| Sindarin | |
|---|---|
| Created by | J. R. R. Tolkien |
| Date | c. 1915 to 1973 |
| Setting and usage | The fictional world ofMiddle-earth |
| Purpose | |
| Tengwar (mainly),Cirth | |
| Sources | a priori language, but related to the otherElvish languages. Sindarin was influenced primarily byWelsh. |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 | sjn |
sjn | |
| Glottolog | sind1281 |
| This article containsIPA phonetic symbols. Without properrendering support, you may seequestion marks, boxes, or other symbols instead ofUnicode characters. For an introductory guide on IPA symbols, seeHelp:IPA. | |
Sindarin is one ofthe constructed languages devised byJ. R. R. Tolkien for use in his fantasy stories set inArda, primarily inMiddle-earth. Sindarin is one of the many languages spoken by theElves.
The wordSindarin isQuenya for Grey-elven, since it was the language of the Grey Elves ofBeleriand. These were Elves of the Third Clan who remained behind in Beleriand after theGreat Journey. Their language became estranged from that of their kin who sailed over the sea. Sindarin derives from an earlier language calledCommon Telerin, which evolved fromCommon Eldarin, the tongue of theEldar before their divisions, e.g., those Elves who decided to follow the ValaOromë and undertook the Great March toValinor. Even before that the Eldar Elves spoke the original speech of all Elves, orPrimitive Quendian.
In theThird Age (the setting ofThe Lord of the Rings), Sindarin was the language most commonly spoken by most Elves in the Western part of Middle-earth. Sindarin is the language usually referred to asthe Elf-Tongue orElven-Tongue inThe Lord of the Rings. When theQuenya-speakingNoldor returned to Middle-earth, they adopted the Sindarin language. Quenya and Sindarin were related, with manycognate words but differing greatly in grammar and structure. Sindarin is said to be more changeful than Quenya, and there were during the First Age a number of regionaldialects. The tongue used inDoriath (home ofThingol, King of the Sindar), known asDoriathrin, was said by many Grey-elves to be the highest and most noble form of the language.
In theSecond Age, manyMen ofNúmenor spoke Sindarin fluently. Their descendants, theDúnedain ofGondor and Arnor, continued to speak Sindarin in the Third Age. Sindarin was first written using theCirth, an Elvish runic alphabet. Later, it was usually written in theTengwar (Quenya for 'letters') – a script invented by the elfFëanor. Tolkien based thephonology and some of the grammar of Sindarin onLiterary Welsh, and Sindarin displays some of the consonant mutations that characterize theCeltic languages.[1]
The Dwarves rarely taughttheir language to others,[2] so they learned both Quenya and Sindarin in order to communicate with the Elves, especially theNoldor and Sindar.[T 1] By the Third Age, however, the Dwarves were estranged from the Elves and no longer routinely learned their language, preferring to useWestron.
For Tolkien's constructed languages one must distinguish two timelines of development:[3]
Tolkien was interested in languages from an early age, and developed severalconstructed languages while still a teenager. Eventually, as a young adult, he created an entirefamily of constructed languages spoken by Elves and asecondary world where these could evolve.[3][4]
One of these languages was created around 1915, inspired by theCeltic languages, particularlyLiteraryWelsh. Tolkien called itGoldogrin or "Gnomish" in English. He wrote a substantial dictionary of Gnomish and a grammar.[T 2] This is the first conceptual stage of the Sindarin language. At the same time Tolkien conceived a History of the Elves and wrote it in theBook of Lost Tales. Gnomish was spoken by the Gnomes orNoldoli, the Second Clan ofElves, andElfin was the other tongue spoken by the great majority of the Elves of the Lonely Isle.[5]
The beginning of the "Name-list of theFall of Gondolin", one of theLost Tales, gives a good example of both languages (Gnomish and Elfin):
