APPENDIX C
FAMILY TREES
The names given in these Trees are only a selection from many. Most of them are either guests at Bilbo’s Farewell Party, or their direct ancestors. The guests at the Party are underlined. A few other names of persons concerned in the events recounted are also given. In addition some genealogical information is provided concerning Samwise the founder of the family of Gardner, later famous and influential.
The figures after the names are those of birth (and death where that is recorded). All dates are given according to the Shire-reckoning, calculated from the crossing of the Brandywine by the brothers Marcho and Blanco in the Year 1 of the Shire (Third Age 1601).
APPENDIX D
SHIRE CALENDAR FOR USE IN ALL YEARS
Every year began on the first day of the week, Saturday, and ended on the last day of the week, Friday. The Mid-year’s Day, and in Leap-years the Overlithe, had no weekday name. The Lithe before Mid-year’s Day was called 1 Lithe, and the one after was called 2 Lithe. The Yule at the end of the year was 1 Yule, and that at the beginning was 2 Yule. The Overlithe was a day of special holiday, but it did not occur in any of the years important to the history of the Great Ring. It occurred in 1420, the year of the famous harvest and wonderful summer, and the merrymaking in that year is said to have been the greatest in memory or record.
THE CALENDARS
The Calendar in the Shire differed in several features from ours. The year no doubt was of the same length, 1 for long ago as those times are now reckoned in years and lives of men, they were not very remote according to the memory of the Earth. It is recorded by the Hobbits that they had no ‘week’ when they were still a wandering people, and though they had ‘months’, governed more or less by the Moon, their keeping of dates and calculations of time were vague and inaccurate. In the west-lands of Eriador, when they had begun to settle down, they adopted the Kings’ Reckoning of the Dúnedain, which was ultimately of Eldarin origin; but the Hobbits of the Shire introduced several minor alterations. This calendar, or ‘Shire Reckoning’ as it was called, was eventually adopted also in Bree, except for the Shire usage of counting as Year 1 the year of the colonization of the Shire.
It is often difficult to discover from old tales and traditions precise information about things which people knew well and took for granted in their own day (such as the names of letters, or of the days of the week, or the names and lengths of months). But owing to their general interest in genealogy, and to the interest in ancient history which the learned amongst them developed after the War of the Ring, the Shire-hobbits seem to have concerned themselves a good deal with dates; and they even drew up complicated tables showing the relations of their own system with others. I am not skilled in these matters, and may have made many errors; but at any rate the chronology of the crucial years S.R. 1418, 1419 is so carefully set out in the Red Book that there cannot be much doubt about days and times at that point.
It seems clear that the Eldar in Middle-earth, who had, as Samwise remarked, more time at their disposal, reckoned in long periods, and the Quenya word yén, often translated ‘year’ (p. 492), really means 144 of our years. The Eldar preferred to reckon in sixes and twelves as far as possible. A ‘day’ of the sun they called ré and reckoned from sunset to sunset. The yén contained 52,596 days. For ritual rather than practical purposes the Eldar observed a week or enqui? of six days; and the yén contained 8,766 of these enquier, reckoned continuously throughout the period.
In Middle-earth the Eldar also observed a short period or solar year, called a coranar or ‘sun-round’ when considered more or less astronomically, but usually called loa ‘growth’ (especially in the north-western lands) when the seasonal changes in vegetation were primarily considered, as was usual with the Elves generally. The loa was broken up into periods that might be regarded either as long months or short seasons. These no doubt varied in different regions; but the Hobbits only provide information concerning the Calendar of Imladris. In that calendar there were six of these ‘seasons’, of which the Quenya names were tuil?, lair?, yávi?, quell?, hrív?, coir?, which may be translated ‘spring, summer, autumn, fading, winter, stirring’. The Sindarin names were ethuil, laer, iavas, firith, rh?w, echuir. ‘Fading’ was also called lasse-lanta ‘leaf-fall’, or in Sindarin narbeleth ‘sun-waning’.
Lair? and hrív? each contained 72 days, and the remainder 54 each. The loa began with yestar?, the day immediately before tuil?, and ended with mettar?, the day immediately after coir?. Between yávi? and quell? were inserted three enderi or ‘middle-days’. This provided a year of 365 days which was supplemented by doubling the enderi (adding 3 days) in every twelfth year.
How any resulting inaccuracy was dealt with is uncertain. If the year was then of the same length as now, the yén would have been more than a day too long. That there was an inaccuracy is shown by a note in the Calendars of the Red Book to the effect that in the ‘Reckoning of Rivendell’ the last year of every third yén was shortened by three days: the doubling of the three enderi due in that year was omitted; ‘but that has not happened in our time’. Of the adjustment of any remaining inaccuracy there is no record.
The Númenóreans altered these arrangements. They divided the loa into shorter periods of more regular length; and they adhered to the custom of beginning the year in mid-winter, which had been used by Men of the North-west from whom they were derived in the First Age. Later they also made their week one of 7 days, and they reckoned the day from sunrise (out of the eastern sea) to sunrise.
The Númenórean system, as used in Númenor, and in Arnor and Gondor until the end of the kings, was called Kings’ Reckoning. The normal year had 365 days. It was divided into twelve astar or months, of which ten had 30 days and two had 31. The long astar were those on either side of the Mid-year, approximately our June and July. The first day of the year was called yestar?, the middle day (183rd) was called lo?nd?, and the last day mettar?; these 3 days belonged to no month. In every fourth year, except the last of a century (harany?), two enderi or ‘middle-days’ were substituted for the lo?nd?.
