The Lord of the Rings (190 page)

Note that consonants written twice, as
tt
,
ll
,
ss
,
nn
, represent long or ‘double’ consonants. At the end of words of more than one syllable these were usually shortened: as in
Rohan
from
Rochann
(archaic
Rochand
).

In Sindarin the combinations
ng
,
nd
,
mb
, which were specially favoured in the Eldarin languages at an earlier stage, suffered various changes,
mb
became
m
in all cases, but still counted as a long consonant for purposes of stress (see below), and is thus written
mm
in cases where otherwise the stress might be in doubt.
ng
remained unchanged except finally where it became the simple nasal (as in English
sing
).
nd
became
nn
usually, as
Ennor
‘Middle-earth’, Q.
Endóre
; but remained
nd
at the end of fully accented monosyllables such as
thond
‘root’ (cf.
Morthond
‘Blackroot’), and also before
r
, as
Andros
‘long-foam’. This
nd
is also seen in some ancient names derived from an older period, such as
Nargothrond
,
Gondolin
,
Beleriand
. In the Third Age final
nd
in long words had become
n
from
nn
, as in
Ithilien
,
Rohan
,
Anorien
.

VOWELS

For vowels the letters
i, e, a, o, u
are used, and (in Sindarin only)
y
. As far as can be determined the sounds represented by these letters (other than
y
) were of normal kind, though doubtless many local varieties escape detection. That is, the sounds were approximately those represented by
i, e, a, o, h
in English
machine
,
were, father, for, brute,
irrespective of quantity.

In Sindarin long
e, a, o
had the same quality as the short vowels, being derived in comparatively recent times from them (older
é, á, ó
had been changed). In Quenya long
ę
and
ó
were, when correctly pronounced, as by the Eldar, tenser and ‘closer’ than the short vowels.

Sindarin alone among contemporary languages possessed the ‘modified’ or fronted
u
, more or less as
u
in French
lune
. It was partly a modification of
o
and
u
, partly derived from older diphthongs
eu
,
iu
. For this sound
y
has been used (as in ancient English): as in
lyg
‘snake’, Q.
leuca
, or
emyn
pl. of
amon
‘hill’. In Condor this
y
was usually pronounced like
i
.

Long vowels are usually marked with the ‘acute accent’, as in some varieties of Fëanorian script In Sindarin long vowels in stressed monosyllables are marked with the circumflex, since they leaded in such cases to be specially prolonged; so in
dűn
compared with
Dúnadan
. The use of the circumflex in other languages such as Adűnaic or Dwarvish has no special significance, and is used merely to mark these out as alien tongues (as with the use of
k
).

Final
e
is never mute or a mere sign of length as in English. To mark this final
e
it is often (but not consistently) written
ë
.

The groups
er, ir, ur
(finally or before a consonant) are not intended to be pronounced as in English
fern, fir, fur,
but rather is English
air. eer, oor
.

In Quenya
ui, oi, ai
and
iu, eu, au
are diphthongs (that is, pronounced in one syllable). All other pairs of vowels are dis-syllabic. This is often indicated by writing
ëa, ëo, oë
.

In Sindarin the diphthongs are written
ae, oi, ei, oe, ui,
and
au
. Other combinations are not diphthongal. The writing of final
au
as
aw
is in accordance with English custom, but is actually not uncommon in Fëanorian spellings.

All these diphthongs were falling diphthongs, that to stressed on the first element, and composed of the simple vowels run together. Thus
ai, ei, oi, ui
are intended to be pronounced respectively as the vowels in English
rye
(not
ray
),
grey, boy, ruin
: and
au
(
aw
) as in
loud, how
and not as in
laud, haw
.

There is nothing in English closely corresponding to
ae, oe, eu
;
ae
and
oe
may be pronounced as
ai, oi
.

STRESS

The position of the ‘accent’ or stress is not marked, since in the Eldarin languages concerned its place is determined by the form of the word. In words of two syllables it falls in practically all cases on the first syllable. In longer words it falls on the last syllable but one, where that contains a long vowel, a diphthong, or a vowel followed by two (or more) consonants. Where the last syllable but one contains (as often) a short vowel followed by only one (or no) consonant, the stress falls on the syllable before it, the third from the end. Words of the last form are favoured in the Eldarin languages, especially Quenya.

In the following examples the stressed vowel is marked by a capital letter:
isIldur
,
Orome
,
erEssëa
,
fËanor
,
ancAlima
,
elentÁri
;
dEnethor
,
periAnnath
,
ecthElion
,
pelArgir
,
silIvren
. Words of the type
elentÁri
‘star-queen’ seldom occur in Quenya where the vowel is
é, á, ó,
unless (as in this case) they are compounds; they are commoner with the vowels
í, ú,
as
andÚne
‘sunset, west’. They do not occur in Sindarin except in compounds. Note that Sindarin
dh, th, ch
are single consonants and represent single letters in the original scripts.