"Here is set forth by Eriol at the teaching of Bronweg's sonElfrith or 'Littleheart' (and he was so named for the youth and wonder of his heart) those names and words that are used in these tales from either the tongue of the Elves of Kor as at the time spoken in the Lonely Isle, or from that related one of the Noldoli their kin whom they wrested from Melko. Here first are they which appear in theTale ofTuor and the Exiles of Gondolin, first among these those ones in the Gnome-speech (lam Goldrin).Ainon now these were great beings who dwelt withIlúvatar as the Elves name him (but the GnomesIlador orIlathon) ere the world grew, and some of these dwelt after in the world and ere the Gods orAinur as say the Elves.[T 3]
A few years later, c. 1925, Tolkien began anew the grammar and lexicon of the tongue of his Gnomes. He abandoned the wordsGoldogrin andlam Goldrin in favour ofNoldorin (aQuenya word already sparingly used for his Gnomish tongue). This is the second conceptual stage of Sindarin. Tolkien then composed a grammar of this new Noldorin, theLam na Ngoluith.[T 4] In the early 1930s Tolkien wrote a new grammar ofNoldorin.[T 5] This is the "late conceptual Noldorin". At the same time, Tolkien was developing the Ilkorin tongues of the Elves of the Third Clan who remained in Beleriand (those same Elves whom Tolkien would much later nameSindar in Quenya).Noldorin (the Welsh-style language) was at that time conceived as having evolved from theOld Noldorin spoken in Valinor to the many (not Welsh-like) dialects, later calledLemberin, that were spoken in Beleriand. The Noldorin Elves wanted to speak a distinct tongue from the First Clan Elves who also lived with them and spoke Quenya, and so they developedOld Noldorin from what Tolkien calledKoreldarin: "the tongue of those who left Middle-earth, and came toKór, the hill of the Elves in Valinor."[T 6]
Tolkien created Sindarin in around 1944. He used much of Noldorin and blended it with "Ilkorin Doriathrin" and added in some new features. On that matter, he wrote a side note on his "Comparative Tables": "Doriath[rin], etc. = Noldorin ((?)viz. as it used to be)".[T 7] The Ilkorin tongues of 1930–50 spoken in Beleriand, e.g. Doriathrin and the other dialects, were not as much based on Welsh as Noldorin was, and Tolkien wanted his new "tongue of Beleriand" to be a Welsh-type language. In Tolkien's words, "The changes worked on Sindarin [from Common Eldarin] very closely (and deliberately) resemble those which produced the modern and medieval Welsh from ancient Celtic, so that in the result Sindarin has a marked Welsh style, and the relations between it and Quenya closely resemble those between Welsh and Latin."[T 8]
Tolkien did not provide a detailed description of the language in published works such asThe Lord of the Rings, but he did say that[T 9]
"A precise account, with drawings and other aids, ofDwarvish smith-practices,Hobbit-pottery, Numerorean medicine and philosophy, and so on would interfere with the narrative [of theLord of the Rings], or swell the Appendices. So too, would complete grammars and lexical collection of the languages. Any attempt at bogus 'completeness' would reduce the thing to a 'model', a kind of imaginary dolls house of pseudo-history. Much hidden and unexhibited work is needed to give the nomenclature a 'feel' of verisimilitude. But this story [The Lord of the Rings] is not the place for technical phonology and grammatical history.I hope to leave these things firmly sketched and recorded." [emphasis added][T 9]
Tolkien wrote many pieces in Sindarin. He made an effort to give tohis Elvish languages the feel and taste ofnatural languages. He wanted to infuse in them a kind of life, while fitting them to a very personal aesthetic taste. He wanted to build languages primarily to satisfy his personal urge and not because he had some universal design in mind.[T 10]
In Tolkien's words:
