Subject: Elven Names
Author:
Posted on: 2013-10-22 19:10:00 UTC
Is there an internet source (or a really cheap book) that explains hows to make Elven names in LOTR, and by working backwards allows someone (e.g me) to work out whether a name given to a LOTR elf in a fic is actually an LOTR elven name or just something they think sounds cool?
Thanks
Storme Hawk
The problem is, there are lots of ways to make names. Leaving aside the question of whether the character should be named in Quenya, Sindarin, or Sindarin-accented Quenya - or, indeed, Telerin, Doriathrin Sindarin, or Nandorin - you have the fact that the traditional Internet 'slam two words together' method, while making technically valid names (sometimes), doesn't cover all the ways you can make names. Check out my mini-discourse on the name 'Eredan' for some of the complexities.
My general method is to check whether a name:
1/ Has the right letters, clusters, and general structure for the language it should be - so no, Sindarin named don't have terminal -es, and Quenya names don't finish in -n (usually).
2/ Can be made to be a combination of two or more words from the language in question. Elven names mean things.
3/ Don't mean something stupid.
Oh, and 0/ Aren't just random words from the languages. 'Aniron Sauron', anyone?
hS
...Where did you learn the words and their meanings? I've been interested in LOTR for ages now but I haven't got any sort of grip on the Elvish languages (to be fair, most of that time I've been interested in the Rohirrim/Eotheod)
http://www.realelvish.net/namelists.php
I keep this one bookmarked. It's not quite as good as the one hS linked, but it's a fairly good one. I've relied on it for a while.
Ardalambion! Featuring both Quenya and Sindarin (search the front page for 'Parviphith Edhellen') wordlists, as well as a marvellous Quenya course if you have the time/inclination. If you don't, it also has individual pages on each language. It can get a bit technical - especially if you look at Sindarin, with the delights of consonant mutation - but it's pretty cool.
hS
The Vala Oromë is also known as Aldaron, Lord of the Forests. Is that a nickname (moniker) and therefore exempt from the rule for Quenya you've called attention to, or just an unusual name?
The 'lordly' ending in Quenya, from all I can tell, is -on. It's one of the only non-vowel, non-r Quenya endings I know of, and I can't think of a whole lot of uses of it. Aldaron, as you say, but even the Sindarin names like Fingon and Turgon are actually from Findekano and Turukano. Soron, 'eagle', has the same -n (and I guess derives from something like súrë-on, 'Wind-Lord').
Actually, -n can also be the ending for 'I', or -on can be (apparently) the genitive plural. But yeah, Quenya doesn't end in consonants too often... on the Quenya Reverse Wordlist, of the 77 pages:
-25 are words that end in -a
-20 are words ending in -e
-2 are words ending in -i (but a lot of plurals use this)
-5 ending in -o
-9 end in -r
-And the remaining 16 pages cover the other 21 letters of the alphabet (all right, Quenya lacks the letter B, but still...)
Yeah... Quenya likes certain letters.
hS
PS: Also, according to the Encyclopedia of Arda, Christopher Tolkien has since said that 'Aldaron' was an outdated word he shouldn't have put in the published Silmarillion. So there's that. ~hS