A PDF version of the article can be found here. It is well-known that in the late 1950s Tolkien made an attempt to revise the cosmology of his imaginary world in order to make it more realistic and scientifically credible than, as he put it, “the Flat Earth and the
Dennis, your name is really cool! It’s an ancient Greek name that means “the Zeus of Nysa.” Nysa was a forested land of nymphs where Dionysios was raised. Zeus was his father, which is why he was named after him, much the way that Finwë’s descendants include “Fin” in their
Steven, your name is really cool! It’s an ancient Greek name meaning “Crown, Garland.” Sindarin The Sindarin word for “crown, garland” is Rî. On its own it’s gender-neutral, and to make it gendered, we add feminine and masculine name suffixes. Masculine: Ríon. Feminine: Ríeth or Ríel. Now, as a name
Henry, your name is really cool! It’s an old Germanic name meaning “Home King,” and fittingly, it’s been the name of many, many, many kings. And probably a few queens as well, since this name has plenty of feminine versions, like Henrietta and Harriette. Quenya The word for “home” in
Jennifer, your name is really cool. It’s a cognate of an Irish goddess’s name, known as Findabair. Or Finnabair. Or Fionnabhair. It’s a lovely name with a long history, likely reaching back to Proto-Celtic languages. It’s most likely a compound of “Gwindos – White” and “Sēbarā – Spirit/Fairy/Phantom.” Sindarin Sindarin
You may have noticed some changes around here. You may want to know why and what’s been happening. Basically, since I published my “Write like an Elf” workbooks, I have been addressing some legal issues. Some of my services, including my transliterations, have been hindered. I’m trying to adjust my
Listen to the original song The Willow Maid Original song by Kate Covington AKA Erutan Translation into Sindarin by Fiona Jallings Dîr ‘wain padras drî i dawar na *philinn în a gû farad. Lastas neth ‘wain linnol ar aphadas i lind athan. Ennas *ichir i ‘wend i dhortha ned i
Have you ever seen someone unfamiliar with the Latin alphabet trying to write it? It can end up pretty awkward and hard to read, even if they are a great artist. They just don’t know how to differentiate the symbols from each other, where they can elaborate, or even how