Questions on Pronunciation

[Olorin_TLA]

I always pronouncedit as a kind of subtle ayr-en-diil

[Amariden Ravenhill]

I have a friend who is trying to teach himself correct pronunciation of Elven names and he want to know how Feanor is pronounced: He pronounces it Fay-AH-nor while his brother says it's Fay-An-or

[dancing spawn of ungoliant]

The pronaunciation of Eärendil: all the vowels are pronaunced separately ->" E" like in the word "there" (the first e), "ä" like in the word "father" (the ä only being short), "r" is always (or at least very often) trilled in Elvish, "e" in the same way as the first one and "i" like in the word "machine". If I recall right the accent (or what ever it is called) is in the very beginning of the word -> EÄrendil.
I don't know if you understood my confusing explanation at all but I tried my best. The pronaunciation in Elvish is the same as in Finnish if that helps you . There are quite good directions in the appendix and of course here: http://move.to/ardalambion

[Mad Baggins]

Look in the back of Return of the King, in Appendix E; there is a lot of help on pronunciation.

Being as much of a nerd as I am, I'm currently learning Elvish. So perhaps I can help a bit. This is how these names should technically be pronounced, though naturally people slur words and sounds together. Stressed syllables are in all caps.

Smeagol= SMAY-uh-gol

Numenore= Noo-meh-NOR-ay or Noo-meh-NOR-eh

Legolas= LEh-go-las

Eärendil= Ay-eh-REN-dil (dil being pronounced more like 'deel')

Feanor= FAY-eh-nor

If you would like the specific rules for pronunciation, let me know. There are reasons why the stress falls where it does.

[Frodo2968thewhite]

Suliad, Mellyn nin. Lle quena i'lambe tel' Eldalie? Amin n'rangwa edanea!

Okay, I can tell many people are confused here, so I have come to help. I am a tolkienologist, almost fluent in elvish, and have read the books 10 times (almost 11). One thing I have learned about elvish, both Sindarin and Quenya, is that most words are painfully literal in their pronunciation. Even in the movies. If you can recall in FOTR, at the Door of Durin at Moria. Frodo asks what the elvish word for 'friend' is, and Gandalf says "Mellon", but the way he says it, there are 2 beats on the 'LL'. So he put a beat per letter. Anyways, lets move on...

Okay, lets start with Smeagol: we must remember that 'Smeagol' is NOT elvish at all. It is only the anglicized equivalent of 'Trahald' (which is what Gollum's friends and family REALLY called him). Smeagol, in turn, is pronounced "smee-gol", according to that language.

Next up is Feanor and Earendil...these two are one and the same, both having the "ea". and with the accent mark over the 'e', that would make the pronunciation "ey-AH-ren-dil" and "FEY-eh-nor" (the 'EY' in 'FEY' is like that in 'Hey')

'Legolas' is pronounced "LEH-goh-las" and 'Numenore' is pronounced "Nu-meh-NORR-ay" with extra stress on the 'R'.

Also, many people do not know the correct pronnunciation of 'Elendil'. It is pronounced "el-EN-dee-il", breaking the 'I' into two parts, also with the stress on "EN" instead of the before-thought "DIL".
Hopefully this makes some issues clear! Namaarie!

[Iaurhirwen]

The Encyclopedia of Arda is an excelent source for pronunciations. They seem to be pretty acurate and show some good research into Tolkien's works and other languages for their pronunciation guides. Though I did notice that their pronunciation of Smeagol is different from the two ways it is normally pronounced.

I say we just hold a seance - call up Tolkien's ghost - and ask he to clarify everything we have disgrepensies (sp?) over. I don't know. These arguments have been going on for decades and I don't know if we'll ever come to complete agreement.