NOTE

In names drawn from other languages than Eldarin the same values for the letters are intended, where not specially described above, except in the case of Dwarvish. In Dwarvish, which did not possess the sounds represented above by
th
and
ch
(
kh
),
th
and
kh
are aspirates, that is
t
or
k
followed by an
h
, more or less as in
backhand
,
outhouse
.

Where
z
occurs the sound intended is that of English
z
.
gh
in the Black Speech and Orcish represents a ‘back spirant’ (related to
g
as
dh
to
d
); as in
ghâsh
and
agh
.

The ‘outer’ or Mannish names of the Dwarves have been given Northern forms, but the letter-values are those described. So also in the case of the personal and place-names of Rohan (where they have not been modernised), except that here
éa
and
éo
are diphthongs, which may be represented by the
ea
of English
bear
, and the
eo
of
Theobald
;
y
is the modified
u
. The modernised forms are easily recognised and are intended to be pronounced as in English. They are mostly place-names: as Dunharrow (for
Dúnharg
), except Shadowfax and Wormtongue.

II. WRITING

The scripts and letters used in the Third Age were all ultimately of Eldarin origin, and already at that time of great antiquity. They had reached the stage of full alphabetic development, but older modes in which only the consonants were denoted by full letters were still in use.

The alphabets were of two main, and in origin independent kinds: the
Tengwar
or
Tîw
, here translated as ‘letters’; and the
Certar
or
Cirth,
translated as ‘runes’. The
Tengwar
were devised for writing with brush or pen, and the squared forms of inscriptions were in their case derivative from the written forms. The
Certar
were devised and mostly used only for scratched or incised inscriptions.

The
Tengwar
were the more ancient; for they had been developed by the Noldor, the kindred of the Eldar most skilled in such matters, long before their exile. The oldest Eldarin letters, the Tengwar of Rúmil, were not used in Middle-earth. The later letters, the Tengwar of Fëanor, were largely a new invention, though they owed something to the letters of Rúmil. They were brought to Middle-earth by the exiled Noldor, and so became known to the Edain and Númenóreans. In the Third Age their use had spread over much the same area as that in which the Common Speech was known.

The Cirth were devised first in Beleriand by the Sindar, and were long used only for inscribing names and brief memorials upon wood or stone. To that origin they owe their angular shapes, very similar to the runes of our times, though they differed from these in details and were wholly different in arrangement. The Cirth in their older and simpler form spread eastward in the Second Age, and became known to many peoples, to Men and Dwarves, and even to Orcs, all of whom altered them to suit their purposes and according to their skill or lack of it. One such simple form was still used by the Men of Dale, and a similar one by the Rohirrim.

But in Beleriand, before the end of the First Age, the Cirth, partly under the influence of the Tengwar of the Noldor, were rearranged and further developed. Their richest and most ordered form was known as the Alphabet of Daeron, since in Elvish tradition it was said to have been devised by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath. Among the Eldar the Alphabet of Daeron did not develop true cursive forms, since for writing the Elves adopted the Fëanorian letters. The Elves of the West indeed for the most part gave up the use of runes altogether. In the country of Eregion, however, the Alphabet of Daeron was maintained in use and passed thence to Moria, where it became the alphabet most favoured by the Dwarves. It remained ever after in use among them and passed with them to the North. Hence in later times it was often called
Angerthas Moria
or the Long Rune-rows of Moria. As with their speech the Dwarves made use of such scripts as were current and many wrote the Fëanorian letters skilfully; but for their own tongue they adhered to the Cirth, and developed written pen-forms from them.

(i) THE FËANORIAN LETTERS

The table shows, in formal book-hand shape, all the letters that were commonly used in the West-lands in the Third Age. The arrangement is the one most usual at the time, and the one in which the letters were then usually recited by name.

This script was not in origin an ‘alphabet’, that is, a haphazard series of letters, each with an independent value of its own, recited in a traditional order that has no reference either to their shapes or to their functions. It was, rather, a system of consonantal signs, of similar shapes and style, which could be adapted at choice or convenience to represent the consonants of languages observed (or devised) by the Eldar. None of the letters had in itself a fixed value; but certain relations between them were gradually recognised.

The system contained twenty-four primary letters, 1-24, arranged in four
témar
(series), each of which had six
tyeller
(grades). There were also ‘additional letters’, of which 25-36 are examples. Of these 27 and 29 are the only strictly independent letters; the remainder are modifications of other letters. There was also a number of
tehtar
(signs) of varied uses. These do not appear in the table.

The
primary letters
were each formed of a
telco
(stem) and a
lúva
(bow). The forms seen in 1-4 were regarded as normal. The stem could be raised, as in 9-16; or reduced, as in 17-24. The bow could be open, as in Series I and III; or closed, as in II and IV; and in either case it could be doubled, as e.g. in 5-8.

The theoretic freedom of application had in the Third Age been modified by custom to this extent that Series I was generally applied to the dental or
t
-series (
tincotéma
), and II to the labials or
p
-series (
parmatéma
). The application of Series III and IV varied according to the requirements of different languages.