A question regarding Dwarves

[milosr]

So I started thinking...

Why in the heck would dwarves actually call themselves "dwarves", its a bit insulting isn't it? They aren't dwarves in relation to themselves, to their own standards they are perfectly normal size, so in conclusion why would they do it?... wouldn't it make much more sense for them to actually have a name for their race, like the elves do?

Reading up the forgotten realms lore, I really can't help but think that dwarves were really sorta...half assed. With the parole of just go with Scottish midgets, and when in doubt use Tolkien...
Unless I'm missing some critical piece of lore, and I welcome anyone who is willing to share!

So in conclusion, how about we actually do a bit of homebrew...and give the poor buggers a name that isn't ridiculous and a bit of soul to go along with it.

For example...Warhammer universe dwarves, refer to themselves as "Dawi", they don't refer to themselves as dwarves.

[DarkDreamer]

in the Forgotten Realms, they accept that their term is Dwarves, it is their racial type, but call one of them short....you better damn well run.

[milosr]

Isn't that in itself contradictory?...saying the same thing in a slightly different way, and an intelligent species, who far outlives your average human, is just dumb enough not to know the difference?

[gilescorey]

Perhaps the condition known as "dwarfism" doesn't exist in the Forgotten Realms. Thus, it wouldn't be offensive.

[milosr]

But still, wouldn't it be a bit cooler (Less ridiculous) if dwarves refered to themselves in a proper dwarven name...why do elves got to get all the terms translated to their own language, wheras the dwarves stick with their "common" words, something a human in the trade language would use...when they themselves are considered an "ancient" and proud civilization in their own right...

I'm still not sure I'm getting my point across...

[Lorkas]

Dwarves call themselves "samman" in their own language, which means "shield brother" (the morndinsamman are the "high shield brothers" or just "high dwarves"). "Dwarf" is just the word in the common tongue, and I'm pretty sure that the use of that term to mean a short race of humanoids that dwell in the earth (from Germanic mythology) predates the use of the term to describe the medical condition. I don't see it being necessarily offensive in a world where the word would genuinely always be referring to the race of people.

If we're talking race names that people might be offended by in-character though, "halfling" kind of assumes that they are half the "normal" height, and "drow" comes from the elven word that literally means "traitor".

[milosr]

Thank you!!!!!

Can you please share the source of the "Samman" thing?...I really want to get my hands on some actual dwarf lore (thats not that horrible horrible FR wiki). And I guess I did blow it a bit out of proportion with the "dwarf" bit, but the point does remain...its a "common language" term for their race, much like a Halfling is, wheras halflings call themselves Hin, and do so frequently. I didn't notice a same trend among dwarf players.

[Lorkas]

Many dwarves in Arelith (when I have played dwarves, anyway) often used the term "samman" to refer to dwarves even when they were speaking common. Maybe it's fallen out of use lately, but there's no reason it can't be brought back.

The 2e sourcebook "Dwarves Deep" has a brief section on Dwarven words. A couple others that are used in game:

• kuld - axe (the Brog militia is known as the "Axes of Brogendenstein", or "kulds")
  kuldar - warrior, lit. "axe-cutter"
  kuldjargh - battlerager, lit. "axe-idiot"

One that I want to see used in game:

• murmelings - arguments

And the names for the priests of the morndinsamman:

• sonnlinor - Moradin, lit. "good-stone seeker"
  faernor - Berronar, lit. "home-seeker"
  alaghor - Clangeddin, lit. "glory-seeker"
  xothor - Dugmaren, lit. "knowledge-seeker"
  barakor - Gorm, lit. "strength-seeker"
  thalamor - Sharindlar, lit. "kindness-seeker"
  vuddor - Thard Harr, lit. "wood-seeker"
  delvesonn - Dumathoin, lit. "diggers of stone"
  hurdnor - Vergadain, lit. "trade-seeker"
  aetharnor - Abbathor, lit. "gold-greed-seeker" (aetharn is "greed for gold")

And the duergar deities:

• norothor - Deep Duerra, lit. "enemy-land-seeker"
  thuldor - Laduguer, lit. "fate-seeker" (I read that to dwarves/duergar it has an implication of enduring one's fate)