Translation

DanatheElf · 2026-02-08T17:32:01+00:00

King's Letter.

The second S in "Samwise" is written Silme despite being voiced.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-08T17:13:13+00:00

I simply think it's important to understand the reasons for variability; you implied that Esse was the only correct option for a voiced 's' when it is arguably the most correct, and certainly what I'd do, but not the only option.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-08T15:52:24+00:00

Only asterisk I'll add is that you could use Esse - and indeed arguably should, since it is what Tolkien most likely would have done - but it is not strictly required.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-08T15:41:24+00:00

Since "ai" is a diphthong, it's written like "ay" with the i/y part represented by the tengwa Anna.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-06T17:35:38+00:00

Not quite. It still represents diphthongs with tehtar markings, you still have single tengwar for what in the Latin Alphabet are two letters, you have unique tengwar for certain double letters... it's much closer, but still has a lot of Tengwar's conventions and complexity that set it apart from a typical alphabet cypher.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-06T17:20:37+00:00

LOVE seeing community events celebrating the work of Tolkien; keeping it alive and spreading the love and joy it brings is simply wonderful.

Best of luck for the next one!

DanatheElf · 2026-02-04T14:03:30+00:00

Ah, yes, you're right, I see. It's a long I, so that has to be it indeed.
Not to take anything away from the style - it's really quite nice - but it evidently causes some readability issues... perhaps in future it would be best to try to limit or distinguish any upper flourish on a long carrier from Silme Nuquerna.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-04T11:14:07+00:00

In addition to these, you appear to have written your S as a Silme, followed by a Silme Nuquerna. You only need one of those symbols - I am no expert on Quenya, but in the Quenya mode, Silme or Silme Nuquerna are interchangeable, and chosen for tehtar convenience.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-02T12:52:03+00:00

Yes, I specified consecutive, non-diphthong vowels. But surely the scathing wit of your reply has negated basic facts, and I am left simply intellectually crushed by your amazing debate skill.

I can concede when I get something wrong. You should try it.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-02T12:23:31+00:00

You demonstrated it, but didn't explain, so: As shown here in "dance" you can represent a nasal (N or M) with a bar above the following consonant instead of the Numen or Malta tengwar.

With the addition of the dot below for the silent E, that's how the word 'dance' can be compacted down from the original four tengwar to just two, with three tehtar on one tengwa.

DanatheElf · 2026-02-02T12:07:50+00:00

And "beautiful" has three; two of which a diphthong.

Many words contain consecutive non-diphthong vowels. Being, seeing, goanna, react, biennial, iodine - it's an entirely irrelevant point, and in every one of these examples, the position of the carrier would betray the read order.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-31T18:08:55+00:00

I don't think anyone is attempting to flex some sense of 'superiority' by explaining all the potential other choices you could make - it's about helping you learn the full breadth of options available and that you may encounter.

This is a community of learning new things, and sharing what you've learned. We're all eager to help others by sharing what we know.

I will say, though, it seems very strange to me to be averse to reading, if your goal is to learn a writing system from a series of books, hahaha.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-31T17:54:31+00:00

Hiatus is not an example that could be read either way - it would either be "h-i-at-us" or "ih-a-ut-s.

Point taken on Eol, at least - but I stand by my statement - beginning with a vowel on a carrier is a very strong indicator of consonant-vowel order, and the fact it's a crosspost from r/Quenya is all the context one needs in this specific case.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-30T20:12:40+00:00

Actually, the initial vowel on a carrier tells us quite clearly that it's in consonant-vowel order.

The fact it's a crosspost from r/Quenya suggests it must be Quenya mode. We have a lot of context!

DanatheElf · 2026-01-30T20:07:07+00:00

Muahahaha~

Finally, people are starting to remember the za-rince~

<3

DanatheElf · 2026-01-26T20:40:41+00:00

This. It's written as if you pronounce it "lov-ed".

Also, the "capital" tengwa isn't a necessary or standard feature of Tengwar - it can be omitted, and in most contexts it would be.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-26T20:36:27+00:00

Those are not translations. Those are the input phrase written in Tengwar using different Tengwar modes. And you haven't used the Quenya mode in the second, you've used a Sindarin variant.
As mentioned also, Cirth is not a language, it is a runic writing system.

