"...before the proud ones came from over the
Sea,
Dwarves delved the halls of Nulukkizdîn."
Words of
Mîmfrom
Quenta Silmarillion 22
Of the Ruin of Doriath
A mansion of the Petty-dwarves, carved out of the rock beside the river Narog in West Beleriand. When the Noldor returned to Beleriand, the Dwarves lost their ancient home, and Finrod Felagund founded Nargothrond in its place. Centuries later, when Nargothrond in its turn had been overthrown, the last of the Petty-dwarves returned here to reclaim Nulukkizdîn. This was Mîm, the betrayer of Túrin, and he was slain among the ruins by Túrin's father Húrin.
Curiously, it seems that the name Nulukkizdîn given in The Silmarillion may not be as Tolkien intended. The original manuscripts give variations on the name 'Nulukhizidûn', and in volume XI of The History of Middle-earth Christopher Tolkien confirms that the published 'Nulukkizdîn' is, strictly speaking, a misspelling.
Notes
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We are given no real clues to the meaning of the name Nulukkizdîn. One of its variant spellings is hyphenated, so we can be relatively sure that the name is composed of two words, nuluk and khizdîn, though the meanings of those words remain obscure. It is perhaps notable that khizdîn contains the pattern kh-z-d, which commonly means 'Dwarves', but is usually rendered as Khazâd. The name might therefore represent something as simple as 'dwelling of the Petty-dwarves', but it might equally have a different meaning altogether.
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- Updated 14 May 2023
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