[Roccotari Eldandil]

Sorry if this post is sort of scatterbrained, my organization skills aren't working today...<BR>Maybe Frodo couldn't read the Mode of Beleriand used on the Moria-gate. For all who don't know, the MoB uses normal tengwar for vowels also; the other modes use marks (tehtar) placed above the tengwar. BUT: Frodo WOULD know tengwar--it was used to write Westron too; the title page inscription is in the Westron mode! But sometimes the letters are used for different sounds in different languages. Thus, I can read the mode used for Quenya, but Sindarin uses some letters differently and I have a tough time reading those; see Appendix E about the differences. The letter on Gandalf's cart and the letter on the Ring have the same value, but they're in different languages. I think that Frodo knew the characters but didn't know what they were used <I>for</I>. <P>Frodo probably didn't know that much of either Quenya or Sindarin--just a few bits. Remember Bilbo's quote(paraphrased): "I thought you at least knew enough Elvish to figure out Dûn-adan..." He probably knew "Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo" as a phrase, and maybe a few other bits of both languages. He couldn't translate "A Elbereth" when he heard Gildor&co singing it. The song of Beren and Lúthien was sung in Westron(=English), not Sindarin, by Aragorn--well, in the book it was. <P>Anolduin:I really hate to be nitpicky, but I have to say this in response to your post on the ancestry of Elvish languages: On the march to Valinor, all the Elves spoke more or less the same primitive form of Elvish. Sindarin was the primitive tongue as it evolved in Middle-earth; it was used by those Elves that <I>never went to Aman.</I> Quenya was the primitive language as it developed in Valinor. It was brought back by the Exiles.<P>And, just for the record: Dominic Monaghan, who plays Merry, fought hard to keep that line as Merry's. Unfortunately, he lost; so here we are today.<p>[ July 24, 2003: Message edited by: Roccotari Eldandil ]