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from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras · 5 months

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A Need of the Soul

Summary: Éomer is teaching Faramir how to speak Rohirric as a surprise for Éowyn. Come for Faramir being a sweet husband, stay for the emotional links to Boromir and Théodred. Oh, and for Éomer being a big horse dork.

Context: I pulled a JRR and wrote a whole story around a special word I like! More on that at the very bottom. You can read this without knowing any of my personal Rohan head canon, but just in case it’s helpful: In my world, Éomer is married to his childhood best friend, Mereliss. My Théodred (who you can read more about here or here if you’re interested) was a nurturing soul with a curious mind, and I may be obsessed with him. And damn it, my Éomer can absolutely read and write! (See here for why that’s the case in my HC.)

As soon as Éowyn left for the morning, Faramir pulled out his secret stack of papers, the ones he had started requesting from Éomer six months ago when he first decided to try learning Rohirric. He wanted to master the language as a surprise for Éowyn, ever conscious of how much she had sacrificed on his behalf when they married. Although he knew she loved Ithilien, he also knew that sometimes she still longed for the familiarity and comfort of home, for the people, places, and culture that were now many miles away. If he could bring some of Rohan to her in the form of her language, he hoped he could brighten her heart on those days when she looked most in need of a reminder of all that she missed.

With this goal in mind, he had thrown himself wholly into the pursuit, but the process was more difficult than he had hoped. The Rohirrim didn’t keep written records in their own language, nor did they have textbooks or primers made to learn from. All Faramir had were the pages that Éomer would write out and send to him every few weeks, using Westron to describe basic grammar rules and listing common Rohirric words and phrases by their definitions and rough pronunciations. Working from written materials to learn a language that was only taught orally was maddeningly difficult, and Faramir spent long hours alone at his desk laboring at the exercises Éomer sent, unsure if he was even getting close to the sounds he was attempting to produce.

At least he would be aided today by the presence of Éomer in person. The king of Rohan was coming to Gondor to take counsel with his allies on military matters, and he had agreed to make time for some lessons while his own wife, Mereliss, kept Éowyn occupied in furtherance of the surprise. With Éowyn gone now to meet her sister-in-law, Faramir looked down his lists of Rohirric words and tried to commit a few more to memory, repeating them slowly out loud to himself while he waited for Éomer.

“If someone back home heard you slur your way through those words like that, they might assume you were a drunkard.”

Faramir looked up to see Éomer smirking at him from the doorway, still dressed in his riding clothes and holding a small pack. “Well, if the performance of the student falls short, I think we have no option but to blame the instructor,” Faramir returned with a smirk of his own.

“A fair point, I will grant you.” Éomer strode in and tossed his things on an empty chair before pulling Faramir up into a strong embrace, thumping a fist on his brother-in-law’s back with enough enthusiasm to knock the breath out of him.

When they separated, Faramir smiled and held up his stack of papers. “I do appreciate all of this. It’s a lot of work for me, but for you, too, I’m sure.”

Éomer gave a dismissive wave. “I have the easy part. Besides, there’s some benefit to me in all of this, as well. I’ll certainly enjoy the show the next time you visit Edoras and all the ladies at court discover that you can actually understand their scandalous comments about how handsome they find you. Your admirer’s club is in for a big shock.”

They both laughed, though Éomer noted the flush of pink in Faramir’s ears and cheeks and that only made him laugh all the harder. “Don’t let them see you blush, you’ll only make it worse!” He plopped down into a chair and put his feet up, smiling.

As Faramir took a seat across from him, he felt a warm, familiar echo in his heart. The easy camaraderie, the good natured teasing balanced with true affection…it couldn’t help but bring Boromir to his mind. Faramir still missed his brother every single day and looked for reminders of him everywhere that he could. But he didn’t think it was a stretch to see clear elements of Boromir reflected in Éomer–in his strength and brashness, his earnest intensity, his fierce loyalty. They were both proud men of action with an unshakeable sense of duty and love for family. Éomer could never replace Boromir, and he was surely his own man, different in many ways from the brother Faramir lost. But it lifted Faramir’s spirits to once again have such a figure in his life.

Now his brother-in-law reached into his pack and pulled out more pages, covered from top to bottom in his own scrawly handwriting. “I’ve brought you some more to learn–words you’d hear often around Rohan and that any self-respecting Rohirrim would know.”

Faramir accepted the papers from him and skimmed his eyes down the first page, but a look of confusion slowly built on his face as he read. “Am I understanding this correctly? Why do you have twenty different words for ‘horse’?”

“I have not given you twenty words for ‘horse’! Each one of those means something very different.” Éomer grabbed the page back and pointed. “This one here, éotynde, this is an old, calm mare that would be suitable for a young child just learning to ride.” He pointed again. “And this one, éoweder, is a high spirited horse that has quickness and agility but is unpredictable and difficult to control. The others are equally unique. Do you not see?”

Faramir gently extracted the page back from Éomer’s grip, hoping to avoid a further explanation of each specific variant on the list. “I understand those distinctions, but are they really significant enough that I require a whole separate word for each one? We make do in Gondor with but one term. A horse is a horse.”

“A horse is a horse?” Éomer gaped at him, incredulous. “You think the language of the Rohirrim would put a courier horse, whose purpose is swiftness and endurance, in the same category with a farm horse, who sacrifices speed in favor of strength and power? They aren’t remotely the same thing, and a proper language wouldn’t treat them as such. If we went by your rules, we’d all be calling the blacksmith a baker because they both make things with heat!”

