O Senhor dos Anéis Apêndice F, AS LÍNGUAS E POVOS DA TERCEIRA IDADE , tem a dizer sobre a linguagem que os anões usam (enfatiza a minha):
and it was according to the nature of the Dwarves that, travelling and labouring and trading about the lands, as they did after the destruction of their ancient mansions, they should use the languages of men among whom they dwelt. Yet in secret (a secret which unlike the Elves, they did not willingly unlock, even to their friends) they used their own strange tongue, changed little by the years; for it had become a tongue of lore rather than a cradle-speech, and they tended it and guarded it as a treasure of the past. Few of other race have succeeded in learning it. In this history it appears only in such place-names as Gimli revealed to his companions; and in the battle-cry which he uttered in the siege of the Hornburg. That at least was not secret, and had been heard on many a field since the world was young. Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu! 'Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!'
A linguagem dos anões não é usada nem pelos próprios anões no seu dia-a-dia. Até mesmo os nomes que eles usam estão na língua humana, e seus nomes anões secretos guardam para si mesmos:
É inteiramente possível que nem todos os Anões tenham proficiência em sua língua, que na terceira idade se tornou como o latim para os povos da Europa, a língua da sabedoria e da aprendizagem, mas não muito usada.Gimli's own name, however, and the names of all his kin, are of Northern (Mannish) origin. Their own secret and 'inner' names, their true names, the Dwarves have never revealed to any one of alien race. Not even on their tombs do they inscribe them.