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Information on this page is based upon document provided with Dan Smith's fonts for Cirth

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Cirth

Cirth (also “Certhas”, Sindarin word for “runes”) is a writing system invented by J.R.R. Tolkien for his fictional languages. The original Certhas were invented in The First Age by Grey Elves of Beleriand to better suit for carving and engraving on wood, stone or metal, than Tengwar. Single rune of Cirth is called “certh” in Sindarin, and unlike Tengwar vowels have their own runes. Cirth had runes for Quenya, but I'm unaware of any Cirth inscription in this language. By the Second Age Cirth were rarely used by elves, but became popular among Dwarves and later Men.

The Cirth in their older and simpler form spread eastward in the Second Age, and became known to many peoples, to Men and Dwarves, and even to Orcs, all of whom altered them to suit their purposes and according to their skill or lack of it. (LOTR III, Appendix E, II: Writing)
Then Nár turned the head [of Thrór] and saw branded on the brow in dwarf-runes so that he could read it the name AZOG. (LOTR III, Appendix A, III: Durin's Folk)

But in the chapter “The Departure of Boromir” this passage contradicts the quotes above:

on the front of their iron helms was set an S-rune, wrought of some white metal.
   ‘I have not seen these tokens before,’ said Aragorn. ‘What do they mean?’
   ‘S is for Sauron,’ said Gimli. ‘That is easy to read.’
   ‘Nay!’ said Legolas. ‘Sauron does not use the elf-runes.’

So I assume, that Cirth was used by Westron-speaking orcs of Misty Mountains (as Azog) and Isengard (‘S is for Saruman, I guess,’ - said Aragorn later).

Westron used a variant of Cirth called “Angerthas Erebor” invented in the beginning of Third Age, when Thráin I driven from Moria moved to Lonelely Mountain and established his kingdom there.

Unlike Tengwar, Cirth is not so well organized into phonetical series (there is less correspondence between shapes of letters and their phonetical value). There are 60 basic runes and over 50 additional glyphs or modifications of basic runes in three major versions (Angerthas Daeron, Angerthas Moria, Angerthas Erebor).

Complete Chart of Cirth

While orcs probably used simplified Angerthas Erebor variant for their Debased Black Speech and Westron-Orkish pidgins, older versions contain runes better suitable for Classical Black Speech phonetics, so I've decided to include them too. However, many additional runes for diphthongs (ai, au, oi) and consonant clusters frequently used in Black Speech (like zg or sk) are not used for several reasons:

  • Additional runes have very different meaning in various versions of Cirth;
  • Black Speech have a large number of consonant clusters, there is no reason for making separate runes for only few of them, especially when the most frequent one rz is missing anyway;
  • Not all fonts have additional runes;

Shorter version of this table containing only runes used in Nûrlâm is presented at the end of this article.

