Comments by Elaran

These are the 10 posts of 195 by Elaran.

  • name translation help please

    It sounds like you are referring to a transcription (into Tengwar script) rather than a translation into the Elvish languages (Quenya/Sindarin). A translation would have nothing to do with how to "convert" sounds into another language, since the word would change altogether.

    If you simply want a Tengwar transcription of the name (without any translations), click here. It reads "jemma" (or /ˈdʒɛm.ma/ in IPA).

    If you want an actual translation into one of the Elvish languages, I would offer Míriel "Jewel/Gem(-daughter/female)". By chance this name works in both Quenya and Sindarin; a bilingual name, hence one translation. But it would be transcribed separately, since Q. & S. have their own Tengwar rules. This is the Classical Mode form (for Quenya), and this is the General Mode form (for Sindarin).

  • Help with translation

    The voice is so faint in comparison to the other sounds that I can barely hear the words, but catching a few things helped with finding the rest.

    The part between 0.30 and 1.30 apparently uses the lyrics from a soundtrack of the LotR film trilogy. I was able to catch it thanks to a mispronunciation by the singer. I heard a "ch" (i.e. /ʧ/) sound at 1.10, as in the English "church", a sound which does not exist in Sindarin. Basically, the singer said "ai ʧin", but I figured that that is a mispronunciation of "i chin", which should be read like "ee heen" (i.e. /i ˈxin/ in IPA). Here:

    A Bereth thar Ennui Aeair! (0.30)
    Calad ammen i reniar (x2)
    Mi 'aladhremmin ennorath. (1.00)
    A Elbereth Gilthoniel
    i chin a thûl lín míriel... (x2)

    [Side note: I am not sure where the first line of this originated. It is supposedly heard in a scene from the extended FotR film when Frodo and Sam heard a song of the Elves, but what I hear in that scene is actually "rîn athar annûn-aearath" which is the actual second line of the Passing of the Elves soundtrack. Perhaps someone simply made a guess on what the first line is (since it is very faint in that scene) and people took that to be the official thing (and that is why the song that you linked uses it), whereas it should have been "rîn..." as in the soundtrack.]

    [Linguist's Note: The lyrics and other Elvish translations for the films were written before some of the most informative notes of Tolkien on his languages were posthumously published. This means that older translations tend to have numerous mistakes, as is the case here, because they were more guesswork than proof-supported.]

    The song continues with English:

    O Queen beyond the Western Seas! (1.30)

    This matches the second line of this poem by Tolkien in the books. However, the song does not continue with the poem's following "O light to us that wander here / Amid the world of woven trees!" lines. Instead I hear:

    light us to the world of woven trees

    ... which makes little sense to me, nor does it match any text of which I am aware. It may be some sort of a butchered merging of those two lines from the poem. As for the rest, I can barely hear a thing. I caught "light is on... ??? ...to you", then maybe "clear is your voice and the words are true", where "clear is your voice" resembles "Clear are thy eyes and bright thy breath!" line from the poem.

    At 2.00 it returns to the first two lines of the first part, repeating it for a whole minute and saying "shine on me" between each repetition.

    At 3.45, it uses the second and third lines from Tolkien's own Sindarin poem A Elbereth Gilthoniel:

    silivren penna míriel (3.45)
    o menel aglar elenath (x2)

    At 4.15 it returns to English. It is all really vague, so I am unable to comment here. The rest of the song uses some more of those earlier repetitions, and that is about it...

    View thread

  • Translation of unit names

    @Goldberry: I would say Síriel.

    @List: You seem to have forgotten pluralisation. And there are some poor word choices, and mistaken constructions (n+r=dhr, not "nr"). Here:

    • Cerf/Cairf Múdyr "Workers' Tools"
    • Cerf/Cairf Dennin Múdyr "Workers' Forged Tools"
    • Cerf/Cairf Derthyr "Settlers' Tools"
    • Cerf/Cairf Dennin Derthyr "Settlers' Forged Tools"

  • Translation of unit names

    Good catch. I couldn't double-check the whole list apparently. It will be fixed now.

  • Translation of unit names

    No compensation needed.

    There are quite a few problems in your list, and addressing them would take long, so I will just skip to mine.

    • Tummon Sîdh "Pavilion(Great-tent) of Peace/Tranquility".
    • Mangaladh "Blessed-tree"
    • Eithel Gorthannen "Enchanted Spring"
    • Engyl Gond "Studies of Stone"
    • Engyl Sûl "Studies of Wind"
    • Engyl (G)Aear "Studies of (the) Sea"
    • Engyl Calad "Studies of Light"
    • Barf Lung "Heavy Armour"
    • Maeg Corwas "Skill/Power/Ability/Magic Blade(s)"
    • Pilin Velthillin "Gold-pointed Arrows"
    • Maeg Eregion "Blade(s) of Eregion"
    • Melphilin Eregion "Gold(en)-arrows of Eregion"
    • Nerphilin "Fire-arrows"
    • Hent/Haint Dhommol "Blinding Shots"
    • Torvaeg "Master-blade"
    • Ping End/Aind "Long Bows"
    • Celebaeg "Silvertorn(s)"
    • Pilin Celebaeg "Silverthorn Arrow(s)"
    • Hîth Nolthol "Concealing Mist"
    • Sûd Varn "Safe Refuge"
    • Eny Lórien "Gifts of Lórien"
    • Limp Dorwinion "Dorwininon Wine"
    • Berio in-glain! "Protect the borders!"
    • Caun i-Dirith "Chief of the Watch"
    • Feriad Thranduil "Readying(Preparation[s]) of Thranduil"
    • Feriad Oeth "Readying of Strife" (Combat Training)
    • Feriad Daer Oeth "High Readying of Strife"
    • Feriad Dhaer Oeth "Great Readying of Strife"
    • Ethirithad Glandirith "Border-guard Spying-place"
    • Hîth Ethiriol "Out-flowing Mist"
    • Baud Berias "Ban of Protection"
    • Engyl Tanath "Studies of Smithing"
    • Engyl Dagor "Studies of Battle"
    • Engyl Duil "Studies of Secrets"
    • Engyl Air Tanath "Excelling Studies of Smithing"
    • Engyl Air Dagor "Excelling Studies of Battle"
    • Engyl Air Duil "Excelling Studies of Secrets"
    • Thend/Thaind Rochben "Horseman Shields"
    • Hothad Deriannen "Strengthened Army-place"
    • Cair Edhellen Coloth "Elven Ship of Transportation"
    • Cair Edhellen Dagor "Elven Ship of Battle"
    • Cair Edhellen Hadath "Elven Ship of ?Bombardment"
    • Cair Edhellen Alagos "Elven Ship of Storm"

