Moon-letters

This article is about the writing system. For the track, see Moon Runes.

Moon-letters when revealed by Elrond on Midsummer's Eve, in The Hobbit films

Moon-letters were special Dwarven runes written in ithildin that could only be revealed by the Moon at a certain time. They are only mentioned in The Hobbit when Elrond held up Thrór's Map to read to Thorin and Company.

Description

Moon-letters were a system of writing invented by Dwarves - they were ordinary runes, but written in such a way that they could only be read when the light of the moon shone behind the writing. Some moon-letters could be read by any moonlight, but it was possible to make the writing even more secret. More sophisticated Moon-letters could only be read by the same shape of moon, or at the same time of year, as when they were written.

Elrond, Thorin, and the others deciphering the Moon-letters, by Soni Alcorn-Hender

Moon-letters were written with silver pens. The substance ithildin, made the from the precious metal mithril, reflected only starlight and moonlight.

Moon-letters partially visible on Thror's map

An example of these moon-letters would be on the map of the Lonely Mountain and surrounding areas that Gandalf gave to Thorin Oakenshield. The moon letters were of the more secret variety, and were written on a midsummer's eve under a crescent moon. They read:

"Stand by the grey stone when the thrush knocks and the setting sun with the last light of Durin's Day will shine upon the key-hole."

Translations

Foreign Language	Translated name
Afrikaans	Maanletters
Albanian	Mun-shkronja
Amharic	የጨረቃ-ፊደላት
Arabic	القمر حروف
Armenian	Լուսնային-տառերը
Azerbaijani	Ay-məktubları
Basque	Ilargi letras
Belarusian Cyrillic	Месяц-літары
Bengali	মুন অক্ষর
Bosnian	Mjesečna slova
Breton	Loar-lizherennoù
Bulgarian Cyrillic	Лунни писма
Cambodian	អក្សរព្រះច័ន្ទ
Catalan	Lletres de lluna
Chinese	月球 字母
Cornish	Loor-lytherennow
Corsican	Lettere di luna
Croatian	Mjesec-slova
Czech	Měsíční písmena
Danish	Månebogstaver
Dutch	Maanletters
Esperanto	Lunaj literoj
Estonian	Kuutähed
Faroese	Mánibókstavarnir
Filipino	Mga titik ng buwan
Finnish	Kuukirjaimilla
French	Lettres lunaires
Galician	Letras de lúa
Georgian	მთვარის ასოები
German	Mondbuchstaben
Greek	Σελήνης-γράμματα
Gujarati	ચંદ્ર અક્ષરો
Hebrew	אותיות ירח
Hindi	चाँद पत्र
Hungarian	Hold-betűk
Icelandic	Tunglstafir
Indonesian	Huruf-huruf bulan
Irish Gaelic	Litreacha na gealaí
Italian	Lettere di lunari
Japanese	月文字
Kannada	ಚಂದ್ರ ಅಕ್ಷರಗಳು
Kazakh	Ай-әріптері (Cyrillic) Ay-äripteri (Latin)
Korean	달 자모
Kurdish	Nameyên heyvê (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz Cyrillic	Мун-каттар
Laotian	ຕົວອັກສອນດວງຈັນ
Latin	Lunam-litterae
Latvian	Mēness burti
Lithuanian	Mėnulio raidės
Luxembourgish	Mondbréiwer
Macedonian Cyrillic	Месечина буквите
Maltese	Ittri tal-Qamar
Manx	Litchrey geay
Marathi	चंद्र वर्ण
Mongolian Cyrillic	Сар-үсэг
Nepalese	चन्द्रमाका-अक्षरहरू
Norwegian	Månebokstaver
Persian	حروف قمر
Polish	Księżycowymi runami
Portuguese	Letras da lunares
Punjabi	ਚੰਦ ਅੱਖਰ
Romanian	Scrisori de lună
Russian	Лунные буквы
Sardinian	Lìteras luna
Scottish Gaelic	Litrichean gealach
Serbian	Месечева слова (Cyrillic) Mesečeva slova (Latin)
Sicilian	Littri luna
Sinhalese	සඳ අකුරු
Slovak	Mesiac-listy
Slovenian	Luna-črke
Spanish	Letras lunares
Swahili	Barua za mwezi
Swedish	Månbokstäver
Tajik Cyrillic	Моҳ ҳарфҳои
Tamil	சந்திரன் எழுத்துமூலங்கள்
Telugu	మూన్ అక్షరాలు
Thai	ดวงจันทร์ตัวอักษร
Turkish	Ay-harfler
Turkmen	Aý-harplary
Ukrainian Cyrillic	Місячні літери
Urdu	چاند کے خطوط
Uzbek	Ой-ҳарфлари (Cyrillic) Oy-harflari (Latin)
Venetian	Letares lunari
Vietnamese	Chữ mặt trăng
Welsh	Llythyrau lleuad
Yiddish	לבנה-אותיות
Yoruba	Awọn lẹta oṣupa