Daeron‘s Sindarin

Maybe— This is just for me, in an attempt to organise my notes...

[daeronteaches]

Masterpost Sindarin

All posts, as they are made, will be linked here. This blog is still very much a work in progress, it’s intended to help me keep track of my own notes more than anything else. That being said, peruse my posts, if you want to...

Mutations

Plural patterns

Articles

Counting

Writing, runes

Verbs

[daeronteaches]

Verbs in Sindarin

This will be a shorter, far less detailed explanation of verbs in Sindarin. Because I have tried to create an at least somewhat palatable explanation that details how every verb tense is formed and the different classes of verbs. But that has been rather unsuccessful. I have several posts in my drafts, all of them... not very good, which is to say, they have explanations and such, but with the amount of special cases and exceptions, it just isn’t convenient. (And more difficult than I want to bother with.)

So instead, I made a list of every known verb in Sindarin with the verb tenses (and of course a translation). All I need to explain now is how to change the case for different people, and we’re all set to conjucate verbs without needing to know all the tedious special cases and exceptions that exist because Tolkien mentioned them in a letter once. (Creating the list also took its fair amount of time, but I hope it will save time in the future.)

To search through the list just crtl+F and type the verb you are looking for. If nothing pops up, try a synonym or maybe looking it up on a site like elfdict and then searching the document again.

First, an explanation of what each tense is. In the list —which is found here (as a google doc because it’d be far too long a tumblr post, the thing is unwieldy, having nearly 50 pages (200 verbs))— the tenses are listed in this order:

The infinitive: the basic form of a verb. In English this would be ‘to ~verb~’, like ‘to endure’. This obviously doesn’t need a conjugation for different persons, so these can be used as they are listed. But, in many cases a gerund (see below) is used where English would use an infinitive. An example would be the found in the Kings Letter: aníra... suilannad mhellyn în = literally; wishes... greeting (of) his friends, translated as; wishes... to meet his friends.

The present tense: something that is happening now, in English an example is ‘I endure’ or ‘she endures’. This one does get a different ending for different persons.

The past tense: something that happened, ‘they endured’. Also gets an ending for different persons.

The future tense: something that will happen, ‘he will endure’. Ending for different persons.

The imperative: the command to do something, ‘endure!’. No different endings for different persons, this one is the same for all.

The active/present participle: an adjective derived from a verb, when someone is when carrying out the action. If you endure, you are enduring, enduring is the active participle of the verb ‘to endure’. No different endings for different persons.

The perfective active participle: when someone has already carried out the action; ‘having endured’. No different endings for different persons.

The past/passive participle: someone or something has been exposed to the action; someone sees you, you are seen, seen is the past participle of the verb ‘to see’. Unlike the other participles, a plural exists for this one (for when the participle describes a plural word). This one looks very similar to the first person present tense, we must rely on context to differentiate between the two.

The gerund: when a verb acts as a noun (see also the infinitive for when it’s used), in English a gerund is formed by adding -ing to a verb, like ‘enduring’.

Now, with that out of the way, how to conjugate the verbs we have in the list. Luckily, with the tenses already listed, this is fairly easy. (It’s the making of the verbs to put the ending behind that’s the difficult thing.)

For convenience, I have put the endings in a table with examples to go with them.

Ps. If you were hoping for an in-depth explanation of how every verb tense is formed— which I doubt you were— I might continue working on the full length posts later. However, merely thinking about that fills me with dread, so don’t count on it.

Pps. After accidentally adding the ‘read more’ line thingy, I can’t seem to get rid of the thing. Every time I remove it, it returns the moment I look away.

[daeronteaches]

Angerthas Daeron, or Writing in Sindarin

Cirth, or certh, the original writing system for Sindarin. The cirth I will explain here are the older runes.

Underneath the table I further elaborate on the system by which the runes are created. It is not necessary you understand everything said there, so you can ignore everything else in this post and focus on the table.

The runes for consonants follow a pattern, specifically the runes for: p, t, k, kw, ch; these are labial-, dental-, velar-, labialized velar-, and front consonants respectively.

