#jrrtlanguagefest

[wanderer-clarisse]

Ilaw ng tahanan: Nerdanel for @jrrt-native-languages-fest

Ilaw ng tahanan is a Tagalog phrase that represents mothers. It means "light of the home" and represents their role as the guide and caretaker of the household.

[lyragoth]

Um þann er kom með forna söngva Það var sagt á Íslandi á dögum Sturlunga að ókunnur maður færi víða um land. Hann var hár vexti og dökkhærður og sýndist hvorki ungur né gamall. Hann bar hörpu með sér og dvaldist sjaldan lengi á sama stað.

Eitt haust kom hann að veislu mikilli. Menn spurðu hann að nafni, en hann kvaðst það síðar mundu segja. Um kvöldið var honum boðið að syngja, og tók hann þá hörpu sína. Varð þá hljótt í skálanum.

Þá kvað hann um Celebrimbor, son Curufins, sonar Fëanors, og sagði að enginn smiður hefði verið meiri. Mönnum þótti undarlegt hversu glöggt hann kunni frá þeim tíðindum að segja, er gerst höfðu löngu fyrir daga allra lifandi manna.

Ungan sá ek bróðurson minn, er við eldinn lék hann; mjúkar hendur mótuðu málm af föðurarfi.

Síðar smíðaði hann hringi þrjá af visku; eldur, vatn og vindur vörðu verk hans lengi.

Bjartur smiður smíðaði bauga með miklum mætti; ljós álfa dvínaði eigi meðan lifði hans list.

Að því loknu lagði maðurinn frá sér hörpuna. Sumir sögðu að tár hefðu sést í augum hans. En er menn leituðu hans næsta morgun, var hann farinn. Menn vissu eigi hver hann var né hvaðan hann kom. Sumir sögðu að hann mundi eigi vera maður af mannlegri ætt, heldur einn þeirra sem fara óséðir um heiminn og birtast mönnum um stund. Aðrir sögðu aðeins að hann hefði borið mikla sorg í brjósti og gamla söngva í minni sínu.

Small notes: 1. I wrote this piece inspired by Icelandic sagas, as if it had preserved a memory of Maglor wandering among Men long after the events of LOTR. The people who hear him sing don't know who he is, only that he is a strange harp-player. 2. The poem is inspired by dróttkvætt. I know true dróttkvætt has very strict rules of rhythm, syllables, and internal rhyme, so this isn't meant to be a reconstruction of a real skaldic stanza, just my attempt to capture the feeling of it: a praise-song carrying memory, honor, etc, although the poem is not really a warrior's praise of Celebrimbor, but an uncle remembering the child he saw grow into the greatest smith of the Elves in Middle-earth. 3. The Days of the Sturlungs were a period of Icelandic history, roughly 1220–1264, when Iceland was dominated mainly by the Sturlung family. During this time Iceland was not ruled by a king; instead, powerful chieftains (goðar) competed for influence.

My contribution to @jrrt-native-languages-fest Translation to English under the cut

Of the one who came with ancient songs It was said in Iceland, in the days of the Sturlungs, that an unknown man traveled widely throughout the land. He was tall in stature and dark-haired, and seemed neither young nor old. He carried a harp with him and seldom stayed long in one place.

One autumn he came to a great feast. Men asked him his name, but he said that he would tell them later. In the evening he was invited to sing, and he took up his harp. Then silence fell in the hall.

Then he sang of Celebrimbor, son of Curufin, son of Fëanor, and said that no smith had ever been greater. The people found it strange how clearly he could tell of those events that had happened long before the days of any living man.

Young I saw my nephew, when he played beside the fire; gentle hands shaped metal from his father’s inheritance.

Later he forged three rings with wisdom; fire, water, and wind guarded his works for a long time.

A bright smith crafted rings with mighty skill; the light of the Elves did not fade while his art endured.

After that, the man laid down his harp. Some said that tears had been seen in his eyes. But when people searched for him the next morning, he was gone.

Men did not know who he was or where he came from. Some said that he must not have been a man of mortal kind, but one of those who travel unseen through the world and appear to people for a time. Others said only that he had carried great sorrow in his heart and ancient songs in his memory.

[thetiredprometheus]

My contribution to @jrrt-native-languages-fest

the lyrics are from the song Sieben Raben by Faun, which is based on the german fairytale Die sieben Raben (the seven ravens), that I think really fits the sons of fëanor

Rough translation:

Seven songs we sang

but six of them stayed behind

So stayed only the hope and a song for the hunt

After the lost Luck

There went flying seven ravens

That must be my brothers

That must be my brothers

Here's an old post of mine explaining why I think the fairytale fits well:

Btw I'm not a writer but if someone knows a fic like this/is willing to write one I'd love to read it!

