The sindarin or gray-elfique is one of the built Langues imagined by the novelist and Philologue J.R.R. Tolkien within the framework of the development of the accounts of the Ground of the Medium. It began construction of it towards 1917 in a form then called gnomic , and then did not cease during its life making some evolve/move the designs, as well in its properly linguistic characteristics as in its place in the narration. The noun even of the language was modified several times, and the term of sindarin appeared only at the beginning of the Années 1950 at the end of the drafting of the Seigneur of the rings , the most known work of its author.

Within its Universe of fiction, the sindarin is the language of the Gray Sindar or Elves, who initially developed with the Beleriand during the First Age, starting from an ancestor common to the various languages of the Elfes. Later, it was adopted by various other people and extended in many areas from Ground from the Medium, becoming there thus the Common language Elves, and one of the languages of use at people of Hommes, the Dúnedain.

The Phonetic and a good portion of the Grammaire is strongly inspired by those of the Welsh. By its morphology, the sindarin is a inflected Language, which makes a broad use of vocalic Alternances and Consonant shifts. The Syntaxe is relatively Analytique. The Vocabulary, by construction, is a priori , i.e. created independently of that of the natural languages; but Tolkien conceived it so that it is related with that of the other elfic languages which it imagined, such as the Quenya.

History

In sindarin as for the other languages which Tolkien invented, it is necessary to distinguish two chronological axes from development:

• one, external , relates to the evolution of the designs of the language during the life of their author,
• the other, intern , relates to the historical evolution of the language inside even of the imaginary world in which she speaks herself.

External history

Of all the languages which J.R.R. Tolkien invented, the sindarin had the development more complicated. One can make go up his origins about 1917, when Tolkien conceived a language called gnomic ( goldogrin in the language even, Gnomish in English). It was conceived like the language of the Gnomes , (conceptual predecessors of the Ñoldor), connected with the Qenya which he had begun in 1915 but phonetically very different. In the designs that Tolkien developed at the time, the qenya was the language of the first tribe of the Elves only (the futures Vanyar); the Gnomes, second tribe, spoke a language close to time about their stay with Valinor, but during their Ground exile of the Medium it deteriorated deeply and is subject to the influence of the indigenous languages, becoming at the time the gnomique one. By its structure, the gnomique one is quite different from the later sindarin, though the community of inspiration between the two is manifest (in particular in phonetics). The inspiration of gnomic was not only Welsh, the Germanic Langues old and in particular the old and the Middle English also contributed to it per many features.

Tolkien worked with gnomic during several years, before seems it to take again rather basically grammar of it during the years 1920, on a model much nearer to Welsh. As from this moment, the language started to being called regularly noldorin in its writings. During the second part of the years 1930, Tolkien specified of it the historical development like that of the other elfic languages in a kind of dictionary by roots, the Etymologies . The internal scenario of linguistic evolution had remained very similar at the preceding stage. At the stage of the Etymologies , the noldorin started to approach the later sindarin clearly, at least in its lexicon and its phonetics. The final stage of drafting of the Etymologies is contemporary besides first drafts of the Seigneur of the rings . In a similar vein, Tolkien also invented the doriathrin and the ilkorin , two indigenous languages of Beleriand influencing the noldorin; it seems that Tolkien partly recycled old designs there going back to gnomic first years.

Tolkien strongly used the stage then reached for the elfic nomenclature of the Seigneur of the rings , which led it to deteriorate it on certain points to lead to desired esthetics. Finally, at the end of the drafting of the Lord of the rings , it decided to radically modify the internal history of the language. It decided that Ñoldor would have finally the quenya like source language (with some dialectal differences compared to the speech of Vanyar), re-elected the noldorin in sindarin and allotted it to Sindar, the Gray Elves of Beleriand. Remained to explain the use of the sindarin by Ground Noldor of the Medium (as their names testify some): Tolkien explained whereas Noldor in exile adopted the sindarin like daily language, holding the quenya with a ceremonial use. The sindarin becoming the indigenous language of Beleriand, the doriathrin and the ilkorin disappeared, not having more place to fill in the linguistic panorama.