To illustrate I will be using the ‘p’ (the very first rune in the table):

mirroring the rune, making it a spirant (fricative), ‘p’ to ‘f’

adding a branch adds voice, ‘p’ to ‘b’

adding a branch on both sides adds voice and nasality, ‘p’ to ‘m’

Vowels such as ‘a’ can be made into long vowels by adding a stroke, while ‘o’ can be made longer by doubling it.

Ps. The runes are transliterated here in the way Tolkien used in Appendix E, this does not correspond to the IPA in any way. I’ll do a pronunciation post one day, who knows.

[daeronteaches]

Numbers and counting in Sindarin

Numbers:

min / er

tâd

neledh

canad

leben

eneg

odog

tolodh

neder

pae

minib

ýneg

neleb

canab

lebem

eneph

odoph

tolob

nederph

taphaen

30. nelphaen

40. cambaen

50. lephaen

60. enephaen

70. odophaen

80. tolophaen

90. nederphaen

144. host (most likely not really a number for counting, more like gross)

1000. meneg

Other numbers: common practice is to use and inbetween, listing the smaller digit first (one and twenty, not twenty one).

and: a(r) (the r is for when the following syllable starts with a vowel)

Examples:

23: neledh a daphaen, neledh (=three) a (=and) daphaen (=twenty, taphaen gets a vocalic mutation)

35: leben a nelphaen, leben (=five) a (=and) nelphaen (=thirty)

74: canad ar odophaen, canad (=four) ar (=and, with r due to the following vowel) odophaen (=seventy)

91: min a nederphaen, min (=one) a (=and) nederphaen (=ninety)

One animal: min lavan

Three animals: neledh levain

Ninety animals: nederphaen levain

Ordinal numbers: in Sindarin, these are adjectives, so they follow those rules.

1st: main / minui / erui

2nd: taid / tadui / edwen

3rd: nail / nelui

4th: cannui

5th: lemmui

6th: engui

7th: othui

8th: tollui

9th: nedrui

10th: paenui

11th: minibui

12th: ýnegui

13th: nelebui

1000th: mengui

Looking at the ordinal numbers you should notice a pattern, the recurring -ui, this is the suffix used to make ordinal numbers.

So for any counting numbers that are not listed here, just put -ui behind the regular number. (Starting from 11, the numbers are just the counting numbers with -ui at the end.)

Example:

93rd: neledh a nederphaenui, neledh (=three) a (=and) nederphaenui (=ninetieth)

42nd: tâd a gambaenui, tâd (=two) a (=and) gambaenui (=fortieth)

[daeronteaches]

Mutations in Sindarin

Perhaps one of the most distinctive features of Sindarin; its complex consonant changes. In Sindarin the initial consonant of a word may undergo change, these changes are called mutations.

There are different types of mutation, the most common two; soft- and nasal mutation are the most well attested ones, so we can describe these with relative certainty. Some of the other types of mutation we will have reconstruct from minimal knowledge.

The types of mutations are:

Soft mutation, lention

Nasal mutation

Mixed mutation

Stop mutation

Liquid mutation

There are also special cases

Ps. Autocorrect was very judgemental about all of this, I haven’t found a way to turn off those annoying red squiggly lines. Maybe I’ll figure it out one day, but for now, please just ignore them.

[daeronteaches]

Special mutation cases in Sindarin

As with any language there are exceptions to the established rules. Luckily, these are not overly complex. The special cases have to do with the B, D, and G; the word origin changes the mutations. If B, D, G originated as MB, ND, ÑG (instead of simply B, D, G) they mutate differently. I recommend using Eldamo to research word origin.

The words I used as examples are:

‘bâr’ (=land, home)(stem: mbar)

‘dôl’ (=head)(earlier: ndolo)

‘Golodh’ (=Noldo)(primitive: ñgolodô)

Anyhow, I have made a table with all special cases for every mutation:

[daeronteaches]

Liquid mutation in Sindarin

This mutation is the sketchiest in terms of what we know of it. Tolkien never mentioned it in any of his writings, but the texts we have seem to demand the existence of this mutation. Especially if Tolkien adheres to his own rules, which he did sometimes.

