To my elven speaking cohorts...

[afro-elf]

My real first name in Celtic means

Great one


my Middle name means

one from the gray elven fortress


what would they be in elven?

[Elvellon]

Well, I’m no linguist, and my knowledge of the elven languages is very limited, nevertheless I will make one attempt in Sindarin:
Aradir (Noble Man)
Mithostion (Son of the Grey Fortress)

Btw, perhaps Afro- Elf could be translated as Haredhel (Southern Elf)

[afro-elf]

Thanks

as for afro-elf


i was first offered rhosgowellen something like that by wayfarer

it means something like curly haired elf

but the afro has more to do with color than hair style

so I use baranavair


meaning brown elf

[Elvellon]

You’re wellcome

[Ñólendil]

In Quenya "alta" means "great, large in size". I'm sure there are other senses of "great". In one sense is it in your name? What is your name? Altamo would produce "Great one". "Curumo" is sometimes translated "Cunning (one)".

"One from the grey Elven fortress" is far more difficult, what ever the case. Osto is "city, town with wall round". Maybe Sindostion, but that's just a guess.

[afro-elf]

am a tad loathe to post my real name here

I'll PM it to you


aradir sindostion



does DIR mean man as in human or man as in male?

[Elvellon]

Dîr implies the name is masculine, it can be used by elves , humans, etc.

[afro-elf]

excellent

i'll use if for my character's name when the decipher LOTR game comes out

[Starr Polish]

Alta means great? I can see where he was possibly inspired by Spanish (alto/a means tall in Spanish)

[Elvellon]

Originally posted by Starr Polish
Alta means great? I can see where he was possibly inspired by Spanish (alto/a means tall in Spanish)

true, also, it can be found in Portuguese with the same meaning.
I suppose its direct origin is Latin, a language Tolkien knew well.

[Starr Polish]

Portugues and Spanish are incredibly similar, more so than Spanish and Italian.

Spanish: Voy el parque.
Italian: Vado al parque (or something like that)
Translated : I go to the park.

Spanish: Mas que nada.
Portuguese: Mas que nada.
Translated: Much of nothing.

[Elvellon]

Originally posted by Starr Polish
Portugues and Spanish are incredibly similar, more so than Spanish and Italian.

Spanish: Voy el parque.
Italian: Vado al parque (or something like that)
Translated : I go to the park.

Spanish: Mas que nada.
Portuguese: Mas que nada.
Translated: Much of nothing.

It is true Portuguese and Spanish are very similar, and, actually, Portuguese is the Romanic language that shows closer similarities with the majority of the other Romanic languages. Something to do with the fact that it is, in many ways, closer to the original Low Latin (the origin of modern Romanic languages).


This is a little table about the similarities of Romanic languages I took from a book, hope you find it interesting.

% _________Italian__French__Spanish__Portuguese
Italian________100____81______82________ 84
French_________81 ___100______72________ 74
Spanish________82 ____72_____100________ 93
Portuguese_____84 ____74______93________100
Romanian ______76 ____67______75________ 77

%___________Romanian__Average
Italian____________76____84,6
French____________67____78,8
Spanish___________75____84,4
Portuguese________77____85,6
Romanian________100____79,0


Btw “Mas que nada” in Portuguese actually means “what a nothing” and, as far as I know, is not used as an idiomatic expression.

To say “More of Nothing” you would say “Mais de nada” but, as I said, I never heard it used as an idiomatic expression.

To say, “I go to the park”, you would say “eu vou ao jardim”
And to say “Frodo lives” you would say “Viva Frodo!”


In a related topic, It is quite probable that Tolkien inspired himself in the evolution of Romanic languages from the original Latin to create the evolution of Sindarin in several dialects, so this table might give as an idea about how close this dialects were.

Perhaps languages like French and Romanian can give us an idea how much human Sindarin dialects were different from classical Sindarin. While Portuguese-Spanish-Italian can give us an idea about this divergence in local elvish Sindarin dialects.

[afro-elf]

that was cool

[Ñólendil]

Afro-elf, Aradîr is Sindarin and would clash with a name in Quenya. Actually I think Aradîr is a mix of Sindarin and Quenya, genuined Grey-elven might have Ardîr. The form in Quenya would be Araner "Nobleman", though the proper word in Quenya for "a noble" is Arquen.

I am sending you a Private Message about your name.

[Elvellon]

Originally posted by Ñólendil
Actually I think Aradîr is a mix of Sindarin and Quenya, genuined Grey-elven might have Ardîr.

It is quite possible you are right Ñolendil, but what about other, well known, Sindarin names:
Aragorn, Araval, Araphant, Araphor, etc.

They seem to indicate that the use of ara- is as accepted as ar-
(The root is, of course Aran) anyway, as I said, I’m no linguist, so it is just my opinion.

[Ñólendil]

Oh I'm less of a linguist than you, I suspect. Especially as far as Sindarin is concerned. I am far more interested in Quenya.

[Elvellon]

Originally posted by Ñólendil
Oh I'm less of a linguist than you, I suspect. Especially as far as Sindarin is concerned. I am far more interested in Quenya.

I wish.

My knowledge of elvish languages is really quite limited, you, on the other hand, have demonstrated a really good knowledge of Quenya (and I bet your Sindarin is good too)

[afro-elf]

here's an even harder one



what about


the lord of typos

[Elvellon]

Afro-elf, you know how to make things difficult.

Anyway here it goes, my Sindarin attempt:

Hîr Teithodelebon (Lord of the Most Abominable Writing)

I’m far from sure about this one, I have just started to study Sindarin grammar and, on top of it, I don’t have the time right now to confirm my choices, so it is quite possible I got it wrong (but it was a good exercise nevertheless).

Ps: Hîr Teithodelebon, I think I could use this one myself

[afro-elf]

Hîr Teithodelebon (Lord of the Most Abominable Writing)

I love it