These are the 10 posts of 51 by Nimlothiel.

  • Where to learn sindarin?

    There is also the brilliant Discord server Vinyë Lambengolmor where one may find many a brilliant Elvish linguist. You can ask questions about the languages, try talking/writing in them to others and submit work.


  • Where to learn sindarin?

    Realelvish.net is the best for learning Sindarin. It is the most accurate and up to date, and is also accessible for all linguistic abilities.


  • "City of Magic" into elvish(Sindarin)

    You could have ‘Caras Maeras’ meaning ‘City of Goodness’, that may tie in in good ‘Harry Potter’-like magic.


  • "City of Magic" into elvish(Sindarin)

    No, that’s fine as I was a little stuck thinking of a word for nice magic so I am glad you came up with something!


  • "Phoenix" translation into Elvish

    The -aew ending of the Sindarin one is definitely hard to explain. My attempt at it would be ai as in eye (but don’t slide into an i sound, rather an open sort of eh) and then round your mouth into a circlular shape create the start of the w sound. This probably sounds very weird and may not make sense to you. My accent is stereotypical British English and so will probably differ from yours. Anyway, I hope my confusing contribution has helped. I’m sure someone will be able to offer a more understandable way to pronounce it! Just a note, the nor part is straight forward, it’s just nor as in door (but with a rolled, or rather ‘flicked/tapped’ r)


  • "City of Magic" into elvish(Sindarin)

    By magic, do you mean dark sorcery/magic or more ‘fairy like’ magic?


  • What is your opinion on neologisms?

    Salve

    So I too am no where near as well informed on Tolkien’s languages as those above me, but I will still offer my humble opinion in hope that it will further better the community and this website.

    I think the advance in quantity of neoglisms on Parf Edhellen would be a great way to open doors for those less confident or skilled at deriving new words, as they would be able to learn the skills etc, even if it were through mistakes. I agree with Ríon that there should maybe be a few, trusted authors that can submit their neoglisms with out it being necessarily reviewed, and then look over and correct, maybe, those of others.

    I look forward to seeing Parf Edhellen evolve and become even greater!

    Nimlothiel


  • "From their families" (Quenya)

    I tried to translate this quote (I’m presuming it’s the one from Doctor Who) ages ago, but it’s most definitely inaccurate. I think I gave up half way through it, so this reminds me to revisits it with slightly more educated eyes!


  • “Trust me, I’m a doctor”

    After discussing with one more aquainted with Sindarin than I, I suggest the word athron as an alternative to hadhro as the latter does not agree with the regular rules of word formation. Athron is not attested, but it is likely more plausible than hadhro.


  • “Trust me, I’m a doctor”

    Hello! With regards to the question of conjugating, both languages, I believe, vary.

    Quenya has an easier structure which involves taking the verb na- and, using the example of the first person, adding the suffix -n/-nyë depending on your preference. This makes nan and nanyë respectively. Both mean ‘I’, it just depends on what you think sounds better.

    For Sindarin, it is slightly less simple. See, the verb na- is not particularly used apart from its imperative version no! (be!), so conjugating it like you would any other a-stem verb to become non (I am) isn’t what the speakers of the language would have done. Instead, the word ‘ni’ is used. (I will list below the other words for the other persons). This means ‘I’.

    The word for a literal doctor of medicine is hadhro, however if this phrase is in the context of Doctor Who, then you may prefer to use the word pengolodh which means a teacher, a doctor of lore which seems more fitting for the Timelord. Next, to join the two words together. You may have heard of prestanneth in Sindarin. If not, it is basically the affection of consonants, causing them to change. For example, to say ‘the forest’ you use the words i meaning ‘the’ and taur meaning forest, wood. However the ‘i’ causes the ‘t’ to mutate to a ‘d’. (This had gone off topic a bit but stick with it!). To say ‘the great forest’ you would then add the word daer, however, because it is an adjective is is mutated to dhaer, therefore becoming i daur dhaer. The copula also relies on prestanneth to show its presence, however more so the lack of it. Eg. to say ‘the forest is big’ you use the same words but without the mutation to daer, therefore it is i daur daer. This links back to your question of how to say I am. You take the word ni and then either word for doctor (depending on your preference) to make either ni hadhro (as oppose to ‘ni chadhro’) or ni pengolodh (as oppose to ‘ni bengolodh’). The words for the other persons are as follows:

    *ni I am

    *le/ci/de you are (formal/familiar/plural)

    *te he/she/it is

    *me/gwe we are (exclusive/inclusive)

    *ti they are

    *se/si this is/these are

    *sa/sai that is/those are

    *ma what is/who is/who are

    As for translating the whole phrase, I will have a stab at it but I recommend that you get the approval of one more learned in the grammar of Sindarin (I will not attempt Quenya for as of now I know not enough) to make sure I have not made ‘a hash of it’.

    Estelio nin, ni hadhro/*ni pengolodh.

    With regards to estelio (estelia-), I remember this from the films, particularly from the song ‘Evenstar’. However I could not find it on Eldamo nor this site, so I don’t know if it is still an accepted word.