Certh
(Rune)
Key1) Key2) CSUR3) Phonetical values
Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 4) Nûrlâm
Main series
1 1 p 1 p E080 p
2 2 b 2 b E081 b
3 3 f 3 f E082 f
4 4 v 4 v E083 v [v] (bh) v [β] (bh), v5)
5 5 W 5 W E084 [ʍ] (hw), only in S. (hw) (wh) [ʍ] (hw) wh (not used)
6 6 m 6 m E085 m
7 7 M 7 M E086 [mb] in Q.
[ṽ] (mh) in S.6)
(mb) (mb), (mm) (mb) (not used) (mb)7)
8 8 t 8 t E087 t
9 9 d 9 d E088 d
10 0 þ 0 þ
(Alt + 0254)
E089 [θ] (th, þ) [θ] (th) [θ] (th, þ) [θ] (th)
11 ! ð ! ð
(Alt + 0240)
E08A [ð] (dh) [ð] (th) [ð] (dh)
12 @ r @ r E08B n r [ʀ] or [ʁ] (r) r [ʀ] or [ʁ] (r)
Certh
(Rune)
Key8) Key9) CSUR10) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 11) Nûrlâm
13 # C # C E08C [t͡ʃ] (ch) in VQ
[c⁽ȷ̊⁾] (ty) in NQ
(st) [tʃ] (ch) (ts) s (not used)
14 $ j $ j E08D [d͡ʒ] (j) in VQ
[ɟj] (dy) in NQ
(zd) (not used) [dʒ] (j) (dz) (not used)
15 % S % S E08E (sh)
[ʃ] (hy) in VQ
[ç] (hy) in NQ
s12) s [ʃ] (sh) s [ʃ] (sh)
16 q Z q Z E08F (zh)
[ʒ] in VQ
[ʝ] in NQ
z (not used) [ʒ] (zh) z (not used) [ʒ] (zh)
17 w z w z E090 (ndy) in Quenya
[nd͡ʒ] in VQ
[ɲj], [ɲɟj] in NQ
(ny) in Noldorin
[ŋw], [nw]13) [nw]14) z (ks) (ñ) z
18 e k e k E091 k (k, c) [k] (k or c)15) [k] (c)16) k
19 r g r g E092 g [ks] (x) (not used) g g17) g
20 t K t K E093 [x] (kh) h [x] (ch) [x] (kh)
21 y G y G E094 [ɣ] (gh) (not used) [ɣ] (gh) [ɣ] (gh)18) [ɣ] (gh)
22 u n u n E095 [ŋ] n19) n20) n n21), 5 n
Certh
(Rune)
Key22) Key23) CSUR24) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 25) Nûrlâm
23 i q i q E096 [kʷ₍w̥₎] (kw, qu) e26) (not used) [kʷ] (kw) (not used) [kʷ] (qu)27)
24 o Q o Q E097 [ɡʷw] (gw) (not used) [gʷ] (gw) (not used)
25 p = p = E098 (khw)
[ʍ] (hw) in Q.
s28) (not used) [xʷ] (khw) (not used)
26 Q > Q > E099 (ghw)
[w] in Q.
(not used) [ɣʷ] (ghw) (not used)
27 W ? W ? E09A [ŋɡʷw] (ngw) (not used) [oj] (oi)29) [ŋɡʷ] (ngw) [oj] (oi) (not used)
28 E / E / E09B [nʷw], [ŋʷw] (nw, ñw) (not used) (eo)30) [nʷ] (nw) (not used)
29 R J R J E09C r g [dʒ] (j) g31) (not used)
30 T R T R E09D [r̥] (rh) [ʒ] (zh) [ɣ] (gh) [ʒ] (zh) [ɣ] (gh)32) (zh) (not used)
31 a l a l E09E l (not used) l33) l
3134) : : (none) E09E,
200D,
E09E
35)
(not used) (ll) (not used)
32 s L s L E09F [l̥] (lh) (not used) [ɬ] (lh) (not used) î (not used)
33 d D d D E0A0 [ŋg] (ng) (nd) (nd), (nn) (nd) (nd) (not used) (nd)36)
33*37) å å
(Alt + 0229)
(none) E0CC (not used) (not used)
34 f h f h E0A1 s [x] (ch) h h38) s [ʌ] (not used) s
35 g s g s E0A2 s [k] (k or c)39) [k] (c)40) [ʔ] (glottal stop, ') h (not used)
36 h N h N E0A3 [sː] (ss) in S. and Q.,
[z] in other languages
[ŋ] [ŋk] (nc, nk),
[ŋ] (ng)41)
[ŋ] [ŋ] or [ŋg]42) (not used) [ŋ]43) in (ng), (nk), (nt)
37 j [ j [ E0A4 (not used) [ŋgw] (ngw) (not used) [ŋg] (ng) (not used) [ŋg] (ng)44)
38 k \ k \ E0A5 (nd) (not used) [u:] (ú) [ndʒ] (nj) (ou), (ow) [u:] (ú) (not used)
38* J ] J ] E0A6 [ej] (ei)45) [ej] (ei)
38** K K (none) E0D5 (not used) (eu), (ew) (not used)
Certh
(Rune)
Key46) Key47) CSUR48) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 49) Nûrlâm
39 l i l i E0A7 [i] (i),
[j] (y)
i i, 1 i [i] (i),
[j] (y)
40 ; y ; y E0A8 (not used) [i:] (í) [j] (y) [i:] (í) (not used) [i:] (î)
41 A Y A Y E0A9 (not used) [j̊] or [ç] (hy) (not used) [j]50)
42 S u S u E0AA u (not used) u
43 D U D U E0AB [u:] (ú, û) [ŋg] (ng) [ŋ] (ng)51) [u:] (û) z [ŋ] or [ŋg]52) (not used) [u:] (û)
44 F w F w E0AC w (not used) w53)
45 G ü G ü
(Alt + 0252)
E0AD54) [y] (ü) (not used) [y] (ü) (not used)
45* L L (none) E0AE55)
46 z e z e E0AF e [i] (i),
[j] (y)
e [i] (i)56),
[j] (y)57)
u e58)
47 x E x E E0B0 [e:] (é, ê) (hy) (not used) [e:] (ê) (ee) (hy) û [e:] (ê)59)
48 c a c a E0B1 a
49 v A v A E0B2 [a:] (á, â) (not used) [a:] (á) [a:] (â) (aa) [a:] (á) [a:] (â)
50 b o b o E0B3 o e60) e o o61) e (not used) o
51 n O n O E0B4 [o:] (ó, ô) (not used) [o:] (ô) (oo) (not used) [o:] (ô)
51* M M (none) E0B5 (not used)
