Cursing, Swearing and exclamations in Middle Earth

[Otaku-sempai]

Hobbit vernacular includes the words Lor' and Lawks, both derived from Lord. Those might be things that they picked up from Big Folk.

[Rocmistro]

I think "hell" (not necessarily Judeo-Christian Hell) and heavens are appropriate terms in Middle-earth. There is much reference to "abyss", "outer darkness" and consuming fires in middle-earth.

I also think "bastard" can work, although it's very vulgar and I don't think the good guys would normally employ such a term unless very upset.

[Glorelendil]

I've been rolling words around on my tongue trying to find ones that sound Middle-Earthy. Scatological and sexual terms don't really make the cut, and has been noted it can be hard to disentangle religious terms from their cultural roots.

So far the only thing I really like is cognates of "Curse", used like "Damn". "This cursed place." "Curse him!" Etc.

I think the most promising vein to mine is taking religious idioms and reworking them to fit Tolkien's mythos. E.g., "By Eru" sounds right, even if it presupposes knowledge that 3rd age men might not have.

"Curse him to the seventh dungeon of Angband!"
"This Valar-forsaken abyss."
"By the light of the two trees, I've never seen a maiden so fair..."

[Rich H]

Could also have things like,

"You sack of wine!"

"You sack of grog!"

"You dung-headed swine!"

"Weak-kneed sheep gut!"

"You lily-livered March hare!"

"You're a chicken-hearted cabbage-eater!”

“You weak-kneed sheep-gut!

"You're a craven milksop!”

“You're both parcels of mangy mouse-warts!"

[Rocmistro]

Could also have things like,
.......
"You're a chicken-hearted cabbage-eater!”

Tone it down, Rich.

[Glorelendil]

"Black-hearted kitchen remodeler."

[Yepesnopes]

Good material!

Give me more, I need it for my PCs in the PbP games I am in.

[Hélend]

It's just not very Tolkienesque to swear up a storm. Even the orcs don't go much beyond calling people "maggot" (and Farmer Maggot wouldn't take offense to that) or "vermin".

[Falenthal]

Remember the first Monkey Island by LucasArts?

Some of the curses you learn as Guybrush Threepwood to fight with the Swordmaster of Melée Island sound appropiate here:

http://monkeyisland.wikia.com/wiki/Insu ... d_Fighting

Example:

Insult - Killing you would be justifiable homicide!
Comeback - Then killing you must be justifiable fungicide.

[Rich H]

Could also have things like,
.......
"You're a chicken-hearted cabbage-eater!”

Tone it down, Rich.

Apologies. I was really concerned about posting some of those and thought about the implications that could arise by doing so. I'm sorry for any offense to chickens (and cabbage-eaters!) that I may have caused. Mea culpa.