It was obvious from the truly scandalized look on his face that Éomer would never concede the point, so Faramir held up his hands in smiling capitulation. And if all these varieties of horse were important to Éomer, likely they would be to Éowyn as well, so Faramir would learn them as best he could. But he desired to speak to Éowyn of many things, and horses were nowhere near the top of the list. He shuffled through the papers one more time. “Have you finally given me anything that would be suitable to say to a beloved wife?”

Éomer shot him a look. “I am not the right person to consult for words of romance. And certainly not when the woman to be romanced is my own sister.”

Faramir laughed. “Fair enough. Let’s get back to your many words for ‘horse’ and I will ask Mereliss to help me with some more emotional thoughts later.”

Éomer sat back, satisfied. “I will have you sounding like a Rohirrim in no time. Now, do you know the word for a horse that likes to cause trouble in the stable with the other horses?”

**********

The next morning, Faramir spent two hours with Mereliss while Éomer and Éowyn went for a ride. When the siblings returned, Éomer sent Éowyn to Mereliss’s quarters and went himself to check on Faramir’s progress. He found his brother-in-law once again at his desk, bent over his work, and dropped casually into a nearby chair.

“Did you get all of the flowery and eloquent phrases you need?”

Faramir put down his pen and smiled. “Mereliss helped me to write a special toast to Éowyn for our upcoming anniversary. I knew what I wanted to say, and Mereliss made sure it will sound not just like a bunch of Westron bluntly converted into Rohirric words but rather something that was written by a native speaker. Something truly of Rohan. She has quite a talent for beautiful language and imagery.” He gave a sly smile. “Though she told me that you also have something of a poet’s heart when the two of you are alone in your own chambers.”

Éomer’s head snapped up, a tinge of dark red sweeping across his cheeks. “She told you what?”

Now it was Faramir’s turn to laugh at his brother-in-law’s furious blushing, so out of character for one who was otherwise always self assured and confident. Faramir had faithfully reported Mereliss’s remark, and it was clearly true that Éomer really did speak his softest thoughts to her or he would not be so flustered by the possibility that she had shared those thoughts. But Faramir had no need or desire to prolong Éomer’s self-consciousness.

“There is nothing to worry about. I know only that you are capable of words to enchant and delight your wife, which is no bad thing. But she didn’t reveal what those words are. She wouldn’t betray your privacy, and I would never ask her to.”

Éomer’s shoulders noticeably relaxed, and he laughed a little at his own embarrassment. “Well, your discussion of my clumsy attempts to please my wife aside, I am glad that she helped you. Westron is very useful, but there are some things that just cannot be said as effectively without our own words and expressions.”

“Indeed. She gave me a number of things that I quite like, ways to convey entire concepts with a single word that has no direct equivalent in any language that I know. Like sáwolthearf. Every language should have such a term.”

Sáwolthearf. The word sent a wave of fond remembrance through Éomer’s heart. It translated literally as ‘a need of the soul’ and was used in Rohan to mean someone who is necessary in order for another person to feel truly happy and complete. His late cousin Théodred, who had always been so free and generous in expressing his feelings, used to call his bride-to-be sáwolthearf, and Éomer could easily picture Eadlin practically glowing with love and pride whenever Théodred referred to her that way.

To hear Théodred’s words coming now from Faramir’s lips was no great shock to Éomer. On the contrary, it only intensified a feeling he had long had in the presence of his brother-in-law: a sense that he was not with Théodred himself, but with a kindred spirit of his cousin. Someone whose modesty, eagerness for knowledge, gentle heart and dreamer’s mind so thoroughly echoed Théodred’s own nature that Éomer felt immediately at ease in his company. Théodred had been many things to Éomer–a deeply loved cousin, but also much like an older brother and at times even a father figure–and he had carried Éomer through some of the most difficult moments he would ever experience. Éomer could never truly reconcile himself to Théodred’s loss, but having Faramir in his life helped to salve that wound.

Watching Faramir now—shuffling again through his notes and drafts, applying himself so diligently to such a difficult task and all for the purpose of simply making Éowyn smile—Éomer was struck by a profound feeling of gratitude, one that he felt should be voiced even if it was not normally in his nature to speak of his innermost feelings. He cleared his throat, and Faramir looked up.

“What you’re doing for my sister is very admirable. I know it will mean a lot to her, and for that reason it means a lot to me. Thank you, eyre-brothor.”

Faramir frowned slightly and looked back at his papers. “Eyre-brothor? I don’t think I’ve learned that yet.”

Éomer smiled. “It means ‘brother by choice.’ Write that one down.”

**********

[Language nerd notes:

“Sáwolthearf” is a real Old English word (though I modernized the thorn in the middle for readability–it’s actually “sáwolþearf”) and it really does mean “a need of the soul,” which I just think is incredibly beautiful.

I made up “eyre-brothor” by combining two other real Old English words, “eyre” (“a choice made of free will”) and “brothor” (“brother”, though once again I turned the thorn in broþor into a “th” to make it smoother to modern English-reading eyes).

“Éotynde” comes from an approx combo of “eoh” (“horse”) and “tyende” (“teaching”) for a horse that’s calm enough to be good for beginners.

Éoweder comes from an approx combo of “eoh” (“horse”) and “weder” (“weather”) because to be impressive but quick-changing, unpredictable and uncontrollable is to be like the weather.

And it’s not in the story, but Éomer’s word for a horse that likes to cause trouble in the stable with the other horses is an “éodrefa” from “eoh” (horse, again!) and “drefan,” which is “to stir things up or cause mischief”.]

#lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #lotr fanfiction #eomer #éomer #faramir #boromir #theodred #théodred #brothers #making up words #middle earth languages #brotherly bonding #divider by saradika #the rohirrim are such horse dorks #y’all of course i’m gonna put théodred in anything i can!

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artist-issues · 8 months

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I also would like people to give more appreciation to the great thematic unity in all of The Lord of the Rings. The idea is “do what good you can with what you are given.” Usually your abilities and your chances seem horribly small, even though your responsibility is so enormous. The minutes, the little decisions, the days, the small towns, the small characters, matter the most. The fate of the whole big world of good and evil and languages and races and heroes and villains all hangs on what’s done by a little scholar and his gardener.

#It’s every bit as complicated and uncomplicated as that #Tolkien might be obsessed with little details like history and languages for every region of his made-up world #but that’s because he knew that little details matter in life and in literature because they make up reality.#the lord of the rings #lotr #lord of the rings #the shire #Mordor #Aragorn #Frodo #middle-earth #Sam gamgee #Sméagol #one ring #Sauron #Gandalf

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kylobith · 2 months

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The Languages and Linguistics of Middle Earth

Gin suilannon!

In the context of my minor programme in Celtic studies and languages, I am following a course called From Táin to Tolkien and Beyond, and today, we had a guest lecture about the languages of Middle Earth, more particularly Sindarin. Since it might be useful to some of you (out of curiosity or for your fanfictions), I thought I would share my notes and my conversations with the guest lecturer here. This was a very linguistics-driven lecture, so I will try to add explanations where I can and, hopefully, make the information more accessible. If you have any questions, you can react to this post or DM me! And beware, this is a very long post. So, without further ado, here is what I learnt.

✽ Notes on Historical Linguistics, Manuscript Tradition and the Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth by Dr. Aaron Griffith

✣ Shared histories of languages and manuscripts are often visualised with tree diagrams to see the evolution and how they branch out

✣ Little material was published about Middle-Earth and the Elves during Tolkien's lifetime -> Most of it is part of the Legendarium -> Main periods of writing (here we only mentioned the writing processes or when a project was finished, not when they were published): - The Lost Tales (1916-1926): infancy of the Elvish languages - Sketch of The Silmarillion (1926-1930): revision of The Lost Tales and some changes brought to Elvish - Quenta Noldorinna (1930): further reworking and significant expansion of the sketch - The Hobbit (1933): originally intended as an unrelated story - Quenta Silmarillion (1937): fullest expansion of The Lost Tales and significant refinement of the languages - The Lord of the Rings (1950s): use of the mythology of all the earlier writings as a basis, reworking of the languages and massive changes in their interrelations - The Silmarillion (post-1948): based on Quenta Silmarillion, which was heavily revised after The Lord of the Rings

✣ Tolkien rarely dated his works and compositions, so it is difficult to establish a precise creative process or linear chronology of the changes brought to Middle Earth. However, he did leave us some clues: - Absolute Dating -> occasionally, Tolkien did attach dates to his manuscripts, but it remained a rare occurrence - Relative Chronology -> some compositions are dependent on changes to earlier works, so a logical chronology can be estimated (this can also be made possible by the scrap papers from Tolkien's personal records and drafts) - Handwriting -> can be misleading, but it can be a helpful tool to date pieces of distinctly different chronological layers - Nomenclature -> Tolkien frequently changed character names, so particular names can be matched with letters and extracts in which they appear - Christopher Tolkien -> his manuscript order from the twelve-volume The History of Middle-Earth series

✣ Critical asymmetry -> languages frequently split into dialects and other languages of their own, but when manuscripts are retraced according to their version of the same text (think of Arthurian romances and oral tradition being recorded at different points in time and therefore presenting different themes or characters), narratives (stories) cannot be regrouped as easily -> However, there are 2 relations between stories and languages: 1. How changes can propagate in a language system or narrative tradition 2. The relations of language families in real- (at the time of composition) or book-time (time as it passes in the stories)

✣ In natural language, change moves forward in time. This is a trend which also applies for errors in manuscript copies (irregularities in tropes, character changes, etc.)

✣ In stories, a plot development can be carried forward just like a sound can evolve in a language. However, change can occur backwards, too. For example, if a character's ancestry is modified, this can change the whole manuscript history of the story being written (by this, understand that the story must be readapted to fit the new information to maintain some consistency).

✣ Historical linguistics is concerned with the study of language change and the formation of language families (Romance languages, Germanic languages, Slavic languages, etc.). It does so by examining and comparing systems from different languages to see if they can be retraced to an original, common system (Welsh and Irish stemming from Proto-Celtic, for instance).

✣ Some of Tolkien's languages were intended to be related. The following languages and dialects are related in a clear, 'historical' structure, which mimics the way that languages evolve in our world: - Quenya - Sindarin - Lindarin - Noldorin - Telerin - Doriathrin - Ilkorin

✣ Elvish languages were constantly revised by Tolkien, making it challenging to determine a single 'history' (or creative process) of Elvish tongues. In their case, it is more accurate to speak of a series of histories or continua, which refer to the times at which Tolkien brought significant changes (often 1916, 1937 and post-1948). A tree diagram is thus no longer fitting to visualise them all. The diagrams overlap in a three-dimensional visualisation instead, with each layer representing the changes of each major revision.

