#angerthas

Ancient Seal

ink and colored pencil on paper

Well met!

For those that may wonder, we are talking about the runes seen on this picture:

It is actually correct, however…. the word uses (what at first glance seems to be) a cross between the Angerthas Erebor and Moria mode of runes. Using the “g” as seen in Moria script and the “z” as seen in Erebor script.

Disregarding the distinctly Ereborian variant of “g” and using the Moria variant instead is rather a common thing to do (especially in the Peter Jackson movies), so this doesn’t really surprise me.

Reason for this is that both versions are listed in the Angerthas Erebor script overview (as rune number 19 and 29) - see below. So there are in fact two acceptable ways of writing “g” in Erebor script.

Rune 19 in Erebor mode being a copy of the rune 19 seen in the older Moria variant, both used for “g”. While rune 29 seems to have evolved separately for more contemporary uses.

In the elder days, the dwarves of Moria would have used rune 29 to write the letter “j”, hence many deliberately avoid it when writing in Erebor mode, likely to stay clear of any confusion - as I believe is the case with this picture as well.

I believe though that you should only use the rune 19 variant while writing in Erebor runes when transcribing texts that originally predate the exodus from Khazad-dûm in the Third Age or would benefit historical attention. For instance, on a tomb, or if a dwarvish scribe would transcribe a document from the second age into their modern Ereborian variant, or one would wish to display a more archaic style of writing.

As confirmed in the History of Middle Earth (vol12) The peoples of Middle Earth (X. Of Dwarves and Men) [talking about the runes on Balin’s tomb] “The older Runes would be used for such a purpose, since they were used in Moria before the flight of the Dwarves, and would appear in other inscriptions of like kind”

Hence, the runes here are correct, YET I believe it would be more common by the Third Age for dwarves to use the Ereborian variant (rune 29) instead of the (by then) more archaic Moria variant (rune 19). In addition to the fact that the context here is clearly the end of the Third Age (Thorin & Co), the writing mode Angerthas Erebor was well established by this time - and had been in common use for over a thousand years.

Some have stated that the rune 29 would have only been used when transcribing Westron (the common tongue), as Angerthas Erebor was frequently used to transcribe Westron after all, yet that seems rather unlikely to me personally - as no evidence exists of this in any Westron transcription. Hence me sticking with rune 29 as the “g” for contemporary (Third Age) Khuzdul written in or by Ereborians, thus writing it as 

Ever at your service,

1940s.