Sindarin

In Tolkien’s languages, two branches of development can be distinguished:

• "Internal", described by the events of his artificial world;
• “External”, which shows the very evolution of language throughout Tolkien’s life.

In simplified terms, we can say that the outer branch is the events of the real world that show the development of the language, while the inner branch is the events of the artificial world.

Tolkien has been interested in languages ​​since childhood and invented several languages ​​as a teenager. Over time, he created a whole system of fictional languages ​​spoken by elves, as well as a world where they could exist.

One of these languages ​​was created around 1915, being based on Celtic languages . Tolkien called it Goldogrin ( English Goldogrin ), or "gnomish" ( English Gnomish ) language. He wrote a dictionary and described the grammar of Goldogrin . ^[4] This was the first step in creating Sindarin as an independent language. At the same time, Tolkien had some ideas about the story of the elves, which he described in “ Lost Tales ”. The Dwarf language was spoken by the Dwarves, or Noldoli - the Second Genus of Elves ; in another language - elfin ( English Elfin ) spoke most of the elves who lived on the Lonely Island.

A few years later, around 1925, Tolkien began to update the grammar and vocabulary of the language of his "gnomes". The language was called Noldorin (a word from Quenya , which was already used for the Dwarf language), instead of “Goldogrin”, or “Lam Goldrin” ( English lam Goldrin ). This was the second stage of the development of Sindarin. Tolkien compiled the grammar of the new Noldorin - “ Lam na Ngoluith ” ( English Lam na Ngoluith ). ^[5]

In the early 1930s, Tolkien improved the Noldorin with a rather large volume of new grammar. ^[6] It was the so-called "late Noldorin." At the same time, Tolkien began to create the dialects of Ilkorin , the dialects of the Third Gen Elves who remained in Beleriand (precisely those elves whom Tolkien would call much later the “ Syndar ” for Quenya).

The Noldorin (a language similar to Welsh) was conceived at that time as a language derived from the old Noldorin - the language of communication of Valinor. The Noldor wanted to speak a language different from the language of the Elves of the First Kind, who lived with them and spoke Quenya, so that they invented their own language - the old Noldorin , using as a basis Koreldarin ( English Koreldarin ) - "the language of those elves that left Middle-earth and came to Kora ( Eng. Kór ), a hill of elves in Valinor. " ^[7]

When the Noldor went into exile from Valinor to Beleriand, the old Noldorin developed into the Noldorin, a Welsh language with many dialects .

The Beleriand dialects, ilkorin, bore no resemblance to Welsh. Later Tolkien called them Lemberin ( English Lemberin ).

Sindarin (gray Elven) is actually the name of the languages ​​of the elven inhabitants of Beleriand, lands west of the Blue Mountains, which later almost completely drowned. Quenya was the language of the exiled Light Elves returning to Middle-earth. The exiles, with a relatively small number, eventually adopted the southern Sindarin dialect (which was the cleanest and most archaic of all. Also used in Doriath). They began to use it in everyday speech and even adapt their names to it. But Sindarin himself experienced the influence of Quenya. Sindarin also widely influenced other related languages ​​of the elves close to Sindar, who lived in Eriador and east.

- ^[8]

Sindarin was formed from Old Sindarin (only a few records of Doriath were preserved), the latter, in turn, came from the general Telerin , in the Shadow of Middle-earth, and not in the light of Valinor trees. The Kingdom of Doriath became isolated after Melkor settled in Angband. Thus, from now on, the language was mothballed and later resisted the influence of the Noldorin. Until then, thanks to the nomadic life of the Gray Elves, their language was almost uniform, with one exception. In the northwestern region of Beleriand there were elven settlements that rarely went far beyond its borders. Their language, generally consistent in many linguistic aspects of Sindarin, early diverged from it. It is commonly called Mitrimin .

Dialects

The fragmentation of Sindarin (Old Sindarin) began with the North or Mitrima and South groups.
The southern group had a much larger territory, which also included Doriathrin ( Syndrome Doriathrin or Central Syndarin ).

Cirdan Korabel was one of those teleies who was not delivered to Valinor, but became known as Sindar, he was related to Elva, whom his older brother Olve recognized as the main ruler of all Teleri in Beleriand, even after he retired into the closed area of ​​Doriath. But Cirdan and his people remained largely different from the rest of Sindar. They retained the old names Teleri and even speaking in recent days in a more archaic language.

