Oh, you ninja'd me!

Elf name help? by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2022-11-14 06:13:44 UTC Reply

I'm planning to rescue/recruit a female Tolkien elf from a badfic I plan to mission, but I don't know how to rename her; I thus call on elvish-aware Boarders to help me out. The only thing to keep in mind about her is that she has dark hair and dark eyes, going of the actress photo used to represent her, and is from Lórien.

What's her personality like? by Neshomeh on 2022-11-14 08:17:52 UTC Reply
Presuming she has enough of one to make her worth recruiting rather than letting her assimilate as a random background character. Basic appearance isn't much to go on.

Still, I had a poke through a Sindarin dictionary for possibilities suggesting dark eyes, which I guess might be moderately unusual among Sylvan and Sindar elves. Following the example of lachenn (flame-eyed) and combining with the term hend (plural hind) for eye(s):
- with ael or loeg (pool/lake) - Aelhenn or Loechenn
- with ang (iron) - Anghenn
- with cýron (new moon) - Hingýron
For the last one I put the "eyes" element first (and pluralized it) because it just works better that way, IMO, but you can always switch the order of elements in a name (always following the rules). That one happens to be my favorite, though. "Eyes of the new moon," very poetic!

But, hS is really the expert around here, so wait and see what he has to say before you make up your mind. ^_^

~Neshomeh just tries for fun.

Poking at those names a bit. by Huinesoron on 2022-11-14 23:06:47 UTC Reply

I don't think you can just create Xh digraphs like that. "hen" mutates to "chen" as the second element in a compound, and Ael+chen =/= Aelhen(n).

Some examples indicate that a lot of the time, h simply stays as h even in compounds; I don't think the Sindar liked medial Ch very much! But LH is a different phoneme (it's actually Welsh LL), so I think your names would go:

Aellen & Loechen

Anchenn

... well, Hingýron, but that looks wrong, so I would prefer Hingeron or Hengiron.

A lot of this is just personal "feel" for how the language should look/sound, so take it with a gallon of salt. Apparently I get quite mystical about Sindarin these days.

hS

Yeah, I think you're right about CH. by Neshomeh on 2022-11-14 23:53:33 UTC Reply

My guide tells me if the first letters in the second word or the last letters of the first word in a compound are CH, they become H.

But if the first letter in the second word is H, it becomes CH after a vowel, hence lacha + hend = lachenn.

None of my first words end in a vowel, though, so I only ran into a medial CH with loeg mutating to loech (and ang -> anch, whoops) before the H. And obviously we couldn't end up with Loechhenn (or Anchhenn), so dropping an H just makes sense. And I agree with dropping it in Aellen, too; much nicer, IMO. And I guess you didn't retain the double-N in that case because it would be a bit much after a double-L?

I did wonder if ý might actually shorten to u, giving Hinguron or Henguron? Sindarin y is pronounced a bit like German ü, right?

~Neshomeh

Yes hello it's me yes hi! by Huinesoron on 2022-11-14 07:29:24 UTC Reply

So: Lorien elf means she will be named in Sindarin, which is a relief; if she was from Mirkwood there's a good chance her name would be in the poorly-known Silvan tongue.

I can think of five named, non-ruling Lorien elves to go off: Haldir, Rumil, Orophin, Nimrodel, and Mithrellas. The first three are brothers; interestingly, Rumil is named after a Valinorean sage, while Haldir is named after a mortal chieftain of the Haladin. Unless she's explicitly a sister of those three, it's probably best to avoid reused names.

Nimrodel means "White-Cave-Lady"; Mithrellas could mean "grey-leaf". A colour-forest feature name would be appropriate. I would avoid Mith- (white) , Morn- (black), and Celeb- (silver), but Nim- (white), Gwath- (shaded), Tin- (sparkling, like stars), or even the likes of Luin- (blue), Baran- (brown), Russ- (copper), Carn- (red)... any of those strike your fancy? If the agents are naming her, they might pick a description for where they first met her, or a situation they saw her in; if you suggest a few possibilities in English I can see what I can do.

hS

More info coming up: by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2022-11-14 09:41:11 UTC Edited Reply

Her original name is Quessangіel Erulasse, which sounds rather silly (and appears to be a weird mashup of Quenya and Sindarin). She, along with another elleth named Cowne Idril (ain't even commenting on this one ~~but for real tho, why is she named after Turgon's daughter?~~; she shows up after the point I end the mission, though this may change. In case I change my mind, she is blonde with either grey or dark eyes) are loyal yes-man handmaidens (rather like a succulent little peach we know somewhere…) to the Sue. Quessangіel, Cowne and the Sue (who is yet another Celebrían replacer, but it's a story for another time) all tag along with the Fellowship, so we have on our hands not a Tenth, but a Tenth, Eleventh and Twelfth Walkers situation.

P.S: The fic was the first in the LotR section in the unclaimed list, and was a returned fic. If the original claimer wishes to claim it again, disregard everything above this addendum.

P.P.S: My memories of LotR is kind of rusty, but the fic has Lórien suddenly attacked by orcs when the Fellowship stop there. I don't remember such event happening in the books, and I haven't seen the movies.

Oof, that name. by Huinesoron on 2022-11-14 16:55:50 UTC Reply

It could be Quesse-sanga-iel, "Feather-pressure-maid" ("Featherweight"?), or possibly Quesse-sangie-el "Feather-Necessity-elf", or even Quesse-anga-iel "Feather-iron-maiden". None of those are great. ^_^ Eru-lasse is a hugely taboo way of saying "leaf of The One". I think it's all straight Quenya.

If the agents were feeling nice, they could keep (and translate) an element of her original name. There's no Sindarin form of "feather", but "wing" might serve; so perhaps something like Raw+(G)wath = Rawath/Rowath, "wing-shadow"? Tin + lais = Tillais, "sparkling leaves" is quite nice too. Nim + ang + iel = Nimangiel "White iron maiden" is doable, but probably a bit long, and the alternate form "Nimangel" has, uh, connotations.

Cowne is interesting, because it's clearly a tidier form of "Conwe", and probably means "Chief". But it's weird because it would be a Sindarin name which looks exactly like an early, Cuivienen-era Quenya name! If I were a snarky PPC agent, I might call her Glorechil, "golden follower" - she ain't no chief.

Or just call her Idril. Haldir and Rumil are doing the same thing, and Celeborn's named after a flippin' tree.

hS

Tillais it is by Kі nо Shirayuki on 2022-11-15 08:34:56 UTC Reply

Thanks for the help! (gives poppy seed scone)

Oh, you ninja'd me! by Neshomeh on 2022-11-14 08:21:42 UTC Reply

I didn't think you'd be awake yet. ... And maybe you weren't when I started my post. I shouldn't be awake still. Whoops. >.>

~Neshomeh