a great two-handled cup, as heavy as he could carry,
and cast one fearful eye upwards.

Bilbo a écrit:

the great golden cup of Thror,
two-handed, hammered and carven with birds and flowers whose eyes and petals
were of jewels;

Bilbo a écrit:

"I would give a good many of these precious goblets, he thought, "for a
drink of something cheering out of one Beorn's wooden bowls!"

Bilbo a écrit:

Skulls and bones were upon the floor among flagons and bowls and broken drinking-horns and dust.

Calendrier nain

Bilbo a écrit:

"The first day of the dwarves' New Year," said Thorin, "is as all should
know the first, day of the last moon of Autumn on the threshold of Winter. We
still call it Durin's Day when the last moon of Autumn and the sun are in the
sky together. But this will not help us much, I fear, for it passes our skill
in these days to guess when such a time will come again."

Nains et corbeaux, Nains et corneilles

Bilbo a écrit:

"Those were crows! And nasty suspicious-looking creatures at that, and
rude as well. You must have heard the ugly names they were calling after us.
But the ravens are different. There used to be great friendship between them
and the people of Thror; and they often brought us secret news, and were
rewarded with such bright things as they coveted to hide in their dwellings.
"They live many a year, and their memories are long, and they hand on
their wisdom to their children. I knew many among the ravens of the rocks when
I was a dwarf- lad. This very height was once named Ravenhill, because there
was a wise and famous pair, old Carc and his wife, that lived here above the
guard-chamber. But I don't suppose that any of that ancient breed linger here now."

Bilbo a écrit:

I am Rac son of Carc. Carc is dead, but he was well known to you
once. It is a hundred years and three and fifty since I came out of the egg,
but I do not forget what my father told me. Now I am the chief of the great
ravens of the Mountain. We are few, but we remember still the king that was of old.

cf. l'étude de l'Arc & le Heaume pour plus de détails là-dessus




Merci de ne pas poster. J'enlèverai cet avertissement quand ce sera bon.

E/ Longévité des Nains et mariage

HoME XII a écrit:

Dwarves of different 'breeds' vary in their longevity. Durin's
race were originally long-lived (especially those named Durin),
but like most other peoples they had become less so during the
Third Age. Their average age (unless they met a violent death)
was about 250 years, which they seldom fell far short of, but
could occasionally far exceed (up to 300).(17) A Dwarf of 300 was
about as rare and aged as a Man of 100.
Dwarves remained young - e.g. regarded as too tender for
really hard work or for fighting - until they were 30 or nearly
that (Dain II was very young in 2799 (32) and his slaying of
Azog was a great feat). After that they hardened and took on the
appearance of age (by human standards) very quickly. By forty
all Dwarves looked much alike in age, until they reached what
they regarded as old age, about 240. They then began to age and
wrinkle and go white quickly (baldness being unknown among
them), unless they were going to be long-lived, in which case the
process was delayed. Almost the only physical disorder they
suffered from (they were singularly immune from diseases such
as affected Men, and Halflings) was corpulence. If in prosper-
ous circumstances, many grew very fat at or before 200, and
could not do much (save eat) afterwards. Otherwise 'old age'
lasted not much more than ten years, and from say 40 or a little
before to near 240 (two hundred years) the capacity for toil
(and for fighting) of most Dwarves was equally great.


It is then said that Dwarves marry late, seldom before they are
ninety or more,(18) that they have few children (so many as four being
rare), and continues:
To these they are devoted, often rather fiercely: that is, they may
treat them with apparent harshness (especially in the desire to
ensure that they shall grow up tough, hardy, unyielding), but
they defend them with all their power, and resent injuries to
them even more than to themselves. The same is true of the atti-
tude of children to parents. For an injury to a father a Dwarf
may spend a life-time in achieving revenge. Since the 'kings' or
heads of lines are regarded as 'parents' of the whole group, it
will be understood how it was that the whole of Durin's Race
gathered and marshalled itself to avenge Thror.


Finally, there is a note on the absence of record concerning the
women of the Dwarves:
They are seldom named in genealogies. They join their hus-
bands' families. But if a son is seen to be 110 or so years
younger than his father, this usually indicates an elder daughter.
Thorin's sister Dis is named simply because of the gallant death
of her sons Fili and Kili in defence of Thorin II. The sentiment
of affection for sister's children was strong among all peoples of
the Third Age, but less so among Dwarves than Men or Elves
among whom it was strongest.


