Moria (Middle-earth)

In the fiction of J. R. R. Tolkien, Moria was the name given at the beginning of the late Third Age to an enormous and by then very ancient underground complex in north-western Middle-earth, comprising a vast network of tunnels, chambers, mines and huge halls or mansions, that ran under and ultimately through the Misty Mountains.

There, for many thousands of years prior to that time, had lived the Dwarf clan known as the Longbeards. Moria's original name, that given it by the dwarves in their own language, was Khazad-dûm, which translates as The Dwarrow Delf, "dwarrows" being an archaic English plural of "dwarf," and "delf" an archaic alternative to "delving," from the verb "delve," to dig.

Such was its size and fame that throughout its long history Khazad-dûm was well known by many peoples of North-western Middle-Earth, who translated its name into their own languages; Hadhodrond (/haðɒdrɒnd/) by the Sindar, Casarrondo by the Noldor and Phurunargian in the Common Speech.

Khazad-dûm earned its later sobriquet Moria, meaning "Black Chasm" or "Black Pit," from Sindarin mor="black" and iâ="void, abyss, pit,"[1] after it was abandoned by the Dwarves following the emergence in its depths of a demonic entity of great power, the Balrog.

It has been suggested that Tolkien—an ardent Catholic—may have used this name as a reference to the mountains of Moriah, where (according to the book of Genesis) Abraham was to sacrifice his son, Isaac. However, Tolkien categorically denied such derivations, saying that "As to Moria…it means…Black Chasm [in Sindarin]. …As for the 'land of Morīah' (note stress): that has no connection (even 'externally') whatsoever