Comments by Tom Bombadil

These are the 10 posts of 114 by Tom Bombadil.

  • Gloss “-nde” by Aldaleon

    Thanks for your answer, but now, excuse my inquisitiveness, I have a new question. I always thought that there are six suffixes which can transform any kind of word (even nouns) into an abstract noun:

    -ve

    -re

    -le

    -me

    -sse

    and -ie.

    At least -ie is often used in this context. What about these suffixes?

  • Gloss “-nde” by Aldaleon

    I do not completely understand what that is, both -nde and deverbative. Is a deverbative always a personalisation of a verb? If so, what about -nde? "Denoting a durable process" sounds like a special sort of gerund to me, and not like a personalisation ... anywhay, -nde is definitely a personalisation, at least a feminine one.

    PS. I could also not understand what a nomen actionis is. Could any linguist have pity with me and explain it in simple english?

  • Towel in Quenya

    And do you think, it could be Sovallelanne > Sovalllanne > Sovallanne?

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  • Towel in Quenya

    I would like to translate this word into Quenya and I think that I found two possible compound parts, but I am not shure how they can be connected. I thought about purification/bath(-room) and tissue, so we could use "sovalle" and "lanne", but sovallelanne sounds unusual. Probably Tolkien would connect them differently, like sovallane, but that is just my intuition. Do you know whether it is right?

    Tolkiens compounds are often shortened. I know haplology and I would use it (for instance I would call Skywalker a meneldo (menel-eldo)), but there are also some shortened compounds which do not have identical syllables, like

    yavanna-hildi (yavannildi) and

    ondo-támo (ontámo).

    The problem is:

    a ≠ hil

    and do ≠ tá,

    isn't it? Call me old fashioned, but I always thought that haplology requires two identical syllables, and not just two which are a bit similar.

    I simply don't want to shorten my word in the same style while I don't understand the principle of "the same style". What is the rule, which allows one to shorten ondotámo (and all the other words) without haplology? Or do the elves have a much more relaxed definition of haplogy?

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  • Pleonasm after "you" (Quenya)

    Or her uncle. Yes, that would be funny ... and useful too.

    But hear two last ideas:

    At first: Wouldn't it be right to translate wrong English into wrong Quenya?

    Secondly: It sounds awful, but we could use relative pronouns. "You people" could be "Elle i naille mor", couldn't it?

  • Pleonasm after "you" (Quenya)

    If someone would like to say "you" and add a noun which describes who/what you are, what will he/she have to do? Is it like in English, where it is just necessary to say "you" and the noun?

    Take for example "How could you Greeks handle a number system without zero?" or "How do you people handle (...)?". Could that simply be "Manen le mor mahtea (...)?"? That sounds too easy to me ...

    PS. Basically this question could be asked more generall: Are there any known precedents of pleonasm, or some very self-evident theories about their possible application?

  • Useless words

    I knew "orro" and did not think about it in this context, but you are right, it could be a filler word for every pessimist, like an English "damned". "E" seems to be right. Thanks for that hint, I will keep it in mind.

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  • I am ... years old

    How can one say that in Quenya? I guess it would be completely wrong to say: "Nánye ... loar enwina", at least because of the word order, but probably also because this is a wrong use of enwina. I think that there are at least two possible alternatives, but I don't know the vocabulary which would be required:

    1. I experienced years ... (what is experience?)

    2. I live since years ... (what is a word for since? I guess that pan is useless because it's actual meaning is because.)

    Maybe one could just say: I saw years ... (Cennen loar ...), but that is not very specific. So, now my actual question: How can we use the adverb "ago" in a sentence, which describes a person's age? I imagine something like "I was born ... years ago" or "My birth is ... years ago", but I neither know the exact word order nor a verb for "to be born".

    Can I just say: "I yesta cuivienyo ná loar ... enge/auta."

    Ps. Or maybe even "I'm alive for years ..." (Nálye cuina an loar ...). Can we use an in this way?

  • Useless words

    What about mára? that is a sort of "well", or "nice" ... wait, what about mai? Isn't that already well, and couldn't we use it in the English way?

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  • Useless words

    Some words are usually without any function in the sentence but giving the speaker time. Filler words, basically. I mean words like actually, basically, ahem and well. Is there any way to translate these words into Quenya?

    PS. I know how to translate the word "actually", but I'm especially interested in well and ahem.

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