NOTES
17. It will be found in the genealogical table that the life-span of all
the 'kings of Durin's Folk' from Thrain I to Nain II varied only
between 247 and 256 years, and no Dwarf in the table exceeded
that, save Borin (261) and Dwalin, who lived to the vast age of
340 (the date of his death appears in all the later texts of the table,
although the first to give dates seems - it is hard to make out the
figures - to make him 251 years old at his death).
18. In the genealogical table all the 'kings of Durin's Folk' from
Nain I to Thorin Oakenshield were born either 101 or 102 (in
one case 100) years after their fathers.

F/ Les Nains après la mort

Bilbo a écrit:

"Farewell, good thief," he said. "I go now to the halls of waiting to sit
beside my fathers, until the world is renewed.”

HoME XII a écrit:

It is possible that this false notion (18) was in some ways
connected with the various strange ideas which both Elves and
Men had concerning the Dwarves, which were indeed largely
derived by them from the Dwarves themselves. For the Dwarves
asserted that the spirits of the Seven Fathers of their races were
from time to time reborn in their kindreds. This was notably the
case in the race of the Longbeards whose ultimate forefather
was called Durin, a name which was taken at intervals by one
of his descendants, but by no others but those in a direct line of
descent from Durin I. Durin I, eldest of the Fathers, 'awoke' far
back in the First Age (it is supposed, soon after the awakening
of Men), but in the Second Age several other Durins had
appeared as Kings of the Longbeards (Anfangrim). In the Third
Age Durin VI was slain by a Balrog in 1980. It was prophesied
(by the Dwarves), when Dain Ironfoot took the kingship in
Third Age 2941 (after the Battle of Five Armies), that in his
direct line there would one day appear a Durin VII - but he
would be the last.(19) Of these Durins the Dwarves reported that
they retained memory of their former lives as Kings, as real, and
yet naturally as incomplete, as if they had been consecutive
years of life in one person.(20)
How this could come to pass the Elves did not know; nor
would the Dwarves tell them much more of the matter.(21) But the
Elves of Valinor knew of a strange tale of Dwarvish origins,
which the Noldor brought to Middle-earth, and asserted that
they had learned it from Aule himself. This will be found among
the many minor matters included in notes or appendices to The
Silmarillion, and is not here told in full. For the present point it
is sufficient to recall that the immediate author of the Dwarvish
race was the Vala Aule.(22)

Here there is a brief version of the legend of the Making of the
Dwarves, which I omit; my father wrote on the text: 'Not a place
for telling the story of Aule and the Dwarves.'(23) The conclusion then
follows:

The Dwarves add that at that time Aule gained them also this
privilege that distinguished them from Elves and Men: that the
spirit of each of the Fathers (such as Durin) should, at the end
of the long span of life allotted to Dwarves, fall asleep, but then
lie in a tomb of his own body,(24) at rest, and there its weariness
and any hurts that had befallen it should be amended. Then
after long years he should arise and take up his kingship again.(25)

The second version is very much briefer, and on the question of
the 'rebirth' of the Fathers says only: '... the reappearance, at long
intervals, of the person of one of the Dwarf-fathers, in the lines of their
kings - e.g. especially Durin - is not when examined probably one of
rebirth, but of the preservation of the body of a former King Durin
(say) to which at intervals his spirit would return. But the relations of
the Dwarves to the Valar and especially to the Vala Aule are (as it
seems) quite different from those of Elves and Men.'

NOTES.
18. [The 'false notion' is that of Elvish rebirth as a child: see note 17.]
19. ['Durin VII &c Last' is shown in the genealogical table in Appen-
dix A, III as a descendant of Dain Ironfoot. Nothing is said of him
in that Appendix; but see p. 278 in this book.]
20. Yet it is said that their memories were clearer and fuller of the
far-off days.
21. That the Elves ever came to know so much (though only at a time
when the vigour of both their races was declining) is thought to
be due to the strange and unique friendship which arose between
Gimli and Legolas. Indeed most of the references to Dwarvish
history in Elvish records are marked with 'so said Legolas'.
22. Who was sometimes called Navatar, and the Dwarves Auleonnar
'children of Aule'.
23. [This brief version ends with these remarkable words: 'But Eru
did not give them the immortality of the Elves, but lives longer
than Men. "They shall be the third children and more like Men,
the second." ']
24. The flesh of Dwarves is reported to have been far slower to decay
or become corrupted than that of Men. (Elvish bodies robbed of
their spirit quickly disintegrated and vanished.)
25. [A note at the end of the text without indication for 'its insertion
reads:] What effect would this have on the succession? Probably
this 'return' would only occur when by some chance or other the
reigning king had no son. The Dwarves were very unprolific and
this no doubt happened fairly often.