✣ Some changes were brought solely for aesthetic purposes. Tolkien found the phonetics of Welsh and Finnish particularly pleasing to the ear and, therefore, based Sindarin and Quenya on their structures. As you probably already know, these are the two most-developed languages in the lore of Middle Earth, but he fleshed out at least four other Elvish languages (Telerin, Ilkorin, Doriathrin and Danian). There were generally more changes in Quenya (abbreviated Q).

✣ What was originally Noldorin (abbreviated N) in the 1916 and 1937 versions is now Sindarin (abbreviated S). After 1948, Noldorin became a dialect of its own, and its place in the language tree shifted. The terms and grammar remained rather consistent from one version to the next. -> example: 1916: N Balrog 'fire demon' (bal- 'anguish' + -róg 'strong') 1937: N Balrog 'fire demon' (bal- 'torment' + rhaug 'demon') 1948: S Balrog 'demon of might' (bal- 'might' + raug 'demon')

✣ Such modifications reflected the major changes brought to the stories (especially to what we now know as The Silmarillion), but they also mirror the natural linguistics evolution of real-life languages. This causes a problem, namely in the emergence of 'linguistic orphans', or words whose etymology was no longer valid because the linguistic or sound laws that birthed them in the first place were removed. -> example: Eärendil (Q 'lover of the sea', ayar- 'sea' + -ndil 'lover') 1916: eären was the genitive form (or possessive form) of eär, so the compound made sense. 1937: eäron replaced eären, but Tolkien remained particularly attached to the previous version because of the Old English éarendel -> this created a disruption in etymology, so he declared that eär/eären meant 'sea'

✣ Major sound changes introduced with The Lord of the Rings

✣ Tolkien introduced lenition in some grammatical cases. In Celtic languages, it is a rather common occurrence. It consists in the softening of a consonant at the start of a word according to certain rules. For example, the sound [p] is softened into a [b]. My knowledge of Irish is non-existent, but it is something which happens in Middle Welsh (c.1100-c.1400) and Modern Welsh. -> example: before 1972, Tolkien suggested that the name Gil-Galad ('star of brilliance', 'brilliant star') was lenited, which means that the second component of the name stems from the word calad (lenition causes the c to soften into a g). -> However, he stated in a letter in 1972 that lenition no longer occurred if 'the second noun functions as an uninflected genitive' (in other words, that the possessive is not marked with an apostrophe, 'of the', or any other marker that applied in Sindarin). This explains the merging of ost 'start' + giliath 'fortress' into Osgiliath 'fortress of the start'. If giliath was lenited, the name would instead be Osiliath or Ostiliath (when lenited, g disappears at the head of the noun). -> There is one noted inconsistency regarding the 'rule' above, and it is the case of Eryn Vorn 'Dark Forest'/'Forest of Darkness'. Eryn is a plural form of oron 'tree' and morn acts as a noun (but it is usually the adjective for 'black, dark' and morne is the noun referring to 'darkness, blackness'). Due to Welsh vowel change rules in certain plural forms, morn becomes myrn, and this very same plural form should accompany eryn (both adjective and noun adopt a plural form). Instead, we find a singular form of morn which is lenited (m becomes v). This is possibly an error accidentally left in by Tolkien.

✣ The nature of Noldorin/Sindarin makes Elvish languages rather realistic in their evolution compared to real-life languages, because irregularities occur. Dr. Griffith argues that languages naturally show irregularity because of gradual changes and borrowed words, but he acknowledges that accidents are sometimes just that. Accidents.

✽ Notes on the lecture by Dr. Aaron Griffith

✣ A general interest in creating new languages emerged in the 19th century. It was believed to be a tool which could help resolve political conflicts by creating a sense of cohesion and avoiding miscommunication. This is evident in the creation of Esperanto.

✣ In most cases of invented languages, the language was invented first, and the world or context they belonged to was formed from there. Tolkien worked exactly the other way around.

✣ Tolkien aimed to create an English myth, because he considered that England lacked its own mythology. King Arthur is generally considered Celtic in essence (possibly Welsh) and therefore could not apply as an English myth. This could explain why he retained the Gregorian calendar throughout The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It served as a familiar bridge between Middle Earth and England/the real world.

✣ In original maps of Beleriand, there used to be land west of Ered Luin (the Blue Mountains northwest of the Shire). This was changed in later maps, which Tolkien designed and drew himself. Often, Arda was depicted as a globe with several continents. Afterwards, Tolkien decided that Arda was, in fact, flat.

✣ Backstory of the Elves (I have no knowledge of The Silmarillion, so if I did not use the right terms or names, please feel free to correct me!): - Elves first came into existence in Cuiviénen and were invited by the Valar to join them in Valinor, meaning that they had to cross the continent and the ocean - Not all Elves made it to Valinor, however. Some decided to separate from the main group and settled in different areas of Middle Earth, like in Greenwood (later known as Mirkwood). This caused the language they spoke to evolve into different dialects and, sometimes, completely separate languages - Elves returned to Middle Earth after the war against Morgoth (S; Q Melkor), aided by Númenorians - The West was physically separated from the rest of Arda by a 'cut' through the ocean. The gods then shaped Arda into a globe, but once past the portal to the Undying Lands, it was flat again.

✣ Most often, Tolkien did not provide translations of the phrases he peppered into his works, mostly because he believed that nobody would be interested in them. Once he received enthusiastic letters from readers, he decided to attach them to later versions. He did regret publishing the appendices of The Lord of the Rings, however, because the changes felt too 'final' and he felt as though he took away his own liberty to make further revisions to the material (once it's published, you cannot go back).