True to its name, liquid mutation occurs after words ending in a liquid:

or (=over, above, on), preposition

or- (=over), prefix

The mutations:

[daeronteaches]

Stop mutation in Sindarin

This one is also never mentioned in Tolkien’s official writings on Sindarin. A mutation by this name is mentioned in his Gnomish Lexicon. It is not very well attested, most of what is recorded here is extrapolated from what little is known. That being said, the following words trigger stop mutation:

o (=from, of), preposition, it is possible to change ‘o’ to ‘od’ before vowels, but this is not necessary. This would probably be done in cases like ‘od orch’ (of an orc), to avoid the double o (‘o orch’). On the Moria gate inscription ‘o Imladris’ is written, though ‘od Imladris’ would apparently also be possible.

ed (=out, out of), preposition, mostly shortened to ‘e’, see the table for details.

ned (=in), preposition, behaves like ‘ed’, however, it would probably not become ‘nef’ to avoid confusion with ‘nef’ (=on the side of).

Now, the table with the mutations:

Ps. The ‘es, ef, eth’ (as well as ‘nes’ and ‘neth’) were “often found”, according to Tolkien. This means that the other forms are also possible.

[daeronteaches]

Mixed mutation in Sindarin

This mutation is never explicitly referred to in any published material, we don’t even know what it’s called, mixed mutation is a term made up by fans. Because it sometimes resembles soft- and sometimes nasal mutation. What we know of it we only know by observing its effects. It occurs after ‘e’/‘en’ and after prepositions incorporating -in:

e, en (=of the)

erin (=on the)

ben (=according to the)

nan (=to the)

uin (=from the, of the)

‘nin (=to the, for the)

The mutation table:

You may have noticed that in some cases the words are the same in their mutated form. As example I have used ‘cost’ and ‘gost’, these both become ‘e-gost’, for their meaning we must rely on contextual clues.

Ps. I just noticed, with a few words I have included an example with ‘erin’ as well as ‘en’. All of these words can of course also be mutated with ‘erin’ in front. That I have only included examples with a few words does not mean it’s not possible with all other words as well.

[daeronteaches]

Nasal mutation in Sindarin

Nasal mutation occurs after the following words:

in (=the, plural), article

an (=for/ to), prefix

dan (=against), preposition / also used as prefix ‘re-‘

This form of mutation can be very confusing, but here’s a table with the mutations:

[daeronteaches]

Soft mutation, lenition in Sindarin

Soft mutation, also called Lenition (=softening), is the most frequent mutation. It has many uses, it occurs after a series of particles, prepostitions and prefixes: typically those that either still end in a vowel or did so at an earlier stage.

A list with all those that cause lenition:

ab (=after, behind, following, later), prefix and preposition, originated as ‘apa’ in Quenya

adel (=behind, in the rear (of)), preposition, probably ‘atele’ in Old Sindarin

am (=up, above, over), preposition and prefix, ‘amba’ in Quenya

ath- (=on both sides, across), prefix, originated from the older ‘attha’

athra- (=across), prefix

be (=according to), prepostition, because it corresponds to the Quenya ‘ve’ it most likely means ‘as’ and ‘like’ as well.

dad (=down), adverb and prefix

di (=under, beneath), preposition

go-, gwa- (=together), prefix

i (=the), article

na (=to, towards, at, of, with, by), preposition

nu (/no) (=under), preposition

tre (=trhough), prefix

trî (=through), preposition

ú-, u- (=not, without), prefix

Adjectives following nouns are also lenited. (see post about adjectives)

Finally, a table with the mutations:

[daeronteaches]

Plural patterns in Sindarin

I apologize for how complicated it is to make plurals in Sindarin, I wish it were easier. (At the bottom of this post there is also a table if you find that more convenient. I would recommend still reading over the list, because it still includes some important information. As well as examples of course.)

Originally, Sindarin had three noun forms; singular, dual, and plural. Luckily the dual quickly became obsolete except in writing. Instead there is an additional class plural, which coexists with the regular plural. I will not bore you with the dual form. The class plural will get its own post.

Anyhow. The final vowels in a word change to make a plural. If a word is monosyllabic, that is the final vowel.

For example: orod (=mountain), lass (=leaf)

However, non-final syllables can also change. I’ll list the final syllabic mutations first:

A becomes ai.

This one is very well attested in Tolkiens writings:

tâl (=foot) -> tail

cant (=shape) -> caint

rach (=wagon/wain) -> raich

E becomes i, long ê becomes long î.