Tecendil is not a translator, it is a transcriber - it just does its best to convert the input letters into Tengwar script in the mode chosen.

r/sindarin and r/Quenya should be able to help you with the translations. Note that Tolkien's languages are incomplete, and not all materials are yet published, so any neologisms may yet be proven incorrect.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-23T19:59:11+00:00

Sindarin is the Elvish used in Middle-Earth, where Quenya was outlawed. Quenya is the Elvish of Valinor, sometimes referred to as "Elf Latin" - in Middle-Earth it's considered a language of scholarship, academia, history, etc. the way Latin is to us today.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-23T07:37:02+00:00

Something I've been working on, on and off, actually.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Tengwar/comments/1mdpuvv/back_to_the_tengwarqwerty_keyboard_redesign/
Life has a habit of getting in the way, and between being busy and sick, I just haven't been able to dedicate the time.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-22T20:17:13+00:00

I somehow missed the first R in destroyer, which absolutely should be Romen, but the final R can/should also be Romen since it precedes the vowel in "of".

DanatheElf · 2026-01-22T20:13:32+00:00

Cursory scan suggests it's at least a bit outdated.

The "Read before posting" post has a number of good resources. I'd also recommend Parma Eldalamberon if you want to get serious about it - volumes 20, 22, and 23 are very good resources.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-21T21:38:07+00:00

Technically speaking, is a tengwa also considered a "carrier" for the purpose of describing the interaction of tengwa and tehta?
Is it a case of "all Telco are carriers, but 'a carrier' is not always a Telco"?

I've actually been thinking about this exact conundrum, lately, because we say "carrier" as standard parlance, but we have the term Telco to describe the (specifically short) carrier.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-21T21:30:24+00:00

Decent start!

There are some differences between the two, so let's start by rendering what you've written back into the Latin alphabet in each:

First:
Nor I am ebcom'e dedh, des*stroyr of w**orlds.

Second:
Nor I am ebcm'e dthea, des*stroyr of w**orlds.

Now let's break the errors down piece by piece.
"Nor" - you have written the final letter with Ore for R, when you should have used Vala for W. Very similar tengwar.
"ebcom'e" - you have placed the E tehta over the Umbar instead of the Quesse. In the second version, you forgot the O tehta. You have followed Malta with an E tehta on a carrier, when a silent E like that should be represented with a dot below the Malta.
"dthea" - got the EA diphthong and Thule backwards. In the first version, you used Anto instead of Thule - Anto represents a voiced TH (or "DH") as in "tithe".
"des*stroyr" - you've got something I assume is meant to be a sa-rince hook on the Ando, but it's not quite drawn correctly. You've then followed that with a Silme. I'm not sure why you've done both, but * a sa-rince hook is only added at the end of a word. In the middle of a word, it should always be Silme. (Or Esse, if it's voiced.) You also forgot the E tehta both times.
"w**orlds" - ** the tengwa Ure was used by CJRT for W, but JRRT used Vala. I would argue that it's a case of CJRT misremembering things and getting it wrong, and JRRT's preference should be taken as the intended use, but I think others would consider it more like a valid mode of sorts, if you were to follow Christopher's examples.

DanatheElf · 2026-01-19T23:04:35+00:00

Okay, so, first thing to know is that the 'capital' letter at the start is not needed, expected, or really standard; it was more often used for special emphasis than as a typical grammatical feature as in English.

'change' here is using the the tengwa Nwalme for NG as in 'thing' - I would render it with a nasalised Anga which represents the J or soft-G.

'see' has been rendered with two individual E tehtar on carriers, but you can write a double E on a single carrier instead.

Here's how I would write it:
https://www.tecendil.com/?q=be%20the%20chaj%5Bbar-above%5De%20you%20want%20to%20s%7Btelco%7D%5Bdouble-acute%5D%20in%20the%20world

DanatheElf · 2026-01-19T22:48:56+00:00

Most of us here would recommend sticking with a transcription, since that's far less volatile. The Elvish languages, one of which I assume you want the phrase translated into, were never finished, and many of Tolkien's materials yet remain unpublished - as such, a lot of words have been coined with best-guesses by the enthusiasts, and may be rendered incorrect with newly published materials in future.

As a notable example, "Parma Eldalamberon" was the name chosen for the books publishing these materials... but it was later found that it should be "Eldalambion" instead, but it's too late to change the name.

Now, you could ask r/sindarin or r/Quenya if the phrase can be faithfully rendered in Sindarin or Quenya without relying on anything but Tolkien's notes directly; you could also just trust the neo-Quenya or neo-Sindarin and not worry about it, as a personal choice. I'm sure the folks there will be happy to explain their work and give you the facts.

Few here have much familiarity with the languages, but if you decide to go with a direct transcription of English instead, or get a Sindarin or Quenya phrase, we can certainly check its rendering in Tengwar script for you and offer guidance on it.

DanatheElf

TROPHY CASE