In Númenor calculation started with S.A. 1. The Deficit caused by deducting 1 day from the last year of a century was not adjusted until the last year of a millennium, leaving a millennial deficit of 4 hours, 46 minutes, 40 seconds. This addition was made in Númenor in S.A. 1000, 2000, 3000. After the Downfall in S.A. 3319 the system was maintained by the exiles, but it was much dislocated by the beginning of the Third Age with a new numeration: S.A. 3442 became T.A. 1. By making T.A. 4 a leap year instead of T.A. 3 (S.A. 3444) 1 more short year of only 365 days was intruded causing a deficit of 5 hours, 48 minutes, 46 seconds. The millennial additions were made 441 years late: in T.A. 1000 (S.A. 4441) and 2000 (S.A. 5441). To reduce the errors so caused, and the accumulation of the millennial deficits, Mardil the Steward issued a revised calendar to take effect in T.A. 2060, after a special addition of 2 days to 2059 (S.A. 5500), which concluded 5? millennia since the beginning of the Númenórean system. But this still left about 8 hours deficit.
Hador to 2360 added 1 day though this deficiency had not quite reached that amount. After that no more adjustments were made. (In T.A. 3000 with the threat of imminent war such matters were neglected.) By the end of the Third Age, after 660 more years, the Deficit had not yet amounted to 1 day.
The Revised Calendar introduced by Mardil was called Stewards’ Reckoning and was adopted eventually by most of the users of the Westron language, except the Hobbits. The months were all of 30 days, and 2 days outside the months were introduced: 1 between the third and fourth months (March, April), and 1 between the ninth and tenth (September, October). These 5 days outside the months, yestar?, tuilér?, lo?nd?, yáviér?, and mettar?, were holidays.
The Hobbits were conservative and continued to use a form of Kings’ Reckoning adapted to fit their own customs. Their months were all equal and had 30 days each; but they had 3 Summerdays, called in the Shire the Lithe or the Lithedays, between June and July. The last day of the year and the first of the next year were called the Yuledays. The Yuledays and the Lithedays remained outside the months, so that January 1 was the second and not the first day of the year. Every fourth year, except in the last year of the century, 1 there were four Lithedays. The Lithedays and the Yuledays were the chief holidays and times of feasting. The additional Litheday was added after Mid-year’s Day, and so the 184th day of the Leap-years was called Overlithe and was a day of special merrymaking. In full Yuletide was six days long, including the last three and first three days of each year.
The Shire-folk introduced one small innovation of their own (eventually also adopted in Bree), which they called Shire-reform. They found the shifting of the weekday names in relation to dates from year to year untidy and inconvenient. So in the time of Isengrim II they arranged that the odd day which put the succession out, should have no weekday name. After that Mid-year’s Day (and the Overlithe) was known only by its name and belonged to no week (p. 222). In consequence of this reform the year always began on the First Day of the week and ended on the Last Day; and the same date in any one year had the same weekday name in all other years, so that Shire-folk no longer bothered to put the weekday in their letters or diaries. 1 They found this quite convenient at home, but not so convenient if they ever travelled further than Bree.
In the above notes, as in the narrative, I have used our modern names for both months and weekdays, though of course neither the Eldar nor the Dúnedain nor the Hobbits actually did so. Translation of the Westron names seemed to be essential to avoid confusion, while the seasonal implications of our names are more or less the same, at any rate in the Shire. It appears, however, that Mid-year’s Day was intended to correspond as nearly as possible to the summer solstice. In that case the Shire dates were actually in advance of ours by some ten days, and our New Year’s Day corresponded more or less to the Shire January 9.
In the Westron the Quenya names of the months were usually retained as the Latin names are now widely used in alien languages. They were: Narviny?, Nénim?, Súlim?, Víress?, Lótess?, Nári?, Cermi?, úrim?, Yavanni?, Narqueli?, Hísim?, Ringar?. The Sindarin names (used only by the Dúnedain) were: Narwain, Nínui, Gwaeron, Gwirith, Lothron, Nórui, Cerveth, úrui, Ivanneth, Narbeleth, Hithui, Girithron.
In this nomenclature the Hobbits, however, both of the Shire and of Bree, diverged from the Westron usage, and adhered to old-fashioned local names of their own, which they seem to have picked up in antiquity from the Men of the vales of Anduin; at any rate similar names were found in Dale and Rohan (cf. the notes on the languages, pp. 1488–9, 1493–1500). The meanings of these names, devised by Men, had as a rule long been forgotten by the Hobbits, even in cases where they had originally known what their significance was; and the forms of the names were much obscured in consequence: math, for instance, at the end of some of them is a reduction of month.
