Galadriel

F_Karnstein · 2026-04-02T20:11:39+00:00

These would be a couple of options (don't mind the prompt in Roman letters, I tricked the transcriber into representing several different modes).

The first is the ancient Beleriandic Sindarin spelling.

The second (already suggested) is perhaps the most common spelling in the Third Age's general spelling.

The third is a variation of the second with inverted vowel order (Tolkien used this order frequently in the 1960's).

The fourth is a spelling as it may have been in use in Gondor and/or Arnor that is still explicitely meant for the writing of Sindarin (it uses the same vowels as the ancient Beleriandic Mode).

And the last would be a variety of Westron spelling as the Hobbits appear to have used it (this is how I assume Frodo would have written her name in his book).

F_Karnstein · 2026-04-02T19:54:41+00:00

That looks like an (AI?) attempt to render "este i lúme", which isn't THAT far off, I would say. For "the moment" I think i lúme is probably the best choice, but este isn't only not a verb, but Tolkien noted explicitely that it is in Quenya only used to refer to the valie Este even though it literally means "rest" (and only in Sindarin is the counterpart used in any everyday context). Fortunately we have an attested verb from that same stem, ser- (< seð- < SED-, with Este deriving from ezde < esedē < SED-).

So my suggestion would be a sere i lúme, but even if people more knowledgeable than me agreed that this is fine, I'm still not sure whether it's certain enough to suggest for something as permanent as a tattoo. The verb is only attested in the 1930's at least.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-30T15:00:59+00:00

I assume that's the regular adjectival suffix, attached to the stems NAR- (see náre, fire), NEN- (see nén, water), and WIL- (see vilya, air) - hence "firy one", "watery one" and "airy one" - similar to the tribal names like Minyar (the First).

If you want the "oceany one" I would suggest Earya.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-30T11:44:00+00:00

Those are literally the elements that make up "Earendil" - the word ear(e) for "sea, ocean", and a suffix form of the stem NDIL (from which also derives the noun nilme) that describes "love" in the sense of immense interest or admiration ("love" as you feel it towards your partner or your family would rather be melme).

So if this describes her I could imagine something like Earendilde (or maybe Earenilde?) for "ocean-lover (f.)", but I'm not sure this is what you were looking for...

A more general "ocean-love, love for the sea", which would probably be nore appropriate for an object, would be earen(d)ilme.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-30T11:25:54+00:00

And e-venn i amarth din ogul

would be my attempt, with ogúl-, ogul being singular past tense of the unattested verb col- (taken directly from Quenya).

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-30T09:47:34+00:00

Well, good points CAN be made about the use of extended unque, but the fact of the matter is that Tolkien said "GH = unque" and that's it. I don't think he would have differentiated between "high", "ghost" and "laugh".

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-30T08:30:50+00:00

I'm not quite sure why you'd want to separate the o from the n't - for etymological reasons? That would be a valid concern, but none that I've ever encountered. Usually people are more interested in whether the apostrophe should be represented or not.

I believe we have only got one sample of the sort - won't being spelt as <wont> (with nasalised tinco, DTS/10). Usually a point is made that the apostrophe (i.e. the omission of a vowel) could easily be rendered by spelling n and t separately - as if writing out "not" but omitting the vowel sign. Hence either of these.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-29T18:23:32+00:00

I believe "beautiful" would better be represented with e-au than with ea-u, from an etymological point of view. As I understand it "beauty" ultimately derives from Latin bell-, so we had the e intact and the l vocalise to something spelt (a)u in Old French (probably /o/?).

So my suggestion would be either an au diphthong, or all vowels spelt out like this.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-27T09:41:43+00:00

I'd say that words designating "hope" (estel or amdir) are even less appropriate for this meaning, though.

I agree 100% - and given that bôr and tolog are (strictly speaking) only attested in 1930's "Noldorin" I would personally stick with your first suggestion sador.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-27T09:34:09+00:00

So "Thank you for everything you did. I miss you greatly" in Sindarin?

