Here is another exploration of Eldarin words, this time “father/mother, son/daughter, sister/brother” “Father” is dead easy. The words Q. atar, S. adar from the root √ATAR were established early on and Tolkien used them pretty consistently. “Mother” is trickier. Tolkien established √AM as the root for “mother” very early on
Sindarin
Elvish Roots – Consonants
If we really want to understand Primitive Elvish roots, we first need to understand what sounds were used in the Primitive Elvish language. Tolkien like to arrange his sound systems into tables of “series” and “grades”. The series were organized in columns by the area in the mouth where the
Elvish Roots – Man and Woman
This post is an exploration of the conflux of Eldarin words having to do “man/woman, husband/wife, bride/groom”. In Quenya, I think Q. nér “man” is quite well established, and Q. nís/nisse “woman” also well attested. I can’t imagine using anything else. These words point to the roots √N(D)ER and √N(D)I(S)
Elvish Roots – An Introduction
Fiona has asked me to update my writings on primitive Elvish roots and repost them on her site, something I am happy to do. This post is an introduction to that material for those unfamiliar with it. Since I don’t know who will be reading this, I’d first like to
Fragile Mortality
Some of you may know this already, but last Saint Nicolas’ Day, my grandfather died. We were quite close. He was a brilliant anthropologist and quite gifted at learning languages. If you want to know more about him, do a search on Frank Bessac. I miss him terribly, to the
Dirty Words
As some of you may know, my website was kicked offline last month because it apparently had run out of bandwidth. To set the record straight: No it hadn’t run out of bandwidth. There was a problem with the server’s ability to tally the usage of my website, making it
Lessons
Hey everyone! I have several updates to report. First, I’ve started work on Sindarin Lessons. The lessons have forced me to rethink out the language, so I’ve changed my mind yet again on the Sindarin Pronoun system. I need people willing to be guinea pigs to take the lessons and
Changes
Yes, more back-posting. This is the date that my grandfather died, and sent me whirling into depression for an entire year. It was one week before finals. It was during the spring, when I was beginning to flounder, when I started work on Your Sindarin Textbook. As I struggled to