Merci de ne pas poster. J'enlèverai cet avertissement quand ce sera bon.

C/ Vêtements nains

Icono de Tolkien himself

Thorongil l'a commenté et a écrit:

Cette image m'a déjà causé pas mal de souci. Ils portent des chaussures, alors qu'ils portent des bottes dans les descriptions et d'autres dessins. Ils ont des bonnets, cap en anglais, alors que hood tend quand même beaucoup plus vers le capuchon. L'iconographie, en revanche, est unanime. Ils ont des sortes de bas+culottes. Et d'ailleurs le terme le plus fréquent chez Tolkien pour se référer aux habits du bas est breeches : "culotte" autant que "braies" (et "braies" est ambigu aussi).

SdA 1 a écrit:

The Hobbits of that quarter, the Eastfarthing, were rather large and heavy-legged, and they wore dwarf-boots in muddy weather.

SdA 1 a écrit:

the dull stump of Gimli's dwarf-boots

Bilbo a écrit:

He was drenched from hair to boots

Bilbo a écrit:

They had several [ropes] with them,
and on the end of the longest they fastened one of the large iron hooks they
had used for catching their packs to the straps about their shoulders.

==> Je ne sais pas déterminer sir les bretelles sont là pour les sacs à dos, ou si les sacs à dos se greffent avec les crochets à des bretelles présentes pour le costume.

SdA 1 a écrit:

It was driven by outlandish folk, singing strange songs: dwarves with long beards and deep hoods.

SdA 1 a écrit:

Presently Sam appeared, trotting quickly and breathing hard; his heavy pack was hoisted high on his shoulders, and he had put on his head a tall shapeless fell bag, which he called a hat. In the gloom he looked very much like a dwarf.

SdA 1 a écrit:

Next to Frodo on his right sat a dwarf of important appearance, richly dressed. His beard, very long and forked, was white, nearly as white as the snow-white cloth of his garments. He wore a silver belt, and round his neck hung a chain of silver and diamonds. […]
`Glóin at your service,' he said, and bowed still lower.

Bilbo a écrit:

It was a dwarf with a blue beard tucked into a
golden belt, and very bright eyes under his dark-green hood. […]
He hung his hooded cloak on the nearest peg, and "Dwalin at your
service!" he said with a low bow.

Bilbo a écrit:

Instead there was a very old-looking dwarf
on the step with a white beard and a scarlet hood; and he too hopped inside as
soon as the door was open, just as if he had been invited.
"I see they have begun to arrive already," he said when he caught sight
of Dwalin's green hood hanging up. He hung his red one next to it, and "Balin
at your service!" he said with his hand on his breast.

Bilbo a écrit:

It was two more dwarves, both with blue hoods, silver
belts, and yellow beards; and each of them carried a bag of tools and a spade.

Bilbo a écrit:

Dori, Nori, Ori, Oin, and Gloin were their names;
and very soon two purple hoods, a grey hood, a brown hood, and a white hood
were hanging on the pegs, and off they marched with their broad hands stuck in
their gold and silver belts to join the others.

Bilbo a écrit:

"At your service!" said Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur standing in a row. Then
they hung up two yellow hoods and a pale green one; and also a sky-blue one
with a long silver tassel.

Bilbo a écrit:

"Dwalin and Balin here already, I see," said Kili. "Let us join the
throng!"

==> Citation intéressante car elle montre que les couleurs des capuchons sont emblématiques, chacun n'en a pas de toutes sortes.

Bilbo a écrit:

As for a hat, I have got a spare hood and cloak in
my luggage. […] And Bilbo was wearing a dark-green
hood (a little weather-stained) and a dark-green cloak borrowed from Dwalin.
They were too large for him, and he looked rather comic.

