#tolkien linguistix

[swanmaids]

Hi! Do you have any recs for Elwing centric fics? One time you recommended The One With All the Birds and it changed my life...

OH BOY DO I!!! also, isn't clo's writing wonderful? i'm very jealous.

from the ones who came before by kirta. earendil/elwing, t, nawa, 5k. if you like: sirion worldbuilding, eldritch peredhil, politics, fin-galad.

friendship and stern demand by @polutrope . elwing & maedhros, g, nawa, 2k. if you like: epistolary, politicking, unreliable narration, doom.

family pulled from a flood by @aipilosse. elwing/earendil, e, nawa, 8k. if you like: romance, sirion worldbuilding, sex, community.

step into starlight by @starspray. elwing & elured & elurin, g, nawa, >1k. if you like: bitersweet, family feelings, reembodiment, healing.

the sky the sea the birds between by @herenortherenearnorfar. elwing/earendil/eonwe, t, nawa, 17k. if you like: aman/vingilot worldbuilding, romance, unusual pairings, healing.

last year's words belong to next year's language by @undercat-overdog. elwing/earendil, elwing & tuor, g, nawa, 3k. if you like: tolkien linguistix, peredhil feelings, babyrond and babyros, love.

less flesh than stone by @crackinthecup. elwing & maedhros, t, nawa, >1k. if you like: fourth age, hard conversations, trauma, elwing being a bad bitch.

joy is a bird, a fragile thing by estuarie. elwing & elrond, g, nawa, 1k. if you like: fourth age, reunions, family feelings, eldritch peredhil.

let us taunt old care with a merry air and sing in the face of ill by @imakemywings. elwing/earendil, g, nawa, >1k. if you like: growing up together, friends to lovers, healing, peredhil feelings.

if i may, i'd also like to throw in a couple of shameless self recs:

how big, how blue, how beautiful , elwing/earendil, g, nawa, 1k. if you like: growing up together, peredhil feelings.

i hope we both die, elwing & maglor, t, mcd, >1k. if you like: angst, doom.

[arofili]

sorry if this question is out of place but im looking for some quenya terms of endearment and your blog seem to be the place google keeps recommending? so here i am, asking if you have a hand list of terms of endearment that might be used. thanks in advance!

Omg really? I would not have named my blog as that kind of resource! But of course I will do my best to help :)

melda = "love"; gendered forms are meldo (masculine) and meldë; the possessive form is meldanya "my love"

other endearments with melda as the root include:

vanimelda = "beautiful and beloved"

arimelda = "most beloved" / "dearest"

ĕrĕmelda = "dearest of all" / "(my) only dear one" - I've also seen this translated as something like "desirable/sexy beloved" but I can't find a source on that right now

there's also melin "dear" and melindo (masculine) / melissë (feminine) "lover" (from the same root)

basically any Quenya word (especially name-parts) can be turned into an endearment by adding -(n)ya to it - this is a first-person possessive pronoun suffix. so, if a character's name is Russandol (for example, lol), you can turn that into a possessive nickname by making it "Russanya" - "my Russan[dol]"

endearments can also be nicknames of "normal" Quenya words that when applied in a specific circumstance by a specific person are quite intimate. adding -(n)ya to a word like that is also a great way to make something personal.

and to round it out there are also the terms melotorno "love-brother" and meletheldë "love-sister" - these are actually Gnomish but they melotorno translates to Quenya without any trouble. personally I alter meletheldë to melesellë, but if someone was speaking Fëanorian or Vanyarin Quenya, meletheldë would still work. these words are....ambiguously queer? it's complicated. use them however you feel like it!

I'm sure there are more Quenya terms of endearment out there - anyone should feel free to add on to this post if you have one you'd like to share!

my main source for all of this is elfdict.com! please double-check for yourself if you want :)

[arofili]

Tolkien used linguistics in an entirely different way than I’ve talked about in this column before. Rather than content himself with making up a few words here and there or doing just enough to give everything a veneer of truthiness, he constructed a whole-ass language (more than one!) and pretended that he was translating a book written in that language into modern English.

[arofili]

I mean, Ulfang and co (as well as Bór and co) were almost certainly given those Sindarin names after the fact. They definitely had other names in their own languages; no one introduces themself as Ugly Beard (Ulfang) in a foreign tongue. Or as Loyal Flame (Borlach), for that matter. The Noldor gave them those names in hindsight, in their histories.

tolkien heroes: and who are you?

guy named ugly backstabbing snake-eyed steve: your ally actually, i think you should trust me...

tolkien heroes: oh why yes of course.