[deckofmanymore]

My (late) entry for the @jrrt-native-languages-fest , a Celegorm & Huan comic in Esperanto! (Translation under the cut)

Some Info:

Esperanto is a conlang, a "constructed language", created with the goal of becoming the one International Language. Although not inherent to any specific country, it is used all over the world, with estimates ranging between 100 thousand and 1 million people who speak it.

Although I don't speak Esperanto fluently, it is the language my mother spoke to me in (for the most part) for the first 3 years of my life, so in some ways I suppose it can be counted as my native language - at least if you go by the definition of it being the first language you're exposed to upon birth.

I'm currently trying to relearn it, and I cannot recommend it enough. It was created to be extremely quick and easy to learn, with very simple grammatical rules, words that are purposfully chosen and taken from many different european languages, and pre- and suffixes that allow the creation of new words, saving a lot of vocabulary.

As a linguist, Tolkien was of course also aware of this language, and even learned it at one point! He has written about his opinion on it in "A Philologist on Esperanto" which you can find here (warning for bright colored background).

Translation:

THE SCAPE DOG

Nerdanel: Who broke the bust?

Celegorm: It was Huan! (Huan here having the masculine affectionate suffix)

Maglor: Who cut the strings of my harp?!

Celegorm: It was Huan!

Maedhros: Who stole the bearskin rug in the foyer...

Celegorm: It was Huan.

Fingon: Celegorm! Your mutt shat on my throne!!!

Celegorm: ...

Outfit references from here.

[jrrt-native-languages-fest]

Tolkien Native Language Appreciation Fest - How to participate

I made a post a while back and it appears that the idea has been welcomed warmly among the people in the fandom, so I created this event.

As mentioned, this is an event aimed to celebrate the diversity in the Tolkien fandom, which takes inspiration both by Tolkien’s profession as a linguist and inventor of all the languages in his opus, and his own characters’ prowess in several languages.

The event will take place the week between the 16th June and the 22nd June.

To be able to participate, please follow the below steps.

Reblog this post and follow this blog.

Use #jrrtlanguagefest preferably in the first five tags, so I am able to reblog your creations

Mention the languages used in the caption of your post - a translation is encouraged so everyone can enjoy your creations

There is no limit per day, you can post as many creations as you wish.

For rules and guidelines, please see the FAQ post.

Please refer to the pinned post for all useful links!

Feel free to send me a message or an ask should you need further clarification!

[eri-pl]

Let's make Polish Tengwar mode! | Kolejna próba dostosowania Tengwar do języka polskiego

[tekst po polsku: pod kreską]

I did not find brain space to translate any of my fics for Tolkien Nativelang :( (because I was focusing on writing my main WIP)

So there is an improvement of a thing that I've made some time ago but didn't post: an attempt (another attempt --- in addition to ones that have been made by other people) to make a Tengwar mode for Polish.

Goals:

all Polish sounds included

compatibility with other modes as much as feasible

logical and consistent as much as feasible

not adding too many new vowel symbols (but come on, we need the ą and ę)

No separation of ó/u, ż/rz and h/ch. This is Tengwar, let's make it more phonetic.

The vowel mark is placed over the preceding consonant (like in Quenya; unlike in Sindarin and English), because IIRC other Polish modes do it, and I feel like Polish has a lot of open syllables. (Alas! I am not a linguist.)

Some notes under the image:

T, P and many others are like in most other modes.

Calma for K, because it is the K sound. QU for C, because I have to place it somewhere. (Note to non-Polish-speaking people: our "C" is the "TS", not a K or Q)

Double arc letters are the voiced letters because all normal modes do it (not you, Quenya).

Vilya letter is Ć because I had no better place for Ć.

Anna letter is J because this is how it sounds + I when it sounds like J. Like "radio".

Not included in examples, but in words where "U" sounds like "Ł" (auto, dinozaur) it's written as Ł.

The RD and LD combos are quite rare in Polish, but let's include them, why not, I have nothing to do with these letters anyway.

For non-sylable-making I that dos not sound like J, (example: "Mickiewicz") let's just stack the I and the other vowel together.

For Ą and Ę let's just use the nasalization mark (~) with the vowel mark. It makes sense.

