Quote:
Originally Posted by Pervinca Took
Please tell me. It's not things that have been inscribed symbolically, is it? Were there lamps on the doors of Moria?
|
Much simpler: it's the English translations of the names of the Tengwar.
The first four on the table are Tinco - Parma - Calma - Quessa, representing the letters T, P, C, and Qu; in English, their names mean metal -
book -
lamp - feather.
(I'm pretty sure all of this, including the English, is in the Appendices, but there's a possibility it's somewhere else.)
So yes, in essence: "Feanor [wrote] an ABC book for the Tengwar letters, and use[d] [names] of these things because they had the right initials".

hS