General changes in TftE

[Findegil]

I have worked in the plural to title of Ecthelion.

If dh to ð is a general change then the following names must be changed:
{Eledhwen}[Eleðwen]
{Amon Rûdh}[Amon Rûð]
{Glóredhel}[Glóreðel]
{Aredhel}[Areðel]
{Bar-en-Danwedh}[Bar-en-Danweð]
{Adanedhel}[Adaneðel]
{Annon-in-Gelydh}[Annon-in-Gelyð]
{Lisgardh}[Lisgarð]
{Haudh-en-Nirnaeth}[Hauð-en-Nirnaeth]

Radhurin I would not change because I think it renders to Rad-Hurin and not to Raðuirn.

Comments to all this neames are most welcome.

Respectfully
Findegil

[Aran e-Godhellim]

If I may, I would suggest a reverse-change. "ð" to "dh," rather than vice-versa.

"Edh" is after all simply a single letter that represents the voiced dental fricative sound, much as "thorn" was a single letter used for the unvoiced dental fricative sound. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien quite consitantly used "dh" for ð, just as he used (and we use) "th" for þ. See "Caras Galadhon."

The only reason I see for retaining ð is to give the Quenta Silmarillion a more archaic feel...but if that is the case, should we not be consistant and use þ as well?

[Aiwendil]

The dh > ð change we've been implementing was certainly not intended to create a more archaic feel (one of our principles is that personal aesthetic considerations are not to enter into our decisions). Rather, it was motivated by Tolkien's (rather late) apparent decision to use 'ð' rather than 'dh'. (I must admit I never got around to researching whether this was indeed his latest idea, but we had been assuming it was).

You raise a good point, though: 'dh' is used throughout The Lord of the Rings. A similar case is that of 'Orc' vs. 'Ork'; Tolkien's decision to spell it with a 'k' was not taken up by our project because throughout LotR it is spelled with a 'c'. I think the 'dh' issue is the same, and we must revert to 'Maedhros', etc.

Incidentally, it's a little odd that Tolkien apparently decided on a general change of 'dh' to 'ð' but not of 'th' to 'þ', isn't it? Thus we see 'Pengoloð', etc., but never, for example, 'Þingol'.

[Aran e-Godhellim]

Well, that's not exactly true; we do see the form "Þindikollo" in "The Shibboleth of Fëanor." But you're right, he didn't usually use that form.

[gondowe]

What do you think about {Valmar}[Valimar]

[Aiwendil]

Hello, Gondonwe, and welcome to the project!

Thanks for bringing this point up - I don't think we have discussed the name Valmar/Valimar before. It looks to me like this is another case where the spelling in The Lord of the Rings ('Valimar') must take precedence, so I think the change must be made.

[Aran e-Godhellim]

I agree.