Places in Middle-earth
Nogrod
Type: Cities, Towns, Settlements
Region: Beleriand & North
Meaning: Hollowbold
Other Names
Tumunzahar (Dwarvish)
Navarot (Quenya)
Location: Dwarf city on the eastern side of Ered Luin
Description: [The] Dwarves […] delved for themselves great halls and mansions, after the manner of their kind, in the eastern side of Ered Luin; and those cities were named in their own tongue Gabilgathol and Tumunzahar. To the north of the great height of Mount Dolmed was Gabilgathol, which the Elves interpreted in their tongue Belegost, that is Mickleburg; and southward was delved Tumunzahar, by the Elves named Nogrod, the Hollowbold.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 10, Of the Sindar
Few of the Eldar went ever to Nogrod and Belegost, save Eöl of Nan Elmoth and Maeglin his son.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 10, Of the Sindar
Now the traffic of the Dwarves down from the Blue Mountains followed two roads across East Beleriand, and the northern way, going towards the Fords of Aros, passed nigh to Nan Elmoth; and there Eöl would meet the Naugrim and hold converse with them. And as their friendship grew he would at times go and dwell as guest in the deep mansions of Nogrod or Belegost There he learned much of metalwork, and came to great skill therein.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 16, Of Maeglin
It came to pass that at the midsummer the Dwarves, as was their custom, bade Eöl to a feast in Nogrod…
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 16, Of Maeglin
Belegost and Nogrod were upon the east side of Eredlindon and nigh to the lands of the Eldar. Yet few of the Elves, save [Maeglin] of Gondolin, went ever thither; and the Dwarves trafficked into Beleriand, and made a great road that passed under the shoulders of Mount Dolmed and followed thence the course of Ascar, crossing Gelion at Sarn-athrad.
The War of the Jewels, HoME Vol 11, Part 2, Ch 13, Concerning the Dwarves
[The] Naugrim learned many secrets of craft [from the Eldar] in those days, so that the smiths and masons of Nogrod and Belegost became renowned among their kin, and when the Dwarves began again to journey into Beleriand all the traffic of the dwarf-mines passed first through the hands of Caranthir, and thus great riches came to him.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 13, Of the Return of the Noldor
But Maedhros had the help of the Naugrim, both in armed force and in great store of weapons; and the smithies of Nogrod and Belegost were busy in those days.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 20, Of The Fifth Battle: Nirnaeth Arnoediad
[The] Nauglamír, the Necklace of the Dwarves, […] was made for Finrod Felagund long years before by the craftsmen of Nogrod and Belegost, most famed of all their works in the Elder Days.
The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Ch 22, Of the Ruin of Doriath
Celeborn had no liking for Dwarves of any race (as he showed to Gimli in Lothlórien), and never forgave them for their part in the destruction of Doriath; but it was only the host of Nogrod that took part in that assault, and it was destroyed in the battle of Sam Athrad
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 4, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn: Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn
History
[Note by Christopher Tolkien:] my father refers here to four places of awakening of the Seven Ancestors of the Dwarves: those of 'the ancestors of the Firebeards and the Broadbeams', 'the ancestor of the Longbeards', 'the Ironfists and Stiffbeards', and 'the Blacklocks and Stonefoots'. ([…] Since the ancestors of the Firebeards and the Broadbeams awoke in the Ered Lindon, these kindreds must be presumed to be the Dwarves of Nogrod and Belegost.)
The Peoples of Middle-Earth, HoME Vol 12, Part 2, Ch 10, Of Dwarves and Men: The Atani and their Languages Note 24
[It is dwarves from Nogrod who slay Thingol, sack Doriath and are in turn are destroyed by Beren and Dior at Sarn Athrad.]
[The cities are ruined at the end of the First Age and gradually abandoned:]
It is said in Appendix A (III) to The Lord of the Rings that the ancient cities of Nogrod and Belegost were ruined in the breaking of Thangorodrim; but in the Tale of Years in Appendix B: "c.40 Many Dwarves leaving their old cities in Ered Luin go to Moria and swell its numbers."
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 4, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn: Notes, Note 4
[However, Nogrod continues to be occupied by a remnant of dwarven folk after the end of the First Age:]
There were and always remained some Dwarves on the eastern side of Ered Lindon, where the very ancient mansions of Nogrod and Belegost had been – not far from Nenuial; but they had transferred most of their strength to Khazad-dûm.