[arofili]

today on Things To Cry About:

I just realized that Faramir named his son Elboron, which means “enduring star,” which is lovely on its own...but another meaning of the root “bor” (related to “vor,” as in Voronwë) is “steadfast.”

as in, “steadfast jewel.”

as in, Boromir

Faramir named his son after his brother ;-;

[arofili]

Where do you come up with all those fabulous names for your ocs? :)

For anything Quenya or Sindarin I use realelvish.net and elfdict.com!! They also have some limited resources for Adûnaic, Old English (for Rohirrim names), and Khuzdul (also check out @thedwarrowscholar for info on neo-Khuzdul!), but Tolkien gave us much less information on those languages so we have to do a lot of guessing. For everything else, I basically just make it up based on the few names we do have for whatever language.

Example: I split the canonical name Khamûl into the elements "kha" and "mûl" and assign them meanings. "kha" I decide means "power," and "mûl" I decide means "lord," making the name Khamûl have the meaning "powerful lord." From the names we have (with Easterlings it's Khamûl, Lorgan, Brodda, etc.) I then create a word-part bank for myself, and then to supplement what I can take from canon I add in a bunch of word parts of my own. One of these is "peg" - I thought the aesthetic of the syllable matched some of the other Easterling word-parts we have, and decided that it means "sword." Then I take "mûl" from canon and "peg" from what I made up, and combine them to get Pegmûl, "sword-lord." And there's an OC name! (though in that specific case, it's actually my original name for Ulfang.)

I've done this for Adunaic, an Easterling language and a Haradrim language, Taliska, and the Haladin language, as well as basically made up everything for a language of the Middle Men.

This is all very much just headcanon, and I am not at all a linguist, but I do have fun playing around with Tolkien's conlangs :)

If anyone would like to use anything I've come up with along the way of my edit series to make their own OC names, feel free to do so, as long as you give me a shoutout for helping!!

[arofili]

Finding a Family

part of all things bright and beautiful

Maitimo and Findekáno wish for a child, and explore some rather unorthodox means of acquiring one.

a (rather belated) Christmas gift for @thatfeanorian​!!!

Rating: T | No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Fingon/Maedhros & Gil-galad, Fingon & Fëanor, Gil-galad & Námo Characters: Fingon, Maedhros, Gil-galad, Fëanor, Námo Word count: 7.7k

READ IT ON AO3!

[arofili]

@youareunbearable​ here are some feminized versions of their names for you!!

disclaimer that I am NOT a Quenya expert, just a fan, and I may very well be wrong! and there are other possible interpretations, I’m sure! but these are my opinions on feminized names for the Fëanorians :)

I’m using the -míriel suffix in place of the -finwë one from canon, as you said they were named in honor of Míriel, but if you meant it as “__ Jewel” more literally then it would be -mírë.

In Quenya, -o is masculine, -ië is feminine, -a is gender-neutral, and -ë tends to be feminine (but isn’t always; for example, Makalaurë is gender-neutral). Names that don’t have one of those suffixes are also gender-neutral. So, Fëanor’s daughters would be:

Tatyamíriel (for your hc; if we use the canon prefix it would be Nelyamíriel) Maitimë Russandol

Kanamíriel Makalaurë

Turcamíriel Tyelkormë

Morimíriel Carnistir

Curumíriel Atarinkë (since she still takes after Fëanor so greatly; for an AU where Fëanor is also female, it would be Amilinkë, “little mother”)

Pityamíriel Ambarussa

Telumíriel Ambarussa

Likewise, their shortened names would probably (though I’m not so confident in this matter) end with -ë or -ië rather than -o: Tatië/Nelië/Russë, Kanë, Turcë, Morië, Curvë, Pitië, Telvë. I don’t really like any of those, aesthetically; I might actually prefer not gendering the suffix at all and just shortening the names (Tatya/Nelya/Russa, Kana, Turca, Mori, Curu...hm, Curvë is fine actually, Pitya, Telu...nah Telvë is also fine...) but that’s just my personal opinion. Though it should be noted that aesthetics are very important to elves, especially when it comes to language!! So they very well might pick/alter a name/nickname to make it sound pretty!

In Sindarin, their names would likely be adapted to have the suffix -mír, BUT since they all chose to adapt their mother-names rather than their father-names (with the exception of Curufin/Curumír, and sort of Maedhros who also incorporates the name Russandol) their names would actually be the same as they are in canon! Sindarin translations generally just drop the gendered suffix altogether. So we’d still have Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, Caranthir, Amrod, and Amras; Curumír would be the only real change there.

