Comments by Röandil

These are the 10 posts of 143 by Röandil.

  • Suggestions for translation?

    A direct translation of “northern lights” to Quenya would be Fornë Calar or perhaps a compound Forcalar (to correspond with the southern Hyarnë Calar, Hyarcalar).

    In Sindarin I’d say Calad Forn or compounds Forchalad, For(o)chal with corresponding southern Calad Charn and Harchalad, Har(a)chal. Note that these are subject to all the usual mutations in Sindarin grammar, so calad “light” > i galad “the light,” etc.

    There’s certainly room for more poetic or descriptive options — e.g. using Q. alcar / S. aglar “glory, radiance, brilliance” from the same ancient root as the general words for “light” above — but these are probably good starting points.

  • Help with Wife's Tattoo - Quenya Tengwar

    Quick note that Tecendil is a transcriber: it does not translate from English to any of the Elvish languages, but transliterates from the Latin alphabet into various modes of the tengwar, the Elvish writing system.

    That said, for something as permanent as a tattoo, I almost always recommend transcription as the safer option. You have fairly total certainty your tattoo says exactly what you intend, and there’s next to no chance that new material from Tolkien’s unpublished papers will leave you with wonky ink. I’ve seen more disastrous Elvish tats than I can count!

    Here’s the English sentence written in a safe general mode; note that I’ve lowercased, spaced, and removed apostrophe intentionally to ensure proper transcription. I advise against changing anything in the input field or “Mode” dropdown, but feel free to explore the other fonts (with the exception of Tengwar Formal, whose characters don’t align quite right).

    Let me know if you have any questions!

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  • help with correcting a transaltion of a frase

    Fiona Jallings's A Fan's Guide to Neo-Sindarin and these accompanying notes are the most up-to-date resources available today!

  • help with correcting a transaltion of a frase

    Salo’s book is a good historical resource but has been outdated in many places by materials released after its publication. I wouldn’t suggest it as a primary learning resource today.

    “In the face of” in the sense of “up against, confronting” is a bit of an English idiom that I don’t think we should translate word-for-word to Sindarin. My recommendation would be Dan gurth hinnen, eriof! (lit. “Against death known, we-rise!”).

  • I need help with Elvish text.

    Hi! Sindarin is a language; the tengwar are an Elvish writing system that can be used to represent it, along with many other languages in Middle-earth and our own world (just like the Latin alphabet you and I are communicating with now).

    Tecendil is probably the best online transcriber (Latin alphabet > tengwar) today. There aren’t and likely never will be automatic translators (English > Quenya, Sindarin, etc.). If you’d like to learn about the tengwar in a great deal of detail and depth, the Amanyë Tenceli (Q. “Writing Systems of Aman”) site is your go-to resource!

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  • Is 'elfaron' a unisex name?

    It’s a Noldorin (draft-Sindarin) name meaning “Sky-hunter,” and no, I wouldn’t use it as a feminine name. I actually wouldn’t use it at all for that meaning in later Sindarin.

  • How would it be...

    Copying the movie translation’s word order, I Aear cân nin na mar.

    I’d actually place the objects before the verb in both instances if asked to translate today, though, so I Aear ve chân na mar (“The Sea us calls to home”) and I Aear ni chân na mar (“The Sea me calls to home”).

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  • Help with the word Maethril

    We know so little about those possessive suffixes that they're generally not recommended these days. Independent possessive adjectives are much more common in attested material.

    For "I am your warrior," I'd say Ni i vaethril gín (informal) / Ni i vaethril lín (polite), lit. "I (am) the warrior your." [Ni i might contract to n'i or ní in quick speech.]

  • Help with the word Maethril

    I think maethril works as a neologism (fan-constructed) word for a female warrior, yes. Is there any context to your question, or is it the simple statement "you, warrior"?

    Sindarin, like many real-world languages, makes an informal/formal distinction in the second person. For informal/familiar "you warrior," I'd say ci maethril; formal/polite, le maethril.

  • Another word for "longing" aside from "íre" (quenya)?

    I think íre is probably closest to what you're looking for, but yes, xara- would be my other recommendation!

    Note that a late-period (post-LotR) gerund for such a verb would likely take an -ie suffix and be commonly pronounced (if not spelled) with an initial i-: (i)xarië.

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