You say Minas, I say Barad

[the real findorfin]

What are th differences between Minas and Barad and perhaps also Ost? Is it the langauage or the size of the outpost or what?

Also, is for..MENOS, a Quenya version of Minas (what language is Minas?)


Sorry ET if this should be in the Languages Forum!!

[Legolas]

Both Sindarin, barad and minas do mean 'tower.' minas also appears to be used in Quenya.

barad comes from S. bar which means 'dwelling.'

os and ost are Sindarin for 'fortress.' men means 'region,' 'direction,' or 'way.'

men + os would mean something like regional fortress, I suppose. Perhaps this is where minas came from? I'm not sure about that.

Ruth S. Noel makes a note in her book (The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth) that min is an element that appears in the names of isolated and prominent things.

It isn't uncommon for one of our English words to have two (or more) counterparts in Sindarin or Quenya. Words also overlap in Quenya and Sindarin from time to time. Just a few examples...

leaf - S./Q. las, Q. asea
river - S. duin, S. hir, Q./S. sîr (Q. luinë)
tree - S. orn, S. galadh (Q. alda)
west - S. annún, S. udûn (Q. númen)

[ January 07, 2003: Message edited by: Legalos ]