52 m ö m ö
(Alt + 0246)
E0B6 [œ] (ö) (not used) [œ] (ö) [œ] (ö), 3 (not used)
52* < < (none) E0B7 [œ] (ö)
Certh
(Rune)
Key62) Key63) CSUR64) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 65) Nûrlâm
53 , ~ , ~ E0B8 (not used) n66) n67) n n68) (not used)
54 . { . { E0B9 h [ŋw], [nw]69) [nw]70) s71) h (not used) h
55 / ë / ë
(Alt + 0235)
E0BA (not used) [ə]72) (not used)
55* > > (none) E0BB
56 Z } Z } E0BC (not used) [ʌ]73) (not used)
56* ? ? (none) E0BD
57 X P X P E0BE (not used) ps (not used)
58 C C (none) E0BF (not used) ts (not used)
59 V | V | E0C0 [◌ʰ] (+h)74) (not used) [◌ʰ] (+h)75) [ə] (not used) [◌ʰ] (+h)76)
60 B & B & E0C1 & l77) l78) & &79) (not used)
Certh
(Rune)
Key80) Key81) CSUR82) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 83) Nûrlâm
Long series (additional cirth)
61 Ü Ü
(Alt + 0220)
(none) E0C2 (not used) (sp) (sp) or (sb) (not used) (ps) (not used)
62 Ý Ý
(Alt + 0221)
(none) E0C3 (not used) (zb) or (sb) (not used) (bs) or (bz) (not used)
63 Þ Þ
(Alt + 0222)
(none) E0C4 (not used) (sk) (sk) or (sg) (not used) (ks) (not used)
64 ß ß
(Alt + 0223)
(none) E0C5 (not used) (zg) (not used) (gz) (not used)
65 à à
(Alt + 0224)
(none) E0C7 (not used) (kw) or (cw) (cw) (not used) [tʃ] (ch) (not used)
66 á á
(Alt + 0225)
(none) E0C8 (not used) (gw) (not used) [dʒ] (j) (not used)
67 â â
(Alt + 0226)
(none) E0C9 (not used) [xw] (chw) (chw) (not used) [ʃ] (sh) (not used)
68 ã ã
(Alt + 0227)
(none) E0CA (not used) [ʒw] (zhw) (not used) [ʒ] (zh), (zj)84) (not used)
69 ä ä
(Alt + 0228)
(none) E0CB (not used) l85) (not used)
7086) å å
(Alt + 0229)
(none) E0CC (not used) (nd) (not used)
71 æ æ
(Alt + 0230)
(none) E0C6 (not used) (ndzh) (not used)
Certh
(Rune)
Key87) Key88) CSUR89) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 90) Nûrlâm
75 ê ê
(Alt + 0234)
(none) E0CF (not used) (iu)91) (not used)
76 ë ë
(Alt + 0235)
(none) E0AD92) (not used) (iu) (not used)
77 ì ì
(Alt + 0236)
(none) E0AE93) (not used) (ui) (ui) (not used)
78 í í
(Alt + 0237)
(none) E0D0 (not used) [aj] (ai) (not used) [aj] (ai)94) (not used)
79 î î
(Alt + 0238)
(none) E0DA95) (not used) (eu)96) (not used) (eu) (not used)
80 ï ï
(Alt + 0239)
(none) E0DB (not used) [ow] (ou)97) (not used) [ow] (ou)98) (not used)
81 ð ð
(Alt + 0240)
(none) E0D6 (not used) o (not used) o (not used)
82 ñ ñ
(Alt + 0241)
(none) (none) (not used) [e:] (é) (not used) [e:] (é) (not used)
83 ò ò
(Alt + 0242)
(none) E0D8 (not used) [o:] (ó) (not used) [o:] (ó) (not used)
84 ó ó
(Alt + 0243)
(none) E0D9 (not used) (io)99) (not used) [ow] (ou)100) (not used)
85 ô ô
(Alt + 0244)
(none) E0DF (not used) l101) l102) (not used) “and”103) (not used)
Certh
(Rune)
Key104) Key105) CSUR106) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 107) Nûrlâm
86 õ õ
(Alt + 0245)
(none) E0DC (not used) (oe)108) (not used)
87 ö ö
(Alt + 0246)
(none) E0E0 (not used) (preposition “of”) (not used)
88 ÷ ÷
(Alt + 0247)
(none) E0E4 (not used) [ý] (y, ui)109) (not used)
89 ø ø
(Alt + 0248)
(none) E0E1 (not used) [y]110) (not used) [y] (ü) (not used)
90 ù ù
(Alt + 0249)
(none) E0E2 (not used) (not used)
92 û û
(Alt + 0251)
(none) E0D3 (not used) [æ] (ae)111) (not used) [æ] (not used)
93 ü ü
(Alt + 0252)
(none) E0E5 (not used) [ö] (oe)112) (not used) (ö) (not used)
94 ý ý
(Alt + 0253)
(none) E0E6 (not used) [œ] (oe)113) (not used)
95 & & (none) E0D2 (not used) (ae)114) (not used) [aj] (ai), (ay) [aj] (ai)115) (not used)
96 * * (none) E0D1 (not used) [aw] (au) (not used) [aw] (au) (not used)
97 ( ( (none) E0D4 (not used) (ea) (not used)
98 ) ) (none) E0DA116) (not used) (oa) (not used)
99 + + (none) E0D7 (not used) 4 117) (not used)
100 " " (none) E0DE (not used) (definite article, the) (not used)
Certh
(Rune)
Key118) Key119) CSUR120) Daeron
(default)
Doriath Eregion
(Noldorin)
Moria Erebor English
(phonetic)
Zhâburi 121) Nûrlâm