Tolkien continued to work on the sindarin until its death in 1973. The form of the language seems to be somewhat stabilized at this period: the forms met in the rewriting of the Silmarillion that Tolkien undertook in years 1950-1960 agree essentially with those of the Seigneur of the rings , perhaps because it could feel dependant to a certain extent by what was already published. Certain late tests contain nevertheless rather divergent forms, and show that the experimentation was for Tolkien an essential component of its work of linguistic invention.

Internal history

Like the Quenya and the Telerin of Aman, the sindarin descends from the common eldarin , the language of the Eldar during their great walk of Cuiviénen towards Valinor, itself derived from the primitive quendien , the paramount language invented by the first Elves with Cuiviénen. Common features of old origin divided by the sindarin and the telerin show that the common eldarin was not entirely homogeneous and that the speech of the Teleri had acquired certain characteristics, making it possible to define a common telerin . The sindarin derives from it directly; it comes from the spontaneous evolution of this language in Beleriand after the separation of Sindar of other Eldar. Insulated out of ground mortal, the sudden sindarin with the time of deep changes, so that when Ñoldor in exile redébarquèrent out of Ground of the Medium, the Intercompréhension with the quenya (remained much more preserving as Aman) had become impossible. Initially, the two languages coexisted, but gradually Ñoldor adopted the sindarin like daily language because of several factors: a demographic simple reason, Exiled being minority in Beleriand in the middle of Sindar; related to their higher linguistic aptitudes, which them returned a change of language easier than in Sindar; a political reason finally: when Elected Thingol, the king of the Gray Elves, learned that Ñoldor had massacred with Alqualondë the Teleri, parents of Sindar, he in the future refused to intend to speak quenya and the use on its subjects prohibits some. The quenya was maintained finally only like ceremonial language of use among Ñoldor.

Beleriand was destroyed at the end of the First Age at the time of the Guerre of the Great Anger. Many Elves embarked to settle in Tol Eressëa, and the sindarin had to be established to with it with the occasion. Others remained with the Lindon under the royalty of Gil-galad, while others still went to settle more in the East - thus Celebrimbor in Eregion, Galadriel and Celeborn in Eregion then in Lothlórien, Thranduil in Forêt of Mirkwood. The sindarin thus extended its field during the Second and the Third Age, supplanting the languages of the Sylvains Elves little by little, until becoming out of Ground of the Medium the elfic language par excellence. It is the state reached at the time where the Seigneur does without the rings .

The sindarin was also adopted by certain people of Hommes: the Edain practiced it largely, initially in Beleriand, then with Númenor, where it was of use in all the layers of the population, for a part even like native tongue. During the Second Age, its use declined as Númenoréens were diverted of their friendship with Valinor, and ends even up being proscribed by the king Ar-Gimilzôr. However, a minority attached to the friendship of the Elves, the party of Faithful, maintained it secretly. Located a long time at the west of Númenor, they were moved in the east following prohibition. After the immersion of Númenor, they founded out of Ground of the Medium the kingdoms in exile of Arnor and of Gondor, the sindarin became the official language about it (like to a lesser extent the quenya), as one observes it with their toponymy primarily sindarine. The sindarin was however only the language of a small portion of the population, the vernacular Language of the two kingdoms like most of the Earth of the Medium to the Third Age being the Westron

The scenario was quite different for the noldorin and the gnomique one, before Tolkien operates the great upheaval scenaristic only one said. He imagined whereas the noldorin had initially developed in Valinor in a first antiquated form rather near of the qenya, called Old Noldorin or Kornoldorin . Following the exile of Noldor, he would have known out of Ground of the Medium a quick change (becoming then the Exilic Noldorin ) which would have led it to converge with the indigenous languages (the doriathrin and the ilkorin ), all these languages influencing itself mutually in their development in a complex process. This scenario goes back to the first times of the development of the gnomique one.