As seen in the attested forms:

edhel (=elf) -> edhil

ereg (=holly tree) -> erig

Laegel (=green elf) -> Laegil

certh (=rune) -> cirth

telch (=stem) -> tilch

hên (=child) -> hîn

têw (=letter) -> tîw

I becomes i, it does not change.

O becomes y, long ó becomes long ý.

As seen in:

orch (=orc) -> yrch

toll (=island) -> tyll

bór (=trusty man) -> býr

U becomes y, long û becomes ui

With this one, it does not matter wether it‘s a final syllable or not.

tulus (=poplar) -> tylys

dûr (=dark) -> duir

Y becomes y, it does not change in plural.

Any singular was likely a plural as well, ylf (=drinking vessel) was likely both the singular as well as the plural. (A little like how sheep is both the singular and the plural in English.)

Au becomes oe, this one is not as well attested as the previous ones.

In Noldorin a similar pattern was seen, where au became ui, but in Sindarin there are many excepions to this rule.

raw (=lion) -> roe

Other dipthongs do not change in the plural. Ai is an exception.

Ai becomes i, usually î, more rarely ý. Wether the ai changes in a word has to do with the word origin, if it originated as a Quenya word ending in -ya, it changes. If not, it does not change in the plural form. I recommend using Eldamo to research the word origins.

fair (=mortal) -> fîr (originated as firya in Quenya)

cai (=fence) -> cî

cair (=ship) -> cîr

gwain (=new) -> gwîn

lhain (=thin/meager) -> lhîn

mail (=dear) -> mîl

paich (=juice/syrup) -> pich (note the short i)

Now for the non-final syllabic mutations. In plural forms, the non-final syllable can also change! Aren’t you thrilled.

A becomes e

As seen in several well attested forms:

barad (=tower) -> beraid

lavan (=animal) -> levain

aran (=king) -> erain

amon (=hill) -> emyn

annon (=great gate) -> ennyn

lalven (=elm-tree) -> lelvin

malen (=yellow) -> melin

E is unchanged in non-final syllables.

I (i) is unchanged.

O normally becomes e, there are exceptions; if it originated from ancient ā it does not change.

Golodh (=Noldo) -> Gelydh

onod (=ent) -> enyd

Rodon (=Vala) -> Rodyn

U becomes y.

Y stays unchanged.

For clarity’s sake, I have also made this table. I hope this helps, as I realize the list format is not super easy to search through.

[daeronteaches]

Articles in Sindarin

Indefinite articles in English are a and an, the definite article is the. All of the examples are taken from official writings by Tolkien, including Lord of the Rings, the Silmarillion, and other writings.

There are no indefinite articles in Sindarin. So any word without an article is indefinite by default. Meaning that ‘edhel’ by itself means both elf and an elf.

Definite articles in Sindarin are i for singular words, and in for plural.

So for example:

aran: a king

i aran: the king

in erain: the kings

Genitival article, Sindarin often expresses genitival articles by word order alone. As seen in:

Ennyn Durin: Doors (of) Durin

Aran Moria: Lord (of) Moria

If the second word is a common noun and not a name, the article en (=of the) is used. As seen in the following examples:

Haudh-en-Elleth: Mound of the Elf-maid

Cabed-en-Aras: Leap of the deer

Methed-en-Glad: End of the Woods

orthad en Êl: Rising of the Star

Conin en Annun: princes of the West

Sometimes this genitival article is shortened to e:

Narn e Dinúviel: Tale of the Nightingale

It is usual for the genitival article to get replaced by ‘in’ in plural. Sometimes i also gets used instead of en, but this is uncommon. En can be used for the plural too, though this use is seen infrequently.

Condir i Drann: Mayor of the Shire

Annon-in-Gelydh: Gate (of) the Noldor

Aerlinn-in-Edhil: Hymn (of) the Elves

Bar-en-Nibin-Noeg: Home of the Petty-dwarves

Haudh-en-Ndengin: Hill of the Slain

Ps. Please keep in mind the lenition with i and the nasal mutation with in.

Pps. The hyphens are unnecessary, Tolkien sometimes connects the Sindarin articles with a hyphen or a dot. I’ve also used hyphens, but this isn’t a rule.