✣ Tolkien created quite a lot of poetry to match the phonological aesthetics of Sindarin and Quenya.

✣ Outside The Lord of the Rings, the longest source we have in Sindarin is The King's Letter, which was originally supposed to be part of the epilogue in The Return of the King but was not in the final version because he wrote it in the 1970s. In this letter written entirely in Sindarin, Aragorn (then King Elessar) invites Sam, Rosie, and their children to visit him and Arwen in Minas Tirith.

✣ Sindarin grammar is tricky to reconstruct because of the lack of sources on the matter and the complicated grammar revisions that Tolkien brought. However, we do know that it is loosely based on Welsh, which he confirmed in 'English and Welsh' in The Monsters and the Critics (published posthumously in 1983). He aimed to recreate the same 'pleasant' sounds that he found in Welsh for Sindarin. If the reader knows how to pronounce the Welsh alphabet, then they can easily pronounce Sindarin.

✣ Secondary sources on Sindarin: - A Gateway to Sindarin by David Salo. Salo worked as a language consultant on the films, but his book has been criticised by Tolkien scholars because it tends to ignore the changes between 1937 and 1948 and it treats Noldorin as a dialect of Sindarin, which is no longer the case from 1948 onwards. - The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-Earth by Ruth S. Noel

✣ Primary sources are very incomplete, but the main ones we can use to observe the language are the following publications: - The Lord of the Rings - The Lost Road and Other Writings - The War of the Jewels - The Peoples of Middle-Earth

✣ As established in the previous section, Sindarin follows some of the grammatical rules present in Welsh and pre-modern Welsh. We encounter mutations, especially lenition (also called 'soft mutation' because of the sounds becoming softer, e.g. p becoming b), and they play a crucial role in the structure of Sindarin. Below is a comparison of soft mutation/lenition in the context of Welsh and then in Sindarin. -> Welsh: dyn 'man' + teg 'attractive' = dyn teg 'attractive man' merch 'girl' + teg 'attractive' = merch deg 'attractive girl' -> soft mutation after a feminine noun, t is softened into a d -> Sindarin: Perhael 'Samwise' (literally 'half-wise') Berhael 'Samwise' -> lenition when used as a direct object in a clause, p softened into a b Carm Dum 'Red Valley' (capital of Angmar) -> uses tum 'valley', but it is lenited when acting as an adjective or an adverb, t softened into a d

✣ Other forms of mutations exist in Sindarin, but this part of the lecture is quite technical and does require a basic knowledge of Welsh or Middle Welsh to be comprehensible. Feel free to message me if you wish to know more about them.

✣ Mutations arose from sound changes that affected phrases (intonational units). In other words, they are groups of words that have a single principal accent (or stress) to fluidify the manner of speech and convey a sense of emphasis. For instance, not every word is stressed separately in the sentence 'I am going to the supermarket'. The stress is applied by the speaker to highlight their meaning. Is 'I' emphasised to insist that it is 'I' who is going to the supermarket? Is 'supermarket' stressed to insist that it is the supermarket that I am going to, and not another location?

✣ Mutations are inherited from Welsh and its earlier forms. The same is true between Pre-Sindarin (or what Tolkien then referred to as Noldorin) and Sindarin. -> Welsh: atar evolved into adar 'bird' (lenition of t into a d) -> Sindarin: atar evolved into adar 'father' (same pattern)

✣ No cases in Sindarin verbs, unlike in Quenya. This means that there is no Nominative, Genitive, Dative or Accusative.

✣ Like in Welsh, again, some plural forms of nouns involve what we call a vowel change. This means that according to a regular pattern, the vowels contained within a noun are not the same between their singular and their plural forms. In Sindarin, the vowel change and suffixes help to mark plurals. As far as I'm aware, the changes are identical in Welsh, so if you wish to use Sindarin in your own work, have a look at the vowel changes rules and you should be able to form your own plurals. Please note that it occurs with both non-final and final syllables. -> examples: - adan 'man' -> edain 'men' - certh 'rune' -> cirth 'runes' - annon 'gate' -> ennyn 'gates' - amon 'hill' -> emyn 'hills' - mellon 'friend' -> mellyn 'friends' - Dúnadan 'Man of the West' -> Dúnedain (u is not affected)

✣ Suffixes are another way to mark plurals. -> examples: - harad 'south' + rim 'multitude' = Haradrim 'Southrons, Men of the South' - hadhod 'dwarf' + rim 'multitude' = Hadhodrim 'Dwarves (as a race)'

✣ Compounds are common as well. -> example: - morne 'darkness, blackness'/morn 'dark, black' + ia 'pit, gulf' = Moria

✽ Questions I asked Dr. Griffith directly and his answers

✣ Q: In your article and in the PowerPoint presentation, you sometimes mark terms with an asterisk first (e.g. *rokko-khēru-rimbe when you discuss the origin of the term 'Rohirrim'). What does this notation refer to? ✣ A: An asterisk before a form means that it is not actually found anywhere, but we assume it must have existed. In this case, *rokko-khēru-rimbe is the form of Rohirrim as it would have been pronounced in Old Sindarin, but we don't actually have the word anywhere in a written text

✣ Q: For Rohirric/Rohanese, we know that the language that Tolkien based it on was Old English and that terms were directly borrowed from it (e.g. grīma 'mask' or þeoden 'lord, prince, king'), or that names and phrases from Beowulf have been peppered in the lore of Rohan (e.g. Éomer is a character mentioned once, and the first line sung by Miranda Otto in the 'Lament for Théodred' is a line from Beowulf as well). Unfortunately, it seems that the sources on the languages are few, but do we know his reasoning or process in tweaking and applying Old English to create Rohirric/Rohanese? Do we know, perhaps, how the grammar differed from Old English? ✣ A: We don't really know anything about the language of the Rohirrim. Tolkien chose Old English as a sort of cipher. What I mean is: the language of Middle Earth is called Westron, and the Rohirrim spoke a very archaic dialect of it. Tolkien represented this by having them use Old English/archaic forms. He talks about this in one of the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, though I don't remember which one.