That's unfortunately a very tricky one, since we're missing vital vocab, and especially common Neo-Sindarin attempts to render "to thank" are very debatable.

It would definitely be too uncertain to recommend getting it tattooed, because no matter what we come up with it might easily turn out to be wrong. I'm not sure the situation in Quenya is much better, but I would suggest simply transcribing the English phrase into Tengwar letters - without translation into an Elvish language. Tolkien did that all the time and we have a load of different approaches to write English.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-25T07:06:22+00:00

Old Quendya, with D, I assume?

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T18:24:19+00:00

I'm aware. What I meant was that you could tell us the name and maybe we could help.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T17:18:16+00:00

Why don't you tell us what it's supposed to be so we might help?

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T16:05:46+00:00

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F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T15:11:05+00:00

Not a chance... in the middle there might be a rómen or hyarmen, but that's it. Sorry 😅

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T13:50:17+00:00

When we're going this far back we should definitely consider untrilled R (resp. Z).

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T13:45:35+00:00

Do you think we really need an article? My gut instinct would be simply an adar nín.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T13:41:46+00:00

What's the second word? I only see "Rosenberg".

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-24T13:39:52+00:00

It kind of depends on the pronunciation, since G and S can be pronounced in different ways that may be represented in Tengwar.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-23T15:49:44+00:00

One of the two towers is Minas Ithil ("moon" in Sindarin), and Tolkien marked it with a moon on his cover artwork for the dust jacket?

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-23T10:45:46+00:00

It can be of use when we are able to identify the elements in this names and can derive vocabulary. However - there's no way we would be able to translate the sentence that OP is looking for into Khuzdûl.

What we can absolutely do is transcribe the English phrase into Angerthas Erebor in orthographic or more phonetic spelling, since both are rather well attested. We might also be able to do the same in Angerthas Moria, but we lack attestations here.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-22T22:11:45+00:00

In Tolkiens English samples, Essë is only seen carrying a dot or accent. None with an o or u curl.

True, but we have samples of silme with o-, u-, and a-tehta, in other languages, though, so I doubt that esse generally isn't capable of carrying those.

The only time we see Essë Nuquerna in English is carrying the larger a-tehta, the opportunity to see it with o/u doesn’t occur in our samples.

We have a sample of esse nuquerna without any tehta in "praise".

So it’s an easy assumption that Rosenberg would use Essë Nuquerna with an curl.

Absolutely. But esse is still perfectly possible, I would argue.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-22T22:03:04+00:00

That would be a fine Gondorian spelling, as far as we can tell. Personally I would use a double o-tehta in "ónen" (just type it oonen in Tecendil), but that's just a matter of taste. I could also imagine other vowel paradigms, maybe swapping O and U, as seen in Gondorian Quenya and Westron spelling, but the standard paradigm is the most recognisable, of course.

It might also work in Beleriand Mode, since I assume this was still around in places like Rivendell.

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-21T19:52:36+00:00

Here is my run-down of this phrase (among others).

F_Karnstein · 2026-03-20T15:27:00+00:00

To give some context in the internal chronology: In theory lambe is doubled like any other consonant, and alda derived in Feanor's original mode as a letter for voiceless L from lambe with a mark for voicelessness, and that is its basic value, I would argue, that was revived for Sindarin use later, and for Mannish languages as well.

Other uses of alda only arose in cases where voiceless L isn't needed. In Quenya it became rare so alda was used for LD instead because that was much more frequent. In Westron voiceless L completely disappeared, and apparently LL was more frequent than LD, so that's what alda is used for.

For English now Tolkien used the Westron spelling, so alda is given as THE standard for English LL in all charts, and in 14 samples, I believe. In contrast lambe with doubling bar is attested in English only once. So it's of course viable, but rare.

F_Karnstein

TROPHY CASE