Dialects

Being given the vast expansion of the sindarin in time and space, it is not surprising that Tolkien did to allusion to the existence of various Dialecte S. We know however only little thing of it.

The situation is clearest for the First Age. Tolkien speaks explicitly about the existence of three dialects:

• a Western dialect developed in the Falas;
• the dialect of Doriath, more antiquated;
• a septentrional dialect finally, in the north of the Beleriand itself.

We also know that Ñoldor introduced lexical Emprunts resulting from the quenya into their sindarin use.

The dialect of north - itself divided into a north-western variety in Hithlum and a north-eastern variety in Ard-galen and Dorthonion - was very definitely divergent, in particular in its phonetics, at the point to be at the end almost regarded as an own language, though still rather intercompréhensible with the other dialects. Spoken by restricted an enough population, it disappeared without much influencing the later use. He was opposed to the southernmost group of the two other dialects, definitely closer one to the other. The dialect of Doriath was most preserving by morphology and the vocabulary (but not by phonetics) and resisted entirely the linguistic influence of Ñoldor. The Western dialect finally was used as a basis for the development of a “common sindarin”, which, stabilized by Ñoldor then strongly influenced by the use of Doriath, was the source of the varieties of sindarin following ages.

We also have the trace of alternatives in the sindarin of the Third Age. Galadhrim of Lothlórien thus used a form influenced by the Sylvain, that Frodon Sacquet, which however knew the sindarin, could not include/understand. One can also announce the characteristics of pronunciation of the sindarin to Gondor noted in the Appendix E of the Seigneur of the rings .

Certificates

Types of sources

Testimonys which we have on the sindarin, under the various incarnations of its external development, very compartmental and are dispersed in the writings of Tolkien. To build languages usable and “complete” was obviously never its main aim; it was initially liked to consider their sound esthetics and their historical development, as well as the Onomastique that they enabled him to build, in bond with the development of its fictional world. Moreover, its linguistic writings are often not very accessible, either that they were simply not published yet, or from the nature even of their presentation (they are mainly drafts which were not intended to be read by others that him) or of their writing (the linguistic considerations are frequently overlapping with the history of the Earth of the Medium).

Tolkien does not appear to have left complete grammar of the sindarin, but some rather long grammatical texts were published, relating to various developmental stages external, as well as a considerable number of notes on points of precise language. The vocabulary is better known; a substantial part is attested by it in the form of proper names. Those are often interpretable (it generally acts of made up words), but the use of this material can be delicate: the etymologies are not always transparent, and the proper names can preserve forms left use or made unrecognizable by sound change. But Tolkien also compiled lexicons, of which in particular the Etymologies referred to above. On the other hand, there exists little of true texts, which handicaps the knowledge of syntax largely. They are short even very short, and often of poetic nature, which has specific advantages and disadvantages: thus the study of the prosody is facilitated by it, but the Registre of language is not representative of the current language.

The occupation of philologist of Tolkien and its formation at the school of the Néogrammairien S show through in the clear preference which it grants to the Diachronie on the Synchronie and its intensive use of the compared Linguistique. It was shown very anxious to invent a plausible historical context for its languages, of all their aspects certainly the best known one.

The nature of the material implies that most of knowledge on the sindarin are obtained by scheduling, elucidation then interpretation of the texts of Tolkien, rather than by direct reading; any general presentation of the sindarin implies necessarily a certain degree of rebuilding and can be by-there same prone to guarantee.

Testimonys available clarify in a very unequal way the various facets of the language. If the Phonology and the lexical Dérivation are rather well-known, the inflection is less and the Syntaxe remains very fragmentary.

In the text which follows, the sign ^N only indicates a form attested in noldorin. Sign # indicates a lemma deduced from an attested inflected form. The sign * indicates any other rebuilt form.