✣ Q: In your opinion, is it realistic to compose texts in Quenya or Sindarin, considering that we do not really have a cultural context behind them that is fully explicit? By this, I mean that since idioms and certain concepts are intrinsically tied to their cultural context, is it possible to actually use the Elvish languages to compose new texts altogether? ✣ A: It is possible to compose texts in Quenya and Sindarin. People do it. Obviously, some things are simply impossible to know: how would you say 'computer' or 'shopping mall'? And for other things, we cannot really know since only Tolkien really had the 'true understanding' of Elvish languages and cultures necessary for some text production. That said, people do do it. I don't know much about it, though, I'm afraid.

For those who are interested, I have Dr. Griffith's article, the PowerPoint presentation with sources and vocabulary on it, as well as a handout with Noldorin and Old Noldorin. Dr. Griffith also sent me some extra sources, let me know if you want me to send them to you! If you have questions, I can always try to contact Dr. Griffith again, he is the coordinator of my Middle Welsh course, so I'm bound to bump into him again, and he is genuinely excited to discuss all things Tolkien :) @konartiste @from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras @lucifers-legions @emmanuellececchi @hippodameia

#Tolkien #Elvish #Elvish languages #Sindarin #Quenya #Noldorin #linguistics #Middle Earth #Lord of the Rings #LOTR #Tolkien's linguistics #masterpost #reference #lotr ref

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mrehkka · 2 months

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Any gesture that uses just the first 2 fingers is vulgar to Irkens. Zim was very confused by humans doing peace signs for photos or using finger quotes when talking

Doing this sign from the forehead means the Irken military in particular bc of the forehead symbol the elite soldiers have

Editing to add: Irkens would be APALLED to see any of these gestures used- Zim has just been on earth long enough that he doesn't care anymore lmao if he does this in other Irkens' presence they would smack his hand down so fast AND ALSO Zim isn't wearing any gloves?? This makes the gesture even worse!

#invader zim #iz zim #Irken lore #Irken language #Irken #my art #Irkens have a thing about hands and feet being covered #feet more so than hands #zim eventually relaxes enough not to wear gloves on earth but going barefoot takes him WAY longer #also also #i give Irkens 3 fingers and a thumb #in the show while zim has 3 fingers total which is one less than humans who have 4 fingers total. So if I give dib 5 I give zim 4 #I'm a nerd #I have so many Irken cultural headcanons. gestures. words. you don't wanna get me started lol #fun fact- the reason this gesture is vulgar is bc it vaguely resembles Irken genitalia #much like how the middle finger is bad supposedly bc it represents human male genitalia #the more you know!#am I gonna get in trouble for this? do I need to tag it as something??

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thevalleyisjolly · 1 year

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As an archivist, thinking about the right to be forgotten in a specifically archival context, and the idea that not everyone wants their stories or their records to be made available to anyone/for everyone; that often, what a community judges to be the best preservation for their own histories and culture is not what is beneficial to outsiders, especially outside academics.

More specifically, thinking about this in the context of Lord of the Rings/The Hobbit/The Silmarillion/other Legendarium books as “historical” texts. Thinking about maybe the “authors” not writing everything down because they understand the power of stories and how the telling of a thing grants a certain power over it, over how it is known and spread, and positions the teller as a figure of authority over what (and who) is depicted.

We already know that Bilbo is an unreliable narrator, that he changes things and leaves things out. There were a few posts and fics years ago, when the Hobbit movies came out, about Bilbo befriending a young Estel in Rivendell and deliberately leaving that out of his stories at Gandalf/Elrond’s request. What other things might he have left out, perhaps, out of respect for his friends in the Company and their desire to keep their culture and language private and closed?

Pengolodh compiling the Annals of Beleriand from which came the greater part of The Silmarillion - but he was in Gondolin for much of the First Age, and would have had to rely on other sources to give an account of the rest of Beleriand. Who did he talk to? What might they have said and not said, and what might they have requested he include or keep out?

Anyways, the Legendarium as an archive, something actively created and shaped by the different people in and around it, who both added things and left things out unintentionally or by design or on request.

#lotr #silmarillion #ironically this would make the archivists of middle-earth more respectful and conscious of this than many irl archivists #i jest; there are many excellent archivists who are putting the time and the effort in to do the work right and to spearhead change #not that there aren't still a great many traditionally trained archivists who are being absurdly obstinate about this #but there is progress; however slow; being made in the archival field about recognizing people's rights to their own records #writing this instead of my personal archives paper asdfghjkl;#this isn't the main point of this post but i also like to headcanon post war of wrath burgeoning loremaster elrond #travelling around and meeting different communities and hearing their stories #and sometimes they ask him to share those stories with others and many other times they ask him not to spread them #he meets a kindi tribe in the east who have no desire to be involved in any of the bullshit happening over in the west #they are fine with him as a friend but explicitly ask that he not let anyone else know about their existence #he befriends dwarves living in the blue mountains who wish people to remember the glory of tumunzahar and gabilgathol #but who don't want their culture and language widely spread for outsiders to know #he reestablishes contact with the silvan elves in the greenwood who are eager to hear news of their long sundered kin #and request that he bring news of them to the survivors of ossiriand

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majestictolkienelves · 6 months

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So.... one could say that Old Sindarin is the middle-earth version of Latin since it is considered to possibly be the root of all languages in Beleriand and modern sindarin is the middle-earth equivalent of Italian (in reference to latin)... and Doriath had their own diallect of sindarin... sort of like Naples, Sicily, and Valencia...

