The Lord of the Rings Omnibus (1-3) (163 page)

In the following examples the stressed vowel is marked by a capital letter:
isIldur, Orome, erEssëa, fËanor, ancAlima, elentÁri, dEnethor, periAnnath, ecthElion, pelArgir, silIvren.
Words of the type
elentÁri
‘star-queen’ seldom occur in Quenya where the vowel is
é, á, ó,
unless (as in this case) they are compounds; they are commoner with the vowels
í, ú,
as
andÚne
‘sunset, west’.

They do not occur in Sindarin except in compounds. Note that Sindarin
dh, th, ch
are single consonants and represent single letters in the original scripts.

NOTE

In names drawn from other languages than Eldarin the same values for the letters are intended, where not specially described above, except in the case of Dwarvish. In Dwarvish, which did not possess the sounds represented above by
th
and
ch (kh), th
and
kh
are aspirates, that is
t
or
k
followed by an
h,
more or less as in
backhand, outhouse.

Where
z
occurs the sound intended is that of English
z. gh
in the Black Speech and Orkish represents a ‘back spirant’ (related to
g
as
dh
to
d):
as in
ghâsh
and
agh.

The ‘outer’ or Mannish names of the Dwarves have been given Northern forms, but the letter-values are those described. So also in the case of the personal and place-names of Rohan (where they have not been modernized), except that here
éa
and
éo
are diphthongs, which may be represented by the
ea
of English
bear,
and the
eo
of
Theobald; y
is the modified
u
. The modernized forms are easily recognized and are intended to be pronounced as in English. They are mostly place-names: as Dunharrow (for
Dúnharg),
except Shadowfax and Wormtongue.

II
WRITING

The scripts and letters used in the Third Age were all ultimately of Eldarin origin, and already at that time of great antiquity. They had reached the stage of full alphabetic development, but older modes in which only the consonants were denoted by full letters were still in use.

The alphabets were of two main, and in origin independent, kinds: the
Tengwar
or
Tîw,
here translated as ‘letters’; and the
Certar
or
Cirth,
translated as ‘runes’. The
Tengwar
were devised for writing with brush or pen, and the squared forms of inscriptions were in their case derivative from the written forms. The
Certar
were devised and mostly used only for scratched or incised inscriptions.

The
Tengwar
were the more ancient; for they had been developed by the Noldor, the kindred of the Eldar most skilled in such matters, long before their exile. The oldest Eldarin letters, the Tengwar of Rúmil, were not used in Middle-earth. The later letters, the Tengwar of Fëanor, were largely a new invention, though they owed something to the letters of Rúmil. They were brought to Middle-earth by the exiled Noldor, and so became known to the Edain and Númenóreans. In the Third Age their use had spread over much the same area as that in which the Common Speech was known.

The Cirth were devised first in Beleriand by the Sindar, and were long used only for inscribing names and brief memorials upon wood or stone. To that origin they owe their angular shapes, very similar to the runes of our times, though they differed from these in details and were wholly different in arrangement. The Cirth in their older and simpler form spread eastward in the Second Age, and became known to many peoples, to Men and Dwarves, and even to Orcs, all of whom altered them to suit their purposes and according to their skill or lack of it. One such simple form was still used by the Men of Dale, and a similar one by the Rohirrim.

But in Beleriand, before the end of the First Age, the Cirth, partly under the influence of the Tengwar of the Noldor, were rearranged and further developed. Their richest and most ordered form was known as the Alphabet of Daeron, since in Elvish tradition it was said to have been devised by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath. Among the Eldar the Alphabet of Daeron did not develop true cursive forms, since for writing the Elves adopted the Fëanorian letters. The Elves of the West indeed for the most part gave up the use of runes altogether. In the country of Eregion, however, the Alphabet of Daeron was maintained in use and passed thence to Moria, where it became the alphabet most favoured by the Dwarves. It remained ever after in use among them and passed with them to the North. Hence in later times it was often called
Angerthas Moria
or the Long Rune-rows of Moria. As with their speech the Dwarves made use of such scripts as were current and many wrote the Fëanorian letters skilfully; but for their own tongue they adhered to the Cirth, and developed written pen-forms from them.

(i)
THE FÉANORIAN LETTERS

The table shows, in formal book-hand shape, all the letters that were commonly used in the West-lands in the Third Age. The arrangement is the one most usual at the time, and the one in which the letters were then usually recited by name.

This script was not in origin an ‘alphabet’: that is, a haphazard series of letters, each with an independent value of its own, recited in a traditional order that has no reference either to their shapes or to their functions.
1
It was, rather, a system of consonantal signs, of similar shapes and style, which could be adapted at choice or convenience to represent the consonants of languages observed (or devised) by the Eldar. None of the letters had in itself a fixed value; but certain relations between them were gradually recognized.

The system contained twenty-four primary letters, 1-24, arranged in four
témar
(series), each of which had six
tyeller
(grades). There were also ‘additional letters’, of which 25-36 are examples. Of these 27 and 29 are the only strictly independent letters; the remainder are modifications of other letters. There was also a number of
tehtar
(signs) of varied uses. These do not appear in the table.
2

The
primary letters
were each formed of a
telco
(stem) and a
lúva
(bow).

