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 (pronounced HATH-o-drond, with "th" as in this) by the Sindar, Casarrondo by the Noldor and Phurunargian in the Common Speech,