Combining words in Elvish

[Galin]

Originally Posted by galadriela

Thank you for this interesting input. Could you explain me then, according to your findings, whether anardil is OK?

I think Anardil is attested by Tolkien, noting that Roman has asterisked the meaning 'Sun-lover' but not the name itself. As for the suggested meaning, I would agree with it as of today (and would be a bit surprised if it turned out to mean something very different, if Tolkien ever specifically explained it somewhere that is).

and if I understand correctly, galad is S and dil is Q? Therefore, it is not OK to mix the two dialects? Assuming it is, does galadil mean "light lover"?

Yes Quenya words do not begin with the sound g- (S. Galadriel Q. Naltariel or Altariel).

That said, Feanor is a hybrid name, for example; and as we see with the examples Roman notes, there are some 'phonetic adaptations' of already existing names, or accidental forms. So while mixing is possible in a few ways, I think that we fans should rather try to make 'pure' Quenya or Sindarin names, as otherwise we would (arguably) be tinkering with something that the author himself should really establish, within the art of realistic world-building.

Anyway Tolkien himself gave Sindarin Gaerdil as a seeming equivalent to Quenya Earendil (among other versions).

What do you mean?

That's one of the adaptations I'm speaking of, but this is a very internal sort of detail. In other words, Earendil existed as a name, and so it is 'likely enough' that some Sindarin speaker would render Gaerdil or Gaerennil instead of Quenya Earendil.

However should we really imagine some Quenya name to have existed in Middle-earth, to be possibly 'rendered' into Sindarin, just to allow -ndil or -ndur to be coupled with a Sindarin word? Well we could -- but again I think it's better to keep it simpler if possible, and thus 'tinker less', so to speak, with Tolkien's World here.

Or at least I usually think so!


If that makes sense I'm not sure I'm explaining it well.

[Galin]

"shine (with white/silver light)" - sil/thil (I'm not sure how the language division works here)

As far as sound goes anyway, a version of unvoiced th existed in early Quenya but it merged with -s- in that language. Feanor did not agree that this should be allowed and would have called his mother Therinde not Serinde.

Back in Etymologies Tolkien imagined SIL- and THIL- as variant roots, but even if this held true for the later scenario, generally speaking words that include -th- are Sindarin, although since we have silivren in Sindarin too, for example, along with Ithil...

... rather let's say words with -th- are not (later) Quenya

[Aiwendil]

Welcome to the Barrow-downs, galadriela!

This forum is not for linguistic discussion; I'm going to move this thread to the Novices and Newcomers section.

[Galin]

By the way I found this interesting commentary from Patrick Wynne, member of the linguistic editorial team currently publishing 'new' linguistic material from the Tolkien Estate. He noted on the Lambengolmor list (below lifted from two separate posts):

'(...) despite the fact that many these names are readily translatable (e.g. _Manwendil_, _Aulendil_, _Oromendil_) and present unique linguistic information (e.g. the name _Vardilme_ (Tar-Amandil's sister) evidently provides the feminine form of the common masculine ending _-(n)dil)_, and means *'Devoted to Varda').

Subject: Forgotten Words of Elvish: _Axantur_


'(...) The _Etymologies_ does give abstract _nilme_ 'friendship' as a derivative of NIL-, (N)DIL- 'friend', and this _could_ be present in an otherwise unattested suffixed form *_-(n)dilme_ in _Vardilme_, which would then mean *'Friendship of Varda'. If so, then _Isilme_ and _Vardilme_ would both share the abstract ending _-me_, though beyond that there would be no connection in _meaning_. However, I think it more likely that _-me_ in _Vardilme_ is instead the feminine equivalent of agentive _-mo_, seen in such names as _Ulmo_ 'The Pourer, The Rainer' (S:352) and _Irmo_ 'Desirer' (S:336).

Also cp. (masc.) _nilmo_ 'friend' < (N)DIL- in the _Etymologies_. On the basis of Tolkien's later gloss of (N)DIL as 'to love, be devoted to' (L:386), _-dilme_ is probably *'she who loves, she who is devoted (to)', hence my proposed gloss of _Vardilme_ as *'Devoted to Varda'. -- PHW]


Subject: _Isilme_ & _Vardilme_

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/lambengolmor/


So maybe that's what I was remembering; although I still think maybe something newer here appears in PE17. Anyway we might have a feminine form attested in this one case, taking into consideration that Etymologies (in any event) is a somewhat early-ish document.