The Shire names are set out in the Calendar. It may be noted that Solmath was usually pronounced, and sometimes written, Somath; Thrimidge was often written Thrimich (archaically Thrimilch); and Blotmath was pronounced Blodmath or Blommath. In Bree the names differed, being Frery, Solmath, Rethe, Chithing, Thrimidge, Lithe, The Summerdays, Mede, Wedmath, Harvestmath, Wintring, Blooting, and Yulemath. Frery, Chithing and Yulemath were also used in the Eastfarthing. 1
The Hobbit week was taken from the Dúnedain, and the names were translations of those given to the days in the old North-kingdom, which in their turn were derived from the Eldar. The six-day week of the Eldar had days dedicated to, or named after, the Stars, the Sun, the Moon, the Two Trees, the Heavens, and the Valar or Powers, in that order, the last day being the chief day of the week. Their names in Quenya were Elenya, Anarya, Isilya, Aldúya, Menelya, Valanya (or Tárion); the Sindarin names were Orgilion, Oranor, Orithil, Orgaladhad, Ormenel, Orbelain (or Rodyn).
The Númenóreans retained the dedications and order, but altered the fourth day to Ald?a (Orgaladh) with reference to the White Tree only, of which Nimloth that grew in the King’s Court in Númenor was believed to be a descendant. Also desiring a seventh day, and being great mariners, they inserted a ‘Sea-day’, E?renya (Oraearon), after the Heavens’ Day.
The Hobbits took over this arrangement, but the meanings of their translated names were soon forgotten, or no longer attended to, and the forms were much reduced, especially in everyday pronunciation. The first translation of the Númenórean names was probably made two thousand years or more before the end of the Third Age, when the week of the Dúnedain (the feature of their reckoning earliest adopted by alien peoples) was taken up by Men in the North. As with their names of months, the Hobbits adhered to these translations, although elsewhere in the Westron area the Quenya names were used.
Not many ancient documents were preserved in the Shire. At the end of the Third Age far the most notable survival was Yellowskin, or the Yearbook of Tuckborough. 1 Its earliest entries seem to have begun at least nine hundred years before Frodo’s time; and many are cited in the Red Book annals and genealogies. In these the weekday names appear in archaic forms, of which the following are the oldest: (1) Sterrendei, (2) Sunnendei, (3) Monendei, (4) Trewesdei, (5) Hevenesdei, (6) Meresdei, (7) Hihdei. In the language of the time of the War of the Ring these had become Sterday, Sunday, Monday, Trewsday, Hevensday (or Hensday), Mersday, Highday.
I have translated these names also into our own names, naturally beginning with Sunday and Monday, which occur in the Shire week with the same names as ours, and re-naming the others in order. It must be noted, however, that the associations of the names were quite different in the Shire. The last day of the week, Friday (Highday), was the chief day, and one of holiday (after noon) and evening feasts. Saturday thus corresponds more nearly to our Monday, and Thursday to our Saturday. 2
A few other names may be mentioned that have a reference to time, though not used in precise reckonings. The seasons usually named were tuil? spring, lair? summer, yávi? autumn (or harvest), hrív? winter; but these had no exact definitions, and quell? (or lasselanta) was also used for the latter part of autumn and the beginning of winter.
The Eldar paid special attention to the ‘twilight’ (in the northerly regions), chiefly as the times of star-fading and star-opening. They had many names for these periods, of which the most usual were tindóm? and undóm?; the former most often referred to the time near dawn, and undóm? to the evening. The Sindarin name was uial, which could be defined as minuial and aduial. These were often called in the Shire morrowdim and evendim. Cf. Lake Evendim as a translation of Nenuial.
The Shire Reckoning and dates are the only ones of importance for the narrative of the War of the Ring. All the days, months, and dates are in the Red Book translated into Shire terms, or equated with them in notes. The months and days, therefore, throughout The Lord of the Rings refer to the Shire Calendar. The only points in which the differences between this and our calendar are important to the story at the crucial period, the end of 3018 and the beginning of 3019 (S.R. 1418, 1419), are these: October 1418 has only 30 days, January 1 is the second day of 1419, and February has 30 days; so that March 25, the date of the downfall of the Barad-d?r, would correspond to our March 27, if our years began at the same seasonal point. The date was, however, March 25 in both Kings’ and Stewards’ Reckoning.
The New Reckoning was begun in the restored Kingdom in T.A. 3019. It represented a return to Kings’ Reckoning adapted to fit a spring-beginning as in the Eldarin loa. 1
In the New Reckoning the year began on March 25 old style, in commemoration of the fall of Sauron and the deeds of the Ring-bearers. The months retained their former names, beginning now with Víress? (April), but referred to periods beginning generally five days earlier than previously. All the months had 30 days. There were 3 Enderi or Middle-days (of which the second was called Lo?nd?), between Yavanni? (September) and Narqueli? (October), that corresponded with September 23, 24, 25 old style. But in honour of Frodo Yavanni? 30, which corresponded with former September 22, his birthday, was made a festival, and the leap-year was provided for by doubling this feast, called Cormar? or Ringday.
The Fourth Age was held to have begun with the departure of Master Elrond, which took place in September 3021; but for purposes of record in the Kingdom Fourth Age 1 was the year that began according to the New Reckoning in March 25, 3021, old style.
This reckoning was in the course of the reign of King Elessar adopted in all his lands except the Shire, where the old calendar was retained and Shire Reckoning was continued. Fourth Age 1 was thus called 1422; and in so far as the Hobbits took any account of the change of Age, they maintained that it began with 2 Yule 1422, and not in the previous March.