Example of text

The poem which follows appears in the Community of the ring , delivers II, chapter 1, like song of praise to the Valië Elbereth. It is reproduced and commented on in The Road Goes Ever One , where it carries the title has Elbereth Gilthoniel , according to the first towards, and (in tengwar ) the subtitle Aerlinn in Edhil O Imladris , probably “Anthem of the Elves of Fondcombe”.

has Elbereth Gilthoniel,

silivren penna míriel

O menel aglar elenath!

Na-chaered hoist-díriel

O galadhremmin ennorath,

Fanuilos, the linnathon

Nave aear, sí nave aearon!

Translation based on the interlinear glose of Tolkien: “O Elbereth Enflammeuse of stars,/in a silver plated glare of jewels chatoyants,/the glory of the troop of stars goes down from the firmament! /Having looked towards the distance/since the emmaillées regions of trees of the Earth of the Medium,/I will sing for you, Always-white,/on this side of the ocean, here on this side of the Large Ocean! ”

Examples of proper names

Onomastics sindarine is very abundantly represented in the work of Tolkien. It comprises made up words or derived and set phrases, like some simple words.

simple Words : Beren “brave man”; Estel “hope”; Falas “coast”; Harad “Southern” ; Rhûn “Is”

derived Words : Ithilien , of Ithil “the Moon”; Rohan , of roch “horse”; Serni , of sarn “stone”; Sirion , of sîr “river”

made up Words : Anduin “long river”; Belegaer “large sea”; Caradhras “red horn”; Celebrimbor “money fist”; Elbereth “queen of stars”; Galadriel “crowned young girl of a radiant garland”; Gondor “stone country”; Menegroth “thousand caves”; Mithrandir “gray pilgrim”; Moria “black pit”; Osgiliath “city of stars”; Thingol “gray coat”

Set phrases : Amon Sûl “hill of the wind”; Barad-hard “turn sinks”; Cabed-in-Macaws “jump of the stag”; Cirith Ungol “collar of the spider”; Dagor Bragollach “battles of the sudden flame”; Fraud Guldur “head of sorcery”; Dor-naked-Fauglith “country under choking dust”; Ered Luin “blue mountains”; Henneth Annûn “window of the West”; Undermined Tirith “turn of duty”; Taur-im-Duinath “forest enters the rivers”; Tol-in-Gaurhoth “island of the wolves-garous”

Phonology and writing

Consonants

The sindarin has the following Consonne S, transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet (API); the orthographical representations of the transcription romanized which Tolkien imagined follow in fat.

Note:

* When a box contains two signs, the first indicates a deaf Consonne and the second the sound Consonne corresponding.

* For T , D and N , one cannot slice between an articulation dental consonant or alveolar - without same speech of possible variations.

* the semivowel J is only with initial, and can be regarded phonologiquement as a nonsyllabic Allophone of I to initial in front of voyelle.

The consonants S , m , N , L , R can be geminated, which is marked by a redoubling in the romanized transcription.

Vowels

The sindarin has short Voyelle S and long (those marked in the orthography romanized by an acute accent), as well as a series of Diphtongue S , in addition it notes the presence of variations as for the stamp of the vowels. It is observed besides that they become again regularly of short or of long usual when the words which comprise them are followed other words or enter in composition: e.g. tîw “signs” but I thiw hin “these signs”; dôr “country” but Dor Cúarthol “Country of the arc and the heaume”; Annûn “setting, Western” but Annúminas “Turn of setting”.

Tonic accent

The sindarin has a tonic Accent whose place is generally foreseeable, according to rules close to those of the Latin . The dissyllables are accentuated on the first syllable; for the words of more than two syllables, the place of the accent depends on the syllabic Quantité of the penult (penultimate syllable):

• if the penult is long (what is the case if it comprises a long vowel, a diphthong or a followed short vowel of more than one consonant - to note that m account for a double consonant, because resulting from an old group of consonants), then the tonic accent carries
• above if the penult is short, then the tonic accent relates to the antepenultimate (the third syllable on the basis of the end of the word).

