Well, just as I said that "thane" is only for Edain, I came across a "Thane Maedhros" - but it's said by a Beoring. I clearly haven't paid sufficient attention when I read this. What still needs to be proven though is whether "thane" would ever be used by an Elf to refer to another Elf. In any case, I kept Maedhros as Lord, leaving Thanes for the mortals.
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Originally Posted by Huinesoron
You know, I don't think most of the titles have diminutive forms like that.
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I know, but they should. (Well, I think so, because they do in Russian). Generally, English doesn't do as much word-building as Russian does, and I think this is part of it. I can't think of children-titles for all titles, but for some certainly. Going with
knyaz, there are knyaginya (wife), knyazhich (son), and knyazhna (daughter). For king (korol) there is a related queen (koroleva); while "prince/princess" are usually used for their children by analogy to Western European languages, there is a possible "korolevich / korolevna" for their children. In fact, Luthien in this fic is a "korolevna" to Korol Thingol. But it's a moot point, mainly - I don't think the children-titles appear often enough to be ungainly, at least for "thane".
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Originally Posted by Hui
I think "Chieftain" would be best for them, because it's explicitly the title of Lady Haleth's heirs, who had no overlord. You could almost imagine they used it in defiance: yeah, we're just chieftains, none of your fancy Thanes and Lords and whatnot - but at least we're free.
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...Right. Which means I have to go back and make sure I actually call the Haladin leader a Chieftain. I am having trouble keeping my languages and canonicities straight... But it's worth it, I think. This book does a lot of world-building and language-building, a lot of it Elvish that goes over my head (there are too many Elvish dialects for their own good, and for mine too) but quite a bit of it real-language word-smithying, which is both confusing and delightful to track.
Currently my difficult word is "esteemed" as a form of address, as in "my dear Frodo", but when you want to say someone is not dear but, well, esteemed. I can totally hear the concept in my head playing out for someone like Bilbo (a respectable hobbit, one must say!), or Thorin (a most respectable and admirable Dwarf) - but while it sounds decent in third person I am not sure how it plays out as an epithet of address. "Most esteemed Bilbo, you are a wonderful hobbit and all, but so much journeying about across the Brandywine simply cannot be good for a hobbit!" Ugh.