"Sindarin (Grey-elven) is properly the name of the languages of the Elvish inhabitants of Beleriand, the later almost drowned land west of the Blue Mountains. Quenya was the language of the Exiled High-Elves returning to Middle-earth. TheExiles, being relatively few in number, eventually adopted a form of Sindarin: a southern dialect (of which the purest and most archaic variety was used in Doriath ruled by Thingol). This they used in daily speech, and even adapted their own personal names to its form. But the Sindarin of the High-elves was (naturally) somewhat affected by Quenya, and contained some Quenya elements. Sindarin is also loosely applied to the related languages of the Elves of the same origin as the Grey Elves of Beleriand, who lived inEriador and further East."[T 11]
The divergence of Sindarin (Old Sindarin) begun first into a Northern orMithrimin group and a Southern group. The Southern group had a much larger territory, and includedDoriathrin or "Central Sindarin".[T 12]
"Círdan was aTelerin Elf, one of the highest of those who were not transported to Valinor but became known as the Sindar, the Grey-elves; he was akin toOlwë, one of the two kings of the Teleri, and lord of those who departed over the Great Sea. He was thus also akin toElwë, Olwë's elder brother, acknowledged as high-king of all the Teleri in Beleriand, even after he withdrew to the guarded realm of Doriath. But Círdan and his people remained in many ways distinct from the rest of the Sindar. They retained the old name Teleri (in later Sindarin formTelir, orTelerrim) and remained in many ways a separate folk, speaking even in later days a more archaic language."[T 13]
So during theFirst Age, before the return of the Noldor, there were four dialects of Sindarin:
Doriathrin preserved many archaic features. Unlike the other dialects, it remained free fromQuenya influences. The "accent" of Doriath was also quite recognisable, so that afterTúrin had left Doriath he kept a Doriathrin accent until his death, which immediately pinpointed his origin to speakers of other dialects of Sindarin. "The post-war 'Beleriandic' as lingua franca and as a language of Noldor was strongly influenced by Doriath."[T 14] Tolkien set out much about Doriathrin's morphology, and how it contrasts with the other Sindarin dialects, in his linguistic writings:[T 12]
"Doriathrin preserved in common use the dual of nouns, pronouns, and verbal personal inflexions, as well as a clear distinction between 'general' or 'collective' plurals (aselenath), and 'particular' plurals (aselin). ... But it was none-the-less in a few but important points of phonology marked by changes not universal in Sindarin. Most notable among these was the spirantalizing ofm > nasalṽ, the nasality of which was, however, never lost in Doriathrin proper until after the dissolution of the "Hidden Realm". ... The changes ofmp, nt, ñk, also proceeded earlier and further than in the other dialects."[T 12]
The language of the followers of the Elf Círdan, calledFalathrin (Falassian in English), is the other dialect of the Southern Sindarin group. It remained close to the tongue of Doriath because there was great trade between the two groups up to the time of the Wars of Beleriand.[T 13]
North Sindarin was spoken by theMithrim, the northernmost group of the Grey-elves. It differed from the Central Sindarin of Beleriand in many aspects. Originally spoken in Dorthonion andHithlum, it contained many unique words and was not fully intelligible to the other Elves. The Northern dialect was in many ways more conservative, and later divided itself into a North-Western dialect (Hithlum, Mithrim, Dor-lómin) and a North-Eastern dialect (the highlands of Dorthonion, and the wide plains of Ard-galen to the north of the highlands). This language was at first adopted by the exiledNoldor after their return toMiddle-earth at Losgar. Later Noldorin Sindarin changed, much owing to the adoption ofQuenya features, and partially because of the love of the Noldor for making linguistic changes.Beren's heritage was clear toThingol ofDoriath as he spoke the North Sindarin of his homeland.[T 15]
"Chief characteristics [of North Sindarin were the] preservation ofp, t, k after nasals andl. Intervocalicm remained. Nou ando andi/e remained distinct – noa mutation ofi.S was unlenited initially.h (preserved) medially.tt, pp, kk > t, p, k medially."[T 15]