Unfinished Tales, Part 2, Ch 4, The History of Galadriel and Celeborn: Concerning Galadriel and Celeborn
History in Tolkien’s writings
[While the position of Belegost varied in various drafts, Tolkien seemed undecided about both the location and names of Nogrod. The name Nogrod is sometimes applied to what became Moria in the Misty Mountains (Hadhodhrond or Khazad-dum), with the suggestion that Belegost was the only city in the Blue Mountains. At other times the name Khazad-dum is applied to the city in the Blue Mountains that eventually received the Dwarvish name Tumunzahar:]
The names and places of the Dwarf-cities now achieve almost their final form, and I recapitulate here the complex development:
QS original form, §124 (V.274)
Khazad-dum = Nogrod = Dwarfmine (in the Blue Mountains)
Gabilgathol = Belegost = Great Fortress
QS original form emended, p. 201
Khazad-dum = Nogrod = Dwarrowdelf, later Moria
Gabilgathol = Belegost = Great Fortress
QS revised version, §7
Tumunzahar = Nogrod = Hollowbold (in the Blue Mountains)
Gabilgathol = Belegost = Mickleburg
Khazad-dum = Nornhabar = Dwarrowdelf, later Moria
The War of the Jewels, HoME Vol 11, Part 2, Ch 13, Concerning the Dwarves
'Nogrod, the Dwarfmine': above 'Dwarfmine' is pencilled 'Dwarrowdelf', and in the margin again 'Dwarrowdelf Nogrod was afar off in the East in the Mountains of Mist; and Belegost was in Eredlindon south of Beleriand.' At the head of the page, with a direction for insertion in the text after 'Belegost, the Great Fortress' the following is written very rapidly:
Greatest of these was Khazaddum that was after called in the days of its darkness Moria, and it was far off in the east in the Mountains of Mist; but Gabilgathol was on [the] east side of Eredlindon and within reach of the Elves.
In the text of QS as written Nogrod (which goes back to the old Tale of the Nauglafring) is a translation of Khazaddum, and the meaning is 'Dwarfmine'; both Nogrod and Belegost (Gabilgathol) are specifically stated (QS §122) to have been 'in the mountains east of Thargelion', and were so placed in additions to the second map. In The Lord of the Rings Khazad-dum is Moria, and Nogrod and Belegost are 'ancient cities in the Blue Mountains' (Appendix A, III). The notes in the margin of QS just given must represent an idea that was not adopted, whereby Belegost remained in Eredlindon, but Nogrod / Khazad-dum was removed to the Misty Mountains, and Nogrod became the ancient Elvish name of Moria.
The statement in the first of these notes that 'Belegost was in Eredlindon south of Beleriand' is surprising: it seems to represent a reversion to the older conception of the place of the Dwarf-cities: see the Eastward Extension of the first Silmarillion map, IV.231, where the dwarf-road after crossing the Blue Mountains below Mount Dolmed turns south and goes off the map in the south-east corner, with the direction 'Southward in East feet of Blue Mountains are Belegost and Nogrod.'
The War of the Jewels, HoME Vol 11, Part 2, Ch 13, Concerning the Dwarves
Etymology
Hollowbold Translation of Nogrod: 'hollow dwelling' (early English bold, noun related to the verb build). 104
The Silmarillion, Index of Names
Nogrod One of the two cities of the Dwarves in the Blue Mountains; translation into Sindarin of Dwarvish Tumunzahar.
The Silmarillion, Index of Names
groth (grod) 'delving, underground dwelling' in […]Nogrod […] originally Novrod 'hollow delving' (hence the translation Hollowbold), but was altered under the influence of naug 'dwarf'.
The Silmarillion, Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names
These names the Sindar did not attempt to adapt, but translated according to their sense […] Novrod, later Nogrod, meaning originally 'Hollowbold' […] for use in Quenya they translated the [name] anew as […] Navarot […].
The War of the Jewels, HoME Vol 11, Part 4, Quendi and Eldar: Appendix B: Elvish names for the Dwarves
Contributors: Tanaqui 29Nov04
