Lambion Ontalë

[ArcusCalion]

LO-04: He changed the sense in which he meant the term. In Appendix F, he uses 'elf-latin' to refer to its quality as a language of lore and antiquity. But here he uses it to refer to its quality as a common tongue between various peoples, as Latin was for the christians in middle-ages Europe. Therefore I changed it. In addition, Appendix F is written from the Point of view of Tolkien the professor, whereas the Lambion Ontale is written from the point of view of Pengolodh of gondolin, who would of course have no such word as 'elf-latin.'

LO-05: I do not see how this could be what he meant. At the time this was written, he had invented no 'Sindarin' as we know it. To him it was an unknown language. That is what he refers to. In addition, we now know a great deal about its development, so we can hardly say not much was known about that either.

LO-3.5/12: We have this quote from Q&E:

Pengolodh is said to have remained in Middle-earth until far on into the Second Age for the furtherance of his enquiries, and for a while to have dwelt among the Dwarves of Casarrondo (Khazad-dûm). But when the shadow of Sauron fell upon Eriador, he left Middle-earth, the last of the Lambengolmor, and sailed to Eressëa, where maybe he still abides.

as well as this:

Our knowledge [Footnote: By which Pengolodh meant the knowledge available in Middle-earth. The Lammas was composed in Eriador.] is therefore now limited ...

Both of these require that the Lammas be composed in Eriador before the end of the Second Age.

LO-18: I think I am confused by your question. Here is the original version of the text:

Yet in fact the Noldor, and especially the loremasters among them (for the Noldor have no rivals in learning) use both sounds and forms that are more archaic and nearer to the written Parmaquesta. This is true especially in the matter of pronunciation, since the usage of the Vanyar shows the effect of the changes in their daily speech of later days.

and here is the updated version:

And in fact the Vanyar, and the loremasters among the Noldor (for the Noldor have no rivals in learning) use both sounds and forms that are more archaic and nearer to the written Parmaquesta. This is true especially in the matter of pronunciation, since the usage of the Noldor shows the effect of the changes in their daily speech of later days.

The Vanyar kept to the older sound and form of the language. The loremasters of the Noldor did as well, as they were interested in preserving the original tongue. However, the daily speech of the Noldor drew more towards the Teleri. Hopefully this clears it up?

LO-21: Good point, I agree to only remove 'much.'

LO-24: Very well, but I think we should change 'language' to 'languages' due to the fact that both Quenya and Sindarin were spoken there:

LO-24 The languages of the returned Exiles in Eressëa {is}are derived in the main from the {speech}tongues of Gondolin. So also was the Elvish speech adopted by the Atani, the Fathers of Men, and spoken by the high men of Númenor in that isle LO-25 {, and after during the Third Age upon the western shores of Middle-earth}.

I changed speech to tongues because 'speeches' is not used in that way generally in my experiences, but perhaps I am wrong and it should simply be 'speeches'.

LO-28b: Agreed.

LO-32: You are correct, I had not considered this. I will leave it as is.

LO-40: Perhaps 'children'? 'People' makes me think of those elves who stayed behind with Finarfin in Valinor.

LO-54: That's true, but we are told explicitly that the Edain were the ones who founded Numenor, and they were given the island because they fought in the war of wrath. Therefore, Adunaic must be derived from them.

LO-55: Yeah I am inclined to remove it.

Last Point: I had not thought of this, but it is true that portions of Appendix F might fit nicely in here. However, we would need to be selective, since Appendix F is largely focused on the issue of 'translation' from these languages into English, and so is often outside the scope of the Lammas. But any information on Westron from there would fit nicely into this work.