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10-03-2004, 04:22 PM | #1 |
Shade of Carn Dûm
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Ad finem itineris
Posts: 384
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Language Influences
We all know of the heavy influences of Finnish on Quenya and Welsh on Sindarin, but how do you think the other languages Tolkien knew influenced his Middle-earth languages?
I've found that in Númenor, they added '-nya' to the end of words to make it an affectionate diminuitive (ie 'onya': son plus this ending, and 'tatanya': father plus this ending.) These words are from "Aldarion and Erendis" in The Unfinished Tales. This seems similar to Russian, of which Tolkien had a working knowledge (ie Rodion -> Rodya, Sofya -> Sonya). I've also noticed that Elvish 'ae', 'au', and 'ei' are pronounced the same as those vowel combonations would be pronounced in Latin. What other connections have you guys made?
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Enyale cuilenya, ú-enyale mandenya. |
11-04-2004, 08:58 PM | #2 |
Laconic Loreman
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The language of Middle-Earth is one that isn't one of my more interested topics, but I did notice one thing, lol.
I believe this is an anglo-saxon based word, Sylvan-creatures of the "wood." Or "wooded creatures." I would imagine Tolkien used "Silvan" based off the anglo-saxon word, Silvan-elves, live in woods, fond of woods. Ya, lol. |
01-16-2005, 09:05 PM | #3 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Well, I noticed a certain similarity between Cirth and Anglo-Saxon runes.
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01-17-2005, 06:36 PM | #4 |
Shade of Carn Dûm
Join Date: Jul 2003
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Yeah, the Angerthas are based on Anglo-Saxon runes, but more interesting is that the Mode of Dale, used in The Hobbit on Thorin's Map, are exactly the futhork, as Anglo-Saxon runes are called.
And about what I said in my first post about Latin and Elvish being pronounced similarly: Tolkien meant to do that. In Appen. F, Tolkien explains that since Quenya was the "Elvish-Latin," he used the Latin pronounciation rules for Quenya (and some Sindarin).
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Enyale cuilenya, ú-enyale mandenya. |
01-17-2005, 08:29 PM | #5 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
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Hmm...I know the futhark. I shall have to go look at that again...
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