Comments by Elaran
These are the 10 posts of 195 by Elaran.
-
Phrase “Merry Christmas!” by Aldaleon
When we first saw the word, some scholars did think that it could be "Aman-árë" and such. We later settled on "Am-anar" because the other idea introduces some problems. However we did still consider the "Aman coincidence" to be possibly deliberate on the part of Tolkien, like a pun.
-
Eldamo 0.7.8
On behalf of the Tolkienian Linguistics community, I would like to express our eternal gratitude for your invaluable efforts on the subject. Your contributions are unmatched in their use for our scholarly endeavours.
-
Does anyone know what this elvish script says?
I already answered what the edges read in this Reddit post. Very poor transcriptions (not translations, just written with the Elvish letters, still in English) of some of the poems of Tolkien.
-
A word for "code" ?
@Aldo: Next to you, it would be folly to claim familiarity with codes, but I am familiar enough to know that computer codes are "instructive and deterministic" indeed. Hence, my suggestion *dolthain contains *thain "rule, law". But as I said when I shared it, it is an attempt to relay all of the senses (save tree-related ones) in the etymology of the English word, so that the same word could be used in Sindarin as it is used in English. The goal was to be able to relay even things like "the bro code" (i.e. unspoken laws to which male friends oft abide, thus "hidden"). Also, for example, although this website is nothing but code, the front-end user does not see it, hence "hidden". And of course, outside the context of programming, the word indeed has "hidden" connotations.
-
A word for "code" ?
Well... teithar is not "writing", it is "they write", not a noun. And (n)dolen, as an adjective, should follow the noun and undergo lenition. I would replace that with teithas nolen.
No idea where you found "cernui", it makes no sense and could not mean anything close to "command". Anyway, the proper word for "command" would be difficult to determine, but I will spare you the details. It is safer to use tûr with its "mastery, power(over-others), control" senses. Hence cirth tûr.
Again, maethar would be "they wield", not a noun. And though you wrote the second idea in the correct reversed order (with regard to your English translation), this one is not reversed (i.e. it would have meant "control craft" instead, with the right words). Also I do not think that maenas is fitting here, or even the English "craft". Cannot provide alternatives as I would be changing the intent.
I could go for dolthain "hidden-rule/law" for this sense, in an attempt to replicate its etymology collectively.
-
Gloss “i̯ǝƀánna” by Eldamo Import
Firstly, I should clarify that you are looking at an "Early Primitive Elvish" word. What that means is quite complex, but I will try and explain...
Simply put, "Early" means "(Rejected) Draft". Since Tolkien worked on his world and languages for about 60 years, he changed his mind a lot, and two of those changes were fundamental. So there are (basically) three stages of their real-world development:
- Early Period (1930 and before) = (Rejected) Drafts
- Middle Period (1930-1950) = Drafts
- Late Period (1950 and after) = Canon
So, since this word is "Early", meaning "(Rejected) Draft" and not really canon, you need not bother with it at all. But there is another reason to ignore this word...
Unlike the real-world history above, Tolkien also invented fictional histories for his languages in each period. Like so:
Primitive Elvish(Quenderin) > Common Eldarin > Ancient Telerin > Old Sindarin > Sindarin
So this entry shows a "Primitive" word. And such words (in the canonical late period) are eleven thousand year-old ancient words, if we look back from the time of the LotR stories in the Third Age. Meaning that, "Primitive" words are neither Quenya nor Sindarin words, but the "ancestors" of Q. & S. words.
Primitive Elvish has little to no value for casual fans or even linguistic enthusiasts, unless they wish to dive deeply into the rabbit-hole that is Tolkienian linguistics in its entirety. And the same goes (with more emphasis) for earlier drafts of the languages. So this word is "doubly ignorable".
Now I can answer your question. There is no gloss (meaning) section in that entry because it is a direct quotation from the document where Tolkien wrote it. In other words, Tolkien did not write what it means, and so there is no meaning here either. But I can tell you what it means. It is an "Early Primitive" (thus "Draft & Ancient") form of the Quenya name Yavanna which basically means "Fruit-giver".
-
Gloss “Aredhel” by Imported
Perhaps because what Tolkien considered soft/hard does not match what the (modern) English speakers call soft/hard? Note that Tolkien wrote "voiced (soft) th" and indeed, in his English orthography for Sindarin, "DH" represents the voiced dental fricative. So, to Tolkien (or perhaps to all English philologists of his time), voicedness seems to have been considered "soft". Meanwhile the modern speakers consider the same sound to be "hard" rather than "soft", as shown in the linked image, and this entry (imported by Tolkien Gateway) seems to have been tailored to them instead.
-
Phrase “How to Thank in Sindarin” by Elaran
The dative pronouns for Sindarin are still unclear, but currently the linguistic community uses either ethin or athin for "to/for them". I personally prefer ethin.
-
Phrase “How to Thank in Sindarin” by Elaran
-
I need some help with a translation
