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 astronomically absurd business of the making of the Sun and
Over the years, I’ve translated dog commands for a few people, so I’ve decided to make it a short article for all you nerdy dog trainers. Before I started translating, I looked up some research on what exactly dogs hear when we speak. Turns out that what they hear best
Rachel, your name is really cool! It means “ewe” in Hebrew. Sindarin Sindarin doesn’t have a word for “sheep.” We have two options here: Use a less precise word for an animal: Lavan. Coin a new word, based on the Quenya word and the ancient root it was based on,
Timothy, your name is really cool! It’s an Ancient Greek name that means “Honour God.” The “Honour” part is a verb, so we’ll make that into an agental noun (honourer/one who honours) to make it fit with Elven name-structures. The Theos part here is referring to the Christian god, so
Lynn, your name is really cool! It has a ton of different sources. It could be another version of Linda. It could be derived from surnames that were based in place names, like Lyn (from Llyn – lake), Lynn (from Linn – pool under a waterfall), and Lynn (from Lean
Julia, your name is really cool! It’s an ancient Roman family name meaning “Descended from Jupiter.” Because it was a family name, Julia and Julius were considered to be the same name, and I’ve included masculine versions. This is a name within a name, so we’ll take three approaches to
Michael, your name is so cool! It’s a rhetorical question, “Who is like El Elyon?” When it comes to translating this name, we have a huge problem. This name isn’t translatable. Not directly, anyways. Elven names aren’t made from sentences. They’re made by combining nouns, adjectives, and name suffixes. Worse
Christopher, your name is really cool! It’s an ancient Greek name, describing and therefore naming a Saint, one who carried baby Christ across water. It literally means “Christ-bearing.” Tolkien liked this name, and gave the name to his son who went on to make sure the world knew the true
Melissa, your name is really cool! And cute. It means “honeybee.” We find it in Greek Mythology as the name of the Nymph who saved and raised Zeus, and it has changed little from antiquity. I also happen to really love how this name sounds, but I’m a weirdo linguist,
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