These are the 10 posts of 143 by Röandil.

  • [Deleted]

    I fear you may be overthinking it — in addition to tackling what seems to be a fairly arcane text, haha.

    Some clearer prose might be more manageable while you firm up your grasp of Quenya's grammar. Are you working with a course? Dictionaries will provide words but won't teach you how to put them together meaningfully.


  • [Deleted]

    I see. I'm not sure what the original is trying to say, exactly, but I read roughly "the curved-eye-a break into whatever wild-bull hew or pushing" from the Quenya.

    • Not sure cúna-hen-a conveys "squint" in any way, and definitely not agental "squinter."
    • Basic verbs form the present tense with extended stems, so rac- > ráca and mac- > máca.
    • What is mina's purpose here?
    • Nista is intended as a noun "thrust, push, shove," from √NID-, not a verb; nir- "press, thrust, force" is already attested.

  • [Deleted]

    It's useful to include the text you're translating from!


  • translation for storm

    I’d work from a primitive form like *Wagmetīr(ō) to produce Q. Vangwetir or Vámetir (the result of that ancient -gm- sequence isn’t totally clear) and S. Gwaevedir.


  • translation

    In Quenya, I'd offer:

    • amalúna lúmeltassen
      ama-lūna lūme-lta-ssen
      "in their very dark hours"
      (Possibly amalúne, but most current late-period attestations point to singular adjectives with nouns in adverbial cases regardless of number.)

    • mi amalúne lúmeltar
      mi ama-lūna-i lūme-lta-r
      "in their very dark hours"
      (Optional independent preposition.)

    And in Sindarin (assuming dûr "dark" < *ndūrā):

    • mi lui enduir dín
      mi-n lû(-ī) an-ndûr(-ī) tín
      "in their very dark hours"

    • mi lui ronuir dín
      mi-n lû(-ī) ro-ndûr(-ī) tín
      "in their darkest hours"

    Wait for some more opinions!


  • Proverb translation

    That’s rather a negative imperative “do not hear evil,” as you note — for “hear no evil,” I’d negate the noun: á hlarë lá ulco (“hear no evil”).


  • less formal greeting in quenya?

    It’s unlikely the Elves would have used it, but I’ve seen some neo-Quenya authors use mai omenina (lit. “well met”) as an equivalent of Sindarin mae govannen. Another option might be something like mára omentië, lit. “good meeting.”

    I have a feeling aiya, properly “hail, behold, lo,” might drift into this conversational space.


  • Nickname for a friend

    I formed it from gil “star” and the root √TIR “watch, look at, gaze at,” so the sense is “star-gazer.”


  • Nickname for a friend

    I’d go with a straightforward compound like Gildir.


  • Two possible options for "I will not fear"?

    • I hope my question makes sense.

    I think you might have it the wrong way round: originally, þ and s were separate sounds in the language, each represented with their own characters. They merged into s in some pronunciations but were written as before, in much the same way that we spell “white” with an h that some English dialects don’t pronounce. Here’s a writeup that explains Tolkien’s thoughts on it in some detail!

    • How would the definite article “i” interact with a word that begins with “i” though?

    We see a couple instances of what might be an epenthetic n to break up vowel sequences, so a possible solution might be þosse’n indonehtar (on the model of utúlie’n aure), but without explicit guidance or more data, it’s hard to say. I’d probably leave i as-is and elide in speech.

    • lemyuva and euva rhyming is very satisfying

    Strictly speaking, termaruva rhymes with euva as much as lemyuva does, and they rhyme with each other (/-u.va/) more than they do with euva (/ew.va/)!