Names in Middle-Earth, Quick Guide

[Drakkonus]

Berephon can you suggest a good online dictionary to translate from english to Elven,Quenya and Sindarin.

Trying to translate the meaning of my full name,first, middle and last, into elvish.
"He will add"
"Strong"
"Bear(animal)" or "Stone"
Being that my main is a loremaster and I use my bear the most, this seems like fate

Funny how some names have two meanings

So far i got Hoindome (ho+indome) meaning "he will", can't find "add" lol

[Berephon]

Berephon can you suggest a good online dictionary to translate from english to Elven,Quenya and Sindarin.

Trying to translate the meaning of my full name,first, middle and last, into elvish.
"He will add"
"Strong"
"Bear(animal)" or "Stone"
Being that my main is a loremaster and I use my bear the most, this seems like fate

Funny how some names have two meanings

So far i got Hoindome (ho+indome) meaning "he will", can't find "add" lol

I haven't found any good online sources. Every one I've been pointed to has been extremely limited.

The closest I can come to your desired meaning in Sindarin is: Galatha Thelyn Brŷg (He will grow strong bears.) Could also be Galatha Thalion Brôg (he will grow a strong bear.) Sindarin syntax is outside my area of knowledge, so the order may be off.

Ho just means he (edit: unless your source word is Quenya, which I am not very familiar with.) Gala- is grow, -tha is he will, thalion is strong, and brôg is bear.

[Taralom]

Question for linguists... My hunter is named Findurin, surname Daefaron. I was intending to translate "Dark hair" into Elvish, and came up with Findur/Durfin. However, I decided against those in favour of Findurin. What exactly would that mean, if anything?

Also, would I be correct in thinking that Daefaron means shadow-hunter/hunter of shadow?

[Gumawerian]

Question for linguists... My hunter is named Findurin, surname Daefaron. I was intending to translate "Dark hair" into Elvish, and came up with Findur/Durfin. However, I decided against those in favour of Findurin. What exactly would that mean, if anything?

Also, would I be correct in thinking that Daefaron means shadow-hunter/hunter of shadow?

As far as Etymology goes, this is a fine example of how a name may start out one way ("Findurfin") and end up slightly different as time passes (ending up with Findurin). However, Findur is the closest translation I have come up with for "dark hair."

Now, as for my personal take on this, I think Findurir is the closest you can get to what you were looking for ("Dark-haired male") but Findurin isn't bad, as long as you don't mind the occasional double-takes you'll get from dwarves (who probably did the same thing to Turin).

[Drakkonus]

I haven't found any good online sources. Every one I've been pointed to has been extremely limited.

The closest I can come to your desired meaning in Sindarin is: Galatha Thelyn Brŷg (He will grow strong bears.) Could also be Galatha Thalion Brôg (he will grow a strong bear.) Sindarin syntax is outside my area of knowledge, so the order may be off.

Ho just means he (edit: unless your source word is Quenya, which I am not very familiar with.) Gala- is grow, -tha is he will, thalion is strong, and brôg is bear.

Thanks alot

Thalionbrog will be perfect for my character's surname.
I to couldn't find an elvish for "add", oddly. And the online sources are conflicting on pronouns and other words

If anyone knows of a good site please do post it.

[Jonwah]

Hmm, would have loved to have known this when I named my character, I didn't put enough thought into it, and now it turns out I named him (very roughly)

Long cave of Stars

Oops, guess I'll go hang out with the stalactites then..

Big ups to the OP and contributors, great thread!

[Berephon]

Question for linguists... My hunter is named Findurin, surname Daefaron. I was intending to translate "Dark hair" into Elvish, and came up with Findur/Durfin. However, I decided against those in favour of Findurin. What exactly would that mean, if anything?

Also, would I be correct in thinking that Daefaron means shadow-hunter/hunter of shadow?

The closest I could come up with is Durfindel (Dur + find + -el). In adjective-noun compounds, the adjective comes first. The breakdown here would be dur (dark) + find (hair) + the -el mediate suffix (which can be either feminine or mean Elf--basically Glorfindel -glaur.) If the character is not an Elf, but just has an Elvish name, it could be Durfinddir or Durfindnir or Durfindron, using common masculine mediate suffixes, or just plain Durfin, as you came up with before. In all of these cases, the -d remains, except at the end of the name (though there are many other situations where the whole -nd either drops or mutates.)