There is no record of the Shire-folk commemorating either March 25 or September 22; but in the Westfarthing, especially in the country round Hobbiton Hill, there grew up a custom of making holiday and dancing in the Party Field, when weather permitted, on April 6. Some said that it was old Sam Gardner’s birthday, some that it was the day on which the Golden Tree first flowered in 1420, and some that it was the Elves’ New Year. In the Buckland the Horn of the Mark was blown at sundown every November 2 and bonfires and feastings followed. 1
APPENDIX E
Writing and Spelling
I
PRONUNCIATION OF WORDS AND NAMES
The Westron or Common Speech has been entirely translated into English equivalents. All Hobbit names and special words are intended to be pronounced accordingly: for example, Bolger has g as in bulge, and mathom rhymes with fathom.
In transcribing the ancient scripts I have tried to represent the original sounds (so far as they can be determined) with fair accuracy, and at the same time to produce words and names that do not look uncouth in modern letters. The High-elven Quenya has been spelt as much like Latin as its sounds allowed. For this reason c has been preferred to k in both Eldarin languages.
The following points may be observed by those who are interested in such details.
CONSONANTS
C has always the value of k even before e and i: celeb ‘silver’ should be pronounced as keleb .
CH is only used to represent the sound heard in bach (in German or Welsh), not that in English church. Except at the end of words and before t this sound was weakened to h in the speech of Gondor, and that change has been recognized in a few names, such as Rohan, Rohirrim. (Imrahil is a Númenórean name.)
DH represents the voiced (soft) th of English these clothes. It is usually related to d, as in S. galadh ‘tree’ compared with Q. alda; but is sometimes derived from n+r, as in Caradhras ‘Redhorn’ from caran-rass.
F represents f, except at the end of words, where it is used to represent the sound of v (as in English of): Nindalf, Fladrif .
G has only the sound of g in give, get: gil ‘star’, in Gildor, Gilraen, Osgiliath, begins as in English gild .
H standing alone with no other consonant has the sound of h in house, behold. The Quenya combination ht has the sound of cht, as in German echt, acht: e.g. in the name Telumehtar ‘Orion’. 1 See also CH, DH, L, R, TH, W, Y. I initially before another vowel has the consonantal sound of y in you, yore in Sindarin only: as in Ioreth, Iarwain . See Y.
K is used in names drawn from other than Elvish languages, with the same value as c; kh thus represents the same sound as ch in Orkish Grishnákh, or Ad?naic (Númenórean) Ad?nakh?r . On Dwarvish (Khuzdul) see note below.
L represents more or less the sound of English initial l, as in let. It was, however, to some degree ‘palatalized’ between e, i and a consonant, or finally after e, i. (The Eldar would probably have transcribed English bell, fill as beol, fiol.) LH represents this sound when voiceless (usually derived from initial sl-). In (archaic) Quenya this is written hl, but was in the Third Age usually pronounced as l. NG represents ng in finger, except finally where it was sounded as in English sing. The latter sound also occurred initially in Quenya, but has been transcribed n (as in Noldo), according to the pronunciation of the Third Age. PH has the same sound as f. It is used (a) where the f-sound occurs at the end of a word, as in alph ‘swan’; (b) where the f-sound is related to or derived from a p, as in i-Pheriannath ‘the Halflings’ (perian); (c) in the middle of a few words where it represents a long ff (from pp) as in Ephel ‘outer fence’; and (d) in Ad?naic and Westron, as in Ar-Pharaz?n (pharaz ‘gold’).
QU has been used for cw , a combination very frequent in Quenya, though it did not occur in Sindarin.
R represents a trilled r in all positions; the sound was not lost before consonants (as in English part). The Orcs, and some Dwarves, are said to have used a back or uvular r, a sound which the Eldar found distasteful. RH represents a voiceless r (usually derived from older initial sr-). It was written hr in Quenya. Cf. L.
S is always voiceless, as in English so, geese; the z-sound did not occur in contemporary Quenya or Sindarin. SH, occurring in Westron, Dwarvish and Orkish, represents sounds similar to sh in English.
TH represents the voiceless th of English in thin cloth. This had become s in spoken Quenya, though still written with a different letter; as in Q. Isil, S. Ithil , ‘Moon’.
TY represents a sound probably similar to the t in English tune. It was derived mainly from c or t+y. The sound of English ch , which was frequent in Westron, was usually substituted for it by speakers of that language. Cf. HY under Y.
V has the sound of English v , but is not used finally. See F.
W has the sound of English w. HW is a voiceless w, as in English white (in northern pronunciation). It was not an uncommon initial sound in Quenya, though examples seem not to occur in this book. Both v and w are used in the transcription of Quenya, in spite of the assimilation of its spelling to Latin, since the two sounds, distinct in origin, both occurred in the language.
Y is used in Quenya for the consonant y, as in English you. In Sindarin y is a vowel (see below). HY has the same relation to y as HW to w, and represents a sound like that often heard in English hew, huge; h in Quenya eht, iht had the same sound. The sound of English sh, which was common in Westron, was often substituted by speakers of that language. Cf. TY above. HY was usually derived from sy- and khy-; in both cases related Sindarin words show initial h, as in Q. Hyarmen ‘south’, S. Harad .
Note that consonants written twice, as tt, ll, ss, nn, represent long, ‘double’ consonants. At the end of words of more than one syllable these were usually shortened: as in Rohan from Rochann (archaic Rochand).