==> Ce que confirme cette citation : Bilbo emprunte à Dwalin un capuchon et une 'cape' (cloak) supplémentaire et où on retrouve les couleurs de Dwalin.

Bilbo a écrit:

Indeed within a week they were quite recovered, fitted out in fine cloth of their proper colours, with beards combed and trimmed, and proud steps.

==> On va encore une fois dans le même sens, avec des couleurs "personnelles".
Remarque : le pluriel étant dans la VO et non distributif en anglais, cela implique bien un éventail de couleurs propre à chaque Nain, sans doute pas trop important pour que ça reste "personnel" (trois couleurs dominantes semble cohérent).

SdA 1 a écrit:

On the slab runes were deeply graven:
'These are Daeron's Runes, such as were used of old in Moria,' said Gandalf. 'Here is written in the tongues of Men and Dwarves:
BALIN SON OF FUNDIN
LORD OF MORIA.'
'He is dead then,' said Frodo. `I feared it was so.' Gimli cast his hood over his face.

Bilbo a écrit:

In silver necklaces they strung
The flowering stars

Bilbo a écrit:

"Indeed I will," said Thorin, and he fastened it upon a fine chain that
hung about his neck and under his jacket.

Bilbo a écrit:

here Thorin stroked the gold chain round
his neck

==> Citations qui parlent, nombreuses, de colliers/chaînes autour du cou.
On s'arrêtera aussi sur la mention de jacket

Bilbo a écrit:

"Don't talk to yerself!" said Tom. "But if you wants to sit on the last
one, sit on him. Which is he?"
"The one with the yellow stockings," said Bert.
"Nonsense, the one with the grey stockings," said a voice like William's.

==> On a donc des "bas" (15 deniers, s'pas Laegalad ? )

D/ Équipement militaire

Appendices a écrit:

Coming late and fresh to the field the mailed warriors of Náin, Grór's son, drove through the Orcs to the very threshold of Moria, crying 'Azog! Azog! ' as they hewed down with their mattocks all who stood in their way.

==> Intéressant de noter que les pioches n'apparaissent pas que dans Bilbo

Appendices a écrit:

Soon Náin made a great stroke with all his strength that remained, but Azog darted aside and kicked Náin's leg, so that the mattock splintered on the stone where he had stood, but Náin stumbled forward. Then Azog with a swift swing hewed his neck. His mail-collar withstood the edge, but so heavy was the blow that Náin's neck was broken and he fell.

==> J'l'aime bien celle-là

Appendices a écrit:

Up the steps after him leaped a Dwarf with a red axe. It was Dáin Ironfoot, Náin's son.

Appendices a écrit:

But first with great labour they stripped all their dead, so that Orcs should not come and win there a store of weapons and mail. It is said that every Dwarf that went from that battlefield was bowed under a heavy burden. Then they built many pyres and burned all the bodies of their kin.

SdA 1 a écrit:

Gimli the dwarf alone wore openly a short shirt of steel-rings, for dwarves make light of burdens; and in his belt was a broad-bladed axe.

SdA 1 a écrit:

He unwound several folds of old cloth, and held up a small shirt of mail. It was close-woven of many rings, as supple almost as linen, cold as ice, and harder than steel. It shone like moonlit silver, and was studded with white gems. With it was a belt of pearl and crystal.
'It's a pretty thing, isn't it?' said Bilbo, moving it in the light. `And useful. It is my dwarf-mail that Thorin gave me.'

SdA 1 a écrit:

There beryl, pearl, and opal pale,
And metal wrought like fishes' mail,
Buckler and corslet, axe and sword,
And shining spears were laid in hoard.

==> Le coup des écailles de poisson est terrible, ceci dit les sources de mailles classiques sont nombreuses
Les termes corselt et buckler ont-ils un sens particulier ? Ou c'est juste plus soutenu ?

SdA 1 a écrit:

By both the doors they could now see that many bones were lying, and among them were broken swords and axe-heads, and cloven shields and helms. Some of the swords were crooked: orc-scimitars with blackened blades.

SdA 1 a écrit:

Gimli drew his axe from his belt.

SdA 1 a écrit:

There hammer on the anvil smote,
There chisel clove, and graver wrote;
There forged was blade, and bound was hilt;

Bilbo a écrit:

and light they caught
To hide in gems on hilt of sword.