#lotr #silmarillion #tolkien #tolkien languages #Tolkien diallects #first age #doriath #lord of the rings #doriathrin #beleriand #middle earth #people of middle earth #sindar elves

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dougielombax · 9 months

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Still kind of pissed off we don’t have an Irish language translation of The Lord of the Rings. (An Tiarna na bhFáinní)

We’ve got one for The Hobbit, so why not LOTR?

Or the Silmarillion even.

Seriously.

#personal stuff #dougie rambles #vent post #jrr tolkien #middle earth #the hobbit #the lord of the rings #the silmarillion #irish language #gaelige #literature #translation #An Tiarna na bhFáinní

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to-coyly-go · 5 months

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ok so i'm so enamored with tolkien's middle-earth. i love that world so so much. i love how his works shaped the high fantasy genre and set the bar so damn high, because, hello?

he didn't just create a massively complicated world with its own mythology that can sometimes be inconsistent because of just how deep he went with it, he also made the languages for it?? most fantasy authors invent a couple words at best and their language logic is shoddy at best. but not tolkien.

you could probably communicate using quenya or sindarin, two languages he created and which are extremely different from each other, not just in their vocabulary, but in their structure as well. and that's barely the tip of tolkien's language iceberg! he then went and made more!

he thought about everything, there's a language spoken commonly by all races, westron, which is why the fellowship is able to communicate immediately. the hobbits speak a dialect of it, and this is remarked upon by other characters. but it's not their first language, save for a couple, it's a second language they had to actively learn. plus, not everyone can speak westron, namely haldir's elvish company. there are linguistic barriers in me fantasy book how cool is that?!?!?!

and just looking at the tolkien gateway, he created eight language groups, some of which influence each other, two of those being full on language family trees with old speech that developed into a newer language that is currently being used. of course, not every one of these languages is fully developed, most are just rudimentary grammar, if any, and a couple words, but they are there!

#well that turned into a long winded rant lol #this is what i meant when i said i love it when my obsessions influence each other #im just so in love with how he has a language for everyone #even if its just a name and three words #instead of what fantasy authors usually do (aka not bother with any language)#everyone can understand everyone because yes. they just can #tolkien #lotr #middle earth #languages #autism?

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from-the-coffee-shop-in-edoras · 5 months

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Random Thoughts in a Boring Meeting, Quirks of Middle Earth Languages Edition:

You know how every language has certain words that don’t translate easily into other languages? Maybe they represent something specific to their own culture/setting, or maybe they describe a broadly recognized concept but others just never assigned a specific word to that idea (like how there is apparently a term in Tagalog for “something so cute that you just want to squeeze it”?). I’m writing a fic now about Faramir learning Rohirric as a surprise for Éowyn, so I’ve been thinking about how that dynamic might show up in Middle Earth.

Of course I think Rohirric would have lots of horse-related words that other races never bothered with. Like, the Rohirrim don’t just have walk, trot, canter and gallop. They’ve got all kinds of words for the way a horse moves, like when it’s wading through shallow water or slows down to pick its way through rocky, uneven terrain. Culturally, too, I think they’d have plenty of unique terms that reflect their particular way of life. If this is a society where they can all scream “DEATH!” as they battle their opponents, Rohirric probably has a word that translates literally as “dark strength” but captures the idea of “persisting through hopelessness with grim determination.” And the keepers of the oath of Eorl absolutely have a term that translates as “pledge honor” and means “the special pride of having fulfilled a promise at great personal cost.”

But it’s an interesting thought exercise in all parts of Tolkien’s world. Elvish must have tons of specific nature words the other races don’t, like something that translates as “leaf song” and evokes the specific sound of wind rustling gently through the trees. Or beyond nature, maybe something that translates as “beautiful grief” and means the kind of pleasurable pain of revisiting old sadnesses. And Gimli has a khuzdul word that translates to “foreign home” and means the place that your people dwell when they are prevented from being in their true homeland. In Minas Tirith, having lived so long with Mordor literally right on their doorstep, they’ve made a word that translates as “defiant joy” and means “daring to live your life happily despite an ever present threat looming.” In the Shire, they have twelve different words for “butter” depending on the texture, fat content, color, etc.

I don’t know. To me it’s just kind of amusing to think about, and I bet others could come up with even better examples.

#lord of the rings #lotr #tolkien #lotr fanfiction #languages of middle earth #no direct translation #why doesn’t my language have this word too?#faramir learning rohirric

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amethysttribble · 1 year

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It occurs to me that I feel like I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about Elros’s motivations for why he chose Men but little and less on why Elrond chose Elves. Which is an oversight.

But what metaphysical, philosophical reasons might one have to choose the fate of the Elves? The immortality and god paradise are enticing, sure, but that feels like its far to shallow for Elrond, especially considering he didn’t go to the god paradise until literally the curtain call. I also hesitate to say it was to have the time to help others over many years- which is what he ends up doing- because that’s so dismissive of the Elvish Condition

There has to be something worthwhile, philosophically speaking, to taking on Elvish metaphysical suffering and Elvish metaphysical joy.