In Sindarin the combinations ng, nd, mb, which were specially favoured in the Eldarin languages at an earlier stage, suffered various changes. mb became m in all cases, but still counted as a long consonant for purposes of stress (see below), and is thus written mm in cases where otherwise the stress might be in doubt. 1 ng remained unchanged except initially and finally where it became the simple nasal (as in English sing). nd became nn usually, as Ennor ‘Middle-earth’, Q. Endóre; but remained nd at the end of fully accented monosyllables such as thond ‘root’ (cf. Morthond ‘Blackroot’), and also before r, as Andros ‘long-foam’. This nd is also seen in some ancient names derived from an older period, such as Nargothrond, Gondolin, Beleriand. In the Third Age final nd in long words had become n from nn, as in Ithilien, Rohan, Anórien.
VOWELS
For vowels the letters i, e, a, o, u are used, and (in Sindarin only) y. As far as can be determined the sounds represented by these letters (other than y) were of normal kind, though doubtless many local varieties escape detection. 2 That is, the sounds were approximately those represented by i, e, a, o, u in English machine, were, father, for, brute, irrespective of quantity.
In Sindarin long e, a, o had the same quality as the short vowels, being derived in comparatively recent times from them (older é, á, ó had been changed). In Quenya long é and ó were, when correctly 2 pronounced, as by the Eldar, tenser and ‘closer’ than the short vowels.
Sindarin alone among contemporary languages possessed the ‘modified’ or fronted u, more or less as u in French lune. It was partly a modification of o and u, partly derived from older diphthongs eu, iu. For this sound y has been used (as in ancient English): as in l±g ‘snake’, Q. leuca, or emyn pl. of amon ‘hill’. In Gondor this y was usually pronounced like i.
Long vowels are usually marked with the ‘acute accent’, as in some varieties of F?anorian script. In Sindarin long vowels in stressed monosyllables are marked with the circumflex, since they tended in such cases to be specially prolonged; 1 so in d?n compared with Dúnadan. The use of the circumflex in other languages such as Ad?naic or Dwarvish has no special significance, and is used merely to mark these out as alien tongues (as with the use of k).
Final e is never mute or a mere sign of length as in English. To mark this final e it is often (but not consistently) written ?.
The groups er, ir, ur (finally or before a consonant) are not intended to be pronounced as in English fern, fir, fur, but rather as English air, eer, oor.
In Quenya ui, oi, ai and iu, eu, au are diphthongs (that is, pronounced in one syllable). All other pairs of vowels are dissyllabic. This is often dictated by writing ?a (E?), ?o, o?.
In Sindarin the diphthongs are written ae, ai, ei, oe, ui, and au. Other combinations are not diphthongal. The writing of final au as aw is in accordance with English custom, but is actually not uncommon in F?anorian spellings.
All these diphthongs 2 were ‘falling’ diphthongs, that is stressed on the first element, and composed of the simple vowels run together. Thus ai, ei, oi, ui are intended to be pronounced respectively as the vowels in English rye (not ray), grey, boy, ruin; and au (aw) as in loud, how and not as in laud, haw.
There is nothing in English closely corresponding to ae, oe, eu; ae and oe may be pronounced as ai, oi.
STRESS
The position of the ‘accent’ or stress is not marked, since in the Eldarin languages concerned its place is determined by the form of the word. In words of two syllables it falls in practically all cases on the first syllable. In longer words it falls on the last syllable but one, where that contains a long vowel, a diphthong, or a vowel followed by two (or more) consonants. Where the last syllable but one contains (as often) a short vowel followed by only one (or no) consonant, the stress falls on the syllable before it, the third from the end. Words of the last form are favoured in the Eldarin languages, especially Quenya.
In the following examples the stressed vowel is marked by a capital letter: isIldur, Orome, erEss?a, f?anor, ancAlima, elentári, dEnethor, periAnnath, ecthElion, pelArgir, silIvren. Words of the type elentári ‘star-queen’ seldom occur in Quenya where the vowel is é, á, ó, unless (as in this case) they are compounds; they are commoner with the vowels í, ú, as andúne ‘sunset, west’. They do not occur in Sindarin except in compounds. Note that Sindarin dh, th, ch are single consonants and represent single letters in the original scripts.
NOTE
In names drawn from other languages than Eldarin the same values for the letters are intended, where not specially described above, except in the case of Dwarvish. In Dwarvish, which did not possess the sounds represented above by th and ch (kh), th and kh are aspirates, that is t or k followed by an h, more or less as in backhand, outhouse.
Where z occurs the sound intended is that of English z. gh in the Black Speech and Orkish represents a ‘back spirant’ (related to g as dh to d): as in ghash and agh.
The ‘outer’ or Mannish names of the Dwarves have been given Northern forms, but the letter-values are those described.
So also in the case of the personal and place-names of Rohan (where they have not been modernized), except that here éa and éo are diphthongs, which may be represented by the ea of English bear, and the eo of Theobald; y is the modified u. The modernized forms are easily recognized and are intended to be pronounced as in English. They are mostly place-names: as Dunharrow (for Dúnharg), except Shadowfax and Wormtongue.
II
WRITING
The scripts and letters used in the Third Age were all ultimately of Eldarin origin, and already at that time of great antiquity. They had reached the stage of full alphabetic development, but older modes in which only the consonants were denoted by full letters were still in use.
