[Man-of-the-Wold]

This is no doubt a worthy thread. When I first read BoLT that name was curious then.

Nevertheless, I recommend Aiwendel's number 1 above. Minimize use of the name, but simply say Rôg when it can't be avoided. I'd vote against any footnote or explicit explanation, which I think would only add to the awkwardness (footnotes should fit within the flow). I'd suggest only that the first mention of the name have some sort of subtle gloss to imply that this may not be the guy's true or only name, however, unusual that might be.

My phrase, "don't sweat the details" was unfortunate. I did not mean, ignore the details or not be extremely thorough and meticulous, but there will be limits to how fastidious the final result will be. We just don't have all of the data.

So, what I meant is that in the end there may be imperfections, which will need to be accepted, and folks will need to step back, look at the big picture, and not fret over it, after they've done their best.

I think this question of Rôg is such a case. It is highly problematic, but the best solution seems to be to live with it. Not only do I feel that the reader gains more by having this person mentioned, however odd the name, but that canonically, the question boils down to one of preserving maximum story structure vs. linquistic purity. I think the former should trump the latter.

As for my Noldorin/Sindarin remark, I think I understand how Sindarin replaced Noldorin, as the common Elvish tongue of later ages, but Sindarin arose from an entirely different conception, and it was actually a reflection of the increased majesty of Thingol and sophistication of the former Doriath-Ilkorins. It also was ultimately decided by The Lord of the Rings, where the High Elves were increasing depicted as much rarer than Grey-Elves, who were no slouches themselves. Note, the word "Sindarin" does not appear anywhere except in the Appendices.

What you had previously was a matter of Quenya and Noldorin, which was ultimately influenced by the Ilkorin tongues in Toleressea, as well.

One might assume with this new formulation that the Noldor are supposed to have spoken Quenya as any everyday language, too, until most of them in Beleriand adopted Sindarin, and it was at that point that Quenya became relegated to lore and ceremony. But it doesn't seem as if Tolkien ever really describes the process in that exact way.

Actually, I think that he's curiously vague about the exact relationships, and in many ways tries to simplify the whole matter of what had been a multitude of Elven languages, without actually reducing them.

So, is it not possible that Quenya was in a cultivated role, already, as a type of Book Latin, and that the Noldor still used something like the formerly conceived "Noldorin" as a vernacular, until it was supplanted by Sindarin?

In this sense, Rôg might be attributed to that little known vernacular.

[ November 16, 2003: Message edited by: Man-of-the-Wold ]