I also think that Fëanor is the kind of person who WOULD give his daughters -finwë names is he felt like it...but I really love the -míriel names too!!

Anyway - thanks for letting me ramble on, haha, I’ve thought about this a lot lol

Not to be like "but if Feanor had seven daughters instead of seven sons things would have been better" but also if Feanor had seven daughters instead of seven sons things would have not been like fixed, but better then they were.

Like his whole problem is that he feels that Finwe betrayed his mother and that he will be forgotten compared to his new children with Indis. So what if we give him a way to see that he is the one that carries on his mother’s name and line, he is the one that can show his mother’s talent and beauty, he is the living memory of her, but like in a good way instead of a spiteful way like he does in canon?

(also the Daughters of Feanor will not be named here cause i don't understand the Quenya language and how to feminize their name roots and dont want to ruin this for people who do so they are identified by Birth Order. Sorry if that makes it hard to read)

Keep reading

[arofili]

Rating the C/K distinction in Quenya, but swapped

Macalaurë = perfectly acceptable. 8/10

Canafinwë = fine. 7/10

Turcafinwë and Turkafinwë = honestly I think I see these used with the same frequency, either is fine. 10/10

Tyelcormo = no thank you. 2/10

Karnistir = absolutely not. Horrific. the worst one on this list. -10/10

Kurufinwë = ugly but I think this gets used in some old drafts so I'll give it a pass. 4/10

Atarincë = no. 1/10

Findecáno, Turucáno, Aracáno = if you must. 6/10

Aicanáro = not my preferred spelling but actually kind of pretty. 9/10

Melcor = disgusting. 2/10

Cementári = I almost gave this a pass considering every other use of “kemen” is afaik spelled with a C, but it’s way too easy for the unlearned to mispronounce this kind of C as an S and I really don’t want to deal with Yavanna, Queen of Semen. -5/10

Tulcas = ew. 3/10

Helkaraxë, or as it was spelled in old drafts, Helkaraksë = weirdly I kind of dig it. 7/10

[arofili]

Are there any quenya or sindarin terms that can be used to referrence an aro relationship or a pansexual one? I am no good at elven language but would like to add one to my aro in arda entry. Sorry for bad english.

Disclaimer right at the top: I am not an expert, take all of this with a grain of salt, and also I tend to ramble so sorry in advance.

So there are not any canonical words like that, but you can make some of your own if you’d like!

In Quenya, ú- has the same meaning as the Latin a-, so perhaps something like úmelmë (without love) would work for “aromantic.” I’m not sure if “melmë” is strictly in reference to romantic love, but it is the root of “melda,” which is commonly used (at least in fic, I’m not an expert on canon Quenya) as a romantic endearment. The Sindarin version is meleth or mîl. 

According to Parf Edhellen there is a fan-invented word “telyantassë” for “attraction.” Do with that what you will. The Sindarin cognate is apparently “thaes.” I’m also seeing “lúcëarwa” with the same meaning (also fan-invented). I believe “telyantassë” comes from the Qenya “telya”/“telyantalya” for “alluring.”

I think that u- in Sindarin works a bit different; it specifically means the negation/opposite of something, and they use pen- (or ben- as in Iarwain Ben-adar “Oldest and Fatherless” to refer to Tom Bombadil) to express “the lack of.” Or maybe it functions the same way in Quenya, I’m not really sure. I think pen- means the same thing in Quenya too? So maybe penmelmë? Sindarin ar- means “without/outside” so that’s another possible prefix, but ar(a)- also means “noble” (ex: Artanis, Aragorn, etc).

Specifically about marriage, Quenya has vesta and Sindarin has best. So úvesta or arbest are possible words for “without marriage” which could work for “aromantic.” (I think I actually used arbest in an aro Legolas fic once...)

As for pansexual, ilu is Quenya for “all” (as in Ilúvatar) with synonyms like illi, ilya, ilyë; as a prefix it’s il-...but il- seems to also mean “not” which is confusing. Sindarin for “all” is also il. So if you’re using those as prefixes, you’d come up with something like ilumelmë or ilmeleth for “pansexual” (lit. “all-love”).

AH aha! Found words that mean “sexual desire”! Yérë in Quenya, îr in Sindarin. So for “asexual” specifically, maybe uyérë / penîr? But if we’re working with the distinction between aro and ace, that doesn’t work for everything. But it could be ilyérë / ilîr for “pansexual.”

...I am now looking back at your ask and realizing you were talking specifically about relationships, oops. Not sure what you mean by a “pansexual relationship” (unless you mean a polyamorous relationship?) outside of what I’ve already conjectured, but as for a queerplatonic relationship (if that is what you mean by “aromantic relationship”)...hm...