The alphabets were of two main, and in origin independent, kinds: the Tengwar or T?w, here translated as ‘letters’; and the Certar or Cirth, translated as ‘runes’. The Tengwar were devised for writing with brush or pen, and the squared forms of inscriptions were in their case derivative from the written forms. The Certar were devised and mostly used only for scratched or incised inscriptions.
The Tengwar were the more ancient; for they had been developed by the Noldor, the kindred of the Eldar most skilled in such matters, long before their exile. The oldest Eldarin letters, the Tengwar of Rúmil, were not used in Middle-earth. The later letters, the Tengwar of F?anor, were largely a new invention, though they owed something to the letters of Rúmil. They were brought to Middle-earth by the exiled Noldor, and so became known to the Edain and Númenóreans. In the Third Age their use had spread over much the same area as that in which the Common Speech was known.
The Cirth were devised first in Beleriand by the Sindar, and were long used only for inscribing names and brief memorials upon wood or stone. To that origin they owe their angular shapes, very similar to the runes of our times, though they differed from these in details and were wholly different in arrangement. The Cirth in their older and simpler form spread eastward in the Second Age, and became known to many peoples, to Men and Dwarves, and even to Orcs, all of whom altered them to suit their purposes and according to their skill or lack of it. One such simple form was still used by the Men of Dale, and a similar one by the Rohirrim.
But in Beleriand, before the end of the First Age, the Cirth, partly under the influence of the Tengwar of the Noldor, were rearranged and further developed. Their richest and most ordered form was known as the Alphabet of Daeron, since in Elvish tradition it was said to have been devised by Daeron, the minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath. Among the Eldar the Alphabet of Daeron did not develop true cursive forms, since for writing the Elves adopted the F?anorian letters. The Elves of the West indeed for the most part gave up the use of runes altogether. In the country of Eregion, however, the Alphabet of Daeron was maintained in use and passed thence to Moria, where it became the alphabet most favoured by the Dwarves. It remained ever after in use among them and passed with them to the North. Hence in later times it was often called Angerthas Moria or the Long Rune-rows of Moria. As with their speech the Dwarves made use of such scripts as were current and many wrote the F?anorian letters skilfully; but for their own tongue they adhered to the Cirth, and developed written pen-forms from them.
(i)
THE F?ANORIAN LETTERS
The table shows, in formal book-hand shape, all the letters that were commonly used in the West-lands in the Third Age. The arrangement is the one most usual at the time, and the one in which the letters were then usually recited by name.
This script was not in origin an ‘alphabet’: that is, a haphazard series of letters, each with an independent value of its own, recited in a traditional order that has no reference either to their shapes or to their functions. 1 It was, rather, a system of consonantal signs, of similar shapes and style, which could be adapted at choice or convenience to represent the consonants of languages observed (or devised) by the Eldar. None of the letters had in itself a fixed value; but certain relations between them were gradually recognized.
THE TENGWAR
The system contained twenty-four primary letters, 1–24, arranged in four témar (series), each of which had six tyeller(grades). There were also ‘additional letters’, of which 25–36 are examples. Of these 27 and 29 are the only strictly independent letters; the remainder are modifications of other letters. There was also a number of tehtar (signs) of varied uses. These do not appear in the table. 1
The primary letters were each formed of a telco (stem) and a lúva (bow). The forms seen in 1–4 were regarded as normal. The stem could be raised, as in 9–16; or reduced, as in 17–24. The bow could be open, as in Series I and III; or closed, as in II and IV; and in either case it could be doubled, as e.g. in 5–8.
The theoretic freedom of application had in the Third Age been modified by custom to this extent that Series I was generally applied to the dental or t-series (tincotéma), and II to the labials or p-series (parmatéma). The application of Series III and IV varied according to the requirements of different languages.
In languages like the Westron, which made much use of consonants 2 such as our ch, j, sh, Series III was usually applied to these; in which case Series IV was applied to the normal k-series (calmatéma). In Quenya, which possessed besides the calmatéma both a palatal series (tyelpetéma) and a labialized series (quessetéma), the palatals were represented by a F?anorian diacritic denoting ‘following y’ (usually two underposed dots), while Series IV was a kw-series.
Within these general applications the following relations were also commonly observed. The normal letters, Grade 1, were applied to the ‘voiceless stops’: t, p, k, etc. The doubling of the bow indicated the addition of ‘voice’: thus if 1, 2, 3, 4=t, p, ch, k (or t, p, k, kw) then 5, 6, 7, 8=d, b, j, g (or d, b, g, gw). The raising of the stem indicated the opening of the consonant to a ‘spirant’: thus assuming the above values for Grade 1, Grade 3 (9–12)=th, f, sh, ch (or th, f, kh, khw/hw), and Grade 4 (13–16)= dh, v, zh, gh (or dh, v, gh, ghw/w).
The original F?anorian system also possessed a grade with extended stems, both above and below the line. These usually represented aspirated consonants (e.g. t+h, p+h, k+h), but might represent other consonantal variations required. They were not needed in the languages of the Third Age that used this script; but the extended forms were much used as variants (more clearly distinguished from Grade 1) of Grades 3 and 4.
