Talk:Dwarfs

Hoofs, Rooves and Elfs

Does Pratchett dwarfs or dwarves?--Teletran 09:45, 27 January 2007 (CET)

There are a number of examples of dwarfs. I don't know about dwarves. --Confusion 02:56, 1 December 2011 (CET)

Has anyone heard a reason why The Author switched from Dwarves to Dwarfs sometime after Equal Rites? --Old Dickens (talk) 19:04, 15 February 2017 (UTC)

Just to clarify an issue here. Dwarfs are small people with a certain medical condition (lacking growth hormone). Dwarves are a race (popularised by Tolkien, similarly elfs is the plural of elf, elves are another race popularised by JRRT). Perhaps Sir Terry changed the name because in the Discworld they are dwarves. Tag (talk) 17:54, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

The OED and Dictionary.com both give pl. "elves". I don't hear anyone saying "elfs". The seven dwarves and the shoemaker and the elves both predate Tolkien, never mind Pratchett. Samuel Johnson used "elves" and "dwarfs"; maybe that's how the awkward form survives. --Old Dickens (talk) 19:25, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

It seems pretty clear that Pratchett preferred “dwarfs”, and as a keen Tolkien scholar this may be because he knew (or discovered before writing Wyrd Sisters) that Tolkien later considered “dwarves” a mistake¹, with the “correct” plural being dwarfs. Since the modern division in usage between the spellings comes from Tolkien’s usage, it seems likely Pratchett chose to use the “f” to honour a literary hero’s wishes. The books are pretty consistent, with Equal Rites the only one to use “dwarves”. None of the other books before Wyrd Sisters use the plural of dwarf, and from that point on it’s invariably “dwarfs”. Interestingly, this change is also found - in my digital editions at least - in the modern “Introducing Discworld” text at the front of the book; titles up until Wyrd Sisters use the spelling “dwarves”, while from Wyrd Sisters on they use “dwarfs”. -- Guybrush (talk) 07:15, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

¹ I think of it as more an improvement. (Dictionaries list both now.) --Old Dickens (talk) 16:14, 27 February 2023 (UTC)

Many words for 'gold' or 'rock'?

"the word 'gold' in dwarfish is actually many different words" - Are we sure this isn't 'rock'? Witches Abroad tells us "It's also said that dwarfs have two hundred words for rock. They don't. They have no words for rock, in the same way that fish have no words for water. They do have words for igneous rock, sedimentary rock, metamorphic rock, rock underfoot, rock dropping on your helmet from above, and rock which looked interesting and which they could have sworn they left here yesterday. But what they don't have is a word meaning 'rock'. Show a dwarf a rock and he sees, for example, an inferior piece of crystalline sulphite of barytes." Kellyterryjones 21:38, 27 September 2007 (CEST)

It is also gold. Page 192 Soul Music "Many dwarf songs* are on the lines of "Gold, gold, gold" but it's all in the inflection; dwarfs have thousands of words for "gold" but will use any in an emergency, such as when they see some gold that doesn't belong to them"

• All right-all dwarf songs. Except the one about Hiho.

--Confusion 02:56, 1 December 2011 (CET)

Same sex marriages

I've always wondered how many same-sex marriages there are by accident. Iron Hippo 08:22, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Notes on the subject are here. --AgProv 09:50, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Dwarf Songs

For dwarf musicians, the popular drinking song "Gold! Gold! Gold!" is presented below, in abc notation.
X:70  % number
T:Gold! Gold! Gold!  % title
C:Eodric Shortensweet (aka Myscha Aiken) % composer
O:Songs from The Gold Mind  % origin.
N:Rests may be punctuated by clinksloshing tankards
N:Of authentic Dwarf ale, thumping on tables, banging
N:Of tankards on tables, or throwing things.
N:With acknowledgements to Terry Pratchett's Discworld
N:Sagas, without which this would never have happened.
M:4/4  % meter
L:1/4  % length of shortest note
Q:  % tempo
K:F  % key
V:1  % voice 1
"F"FCFC | "F"AGF z | "Bb"BG "F"AF | "C7"GFE z |
w:Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!
"F"FCFC | "F"AGF z | "Bb"BG "F"AF | "C7"GC "F"F2 |]
w: Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold! Gold!

The link to an abc translator that was provided is dead. You may be able to Google another.

Here’s one that works, though you’ll need to copy and paste yourself: SPUDS No-frills abc Converter -- Guybrush (talk) 06:53, 27 February 2023 (UTC)