With the exception of Doriathrin, Sindarin adopted some Quenya features after the return of the Noldor, as well as unique sound changes devised by the Noldor (who loved changing languages):[T 16]
"It was the Noldor who in fact stabilized and made improvements to the 'Common Sindarin' of the days of the Wars, and it was based on West Sindarin. The old North dialect practically died out except in place names asDorlomin, Hithlum, etc. but for a few scattered and hidden clans of the old Northern group and except in so far as adopted by theFëanorians, who had moved east. So that in the days of the Wars, Sindarin was really divided into 'West Sindarin' (including all the Noldor ofFinrod and Fingon), 'East Sindarin' (of the North dialect) was only preserved by the house of Feanor; and 'Central' orDoriath."[T 16]
In the hidden city of Gondolin, an isolated land, a peculiar dialect developed: "This differed from the standard (of Doriath) (a) in having Western and some Northern elements, and (b) in incorporating a good many Noldorin-Quenya words in more or less Sindarized forms. Thus the city was usually calledGondolin (from Q.Ondolin(dë)) with simple replacement ofg-, notGoenlin orGoenglin [as it would have been in standard Sindarin]".[T 17]
'Beleriandic' Sindarin as alingua franca of all Elves and many Men, and as the language of the Noldor in exile, was based on Western Sindarin but was strongly influenced by Doriathrin. During theSecond Age Sindarin was a lingua franca for all Elves and their friends (thus it was used to inscribethe West-gate of Moria), until it was displaced for Men byWestron, which arose in the Third Age as a language heavily influenced by Sindarin. In Gondor at the end of the Third Age, Sindarin was still spoken daily by a few noble Men in the cityMinas Tirith.Aragorn, raised in the safety of the Elvish stronghold ofRivendell,[T 18] spoke it fluently.[T 19][T 20]
Sindarin was designed with a Welsh-likephonology.[T 21][6] Stress is as in Latin: on the penult if that is heavy (a closed syllable, long vowel or diphthong) and on the antepenult if the penult is light.[7]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| central | lateral | |||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ[a] | |||||
| Plosive | p b | t d | k[b] ɡ | |||||
| Fricative | f v | θ[c] ð[d] | s | ɬ[e] | χ[f] | h | ||
| Trill | r̥[g] r | |||||||
| Approximant | l | j | ʍ[h] w | |||||
The phoneme/f/ is voiced to[v] when final or before/n/, but remains written as⟨f⟩. The sound[f] is written⟨ph⟩ when final (alph, "swan") or when used to spell a lenited/p/ (i-pheriannath, "the halflings") which becomes[f]. Old Sindarin, likeCommon Brittonic andOld Irish, also had a spirantm or nasalv (IPA:/ṽ/), which was transcribed asmh. This merged with/v/ in later Sindarin. Phonemically, Sindarin⟨ch⟩ aligns with the other velar consonants like⟨c⟩,⟨g⟩,⟨w⟩, etc. but is phonetically thevoiceless uvular fricative/χ/.[9]
| Letter | IPA | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| i | j,ɪiː | Represents/j/ when initial before vowels,/ɪ/ (short vowel) and/iː/ (long vowel) everywhere else. |
| ng | ŋ,ŋɡ | Represents/ŋ/ when final,/ŋɡ/ everywhere else. |
| ph | f | Represents/f/ word-finally (owing to⟨f⟩ being used for/v/) and represents mutation of word-initial/p/ to/f/. |
| f | f,v | Represents/f/ everywhere except finally where it is always/v/. |
| Vowels | Front | Back |
|---|---|---|
| Close | iːyː | uː |
| Near-close | ɪʏ | ʊ |
| Open-mid | ɛ(ː) | ɔ(ː) |
| Open | a(ː) | |
An acute signifies a long vowel (á, é, etc.). In a monosyllabic word, a circumflex is used (â, ê, etc.).
In Old Sindarin, there was a vowel similar to Germanö (IPA:[œ]), which Tolkien mostly transcribed asœ. Although this was meant to be distinct from the diphthongoe, it was often simply printedoe in publications likeThe Silmarillion, e.g.Nírnaeth Arnoediad (read:Nírnaeth Arnœdiad),Goelydh (read:Gœlydh). This vowel later came to be pronounced[ɛ] and is therefore transcribed as such (e.g.Gelydh).[10]