Grade 5 (17–20) was usually applied to the nasal consonants: thus 17 and 18 were the most common signs for n and m. According to the principle observed above, Grade 6 should then have represented the voiceless nasals; but since such sounds (exemplified by Welsh nh or ancient English hn) were of very rare occurrence in the languages concerned, Grade 6 (21–24) was most often used for the weakest or ‘semi-vocalic’ consonants of each series. It consisted of the smallest and simplest shapes among the primary letters. Thus 21 was often used for a weak (untrilled) r, originally occurring in Quenya and regarded in the system of that language as the weakest consonant of the tincotéma; 22 was widely used for w; where Series III was used as a palatal series 23 was commonly used as consonantal y. 1
Since some of the consonants of Grade 4 tended to become weaker in pronunciation, and to approach or to merge with those of Grade 6 (as described above), many of the latter ceased to have a clear function in the Eldarin languages; and it was from these letters that the letters expressing vowels were largely derived.
NOTE
The standard spelling of Quenya diverged from the applications of the letters above described. Grade 2 was used for nd, mb, ng, ngw, all of which were frequent, since b, g, gw only appeared in these combinations, while for rd, ld the special letters 26, 28 were used. (For lv, not for lw, many speakers, especially Elves, used lb: this was written with 27+6, since lmb could not occur.) Similarly, Grade 4 was used for the extremely frequent combinations nt, mp, nk, nqu, since Quenya did not possess dh, gh, ghw, and for v used letter 22. See the Quenya letter-names pp. 1474–5.
The additional letters. No. 27 was universally used for l. No. 25 (in origin a modification of 21) was used for ‘full’ trilled r. Nos. 26, 28 were modifications of these. They were frequently used for voiceless r (rh) and l (lh) respectively. But in Quenya they were used for rd and ld. 29 represented s, and 31 (with doubled curl) z in those languages that required it. The inverted forms, 30 and 32, though available for use as separate signs, were mostly used as mere variants of 29 and 31, according to the convenience of writing, e.g. they were much used when accompanied by superimposed tehtar.
No. 33 was in origin a variation representing some (weaker) variety of 11; its most frequent use in the Third Age was h. 34 was mostly used (if at all) for voiceless w (hw). 35 and 36 were, when used as consonants, mostly applied to y and w respectively.
The vowels were in many modes represented by tehtar, usually set above a consonantal letter. In languages such as Quenya, in which most words ended in a vowel, the tehta was placed above the preceding consonant; in those such as Sindarin, in which most words ended in a consonant, it was placed above the following consonant. When there was no consonant present in the required position, the tehta was placed above the ‘short carrier’, of which a common form was like an undotted i. The actual tehtar used in different languages for vowel-signs were numerous. The commonest, usually applied to (varieties of) e, i, a, o, u, are exhibited in the examples given. The three dots, most usual in formal writing for a, were variously written in quicker styles, a form like a circumflex being often employed. 1 The single dot and the ‘acute accent’ were frequently used for i and e (but in some modes for e and i). The curls were used for o and u. In the Ring-inscription the curl open to the right is used for u; but on the title-page this stands for o, and the curl open to the left for u. The curl to the right was favoured, and the application depended on the language concerned: in the Black Speech o was rare.
Long vowels were usually represented by placing the tehta on the ‘long carrier’, of which a common form was like an undotted j. But for the same purpose the tehtar could be doubled. This was, however, only frequently done with the curls, and sometimes with the ‘accent’. Two dots was more often used as a sign for following y.
The West-gate inscription illustrates a mode of ‘full writing’ with the vowels represented by separate letters. All the vocalic letters used in Sindarin are shown. The use of No. 30 as a sign for vocalic y may be noted; also the expression of diphthongs by placing the tehta for following y above the vowel-letter. The sign for following w (required for the expression of au, aw) was in this mode the u-curl or a modification of it ~. But the diphthongs were often written out in full, as in the transcription. In this mode length of vowel was usually indicated by the ‘acute accent’, called in that case andaith ‘long mark’.
There were beside the tehtar already mentioned a number of others, chiefly used to abbreviate the writing, especially by expressing frequent consonant combinations without writing them out in full. Among these, a bar (or a sign like a Spanish tilde) placed above a consonant was often used to indicate that it was preceded by the nasal of the same series (as in nt, mp, or nk); a similar sign placed below was, however, mainly used to show that the consonant was long or doubled. A downward hook attached to the bow (as in hobbits, the last word on the title-page) was used to indicate a following s, especially in the combinations ts, ps, ks (x), that were favoured in Quenya.
There was of course no ‘mode’ for the representation of English. One adequate phonetically could be devised from the F?anorian system. The brief example on the title-page does not attempt to exhibit this. It is rather an example of what a man of Gondor might have produced, hesitating between the values of the letters familiar in his ‘mode’ and the traditional spelling of English. It may be noted that a dot below (one of the uses of which was to represent weak obscured vowels) is here employed in the representation of unstressed and, but is also used in here for silent final e; the, of, and of the are expressed by abbreviations (extended dh, extended v, and the latter with an under-stroke).
