The Language of names
 

I have two questions about what Language the names in the books are.

1. Of the half elves before Elrond and Elros decision, how were they named? I ask because I know that the name Earendul is Anglo-Saxon the precusor of the tongues of men.

2. How would one tell the difference between Quena names and Sindarin names for Elves. I do know that those female names with the ending "wen" are Sindarin.


I apologize for any misspelling of Middle Earth words.

Actually, -wen is used in both languages. :) If an Elvish name starts with a 'g', a 'd' or a 'b' the name is pretty much guarantied Sindarin, as it is if 'g' appears without a 'n' in front, if a 'd' appears without the letters 'r', 'l' or 'n' in front or if 'b' appears without a preceding 'm'.

If you have a look at the indexes in the Silmarillion you will get perhaps enough info to give you an idea... but most of the Names in the major works are Sindarin apart from the very earliest characters since the elves that returned to Middle Earth usually became know by the Sindarin versions of their names, Although they were often similar .... ie Feanor not Feanaro and Thingol (not that he was a "returner") not Singollo. Names ending with "we" (and a diaresis over the e that I can not type) are Quenya .

Thank you for your replies. The reason I asked about the Elvish names was because I was wondering which language the name Nellas(from The Unfinished Tales) came from.

The likeness of Earendil to Old English is one thing the Professor intentionally recreated in his languages because he was so captivated by the Crist line where Earendel is mentioned. Through backwards-engineering he decided that it had to mean 'sea-lover' in his language. The imagined history is that the old Elvish word would survive in Old English and other languages (short version :cool: ).

I brought up the subject of Earendil because I read that the language of the Rohrrim and with a different dialect the Hobbits was a form of Anglo-Saxon and that the Rohrrim were close to what the ansestors of the Numenor were like before the big war at the end of the Simillarion

Well, Tolkien used Old English as a stand-in for 'real' Rohirric in the books, and we have very few genuine Rohirric-words. :)

Regarding Nellas; I would think it's Doriathrin, a diaect of Sindarin spoken in (you guessed it) Doriath. The last part, -las, is probably the same as the -las in Legolas meaning leaf. (Legolas being a 'Silvanized' form of Sindarin Laegolas, 'green-leaf'.) The first part may come from neldor, "beech". So perhaps the name means 'beech-leaf'. Or perhaps not. ;)