Ś and Ź get the top-heavy letters because they don't happen before a vowel.

Nie bedę tłumaczyć całego posta, i tak wszyscy znaja angieski, po co mam po polsku pisać o moim WIPie, który i tak jest po angielsku. zamiast tego zasadniczo napiszę posta jeszcze raz XD

Przechodząc do rzeczy:

Główne założenia jakie sobie postawiłam:

samogłoska nad poprzedzająca spółgłoską (jak w Quenyi; nie jak w Sindarinie), bo bardziej pasuje do tego jakie mamy sylaby

wszystkie polskie głoski uwzglądnione

w miarę logiczne i w miarę zgodne z innymi językami (zwłaszcza Sindarinem i angielskim; Quenya jest dziwna). Nie zależało mi na spójności z juz istniejącymi polskimi modami do Tengwar.

mało nowych symboli (Musze przyznać: lubię dodawać nowe symbole)

nie rozróżniamy u/ó itp

Uwagi:

Początek idzie jak w większości języków.

C trafia na Q, bo nie mamy Q za to mamy C.

Ogólnie, podwójne łuki = dźwięczne wersje głosek. Tak ma Sindarin i angielski i to ma sens.

Ć jest w głupim miejscu, ale lepszego nie było. Mamy mnóstwo syczących liter i musiałam je gdzieś zmiescić.

I brzmiące i działające jak J zapisujemy jak J. I brzmiące jak zmiękczenie jak jest z inną samogłoską to zapisujemy razem, tak jak zrobiłam w "Mickiewicz". Tylko prawdziwe (=tworzące sylabę) samogłoski zasługuja na bycie samotnie nad spółgłoską.

Podobnie (nie uwzględnione w przykładach), np "dinozaur" miałby U pisane jako Ł, bo to się czyta "dinozałr". (BTW jak byłam w przedszkolu, to czytałam di-no-za-ur i a-u-to :D )

Ą i Ę to prawdziwe samogłoski, ale nosowe, więc używam A i E + znaku nasalizacji (~).

Ś i Ź dostają te wersje S i Z nad którymi nie da się wygodnie dodać samogłoski, bo po nich nie występują samogłoski.

Dwie kropki jako samogłoskowe Y gdzieś widizałam, nie dam głowy czy wymyslił to tolkien czy ktos inny, ale nie ja.

RD i LD w sumie nam niepotrzebne bo rzadko się pojawiają w polskim, ale są do tego litery więc czemu by ich nie użyć.

[anniron]

Utúlie'n aurë! Aiya Eldalië ar Atanatári, utúlie'n aurë!

The day has come! Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!

Den přišel! Hle lide eldarský a Otcové lidí, den přišel!

A scribble for @jrrt-native-languages-fest: Fingon's voice, echoing over mountains, in Quenya, English, and Czech ✨

[unknowingiron]

”Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?”

For @jrrt-native-languages-fest 2026: A quote from Philippine national literature, transplanted into the context of the rebellion of the Noldor and the Kinslayings. More info under the cut, along with attributions.

The national hero of the Philippines (Jose Rizal) is well-known for writing two novels that helped inspire the Philippine revolution against its Spanish colonizers, namely Noli me Tangere and its sequel, El Filibusterismo, which is the one that the quote I used comes from. The main character of Noli, Crisostomo Ibarra, tried to make reforms in society, but failed, and so he returns in Fili with a new identity as Simoun, a jeweler, and schemes his vengeance. Instead of fighting the injustices caused by colonialism, he now fans the flames of those injustices, so that people would be driven to revolution. This plan, however, fails yet again. The final chapter of the novel is a conversation between Simoun, now at his deathbed, and a priest, about why this plan failed. This conversation ends with the viewpoint that violence only plays a small part in revolution—before that, we must become worthy of revolution, by not becoming complacent with injustice and contributing to that oppression. Hence the above quote. The idea of becoming worthy of revolution was really interesting to me when we discussed the book in class, as I hadn’t encountered it anywhere else before. While the mistakes/misjudgements of the Valar are very much not analogous to the 300+ years of colonialism endured by a nation, this theme is what I ended up thinking of while contemplating how to make a Tolkien fanwork that’s also Filipino. Which is why we’ve got the Flight of the Noldor and the Kinslaying that followed.

Both Noli me Tangere and El Filibusterismo were originally written in Spanish. The translations I used are Virgilio S. Almario for Filipino and Charles Derbyshire for English. Photo credits to Brian Fegter on Unsplash and Break Media on Pexels.