THE TENGWAR

The forms seen in 1–4 were regarded as normal. The stem could be raised, as in 9-16; or reduced, as in 17–24. The bow could be open, as in Series I and III; or closed, as in II and IV; and in either case it could be doubled, as e.g. in 5–8.

The theoretic freedom of application had in the Third Age been modified by custom to this extent that Series I was generally applied to the dental or
t
-series
(tincotéma),
and II to the labials or
p
-series
(parmatéma).
The application of Series III and IV varied according to the requirements of different languages.

In languages like the Westron, which made much use of consonants
1
such as our
ch, j, sh,
Series III was usually applied to these; in which case Series IV was applied to the normal
k
-series
(calmatéma).
In Quenya, which possessed besides the
calmatéma
both a palatal series
(tyelpetéma)
and a labialized series
(quessetéma),
the palatals were represented by a Fëanorian diacritic denoting ‘following
y’
(usually two underposed dots), while Series IV was a
kw
-series.

Within these general applications the following relations were also commonly observed. The normal letters, Grade 1, were applied to the ‘voiceless stops’:
t, p, k,
etc. The doubling of the bow indicated the addition of’ voice’: thus if 1, 2, 3, 4=
t
,
p, ch, k
(or
t, p, k, kw)
then 5, 6, 7,
S=d, b, j, g
(or
d, b, g, gw).
The raising of the stem indicated the opening of the consonant to a ‘spirant’: thus assuming the above values for Grade 1, Grade 3 (9-12)=
th
,
f
,
sh, ch
(or
th, f, kh, khw/hw),
and Grade 4 (13-16)=
dh
,
v, zh, gh
(or
dh, v, gh, ghw/w).

The original Fëanorian system also possessed a grade with extended stems, both above and below the line. These usually represented aspirated consonants (e.g.
t+h, p+h, k+h),
but might represent other consonantal variations required. They were not needed in the languages of the Third Age that used this script; but the extended forms were much used as variants (more clearly distinguished from Grade 1) of Grades 3 and 4.

Grade 5 (17-20) was usually applied to the nasal consonants: thus 17 and 18 were the most common signs for
n
and
m.
According to the principle observed above, Grade 6 should then have represented the voiceless nasals; but since such sounds (exemplified by Welsh
nh
or ancient English
hn)
were of very rare occurrence in the languages concerned, Grade 6 (21-24) was most often used for the weakest or ‘semi-vocalic’ consonants of each series. It consisted of the smallest and simplest shapes among the primary letters. Thus 21 was often used for a weak (untrilled)
r
, originally occurring in Quenya and regarded in the system of that language as the weakest consonant of the
tincotéma;
22 was widely used for
w;
where Series III was used as a palatal series 23 was commonly used as consonantal
y.
2

Since some of the consonants of Grade 4 tended to become weaker in pronunciation, and to approach or to merge with those of Grade 6 (as described above), many of the latter ceased to have a clear function in the Eldarin languages; and it was from these letters that the letters expressing vowels were largely derived.

NOTE

The standard spelling of Quenya diverged from the applications of the letters above described. Grade 2 was used for
nd, mb, ng, ngw,
all of which were frequent, since
b, g, gw
only appeared in these combinations, while for
rd, ld
the special letters 26, 28 were used. (For
lv,
not for
lw,
many speakers, especially Elves, used
lb:
this was written with 27+6, since
lmb
could not occur.) Similarly, Grade 4 was used for the extremely frequent combinations
nt, mp, nk, nqu,
since Quenya did not possess
dh, gh, ghw,
and for
v
used letter 22. See the Quenya letter-names pp.
1122–3
.

The additional letters.
No. 27 was universally used for
l.
No. 25 (in origin a modification of 21) was used for ‘full’ trilled
r
. Nos. 26, 28 were modifications of these. They were frequently used for voiceless
r (rh)
and
l (lh)
respectively. But in Quenya they were used for
rd
and
ld.
29 represented
s,
and 31 (with doubled curl)
z
in those languages that required it. The inverted forms, 30 and 32, though available for use as separate signs, were mostly used as mere variants of 29 and 31, according to the convenience of writing, e.g. they were much used when accompanied by superimposed
tehtar.

No. 33 was in origin a variation representing some (weaker) variety of 11; its most frequent use in the Third Age was
h.
34 was mostly used (if at all) for voiceless
w (hw).
35 and 36 were, when used as consonants, mostly applied to
y
and
w
respectively.

The vowels
were in many modes represented by
tehtar,
usually set above a consonantal letter. In languages such as Quenya, in which most words ended in a vowel, the
tehta
was placed above the preceding consonant; in those such as Sindarin, in which most words ended in a consonant, it was placed above the following consonant. When there was no consonant present in the required position, the
tehta
was placed above the ‘short carrier’, of which a common form was like an undotted i. The actual
tehtar
used in different languages for vowel-signs were numerous. The commonest, usually applied to (varieties of)
e, i, a, o, u
, are exhibited in the examples given. The three dots, most usual in formal writing for
a,
were variously written in quicker styles, a form like a circumflex being often employed.
1
The single dot and the ‘acute accent’ were frequently used for
i
and
e
(but in some modes for
e
and
i
). The curls were used for
o
and
u
. In the Ring-inscription the curl open to the right is used for
u
; but on the title-page this stands for
o,
and the curl open to the left for
u
. The curl to the right was favoured, and the application depended on the language concerned: in the Black Speech
o
was rare.