There’s nothing for “queer,” but for “odd” we have aia (Q.) and othren (S.), though Parf Edhellen notes that those are both fan-invented. And nothing for “platonic” either, but for “friendship” there’s yelmë, nilmë, and helmë in Quenya and gwend in Sindarin. So perhaps aianilmë or gwendothren for something equivalent to “queerplatonic”? Assuming that “odd” has morphed to have a similar meaning as “queer” in this context.

Words for “friend” include málo, nildë, heldo, sermë, nilmo, seron, and sondo in Quenya, and also the suffix -ndil that you find in lots of names, though it’s usually applied to abstract concepts like “the stars” (Elendil, “friend of stars”) or “the sea” (Eärendil, “friend of the sea”) and also means “lover” (lover of the stars/sea). And of course Sindarin has mellon! I don’t know how useful those would be in this context but hey, maybe.

So. I have no idea if that was helpful or not, but here’s all the words I could find on elfdict.com that seemed relevant!

[arofili]

don’t mind me i'm just getting unreasonably emotional about the poetry of the names Tinúviel and Tindómiel and Undómiel

they all mean “daughter of twilight”

Tinúviel is in Sindarin, bc Lúthien was a Sinda, and “tinnu” just means “twilight”

but Tindómiel and Undómiel are both Quenya because E&E knew Quenya from their dads

and “tindómë” specifically means “dawn twilight” while “undómë” means “evening twilight” bc Elros’ daughter was born at the dawn of the Second Age but Elrond’s daughter was born into the decline of the elves,,,

and they NEVER KNEW EACH OTHER, not one of them knew another of them, but since they all chose the Gift of Men (well Tindómiel didn't have a choice but) and we don't know what that means beyond “the spirits of (wo)men aren't tied to Arda” perhaps they could meet in the next life 😭😭😭

[arofili]

The Elf Who Circumnavigated Arda in a Ship of Their Own Making

Three letters home from a Telerin adventurer.

for @tolkiengenweek day 4: solo! based off a throwaway detail from ch7 of my fic ATATYA, this is the story of “a Teler who was attempting to circumnavigate the globe after Eru first changed the world.”

Rating: G | No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Telerin Sailor & Their Mother Characters: Ranyatië (OC) Word count: 1.2k

READ IT ON AO3!

[arofili]

okay but given the whole s/th quenya pronunciation the feanorians followed would ambarussa have been pronounced ambarutha?? sauron pronounced thauron? maedhros pronounced maedhroth?? pls help im losing my mind over here

idk anon!!!! i don’t think it’s universal?? i’m NOT an expert lmao

i don’t know about Ambarutha, that sounds Fake and Wrong, i’ve seen Maedroth but only as a joke; HOWEVER Mae giving Mairon the name “Sauron” is a pretty popular headcanon so yes i have seen and also personally used “Thauron” when it’s coming from a Feanorian!

does anyone who knows about this have any insight??

[arofili]

someone who knows about Tolkien linguistics: what’s the distinction between Ñoldor and Noldor / Ñolofinwë and Nolofinwë? is there like, a political or cultural difference between who uses the Ñ or not? is that something Tolkien just tried out and got bored of? or??

[arofili]

Personally I used Fëanorian in a Sindarin context, or when talking about things relating to Fëanor...and people of the house of Fëanor who aren't his sons, like Celebrimbor or warriors under his banner or his creations (and the creations of his sons), etc. I use Fëanárion (note the use of the á derived from his Quenya name!) when specifically speaking of his sons (ions) and within a Quenya context. This is just what I do as a fic writer, tho, and I'm not a linguist!

NERDY GRAMMAR POST WARNING: Why do we, the Silmarillion fandom, write “Feanorian” instead of “Feanorion?” Specifically, when we’re writing about Feanor’s children.

The -ion suffix exists (I believe) to denote a patronymic: for example, Legolas Thranduillion or Gildor Inglorion. By that logic, we should write “the Feanorions,” rather than “the Feanorians.”

The term “Feanorian” should probably refer to things that are connected to or owned by Feanor. For example, one could say “Feanorian lamps,” “the Feanorian wars,” or “I’m currently dealing with a paranoia outbreak that feels downright Feanorian.”

Does anybody know if there’s a reason that the fandom predominantly writes it in the second way, or if it’s just convention? I might be totally wrong about this, but I’ve been wondering for a while.

[arofili]

me: googles “cradle tongue” to make sure I’m using it correctly in my comment on a silmfic

wikipedia: JRR Tolkien distinguished cradle tongue from native tongue...