Diphthongs areai (pronounced likeaisle [aɪ]),ei (day [ɛɪ]),ui (ruin [ʊɪ]), andau (cow [aʊ]). If the last diphthong finishes a word, it is speltaw. There are also diphthongsae andoe with no English counterparts, similar to pronouncinga oro respectively in the same syllable as one pronounces ane (as in pet); IPA[aɛ,ɔɛ]. Tolkien had described dialects (such as Doriathrin) and variations in pronunciations (such as that of Gondor), and other pronunciations ofae andoe undoubtedly existed.[10]
| Diphthong | ||
|---|---|---|
| ʊj | - | - |
| ɛj | ɔɛ | - |
| aj | aɛ | aw |
Tolkien wrote that he gave Sindarin "a linguistic character very like (though not identical with)British-Welsh ... because it seems to fit the rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers".[11]
Unlike the largelyagglutinative Quenya, Sindarin is mainly afusional language with someanalytic tendencies. It can be distinguished from Quenya by the rarity of vowel endings, and the use ofvoiced plosivesb d g, rare in Quenya found only afternasals andliquids. Early Sindarin formed plurals by the addition of-ī, which vanished butaffected the preceding vowels (as in Welsh andOld English): S.Adan, pl.Edain, S.Orch, pl.Yrch.[12] Sindarin forms plurals in multiple ways.[13]
While Sindarin does not have agrammatical gender, it has two systems ofgrammatical number, similar to Welsh.Singular/plural nouns correspond to the singular/plural number system just as in English. Sindarin noun plurals are unpredictable and formed in several ways.[14]
Some Sindarin (and Noldorin) nouns of one syllable form the plural with an ending (usually-in), e.g.Drû, pl.Drúin "wild men,Woses, Púkel-Men".[15] Others form the plural through vowel change, e.g.golodh andgelydh, "lore master, sage" (obsolete as a tribal name before the Noldor came back to Beleriand);Moredhel, pl.Moredhil, "Dark-Elves". Still others form their plurals through some combination of the two, and a few do not change in the plural:Belair, "Beleriandic-Elf/Elves" is singular and plural.[14]
The other system of number was called by Tolkien 2nd plural or collective number.[T 22] The nouns in this system form it usually by adding a suffix to the plural (as in Welsh); for example-ath, as inelenath, "all the stars (in the sky)", but not always, as inDrúath. Another ending of the 2nd pl. is-rim, used especially to indicate a race-group:Nogothrim "the race of the Dwarves", from pl.Nogoth (sg.Nogon, "Dwarf"). There exist another such ending-lir, as inNogothlir.
The endings-rim,-hoth, and-waith, Sindarin words meaning 'multitude', 'host', and 'people' respectively, are added to asingular noun to form a 2nd plural, e.g.Gaurhoth "the Werewolf-horde" andGaurwaith "wolvish folk", fromGaur "werewolf".[16]
Most Sindarinplurals are formed byvowel change and are characterised byi-mutation. The Noldorin term for this isprestanneth "affection of vowels". In an earlier stage of the language, plurals were marked by the suffix-ī, to which the root vowel(s)assimilated, becomingfronted (and raised iflow); later the final-ī was lost, leaving the changed root vowel(s) as the sole marker of the plural. (This process is very similar to theGermanic umlaut that produced the English formsman/men,goose/geese, and closer still to the Welshi-affection plurals in forms likegair/geiriau andcar/ceir.) The resulting plural patterns are:
Vowels not listed do not undergo any change, such as/y/ remains as/y/, meaning that it is possible for some words to have the same form in the singular and plural.[17]
Sindarin has a series ofconsonant mutations, varying between dialects as follows.
The mutations of "early conceptual Noldorin" are defined in Tolkien'sLam na Ngoluith, Early Noldorin Grammar.[T 23]
Mutation is triggered in various ways:
The following table outlines how different consonants are affected by the three mutations.
| Radical | Soft | Hard | Nasal |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | v (bh) | b | m |
| d | dh | d | n |
| g | ’ | g | ng |
| gw | ’w | gw | ngw |
| p | b | ph | ph |
| t | d | th | th |
| c | g | ch | ch |
| cw | gw | chw | chw |
The apostrophe’ indicateselision, and is not necessarily written. Those forms of lenitedp that are pronouncedf are writtenph as mentioned above.
