Dwarrows

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic or fantasy plural form meaning several small, sturdy, bearded beings of folklore, the same as dwarves
2. A rare, old-fashioned plural for groups of the short, stout, mythical folk often found in fantasy stories and legends
3. Used in older or fantastical writing as another way of saying multiple dwarves, the short mythical underground craftsmen of legend

Etymology: Tolkien needed a plural that sounded old, and he found one in the history of "dwarf" itself. Middle English had an irregular plural, "dwarrows", formed from the older word "dwergh", and it had quietly faded out of use by the time he wrote. He revived it, but in a new way: by back-formation, he treated "dwarrows" as if it were a plural that could be turned back into a singular, creating "dwarrow" as a fresh word. The singular never reached ordinary English. In Tolkien's own writing, "dwarrow" appears only in "Dwarrowdelf", an alternative name for the mines of Moria, the underground realm of the dwarves. The plural "dwarrows" followed the same path, and the original "dwarrows" lived on in Middle English before "dwarfs" took over through leveling with "dwarf" in Modern English. Tolkien's version survives as a deliberate archaism that gives his underground halls an older, stranger sound.