[Cyllrial]

This is a great thread!

My kinship's name is Ringorn Than which was a crude attempt at the idea of a circle of protection or a circling shield in Sindarin. Words are one thing, but I greatly fail in the area of syntax. It probably would be combined to forum a singualr word, following the adjective-noun model, but I just don't know for certain.

If there are any experts out there, I'd love to know.

[Laire]

This is a great thread!

My kinship's name is Ringorn Than which was a crude attempt at the idea of a circle of protection or a circling shield in Sindarin. Words are one thing, but I greatly fail in the area of syntax. It probably would be combined to forum a singualr word, following the adjective-noun model, but I just don't know for certain.

If there are any experts out there, I'd love to know.

Not necessarily. There are plenty of names in the typical adj-noun format of Sindarin that are two words (Parth Galen, Pinnath Gelin, etc). I did a little research, but I could not find anything that said why some Sindarin names with an adjective/noun combo are single words and why others remain separate. Perhaps it's just as random as some English names.

[Berephon]

Not necessarily. There are plenty of names in the typical adj-noun format of Sindarin that are two words (Parth Galen, Pinnath Gelin, etc). I did a little research, but I could not find anything that said why some Sindarin names with an adjective/noun combo are single words and why others remain separate. Perhaps it's just as random as some English names.

Your examples are adjectival phrases, rather than compound words, which are normally seen more in place-names than anything else. (Note that in these cases, the adjective actually follows the noun, which does not typically occur in compounds.) These often use the compound rules for consonant and vowel changes.

However, Cyllrial's is not an adjectival phrase, but a noun phrase, which have their own rules. In this case, Ringorn Than is *extremely* close--as far as I can tell, one letter off (the final -d would not drop off Thand)--formatted as a genitive noun phrase.

[Cerion]

This is a great thread! I tried to start a similar thread last summer... Didn't take off like this one has.

Well done!

May I suggest a sticky!!!!

[Cyllrial]

Your examples are adjectival phrases, rather than compound words, which are normally seen more in place-names than anything else. (Note that in these cases, the adjective actually follows the noun, which does not typically occur in compounds.) These often use the compound rules for consonant and vowel changes.

However, Cyllrial's is not an adjectival phrase, but a noun phrase, which have their own rules. In this case, Ringorn Than is *extremely* close--as far as I can tell, one letter off (the final -d would not drop off Thand)--formatted as a genitive noun phrase.

I really appreciate the response, Berephon. I wrestled with the "D" on the end of Thand, but I couldn't find a definitive answer out on the web. It's great to know. Thanks!

[auximenes]

My LM's bear's name is Haladbrog (brown bear).

[Berephon]

I really appreciate the response, Berephon. I wrestled with the "D" on the end of Thand, but I couldn't find a definitive answer out on the web. It's great to know. Thanks!

At the end of a compound or adjectival phrase, it would, but not in a noun phrase, so you were still thinking in the right direction.

[Mithwindras]

UI
Has sound of "ruin" in English

In my understanding of Sindarin, which I will confess is nowhere near as complete as I'd like, this is incorrect.

UI doesn't have a direct english equivalent. It is almost a "oo-wee" sound crammed into a single syllable.

http://www.ellammath.de/pronunciation.htm

[MataTahu]

Yes, UI is more an oo-wee sound. Ruin is the closest we can think of, I believe.


Since everyone is talking about their own names, I'll just mention that Turnilas was an accident at first....I was low on time and needed to get a decent sounding name, and so didn't try to make one that meant anything.
Later I discovered that it DOES consist of a couple roots, that is, Tur: Power/Mastery and Las: leaf. So, it roughly could be Master of Leaf if you think really hard about it. Of course, since it was unintentional, there is no REAL meaning to it.