The names of the letters. In all modes each letter and sign had a name; but these names were devised to fit or describe the phonetic uses in each particular mode. It was, however, often felt desirable, especially in describing the uses of the letters in other modes, to have a name for each letter in itself as a shape. For this purpose the Quenya ‘full names’ were commonly employed, even where they referred to uses peculiar to Quenya. Each ‘full name’ was an actual word in Quenya that contained the letter in question. Where possible it was the first sound of the word; but where the sound or the combination expressed did not occur initially it followed immediately after an initial vowel. The names of the letters in the table were (1) tinco metal, parma book, calma lamp, quesse feather; (2) ando gate, umbar fate, anga iron, ungwe spider’s web; (3) thúle (súle) spirit, formen north, harma treasure (or aha rage), hwesta breeze; (4) anto mouth, ampa hook, anca jaws, unque a hollow; (5) númen west, malta gold, noldo (older ngoldo) one of the kindred of the Noldor, nwalme (older ngwalme) torment; (6) óre heart (inner mind), vala angelic power, anna gift, vilya air, sky (older wilya); rómen east, arda region, lambe tongue, alda tree; silme starlight, silme nuquerna (s reversed), áre sunlight (or esse name), áre nuquerna; hyarmen south, hwesta sindarinwa, yanta bridge, úre heat. Where there are variants this is due to the names being given before certain changes affected Quenya as spoken by the Exiles. Thus No. 11 was called harma when it represented the spirant ch in all positions, but when this sound became breath h initially 1 (though remaining medially) the name aha was devised. áre was originally áze, but when this z became merged with 21, the sign was in Quenya used for the very frequent ss of that language, and the name esse was given to it. hwesta sindarinwa or ‘Grey-elven hw’ was so called because in Quenya 12 had the sound of hw, and distinct signs for chw and hw were not required. The names of the letters most widely known and used were 17 n, 33 hy, 25 r, 10 f: númen, hyarmen, rómen, formen=west, south, east, north (cf. Sindarin d?n or ann?n, harad, rh?n or amr?n, forod). These letters commonly indicated the points W, S, E, N even in languages that used quite different terms. They were, in the West-lands, named in this order, beginning with and facing west; hyarmen and formen indeed meant left-hand region and right-hand region (the opposite to the arrangement in many Mannish languages).
(ii)
THE CIRTH
The Certhas Daeron was originally devised to represent the sounds of Sindarin only. The oldest cirth were Nos. 1, 2, 5, 6; 8, 9, 12; 18, 19, 22; 29, 31; 35, 36; 39, 42, 46, 50; and a certh varying between 13 and 15. The assignment of values was unsystematic. Nos. 39, 42, 46, 50 were vowels and remained so in all later developments. Nos. 13, 15 were used for h or s, according as 35 was used for s or h. This tendency to hesitate in the assignment of values for s and h continued in later arrangements. In those characters that consisted of a ‘stem’ and a ‘branch’, 1 – 31, the attachment of the branch was, if on one side only, usually made on the right side. The reverse was not infrequent, but had no phonetic significance.
The extension and elaboration of this certhas was called in its older form the Angerthas Daeron, since the additions to the old cirth and their reorganization was attributed to Daeron. The principal additions, however, the introductions of two new series, 13–17, and 23–28, were actually most probably inventions of the Noldor of Eregion, since they were used for the representation of sounds not found in Sindarin.
In the rearrangement of the Angerthas the following principles are observable (evidently inspired by the F?anorian system): (1) adding a stroke to a branch added ‘voice’; (2) reversing the certh indicated opening to a ‘spirant’; (3) placing the branch on both sides of the stem added voice and nasality. These principles were regularly carried out, except in one point. For (archaic) Sindarin a sign for a spirant m (or nasal v) was required, and since this could best be provided by a reversal of the sign for m, the reversible No. 6 was given the value m, but No. 5 was given the value hw.
No. 36, the theoretic value of which was z, was used, in spelling Sindarin or Quenya, for ss: cf. F?anorian 31. No. 39 was used for either i or y (consonant); 34, 35 were used indifferently for s; and 38 was used for the frequent sequence nd, though it was not clearly related in shape to the dentals.
In the Table of Values those on the left are, when separated by ——, the values of the older Angerthas. Those on the right are the values of the Dwarvish Angerthas Moria. 1 The Dwarves of Moria, as can be seen, introduced a number of unsystematic changes in value, as well as certain new cirth:* 37, 40, 41, 53, 55, 56. The dislocation in values was due mainly to two causes: (1) the alteration in the values of 34, 35, 54 respectively to h, ’ (the clear or glottal beginning of a word with an initial vowel that appeared in Khuzdul), and s; (2) the abandonment of the Nos. 14, 16 for which the Dwarves substituted 29, 30. The consequent use of 12 for r, the invention of 53 for n (and its confusion with 22); the use of 17 as z, to go with 54 in its value s, and the consequent use of 36 as η and the new certh 37 for ng may also be observed. The new 55, 56 were in origin a halved form of 46, and were used for vowels like those heard in English butter, which were frequent in Dwarvish and in the Westron. When weak or evanescent they were often reduced to a mere stroke without a stem. This Angerthas Moria is represented in the tomb-inscription.
The Dwarves of Erebor used a further modification of this system, known as the mode of Erebor, and exemplified in the Book of Mazarbul. Its chief characteristics were: the use of 43 as z; of 17 as ks (x); and the invention of two new cirth, 57, 58 for ps and ts. They also reintroduced 14, 16 for the values j, zh; but used 29, 30 for g, gh, or as mere variants of 19, 21. These peculiarities are not included in the table, except for the special Ereborian cirth, 57, 58.
THE ANGERTHAS