I just don’t know what it is and I’ve never bothered to wonder and still’ve got few thoughts on the subject.

Which I think is funny, and far more telling about the Human Condition, because even in fantasy books, we bend over backwards to try and explain why one might want to be Human and never even question why one wouldn’t want to be one.

#even in Middle Earth where some people don't live to die #there is meaning to life #and to dying #fascinating bit of philosophy #especially if you ask the question #'Are elves even alive if they can't die?'#(i know they 'die' but come on that's really regeneration)#(this question is just like my dad asking me at the age of 7 about my new puppy 'does Walker know he's alive?' of course! -#'does he know he can died?' Of course not! 'then how can he know he's alive?' blew my child mind I love my dad)#I propose that a lot of Mannish language have a third state of being besides alive and dead and that category is exclusively for elves #I want more mannish philosophy give me those Gondor dissertations #and I have also completely gotten away from the question of 'what is worthwhile about being an Elf"#which is very telling #anyway #tribble post #elrond #tolkien

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espenlearnskhuzdul · 1 year

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Learning "Khuzdul", the language of the dwarves in Middle Earth

I've always loved the dwarves of Middle Earth, their culture, their art and clothing, their writing system, and of course their language.

That's why i've decided to learn Khuzdul! (and the writing system Cirth, while we're at it)

Now, there's unfortunately not a lot of info about Khuzdul by Tolkien himself. But the linguist David Salo further developed any info we do have and created neo-Khuzdul which was used for the LotR and Hobbit movies.

On this blog, i'll document everything i learn and try to explain it as best as i can, since i have a BA in linguistics. I'll also try to only use "canon" resources (this includes neo-Khuzdul by David Salo), but no fan-created material.

My sources are:

David Salo's blog (unfortunately deactivated now, but here's the link to the archived blog posts on Khuzdul)

"The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings" by Tolkien

the books "The History of the Lord of the Rings" / "The History of Middle Earth" by Christopher Tolkien & any other Tolkien books set in Middle Earth

---------------------------------------------------

Master List:

To-Do-List of "Khuzdul" Resources

David Salo's blog posts:

#1 (Feb. 2013)

#2 (Feb. 2013)

#3 (Feb. 2013)

#4 (Feb. 2013)

#5 (Feb. 2013)

Khuzdul in the movies:

"The Fellowship of the Ring" #1

#khuzdul #dwarvish #dwarves #middle earth #tolkien #christopher tolkien #j r r tolkien #cirth #langblr #language #language learning #david salo #lingblr

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somnoless · 1 year

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I had a lot of fun testing out some new brushes on the background of this piece

#the hobbit #hobbit #middle earth #hobbit fanart #flower language #fanart #digital art

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aeonianarchives · 2 years

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Middle Earth Modern Languages HC's Pt.2

boarders Modern AU! Middle Earth

Part 2 The Company minus Gandalf

Omg this is is late and it don't have the full company ik ik but who really cares I got stuck.

Bilbo

Bilbo would know Gaelic, Celtic, Irish and Welsh as it would be common in the Shire to know those Languages, the Dwarves would teach him Norse, Icelandic and Swedish, Thorin would teach him the fictional language of Klingon, just to mess with the others in the company and to flirt with Bilbo with, Bilbo would also know Endangered Languages / almost forgotten languages, Bilbo would also know Spanish and Mandarin.

Thorin

Thorin would mostly know all of the Scandinavian languages such as Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish, he would also know Dutch and sign language, I also believe he would of been taught Arabic, as I think the Line of Durin as well as Noldor elves would know Arabic.

Ori

Ori much Like Bilbo would learn Endangered Languages / almost forgotten languages because he's our sweet little dwarf boy such as Ladino and a mix of Castilian Spanish and Hebrew, he would also know sign language and most if not all the Scandinavian languages like most dwarves do, he would also know Spanish, Arabic, Mandarin, because he would want to talk to as many people as possible.

Balin

Balin is smart, I believe other than the common languages dwarves such as sign language would know he would also know German, Persian, Portuguese, Mandarin, Polish and Dutch, Balin also may of picked up Arabic from Thorin as Thorin either tends to yell in Klingon or Arabic, so chances are Balin picked up at least one of those languages.

Dwalin

due to Balin knowing a lot of Languages Dwalin would most likely know at least half of the languages Balin knows such as the Scandinavian languages and German as well as sign language, Dwalin would also know Irish and Welsh, since Bilbo probably taught him because Dwalin wanted to learn.

Fili

Fili would know most of the Scandinavian languages but he wouldn't know all of them he would know Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish he would also know Arabic, and like most dwarves if not all dwarves he would know sign language.

Kili

Kili would most likely know Old Norse because he would find it fascinating and he would be curious about it he would also know Icelandic and Swedish, Kili since he is from the Line of Durin would of also be taught Arabic, and he would know sign language as well.

Bofur

Bofur would of tried to learn every language and failed so he would know the most common languages instead of the endangered ones such as Italian, Spanish, German, French and Mandarin he would also know like most dwarves Norwegian, Icelandic and Swedish as well as sign language. Bofur would Makes friends with everyone. Just goes up to people like "oh! Your German? * starts speaking German* you're Cuban? *starts speaking Spanish".

Gloin

Gloin would want to know the languages that would be used for commerce - given that I'm pretty sure he ends up handling the treasury and merchants of Erebor, therefore he would most likely know Italian, Spanish, French and Mandarin as well as German.