Comments by Röandil

These are the 10 posts of 143 by Röandil.

  • Name translation and meshing of words

    Hi, Thorondor! A couple of points to address here:

    (1) Quenya names aren't generally formed from sentences in the way Joshua is, so your loose genitival construction "God-salvation" is on the right track.

    (2) Note that sámë is a fan-made word (so Tolkien may have had a different idea altogether for "salvation"), and note also its long a would be preserved in construction: Erusámë (or Eruþámë, minding its derivation from root ATHA). Quenya names will often also incorporate a gender-indicative or genealogical suffix — say, Eruþámo or Eruþámion — but they'd also never incorporate the holy name of Eru, so I think we're OK to deal flexibly with an element-for-element translation of a real-world name..

    (3) Unlike Sindarin (whose phonological history is daunting at best) Quenya has a conservative sound system that allows compounds to form fairly seamlessly most of the time. The "best" or "most proper" way to combine is to become more familiar with the language and its history at large. We're also a fairly robust and responsive community, so feel free to run names by us for accuracy or other ideas!

  • Elvish Tranlation

    Hi, Ruth!

    My rendition follows, with some notes for your reference:

    Nai Heru alyuva’r hepuva tye, nai cendelerya caluva tyenna’r raina nauva tyen. Nai Heru queruva cendelerya tyenna’r antauva sére tyen. Násie.

    "May (the) Lord bless-and keep you, may his-face shine upon-you-and gracious be to-you. May (the) Lord turn his-face toward-you-and give peace to-you. Amen.”

    alyuva’r: contracted from alyuva ar “bless and.” When two like vowels appear together in this way, it’s common to elide them in speech. You’ll notice I elided a few instances in this prayer; these are all optional and can stand as separate words if you like. There are a handful of “bless” verbs in Quenya; I chose this one for its sense of “make prosperous.”

    tye: Quenya, like Spanish or French, distinguishes between familiar/informal tye and polite/formal lye “you” in the singular. If this prayer is addressed to multiple people, le “you all” would be used in both contexts. Wherever you see a tye- form (tye, tyen, tyenna) in my translation, lye or le can be substituted accordingly.

    Please let me know if you have any questions!

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  • Global Title Problems

    He means that it was transcribed in the Roman alphabet with n (though in linguistic papers written after LOTR, he returns to writing ñ and revises his view of the sound changes affecting that phoneme). It would have still been written in the tengwar with ñ, so ñoldorin is correct. Note also that the letter’s name is ñoldo; Ñoldor is the name of the tribe.

  • Elvish Translation Question

    Great! Here are my takes, options separated by slashes:

    Si yú autuva / Sina yú autuva
    Si yú autuva. / Sina yú autuva.
    “This too shall pass.”
    [You can use either si or sina here for “this.”]

    illi queluva / illi firuva / illi fifíruva
    Illi queluva. / Illi firuva. / Illi fifíruva.
    “All shall fade.”
    [From quel- “wane,” fir- “die,” and fifíru- “slowly fade away.” Take your pick!]

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  • Elvish Translation Question

    Going to copy Elaran's answer from the Discord server here:

    What is Quenya?

    Quenya is the language of the Elves of the Blessed Realm, and it was brought to Middle-earth by the exiled Ñoldor. After its ban in the First Age, Quenya became a language of lore that was used for solemn ceremonies and spoken by few. It has the greatest amount of published linguistic material of all Tolkienian languages, despite the fact that the books present Sindarin as the common speech of the Elves and educated Men.

    What is Sindarin?

    Sindarin is the language of the Elves of Beleriand, whose speech was greatly affected by the changefulness of Middle-earth while its ancestor Telerin mostly endured in the Blessed Realm. After its adoption by the Ñoldorin Elves and the Edain, it became the most spoken language in Middle-earth. However, Sindarin is only the second most developed Tolkienian language following Quenya.

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  • Global Title Problems

    noldorin "Noldorin" should rather be ñoldorin "Ñoldorin" (< NGOL), but yes, these seem to be automation errors that escaped revision.

  • Elvish Translation Question

    Both of these phrases are doable in both Sindarin and Quenya, I think. Which language are you interested in?

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  • Help Translating

    In the past I’ve translated this line with Tumnë sundor lá rahtainë nixenen, lit. “Deep roots (are) not reached by-frost.” This kind of passive voice construction (“are not reached”) is a bit of a sticking point in Quenya for a couple of reasons, however, so I’d personally rephrase it to the active these days:

    I nixë lá rahta tumnë sundor.

    “The frost does not reach deep roots.”

  • Translation of unit names

    Why not Berio in glain with nasal mutation?

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  • The name for the sword

    Áre has a stem in -i-, so probably rather Árililt(i)e (or Árililtale, with another form of the verbal noun?).

    I'd also expect the Sindarin diphthong to simplify in compound. Something about a final -lt looks off, but I'll defer to our Sindarinists on that.