Languages

If this thread is still open, and will welcome my help, I would be glad to give it. i.e.- Elessar (Aragorn's Elven name)- King of Stars

[Morwen]

Noldon, I've always seen Elessar translated as "Elfstone". On what are you basing your translation?

Ele = star, ar = high/lofty

(Languages of Tolkien's Middle Earth, Ruth S. Noel)

[Galin]

Elessar indeed appears to be translated 'Elfstone' in Appendix F.

One can also note Aragorn's name Edhelharn 'Elfstone' appearing in The King's Letter (Quenya Elessar also appears in the letter).

About 'stone' compare the Etymologies entry: 'Q. sar pl. sardi stone (small)... N. sarn stone as a material.' (N. stands for Noldorin in this earlier text). With respect to Edhelharn initial s (edhel-sarn) has been mutated in this example.

all right, if stone is "sarn", but what of elf? i've always seen it as "quendi", which does not fit either example.

[Galin]

It think it could be *elen + sar or *eled + sar (or maybe something more specific has come to light recently).

In 1958 Tolkien wrote:

'EL. It is dificult to distinguish 'star' and 'elf', since they are derivatives of the same basic element EL 'star'; as the first element in compounds el- may mean (or at least symbolize) either (...) The Elves were called eledá/elená 'an elf' (High-elven Elda)...' JRRT, letter to Rhona Beare

A bit later in Quendi And Eldar (fairly certainly dated 1959-60)

Note 10
'It is not surprising that the Edain, when they learned Sindarin, and to a certain extent Quenya also, found it difficult to discern whether words and names containing the element el referred to the stars or to the Elves. This is seen in the name Elendil, which became a favorite name among the Edain, but was meant to bear the sense of 'Elf-friend'. Properly in Quenya it meant 'a lover or student of the stars', and was applied to those devoted to astronimical lore. 'Elf-friend' would have been more correctly represented by Quen(den)dil or Eldandil.' JRRT Q&E

In this same text it's noted under *DEL: 'Eldo cannot however be directly descended from *edeló. Its form is probably due to a change *edelo > eledo, following the change in the verb.' Anyway Tolkien seems to have changed his mind later about Elendil, as he wrote in a footnote to a letter...

'This provides the key to a large number of other Elvish Q. names, such as Elendil 'Elf-friend' (eled + ndil), Valandil, Mardil the Good Steward...' JRRT August 1967

Tolkien was not against changing his mind in any case

[William Cloud Hicklin]

Be advised however that Tolkien himself never created a "conversational" Sindarin or Quenya. He was constantly rewriting and revising and changing his mind, more with languages even than in his narratives. (one minor example: in the LR 2d Edition he changed 'omentielmo' to 'omentielvo' to reflect an altered declension). Helge Fauskanger's Ardalambion site represents a neo-Quenya- a synthetic version cobbling together elements of Quenya from different periods in its development, speculation, and outright invention. The same is true of David Salo's "Gateway to Sindarin" (and Salo is often unclear about what's genuine Tolkien and what isn't). According to Carl Hostetter, who ought to know, both sometimes outright contradict Tolkien's writings in order to impose an artificial 'structure.'

The best source for Tolkien's actual linguistic material is the History of Middle-earth, especially Vol V (the Etymologies) and Vol XI (Quendi and Eldar) - although those pieces are twenty years apart, separated not only by the Lord of the Rings but also the Great Language Shift which converted Noldorin into Sindarin. After that, there are the 'major works' published in Parma Eldalamberon (at this writing only works up through the 1920's), and for shorter (and more recent) works Vinyar Tengwar.

*inclines head*

Fair enough, I admit defeat. Another, then: Boromir- "Jeweled Hand"