Subject: Thank you so much!
Author:
Posted on: 2021-10-03 17:08:26 UTC
I shall think this over for a while longer - like I said, I want to be sure that I can commit to having something tattooed on me before I actually do it -, but if I do get this tattoo, I think I know which version I would go with. You have been very helpful. And you also made me chuckle with "Gondoculus", so thanks for that too. :)
So... I'm reading all three volumes of Lord of the Rings in one go for the first time (I've read volumes individually, read fragments, saw the movies, browsed the Wiki and so on, but never read the entire story in one go), and the urge to get a Middle-earth themed tattoo is getting overwhelming. Obviously I'm going to think it over for a month or two before I run to the tattoo parlor, but LotR is one of the two franchises whose themes and world mean so much to me that I want to commemorate that meaning somehow. What I was thinking of was "Hope" in Sindarin, written in Tengwar - bit basic, maybe, but hope and courage in a dark world is one of the themes of this story that really stuck with me, especially with Current Events going on. Now, since my knowledge of Middle-earth languages and especially writing is a lot, lot less than I'd like, I'm asking you folks to help me out a little and tell me what that would look/sound like. A friend (and the Sindarin dictionary I usually use) tells me that 'estel' is the word I'm looking for, and as far as I remember my canon I'm inclined to agree, but can anyone show me what that would look like in Tengwar?
~Oculus, with very sore eyes because he read 200 pages of Fellowship today instead of the planned 20
So! There are two Sindarin words for hope: "amdir" is the word for hope based on logic or observation (eg "it's really warm this morning, I hope that means it won't rain"), but you're quite right to use "estel", which is hope based more on faith (not specifically in a divine power, though!). It was also adopted into Quenya, which is handy - means you don't have to worry about translations.
How it looks is a slightly complicated question. The Tengwar are an alphabet, and like the Latin or Cyrillic alphabets, the letters can be used in different ways. In Tengwar this manifests as different ways of showing vowels, and there's three possibilities: like a Sindarin speaker, like a Quenya speaker, or like a Westron speaker, eg a Hobbit.
There are also multiple fonts available. I'm using Tecendil, which does a good job (avoid the English mode, because it mucks up the S). Some options for the text:
Honestly, I think the top left version looks best, but you can pick your own. :) The bottom row is roughly how I'd hand-write it. The middle row suffers because the Sindarin version looks like it's supposed to say "9pt" - nine points for what??
hS
I shall think this over for a while longer - like I said, I want to be sure that I can commit to having something tattooed on me before I actually do it -, but if I do get this tattoo, I think I know which version I would go with. You have been very helpful. And you also made me chuckle with "Gondoculus", so thanks for that too. :)
LotR absolutely benefits from rereading. I have done so many times, and as well as taking comfort from the familiar themes, I have always found something new to appreciate in it as I've grown and changed.
I'll leave the language/script question to resident most-expert hS. {= )
~Neshomeh
I agree with you about rereading Lord of the Rings. I read this book now with very different eyes than I would have just two years ago, when I first wandered into the Tolkien fandom.
Actually, funny thing, it was the PPC that made me want to check out Lord of the Rings first, so I would understand the context for TOS. And, well, here I am. :) I have a lot to thank you folks for, and discovering Middle-earth is just one of them. These days I often find myself thinking of "All that we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us". It's a very comforting thought.
... one of Aragorn's many names.