  • Gloss “calima” by Ardalambion (Helge Fauskanger)

    It's /'ka.li.ma/. The source would be the LotR Appendix E.

    View thread

  • Elvish Names?

    Well, some of the Sindarin phrases on there are correct

    What little good it has comes from better sources, but these have become obsolete and thus partially inaccurate as well.

    I suppose what I was asking is if my name translated into Elvish would equal the Elvish word for the meaning of the name.

    Not necessarily. As I shared here, no Elvish name is made up of just one element (an adjective or noun). It either needs another element (e.g. "great-joy"), and/or a type of masculine/feminine suffix (e.g. "joy-daughter").

    Well alassëa is rather "joyful, happy", the Quenya word for "joy" is alassë. Its Sindarin cognate is glass. Basic feminine names with these would be Q. Alassiel ⪤ S. Glassiel/Glessiel "Joy(daughter/f.)". But I believe that the name actually means "free woman", thus I would offer Lerwen "Free-maiden" or Lerdis "Free-woman" (both are bilingual if we can assume that √LER is not Quenya-only). If you want the "song of happiness" sense as well, Q. Lindalassë & S. Linglas would work.

  • Elvish Names?

    That website is beyond inaccurate and thus useless. I recommend avoiding it.

    Now... Firstly, there is no "Elvish". Or rather, there are multiple languages and "Elvish" is rather an umbrella term for all. The most important ones are Quenya and Sindarin. Quenya is like what Latin is to us, an old language of science and ceremony. Sindarin is like English, a common tongue for (basically) all Elves.

    Forming names in Quenya is often as simple as combining two words (though not always). But more often than not, name formation in Sindarin requires expert level knowledge on the historical phonetic development rules of the language, as I demonstrated here. So the only "good way", in my opinion, is to consult experts.

    In other words, simply list the meanings (not Elvish words) that you would like for the name, and I would form the name for you.

  • Is this resource accurate? (Sindarin grammar)

    I will copy the relevant entry of the FAQ of our Discord group:

    Where can I study Elvish?
    Interest in Tolkienian Linguistics mostly faded after the early 2000s. In the meantime, some of Tolkien's most informative notes and essays (not lessons) on his languages were published. As a consequence of both, most of what one can find on the internet is now outdated; Tolkien's later works either debunked our theories or replaced his own older works. There are currently a few courses which employ these new findings in their lessons, but they are yet to reach their final stage. Thus we recommend practising often in the group, regardless of which source you use for your studies, so that our experts could make corrections on what they offer.

    That website is very old, and so (as explained) it is inaccurate, containing more guesswork than attested information (due to the lack of the latter at the time). The linked course is currently the best available. But no course can match the collective knowledge of a community, so I recommend checking in with this forum (for detailed questions/answers) or the Discord group (for quicker questions/answers).

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  • Quenya song - odd grammar and wording - please comment

    It's difficult to tell (since each word contains at least one problem) but it looks like the order of the lines in the "Elvish" translation and the English are different.

    For example the first English line matches the fourth "Elvish" line:

    Let's walk, Brothers, on the warpath
    Pado nin teryn, na i maetha ne irath

    But it rather says:

    Walk me brothers(!), to the to-fight(!) in(?) thepath [sic]

    If I were to address all of the problems, I would end up writing a novel, so I will spare myself and everyone else here. What I will say is that, if the "Elvish Community" of those French LARPers care even a little bit about authenticity, then they should stop repeating this thing immediately. I will give proper translations if it would help. The English translation does not quite match what I can gather from the "Elvish" one, but I will stick to the English one in any case. Now...

    Quenya:

    Á lavë pata, hánor, an' ohtatië.
    "Let [us] walk, brothers, on(to) (the) war-path."
    Hiruvalvë alcar úvoronwion sercessë.
    "We will find glory in (the) blood of (the) unfaithful."
    Ai, Oiror, liltarion (†)talpati nin hehtauvaldë.
    "O, Eternal(one)s, footprints of dancers you will leave for me."
    Tula, lava yulë lan ohtan horalvë.
    "Come, let [us] drink while we wait for war."
    Cottonna, Oiror!
    "To (the) enemy, Eternal(one)s!"
    [Tried rhymes, except for the last line.]

    Sindarin:

    Davo baded, hoen, an i-nagrad.
    "Let [us] walk, brothers, to the battle-path."
    Hirathab aglar mi-sereg in-alvoryn.
    "We will find glory in the blood of the unfaithful."
    A, Uiryn, (†)delphaid lilthyr (‡)eglathadh annin.
    "O, Eternal(one)s, (†)footprints of dancers you will (‡)leave for me."
    Tolo, davo ýled (#)lo dharthab an i-nagor.
    "Come, let [us] drink (#)while we wait for the battle."
    An i-chyth, Uiryn!
    "To the enemy, Eternal(one)s!"