Visit The *EVEN NEWER* Barrow-Downs Photo Page |
01-06-2008, 07:23 AM | #1 | |
A Voice That Gainsayeth
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: In that far land beyond the Sea
Posts: 7,431
|
Different systems of scripture in M-E
According to the LotR Appendix E, in Third Age there were basically two writing systems. First, the letters (tengwar), with several modifications depending on the language they were used for, but all based on Fëanorian tengwar. Second, there were the runes (certar), again, based on original Beleriand-type of scripture, but used with several modifications (the Dwarven ones, the version of the Northerners etc.).
However, here is one quote I stumbled upon and that raises an interesting question: Quote:
And another funny thing, note that Gandalf does not say only "to Mouths of Anduin", but also "from Rivendell". While this would, by geographic latitude, disqualify even a part of Arnor (and the places like Dale or the nothern Anduin Vales, which, on the other hand, goes well with what was written in appendix E that the Northernmen used their own form of Cirth, so this could be interpretated the way that they use only these runes and don't know tengwar at all), this is probably just inaccuracy in expression and otherwise, it speaks only about men of Angmar (eventually, while I think they were rather a mix of nations, mostly the Hillmen of Rhudaur and maybe several really nasty Lossoth outcasts and some mercenaries from elsewhere) and the Lossoth. Again, one can only guess whether the Lossoth had their own form of written script or whether they had not written script at all: I am inclined to believe the latter, because a) it is hard to write while your hands are freezing, b) in comparison to the Inuits, who are seemingly the nation the most similar to Lossoth in our world, this would seem so - as far as I know (and please correct me if I am wrong) the Inuits adapted their alphabet mainly from other sources, like the nations who lived near them (in North America) or from missionaries who came among them. Since there was no such source for the Lossoth (at least as far as we know), and these people rather separated themselves from the others (they did not have that far to Beleriand when it still existed, yet they don't seem to trade culture with its inhabitants), it is rather likely that they had no alphabet of their own. The quote above would at least speak for the theory that they did not use the same script as other people in the West did. Anyway, I would like to ask, as it has been the good custom here, if anyone can provide any more information about other forms of writing in Middle-Earth, especially among the nations and cultures named above. Did the Professor leave us any more information about different types of scripts than tengwar and cirth? Looking forward to your replies.
__________________
"Should the story say 'he ate bread,' the dramatic producer can only show 'a piece of bread' according to his taste or fancy, but the hearer of the story will think of bread in general and picture it in some form of his own." -On Fairy-Stories |
|
|
|