Noldorin words beginning inb-,d-, org-, which descend from oldermb-,nd-, orng- are affected differently by the mutations:
| Radical | Soft | Hard | Nasal |
|---|---|---|---|
| b | m | b | m |
| d | n | d | n |
| g | ng | g | ng |
Many of the mutations of Noldorin were taken into Sindarin a few years later. The Sindarin wordgwath "shadow" becomesi 'wath, "the shadow".[T 24]
David Salo'sA Gateway to Sindarin proposes a more complex set of mutations, based on extrapolation from the Sindarin corpus, as follows[18] (empty cells indicate no change):
| Radical | Soft | Nasal | Stop | Liquid? | Mixed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| t /t/ | d /d/ | th /θ/ | th /θ/ | th /θ/ | d /d/ |
| p /p/ | b /b/ | ph /f/ | ph /f/ | ph /f/ | b /b/ |
| c /k/ | g /g/ | ch /χ/ | ch /χ/ | ch /χ/ | g /g/ |
| d /d/ | dh /ð/ | n /n/ | dh /ð/ | ||
| b /b/ | v /v/ | m /m/ | v /v/ | ||
| g /g/ | (deleted) | ng /ŋ/ | (deleted) | ||
| m /m/ | v /v/ | v /v/ | |||
| (n)d /d/ | n /n/ | nd /nd/ | nd /nd/ | d /d/ | nd /nd/ |
| (m)b /b/ | m /m/ | mb /mb/ | mb /mb/ | b /b/ | mb /mb/ |
| (n)g /g/ | ng /ŋ/ | ng /ŋg/ | n-g /ŋg/ | g /g/ | ng /ŋg/ |
| lh /ɬ/ | l /l/ | l /l/ | l /l/ | l /l/ | l /l/ |
| rh /r̥/ | r /r/ | r /r/ | r /r/ | r /r/ | r /r/ |
| s /s/ | h /h/ | h /h/ | |||
| h /h/ | ch /χ/ | ch /χ/ | ch /χ/ | ch /χ/ | ch /χ/ |
| hw /ʍ/ | chw /χw/ | chw /χw/ | chw /χw/ | chw /χw/ | chw /χw/ |
The nasal mutation however does not affect 'd' and 'g' when found in the clusters 'dr', 'gr', 'gl' or 'gw'.[18] By Salo's admission, the liquid mutation is speculative and not attested in Tolkien's writings at the time he wroteA Gateway to Sindarin.[18]
One source is used for the Sindarin pronouns,[T 25] another for the possessive suffixes.[T 26]
| singular | dual[a] | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | -n | -nc, -ngid | -nc |
| inclusive | -m, -mmid | -m | ||
| 2nd person | imperious/familiar | -g | -ch | -g, -gir |
| formal/polite | -dh | -dh, -dhid | -dh, -dhir | |
| 3rd person | nil | -st | -r | |
| singular | plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | exclusive | -en | -enc |
| inclusive | -em | ||
| 2nd person | imperious/familiar | -eg | -eg, -egir |
| formal/polite | -el | -el, -elir | |
| 3rd person | -ed | -ent | |
These are subjective forms used in conjugation. Sindarin used objective detached forms, likedhe (2nd pers. formal/polite singular).[T 27]
Sindarin pronouns could combine with prepositions as inCeltic languages,Welsh:inni "to/for us" fromi 'to/for' andni 'we/us'.[T 28]annin "for/to me".[T 29] The first person singular pronoun suffixes could combine with nouns:Lamm, "tongue" >lammen "my tongue".[19]
Tolkien wrote that Quenya inflections were pretty regular,[T 30] but that "Sindarin verbal history is complicated."[T 31] About-ant, the 3rd person past tense ending of Sindarin, he wrote: "it is rather like that of Medieval Welsh-as, or modern Welsh [3p sing.]-odd." So withteith- "make marks of signs, write, inscribe",teithant is the 3rd person singular past tense.[T 31] Cf. Welshchwaraeodd ef, "he played" (<chwarae 'to play' +-odd andef 'he').-ant is the Welsh 3pplural ending:chwaraeant hwy 'they (will) play'.[20]
Basic verbs form theinfinitive by adding-i:giri fromgir-. This ending causes ana oro in the stem toumlaut toe:blebi fromblab-. The infinitive is not used as a noun;[21] thegerund is used instead.[22]
For all persons except the third person singular, the present tense is formed by the insertion of-i, and the proper enclitic pronominal ending:girin,girim,girir. As with the infinitive,-i causes ana oro in the stem to umlaut toe:pedin,pedim,pedir, frompad-. The third person singular, because it has a zero-ending, does not require the insertion of-i. This leaves the bare stem, which, because of Sindarin's phonological history, causes the vowel of the stem to become long:gîr,blâb,pâd.[23]
The past tense of basic verbs is very complicated and poorly attested. One common reconstructed system is to use-n:darn. However, the only time this-n actually remains is after a stem in-r. After a stem ending in-l,-n becomes-ll:toll. After-b, -d, -g, -v, or-dh, it ismetathesized and thenassimilated to the same place of articulation as the consonant it now precedes. The consonant then experiences what could be called a "backwards mutation":-b, -d, and-g become-p, -t, and-c, and-v and-dh become-m and-d. The matter is complicated even further when pronominal endings are added. Because-mp, -mb, -nt, -nd, and-nc did not survive medially, they become-mm-, -mm-, -nn-, -nn-, and-ng. In addition, past tense stems in-m would have-mm- before any pronominal endings. These examples show the transformations step-by-step:
The future tense is formed by the addition of-tha. An-i is also inserted between the stem and-tha, which again causesa ando to umlaut toe. Endings for all persons except for the first person singular can be added without any further modification:giritham,blebithar. The first person singular ending-n causes the-a in-tha to become-o:girithon,blebithon,pedithon.[24]
The imperative is formed with the addition of-o to the stem:giro!,pado!,blabo!.[25]
As of 2008, about 25,000 Elvish words have been published.[26]
| Meaning | Sindarin | Pronunciation | Quenya equivalent |
|---|---|---|---|
| earth | amar,ceven | [ˈamar][ˈkɛvɛn] | ambar, cemen |
| sky | menel | [ˈmɛnɛl] | menel |
| water | nen | [ˈnɛn] | nén |
| fire | naur | [ˈnaʊ̯r] | nár |
| man (male) | benn | [ˈbɛnː] | nér |
| female | bess | [ˈbɛsː] | nís |
| eat | mad- | [ˈmad] | mat- |
| drink | sog- | [ˈsɔɡ] | suc- |
| big, great | beleg, daer | [ˈbɛlɛɡ][ˈdaɛ̯r] | alta, halla |
| race, tribe | noss | [ˈnɔsː] | nóre |
| night | dû | [ˈduː] | lóme |
| day | aur | [ˈaʊ̯r] | aure,ré |
The lexicons ofGnomish,Noldorin andSindarin lack modern vocabulary (television, motor, etc.).Tolkien fans have extended Sindarin to enable it to be spoken.[27]
According to Tolkien, the elves preferredduodecimal counting (base 12) to theDúnedain'sdecimal system (base 10: Quenyamaquanotië, *quaistanótië), though the two systems seem to have coexisted. The numbers 1–12 are presented below (reconstructed forms are marked with an asterisk *), as well as a few higher numbers.[28]
| Cardinal numbers | Ordinal numbers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sindarin | English | Sindarin | English |
| er, min | one | mein, main, minui | first |
| tad | two | taid, tadui | second |
| neledh | three | neil, nail, nelui | third |
| canad | four | canthui | fourth |
| leben | five | levnui | fifth |
| eneg | six | enchui, enecthui | sixth |
| odo, odog | seven | othui, odothui | seventh |
| tolodh | eight | tollui | eighth |
| neder | nine | nedrui | ninth |
| pae orcaer | ten | paenui orcaenen | tenth |
| minib | eleven | ||
| ýneg | twelve | ||
| *nelphae | thirty | ||
| host | one hundred and forty-four (gross) | ||
| *meneg | thousand | ||
The form *nelchaen (extracted fromnelchaenen) appears in the King's Letter, but at the time the roots for ten wereKAYAN andKAYAR, resulting in Sindarin *caen,caer. This was later changed toKWAYA,KWAY-AM, resulting in Sindarinpae, so that this older form must be updated. The word *meneg is extracted from the nameMenegroth, "the Thousand Caves", although this could technically be a base-12 "thousand" (i.e., 123 or 1,728).[28]
Two magazines—Vinyar Tengwar, from issue 39 (July 1998), andParma Eldalamberon, from issue 11 (1995)—are exclusively devoted to the editing and publishing of Tolkien's gigantic mass of unpublished linguistic papers. These are published at a slow pace and the editors have not published a comprehensive catalogue of these unpublished linguistic papers. Access to the original documents is severely limited asChristopher Tolkien omitted them from his 12-volumeThe History of Middle-earth. Many new-found words of Sindarin, Noldorin and Ilkorin have been published and the grammar rules of these languages disclosed.[29][30]
Attempts byTolkien fans to write in Sindarin began in the 1970s, when the total corpus of published Elvish was only a few hundred words. Since then, usage of Elvish has flourished in poems and texts, phrases and names, and tattoos. But Tolkien himself never intended to make his languages complete enough for conversation; as a result, newly invented Elvish texts, such as dialogue written by the linguistDavid Salo to besung to the musical score forPeter Jackson'sLord of the Rings films, require conjecture and sometimes coinage of new words.[31]
Phonemically it patterns with velars, but phonetically it should be whatever <ch> is inWelsh.
Parma Eldalamberon ... The Book of Elven Tongues ... is a journal of linguistic studies of fantasy literature, especially of the Elvish languages and nomenclature in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.
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