Diacritics

Diacritics were introduced in Angerthas Erebor. They present only in Dan Smith's fonts.

English name Meaning Variants
single-stroke narrow normal wide
circumflex long
(doubled) or
nasalized
consonant
lÈ
È (Alt + 0200)
*
aÉ
É (Alt + 0201)
1Ê
Ê (Alt + 0202)
dË
Ë (Alt + 0203)
*
macron below/
under-bar
long vowel lÌ
Ì (Alt + 0204)
aÍ
Í (Alt + 0205)
*
SÎ
Î (Alt + 0206)
nÏ
Ï (Alt + 0207)
under-dot numeral lÐ
Ð (Alt + 0208)
aÑ
Ñ (Alt + 0209)
*
bÒ
Ò (Alt + 0210)
+Ó
Ó (Alt + 0211)

* only for demonstration purposes

Nûrlâm do not use long consonants, but circumflex may be used for nasalized consonants (mb, mp, nt, nd, nk, ng) instead of dedicated runes. Macron below is the preferred way of expressing long consonants to avoid confusion with other Cirth modes.

Numerals

Unfortunately, we don't know the complete numerical system of Cirth. The only source that has numbers is the Book Of Mazarbul, and it has only 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Number Glyph Alphabetical value Key122)
1 l i l (small L)
2 b123) o b
3 m ö124) m
4 (none) +, <Alt + 0211>
5 u n u
6 llllll llllll

Probably under-dots should be used not only for number 4, but for other digits too.

Punctuation and Decoration

The following characters may be used as punctuation marks (without conventional meaning) or for decorative purposes. Usually single middle-aligned dot represent a space character, and every additional dot is used to denote a longer pause.