My two human chars have similar names, mainly so that the kinnies recognize me. Turnadan is simply my root Turn + adan (man). I made that one when I was only planning to have one human toon.
Turnambar is that same first root Turn, plus ambar (Quenya: fate/doom) as used in the name of Turin Turambar in the First Age. In both of those, the stray 'N' in the middle is just for continuity purposes so I'm recognized.

The other names are just random. Kharzi was made because it sounds like it could be a real name in Khuzdul. On a similar note, Noera sounds like a hobbit name to me.

My creep names (with the exception of Mal) are just Turn plus some random orcish-sounding suffixes, minus the warg of course. Malernen just sounded cool.

[SiSL]

While I opened the thread of "place names" that we meet in game, to understand them better, I think spelling differences should not be that a problem in "player names" since possibly none of us experts of a made-up language of Tolkien. My ingame name is not Sindarin nor Western for sure for example... But it is always good to see Sindarin names

[Berephon]

In my understanding of Sindarin, which I will confess is nowhere near as complete as I'd like, this is incorrect.

UI doesn't have a direct english equivalent. It is almost a "oo-wee" sound crammed into a single syllable.

http://www.ellammath.de/pronunciation.htm

You're both correct. The example Tolkien gives is the sound as in "ruin" run into a single syllable. It comes out more like trying to pronounce "rween." Or maybe Ered Lween. Tricky, but doable.

[Mithwindras]

You're both correct. The example Tolkien gives is the sound as in "ruin" run into a single syllable. It comes out more like trying to pronounce "rween." Or maybe Ered Lween. Tricky, but doable.

Aye, that's the pronunciation that I was getting at. The OP just seems to indicate that the Luin in Ered Luin would be pronounced as "Loo-in" which, having written it that that, strikes me as pretty hilarious.

"AFK, Having a Loo-in".



On the Topic of Self-Names:

Mithwindras, and this is pure fan-fiction, is the nick-name of a mountain in the Misties that is clearly visible from Lorien, the summit of which always seems shrouded in a whirling grey mist. Elven names were often taken at adulthood and indicative of their persona and that is how why my Elf Hunter ended up with that name. He and the mountain have similar character and appearance.

My Other characters on Elendilmir all have Sindarin based names as well.

Belthandir - Guardian of Gondor : (Bel - Strong + Thand - Shield + dîr - man meaning Strong-Shield Man - or Strong Shieldman) is a name descriptive of his excellence with a shield.

Tirdoron - Captain of Gondor : (Tîr - Straight or True + Doron - Oak) is more of an abstracted name indicating his virtue.

Thurgaraf - Burglar of Bree : (Thur - Hidden + Garaf - Wolf) is a nickname given to this rogue by the rangers of the north who have used him as a spy on occasion.

Ringalad - Jeweler and Champion of Lindon : (Ring - Cold + Galad - Radiance) took a name befitting his skill in working with precious metals.

[Fusillade]

My LM's bear's name is Haladbrog (brown bear).

Hmm. So my new polar bear since Book 12 could be Helebrog?

[Serin36]

I wanted to give one of my alts (an Elf) a light-hearted name. I came up with 'The Laughing Wanderer' and tried to put that into Sindarin. I came up with:

Lalaithandir
Lalaithrandir
Lalandir
Lalrandir

I ended up going with Lolrandir, just because it was so close :P But I'd really like to know which would be the most correct.

[Berephon]

Hmm. So my new polar bear since Book 12 could be Helebrog?

It would be Helegbrog.

[Berephon]

I wanted to give one of my alts (an Elf) a light-hearted name. I came up with 'The Laughing Wanderer' and tried to put that into Sindarin. I came up with:

Lalaithandir
Lalaithrandir
Lalandir
Lalrandir

I ended up going with Lolrandir, just because it was so close :P But I'd really like to know which would be the most correct.

The closest I come up with is Lalaithrandir. (Wanderer of Laughter)

[SiSL]

Berephon;

One thing in my mind will be more clear with Book 13 tho; Names of places in Forochel map was a bit strange to other places we got used to (which often sindarin or common tongue is used), can we assume they are "local" tongue of Lassoths? Shall we have a little bit more information of their meanings?

[Fusillade]

It would be Helegbrog.

Then Helegbrog it shall be. Thanks. Now nobody else take it!