==> une paire de citations (de deux livres différents) qui incite à voir des gardes vraiment ouvragées chez les Nains

Bilbo a écrit:

Even if the dwarves had not been in such
a state that they were actually glad to be captured, their small knives, the
only weapons they had, would have been of no use against the arrows of the
elves that could hit a bird's eye in the dark.

Bilbo a écrit:

their knives had been taken from them by the wood-elves

Bilbo a écrit:

Behind him where the walls were nearest could dimly be seen coats of mail,
helms and axes, swords and spears hanging; and there in rows stood great jars
and vessels filled with a wealth that could not be guessed.

Bilbo a écrit:

the spears that were made for the armies of the great King Bladorthin (long since dead), each had a thrice-forged head and
their shafts were inlaid with cunning gold, but they were never delivered or
paid for; shields made for warriors long dead; the great golden cup of Thror,
two-handed, hammered and carven with birds and flowers whose eyes and petals
were of jewels; coats of mail gilded and silvered and impenetrable; the
necklace of Girion, Lord of Dale, made of five hundred emeralds green as
grass, which he gave for the arming of his eldest son in a coat of dwarf-
linked rings the like of which had never been made before, for it was wrought
of pure silver to the power and strength of triple steel.

Bilbo a écrit:

Now the dwarves took down mail and weapons from the walls, and armed
themselves. Royal indeed did Thorin look, clad in a coat of gold-plated rings,
with a silver hafted axe in a belt crusted with scarlet stones.

Bilbo a écrit:

With that he put on Bilbo a small coat of mail, wrought for some young
elf-prince long ago. It was of silver-steel which the elves call mithril, and
with it went a belt of pearls and crystals. A light helm of figured leather,
strengthened beneath with hoops of steel, and studded about the bring with
white gems, was set upon the hobbit's head.

Bilbo a écrit:

The sword is sharp, the spear is long,
The arrow swift, the Gate is strong;

Bilbo a écrit:

Then Thorin seized a bow of horn and shot an arrow at the speaker.

Bilbo a écrit:

Each one of his folk was clad in a hauberk of steel
mail that hung to his knees, and his legs were covered with hose of a fine and
flexible metal mesh, the secret of whose making was possessed by Dain's
people.

Bilbo a écrit:

In battle they wielded heavy two-handed
mattocks; but each of them had also a short broad sword at his side and a
round shield slung at his back. Their beards were forked and plaited and
thrust into their belts. Their caps were of iron and they were shod with iron,
and their faces were grim.

Bilbo a écrit:

They had brought with them a great store of supplies; for the dwarves can
carry very heavy burdens, and nearly all of Dain's folks, in spite of their
rapid march, bore huge packs on their backs in addition to their weapons.

Bilbo a écrit:

Suddenly without a signal they sprang silently forward to attack. Bows
twanged and arrows whistled; battle was about to be joined.

Bilbo a écrit:

Thorin wielded his axe with mighty strokes,
and nothing seemed to harm him.
"To me! To me! Elves and Men! To me! O my kinsfolk!" he cried, and his
voice shook like a horn in the valley.

Bilbo a écrit:

There indeed lay Thorin Oakenshield, wounded with many wounds, and his
rent armour and notched axe were cast upon the floor. He looked up as Bilbo
came beside him.

Merci de ne pas poster. J'enlèverai cet avertissement quand ce sera bon.

I/ Éléments de chronologie nanesque (fin du 3ème âge)

Avertissement : J'ai reporté dans ces éléments de chronologie ce qui m'a paru pertinent pour les Nains à partir des environs de l'an 2000 3A. Certaines dates de naissances et de morts, moins importantes, ont été supprimées. Les mentions royales, conservées mais aps nécessairement essentielles, sont généralement grisées.




J/ Eléments de généalogie pour la lignée de Durin

Je me contente de reprendre ici le très beau travail des Chroniques du Chant de Fer, idéal pour bien suivre les méandres parfois compliqués de cette généalogie.

Suivez le guide !

Je joins un crobard tiré de Encyclopedia of Arda (site ancien mais de qualité, intéressant notamment pour sa chronologie très bien fichue) qui, sans prétentions, résume les principales occupations des Longuebarbes.




Merci de ne pas poster. J'enlèverai cet avertissement quand ce sera bon.