Who taught the Dwarves runes?

[afro-elf]

I assumed it was Aule. But, I have just heard that it was the Elves?

Which is correct?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I'm fairly sure that all written language originated with the Elves, and that yes, Runes were taught to the Khazad by the Quendi.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Wasn't the words on the door of the entrance to the mines if Moria elvish?

[Fat middle]

I'm not sure, but I think they learned the runes from Daeron in Doriath, in the time when they were helping Thingol to build Menegroth.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Ennyn Durin Amn Moria: pedo mellon a minno. Im Narvi hain echant: Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i thiw hin.

Sounds Elvish to me.

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Of Dwarves and Men; HoME 12

The Dwarves were not, however, skilled linguists - in most matters they were unadaptable - and spoke with a marked 'dwarvish' accent. Also they had never invented any form of alphabetic writing.(5) They quickly, however, recognized the usefulness of the Elvish systems, when they at last became sufficiently friendly with any of the Eldar to learn them. This occurred mainly in the close association of Eregion and Moria in the Second Age. Now in Eregion not only the Feanorian Script, which had long become a mode of writing generally used (with various adaptations) among all 'lettered' peoples in contact with the Numenorean settlements but also the ancient 'runic' alphabet of Daeron elaborated by the Sindar was known and used. This was, no doubt, due to the influence of Celebrimbor, a Sinda who claimed descent from Daeron. Nonetheless even in Eregion the Runes were mainly a 'matter of lore' and were seldom used for informal matters. They, however, caught the fancy of the Dwarves; for while the Dwarves
still lived in populous mansions of their own, such as Moria in
particular, and went on journeys only to visit their own kin, they
had little intercourse with other peoples except immediate
neighbours, and needed writing very little; though they were fond of inscriptions, of all kinds, cut in stone. For such purposes the Runes were convenient, being originally devised for them. The Longbeard Dwarves therefore adopted the Runes, and modified them for their own uses (especially the expression of (Khuzdul); and they adhered to them even far into the Third Age, when they were forgotten by others except the loremasters of Elves and Men. Indeed it was generally supposed by the unlearned that they had been invented by the Dwarves, and they were widely known as 'dwarf-letters'. Here we are concerned only with the Common Speech. Now the Common Speech, when written at all, had from its beginning been expressed in the Feanorian Script.(9) Only occasionally and in inscriptions not written with pen or brush did some of the Elves of Sindarin descent use the Runes of Daeron, and their spelling was then dependent on the already established usages of the Feanorian Script. The Dwarves had originally learned the
Common Speech by ear as best they could, and had no occasion to write it; but in the Third Age they had been obliged in the course of trade and other dealings with Men and Elves to learn to read the Common Speech as written, and many had found it convenient to learn to write it according to the then general customs of the West. But this they only did in dealings with other peoples. For their own purposes they (as has been said) preferred the Runes and adhered to them.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by Gwaimir Windgem
Ennyn Durin Amn Moria: pedo mellon a minno. Im Narvi hain echant: Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i thiw hin.

Sounds Elvish to me.

It is.

[Rían]

Originally posted by afro-elf
I assumed it was Aule. But, I have just heard that it was the Elves?

Which is correct?

Looks like you got some good answers on the runes - I'll just add that perhaps you're thinking of language - IIRC, it says somewhere that Aule taught them their language.

Anyone else remember that?

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I believe it's in the Silmarillion, the chapter of Aule and the Dwarves. I seem to remember that Aule was teaching them a language he had devised for them when Eru came to Him.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

The Dwarves were not, however, skilled linguists - in most matters they were unadaptable - and spoke with a marked 'dwarvish' accent

Hmm...does he ever say what this accent sounded like?

[Inderjit Sanghera]

Hmm...does he ever say what this accent sounded like?

Nope. Sorry.....

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Rats.

[theonering]

it is said that Aule made them, so he probably taught them

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Do you mean the Dwarves, or the runes?

[Wayfarer]

The /Cirth/ were sindarin characters originally, which the dwarves learned from the elves in Beleriand.

[Ruinel]

Runes are differenet from language. One is written language, the other is verbal. So, a culture may have a verbal language and not a written language.

But Dwarves were very secretive. They only spoke their own language among themselves and never shared that language outside of their own race.

The Elves taught the Dwarves the written language.

[Falagar]

The /Cirth/ were sindarin characters originally, which the dwarves learned from the elves in Beleriand.

Elves? As in "many Elves"? I've always though Daeron did so alone (perhaps with some few friends), since the Sindar never really used his Cirth that much...

[Wayfarer]

The Dwarves also had a sign language.

[Ruinel]

Originally posted by Wayfarer
The Dwarves also had a sign language.

Oh, this I do not recall reading about.

Falagar: yes, you are right.

[markedel]

Dwarvish sounds semitic (actually so does Numenorian-dwarves and men mixed before the edian moved west). It's possible that the dwarves' accent was vaguely arab (or Israeli I suppose-arab and hebrew are distant relatives, and Tolkien mentioned here or there that dwarves had some vaguely Jewish characteristics).