- ^[9]

Thus, during the First Age, before the return of the Noldor, there were four Sindarin dialects.

• South group:

• Doriathrin is the language of Doriath;
• Falatrin ( syndrome. Fathathrin ), or Western Sindarin is the language of Falas.

• Northern group:

• the northwestern dialect spoken in Khitlum, Mitrim and Dor-lomin ;
• a northeastern dialect spoken in Calenardon and in the highlands of Taur nu Fuin.

Doriathrin

Doriathrin retained many archaic features. Unlike other dialects, Doriathrin remained free from the influence of Quenya. The “accent” of Doriath was also very recognizable, so that after Turin left Doriath, Turin had a Doriathrian accent until his death, which immediately indicated its origin, for speakers of other dialects of Sindarin. Post-war “Belerian” as a lingua franca and as a Noldor language was strongly influenced by doriathrin ^[10] . Much about the morphology of doriathrin and how this contrasts with other dialects is established from the linguistic works of J.R. R. Tolkien.

Double nouns, pronouns and oral personal endings, as well as a clear distinction between the “common” or “collective” plural (like elenath ) and the “especially” plural (like elin ), have been preserved in general use in doriatrin. In a few but important aspects of phonology, changes are noted that are not universal in Sindarin. The most notable among them was the spirantization of m > nasal ṽ , a nasality which, however, never completely lost in doriatrin, until the disappearance of Doriath's secrecy. Changes to mp , nt , ñk also started earlier and went further than in other dialects.

- ^[11]

Falatrin

The language of the people of Cirdan is called Falatrin , it is another dialect of the southern Sindarin group. It is still close to the language of Doriath, thanks to the large turnover between the two groups until the time of the Beleriand wars.

Northern Sindarin

Mithrim was spoken in northern Sindarin, the northern group of gray elves. He differed from Doriathrin in many aspects. It contains many unique words and was not fully understood by other elves. Originally used in Dortonion and Khitlum. The northern dialect was much more conservative and then divided into the North-Western dialect (Khitlum, Mitrim, Dor-Lomin) and the North-Eastern dialect (Kalenardon before his death and Dortonion (Taur-nu-Fuin). It was the northern Sindarin that was adopted by the Noldor , after their return to Middle-earth on Losgar.Later, the Noldorian Sindarin changed greatly under the influence of Quenya and partly because of the love of the Noldor for language changes.

The main characteristic of northern Sindarin was the preservation of p , t , k after nasal and L. Intervocal m remained. But u , o and i / e remain isolated - there is no mutation in i . H is stored medially. Medially tt , pp , kk > t , p , k .

- ^[12]

Noldor Sindarin

In the Second and Third Age

Aa - [a];
Bb - [b];
Cc - [k];
Dd is [d];
Ee - [e];
Ff - [f] [-v];
Gg - [g];
Hh - [h];
Ii - [i];
Ll is [l];
Mm - [m];
Nn is [n];
Oo - [o];
Pp - [p];
Rr is [r];
Ss - [s];
Tt - [t];
Uu - [u];
Vv - [v];
Ww - [v];
Yy - [y];
Th th - [þ];
Dh dh - [ð].

The plural is formed using a vowel mutation (usually the second or last):

• e becomes i ;
• but mutates in e ;
• o becomes e or y .

Examples:

• edhel ("elf") - edhil ("elves");
• narn ("saga") - nern ("sagas");
• ithron ("mage") - ithryn ("mages").

When using a certain article i , the first consonant's laziness is observed:

• b is p ;
• t is d ;
• v is f ;
• g - c .

Also, laziness is observed when using the avo particle in the imperative mood:

• ped-pedo-avo bedo ;
• car-caro-avo garo .

[ [1] ]

Being the most common of the elven languages ​​of Middle-earth, Sindarin is the basis of many Tolkienist pseudonyms.

On January 15, 2016, the Yandex.Translate project team announced the inclusion of Sindarin in the number of languages ​​into which automatic (machine) translation is carried out ^[13] .

• Elven languages
• Tengwar
• Quenya
• Telerin

• Sindarin - the Noble Tongue
• Old Sindarin - between Primitive Elvish and Gray-elven
• Doriathrin - the mothertongue of Lúthien