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Old 03-12-2007, 06:23 AM   #13
Thinlómien
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: In a far land beyond the Sea
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Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.Thinlómien is wading through the Dead Marshes.
Finnish, that lovely language...

This is a very interesting topic. And, of course, I'd like to introduce the Finnish point of view.

While exploring the Sindarin and Quenya vocabulary you find delightingly many words that have to do with Finnish. Sindarin gannel for 'harp' is very similar to kannel (the Finnish national instrument which is related to the harp). Also tië for 'path' is almost the same as Finnish tie 'road'. I've also wondered if the stem lin- 'sing' has to do with the Finnish word lintu 'bird', but that might be a bit far-fetched.

It is also very interesting that in Quenya -atar is a masculine ending since it means 'father', but in Finnish the ending -tar (or -tär) is feminine, eg. kuningas (king) -> kuningatar (queen), tarjoilija (waiter) -> tarjoilijatar (waitress) and so on... No wonder I thought Ilúvatar to be female while first seeing his name...
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