Comments by Elaran

These are the 10 posts of 195 by Elaran.

  • MAJOR UPDATE on "The King's Letter"

    You do not sound convinced. I should add that the third version does not even mention the "thirty-first day of the Stirring" part in the English writing, in fact they are quite different:

    Third version Sindarin: [...] suilad uin aran o Minas Tirith nelchaenen ned Echuir [...]
    Third version English: [...] From Minas Tirith, the twenty-third of February 6341 [= 1436]

    So the English version does not mention the "greeting from the king" either.

  • MAJOR UPDATE on "The King's Letter"

    No update here. These (including Tolkien's Tengwar writings and his translations) were already published in the 9th volume of the History of Middle-earth, "Sauron Defeated", between pages 128 & 131. Also the letter has three versions, but here is the reason behind the confusion:

    First version's Sindarin:
    [...] suilad uin aran o Minas Tirith nelchaenen uin Echuir.

    First version's English:
    [...] King's greeting from Minas Tirith, the thirty-first day of the Stirring, being the twenty-third of February in their reckoning.

    In other words, the Sindarin writing does not have the additional bit from the English one. Besides, we have more than enough evidence to support this already existing evidence: nel(edh) means three, cae(n) (which was later updated to pae(n)) means "ten", so "nelchaen... = 3x10=30", and Echuir means "Stirring".

  • Quenya ship names

    The first is hat-+-ië, "(act of) break+ing" and thus "destroying, destruction". The other is léra+ehtar, in which the second element's initial vowel replaced the first element's final vowel. Other not-immediately-recognisable words: *failë "fairness, justice, generosity" based on the attested adjective faila "fair-minded, just, generous", and *paita- "to repay, requite, [& punish]" as an updated form of the Early Period verb paitya-.

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  • Quenya ship names

    Addressing all issues would make this a very long message, so I will simply offer better alternatives. But in short, most of the elements in these names are Early Period (1910-1930) drafts which are incompatible with the Late Period (1950-1970) words (i.e. actual Quenya). And there are a few other problems, like using "ë" between consonants (which should be "e"). Here:

    Huge Transport - Yánalunca
    Storm of Destruction - Hatieraumo
    Troop Carrier - Ohtarraxa
    Weapon Bringer - Carmatultar
    Freelancer - Lérehtar
    Shadow Raven - Huinecorco
    Sword of Justice - Failemacil
    Pleasant Journey - Máralenda
    Punisher - Paitar
    Show Pony - Lilteroccincë
    Little Jewel - Mírincë
    Iron Wagon - Angaraxa

    The rest are arguably fine.

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  • Translating My Personal Name

    I should have clarified. My point with "net" was exactly that there are two identical roots, which would have been problematic for Tolkien, considering that he even disliked having identical derivations (whose roots were not identical but similar). Depending on his final decision on what RAY should mean, rainë could instead mean "lace", or raiwë could mean "peace", in theory. Since we have a valid alternative, my "overly cautious" approach may be justifiable. In any case, it is up to the requester.

  • Translating My Personal Name

    Since we also have RAY as "net" and such, I would rather avoid rainë as well. I think, Erusérë would be fine.

  • "I am here to help" in Sindarin??

    Ríon already addressed the difference of aníra tírad, in which adding an would indeed be wrong, but I will reinstate: That is not the case with the requested phrase. There is no example for that structure, but it certainly cannot use the same approach as aníra tírad. Because "I am here helping" would make as little sense as "He wants for seeing". Thus, aníra tírad should not have an, but the requested phrase needs it.

    Conjugating na- is a leap of faith of which few experts would approve. But we know enough about Sindarin phonology to determine its conjugations with certainty. It would not be *non but naun, because AU usually becomes O in polysyllabic words, which means that you see "Ónen" because it has more than one syllable (and its 3rd p. form is reformed after that, but this cannot happen with na- as it does not become polysyllabic with its aorist conjugation for any person). Continuing, Tolkien replaced "-(a)m" with "-(o)f" in his later works, which go well with his earlier revision of Q. suffixes. We see athof in PE22/167.

    Studying outdated websites and wishing to stay true to Tolkien are things that are unfortunately at odds with each other, because more of Tolkien's notes are published every few years while few websites receive updates alongside them. And if you wish to avoid neologisms, using "thaed" is not a good idea.

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  • Demon Hunter in Sindarin?

    The word for "demon" appears as raug (rather than graug) in most of Tolkien's notes. And as with Balrog, AU becomes O in most polysyllabic words. The word for hunter is better attested as faron, we cannot be sure on the meaning of faroth. I would combine these as Rogfaron.

  • Vinyë Lambengolmor - A Discord Server for Tolkienian Linguistics

    I would like to invite everyone to our Discord Server, Vinyë Lambengolmor (Q. "Young/New Loremasters of Tongues").

    While platforms such as Parf Edhellen provide a place to discuss the Elvish languages in a careful and scholarly manner, there are times when an instant messaging application can also be useful in our endeavours. Vinyë Lambengolmor, with its channels for discussions on and conversations in Quenya and Sindarin, offers a more casual (though still scholarly) place to engage in Tolkienian Linguistics. We currently have over 250 members, including our dear Aldalëon and other important figures in the field alongside mildly interested people, so everyone is welcome. Feel free to join us by following this link: discordapp.com

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  • "I am here to help" in Sindarin??

    The verb "elia-" is questionable due to Tolkien's struggling between "√Ū" and "√LĀ/ALA/AL|LA" for negation, the latter of which was his final extensive idea on the subject, and it happens to coincide with the root of "elia-", √AL(A). This is why we have both albeth lit. "good-word" and alfirin lit. "not-mortal", and according to the latter approach the former should mean something like "not-word, ?unspoken".

    There are no attested "U-verbs" (verbs whose final vowel is U) in Sindarin, and we have no idea on how to conjugate them. Thus, any attempt to employ such neologisms will almost undoubtedly prove to be erroneous when a new document from Tolkien introduces the rules for their conjugation or indeed confirm that Sindarin lost this class of verbs.

    Tolkien's latests notes give √THĀ/ATHA (and a variant √HATH, whose initial H would disappear in Sindarin) as the root for "help" alongside a few other meanings. Since the direct derivation atha- was used as a future suffix of "willingness", natha- "to help to" from the same document or the earlier eitha- "to assist, ease" (which should have been ethia- by regular development rules, especially since it coincides with eitha- "to stab; insult") can work. Thus, I offer:

    Ni hí an-nathad. / Ni hí an-ethiad.
    "I am here to help".