Glyph Key125)
I I
O O
P P
{ {
} }
= =
\ \
U U
] ]
| |
(Shift + \)
` 126) `
^ 127) ^
Y 128) Y
H 129) H
N 130) N

add example with decorations


Nûrlâm's Chart of Cirth

add some explanation text

Labial p
1
1
b
2
2
f
3
3
bh, v
4
4
m
6
6
mb
7
7
Dental t
8
8
d
9
9
th
0
0
dh
!
!
n
u
u
nd
d
d
Palatal sh
%
%
zh
q
q
Velar k
e
e
g
r
r
kh
t
t
gh
y
y
[ŋ]
h
h
ng
j
j
other r
@
@
l
s
s
s
f or g
f or g
z
w
w
h
.
.
[◌ʰ]
V
V
Approximants [j]
A
A
[w]
F
F
[kʷ] (qu)
i
i
Short
vowels
i, y
l
l
u
S
S
e
z
z
a
c
c
o
b
b
Long
vowels
î
; or
; or
û
D or
D or
ê
x or
x or
â
v or
v or
ô
n or
n or

Example

Orcish curse “Uglúk u bagronk sha pushdug Saruman-glob búb-hosh skai” will look like this in Cirth:

{SraDeISI2cr@bheI%cI1S%9SrIgc@S6cursb2I2D2.b%Igecl{

make example with phrase like "Quick brown fox" using all the letters


1) , 8) , 22) , 46) , 62) , 80) , 87) , 104) , 118)
for Dan Smith's Cirth Erebor font series
2) , 9) , 23) , 47) , 63) , 81) , 88) , 105) , 119)
for Bruce Kvan's Angerthas font
3) , 10) , 24) , 48) , 64) , 82) , 89) , 106) , 120)
HEX code of glyph in ConScript Unicode Registry, implemented in fonts Constructium and Fairfax
4)
Angerthas Mordor aka Kirkhi, contains two unique runes missing in any Cirth fonts, thus not listed here
5) , 58) , 59)
in borrowed words only
6)
archaic
7) , 29) , 30) , 36) , 43) , 44) , 45) , 91) , 96) , 97) , 99) , 108) , 109) , 110) , 111) , 112) , 113) , 114)
rarely used
11) , 25) , 49) , 65) , 83) , 90) , 107) , 121)
Angerthas Mordor aka Kirkhi
12)
see also #25
13)
see also #54
14)
see also #54 - preferrable
15) , 16)
see also #35
17)
see also #29
18)
see also #30
19) , 21)
see also #53
20)
see also #53 - preferrable
26)
see also #50 - preferrable
27)
only in Shadowlandian and foreign words
28)
rarely, see also #15
31)
see also #19
32)
see also #21
33) , 85)
preferrable, see also #60, #85
34)
doubled ligature
35)
intended way, not supported by fonts
37)
see also #70
38) , 71)
values of #34 and #54 were sometimes swapped
39) , 40)
see also #18
41)
sometimes instead of #43
42) , 52)
probably, glyphs #36 and #43 were swapped in Dan Smith's description
50)
y + vowel, diphthongs ai, oi, rarely used, see rune #39
51)
sometimes #36 was used instead
53)
only in foreign words and diphthong <au>
54)
treated as glyph variant of #76
55)
treated as glyph variant of #77
56)
in diphthongs
57)
consonantal, before other vowels
60)
preferrable, see also #23
61)
probably also numeral 2
66)
see also #22
67) , 68)
preferrable, see also #22
69)
see also #17
70)
preferrable, see also #17
72)
unstressed “schwa”
73)
stressed “schwa”
74) , 75)
marks aspiration
76)
marks aspiration, only in some subdialects
77)
see also #69 - preferrable, #85
78)
see also #31 - preferrable, #85
79)
see also #85 - preferrable
84)
probably a typo in Dan Smith's files
86)
see #33*
92)
treated as glyph variant of #45
93)
treated as glyph variant of #45*
94)
see also #95
95)
treated as variant of glyph #98
98)
see also #84
100)
see also #80
101)
see also #60, #69 - preferrable
102)
see also #31 - preferrable, #60
103)
see also #60
115)
see also #78
116)
treated as variant of glyph #79
117)
numeral, no phonetic value
122)
for Dan Smith's fonts
123)
extrapolated by Dan Smith
124)
not used in Nûrlâm
125)
for Dan Smith fonts
126) , 127) , 128) , 129) , 130)
not visible space character with Cirth Erebor font, but may produce interesting effects with Cirth Erebor-1 and Cirth Erebor-2 stroked fonts
cirth.txt · Last modified: 2024/09/21 17:39 by morgoth