Analysis of some examples of worms sindarin (of accented nature) watch in addition which there were dull words among the monosyllables, thus the article and certain prepositions. It can be regarded as Clitique S.

Phonetic evolution

Some traces of phonetic evolution can be observed in phonology sindarine:

• the antiquated sindarin had two additional consonants: a transcribed nasalized labial spirante mh , and fricative velar sound transcribed a gh . The first merged with v , while the second disappeared or sometimes vocalized.
• the vowel œ is restricted with the oldest forms, later it merged with E . This tendency to délabialiser the round former vowels continued in Gondor where there had suddenly decided I .
• In the polysyllabic ones, - final Nd became - N then simply - N .
• In Gondor, CH between vowels weakens in H ; thus the antiquated form Rochand changed into the more familiar form Rohan .

Consonant shifts

A notable characteristic of the sindarin is that initial words is likely to change systematically in certain circumstances. For example, Eryn Vorn “wood black” contains a modified form of the word morn “sinks, black”. These phenomena go back to the beginning with various phenomena of Sandhi, but in sindarin their condition of appearance became syntactic and either phonetics: they became Consonant shifts. Tolkien introduced them in sindarin on the model of Welsh and others brittonic Langues.

There exist several series of changes in sindarin, as well not attested the ones as the others. Generally, they change the Mode of articulation of the consonant but preserve of it approximately the Joint.

• the soft change or lenition is most current; it appears most typically after the words finished by a vowel, for example the singular article I . It transforms the occlusive deaf persons into occlusive sound, the occlusive sound ones into fricative sound or nasal (according to the etymology), m in v (in the past mh ), S and H in H and CH respectively. E.g.: B aranduin “Brandevin” (name of a river) > I V aranduiniant “the bridge of Brandevin”.
• the nasal change appears in particular after the plural article in or the preposition year “with, for”. It transforms the occlusive deaf persons into fricative deaf persons, the occlusive sound ones into nasal or groups nasal + occlusive sound (according to the etymology). The nasal of particle starting tends to disappear in the process. E.g.: p erian “Hobbit, semi-man” > Ernil I pH eriannath “Prince of the semi-men”.
• the mixed change is attested sporadically after the article of connection in and the article suffix - (I) N . Its surest effect is to voice the occlusive deaf persons, the occlusive sound ones either being left without change, or preceded by nasal in the same way joint, according to the etymology. E.g.: B âr “remains, hearth, country” > ered E• mb rear nín “mountains of my country”.
• the change lasts or occlusive change is directly attested only in old texts from an external point of view; it transforms the occlusive deaf persons into fricative deaf persons. Later, its presence is assured only indirectly by allusions Tolkien and the absence of lenition in contexts where one could have awaited it; it would follow certain particles in the past finished by occlusive (lost then) like the prepositions O “of, resulting from” or E “of, out of”. E.g.: m enel “sky, the firmament” > O m enel “of the firmament”.
• Of the traces of old a change spirante is observed after liquid Consonne in certain compound words, but it is not known if it had remained activates in sindarin. It would transform the occlusive ones into fricative. E.g.: # p ED “to say, speak” > Ar' ph' ent Rían “And Rían known as”.

The changes appear typically after starting particles, of which some are evoked above, but the soft change is also employed in specific syntactic contexts: the attributive adjective is often thus transferred, as well as the Direct object. Various changes also appear with initial of the second member of a made up name; it is often about the soft change, but of others phonetic Modifications is too.

Other phenomena of sandhi are observed sporadically in sindarin beside the changes, for example:

• has “and” becomes ah in front of vowel, e.g. Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth “Debate of Finrod and Andreth”
• year “with, for” is assimilated in amndt in amndt Meril “for Rose”
• E “of, out of” becomes ED in front of vowel and can become EFF, are, eth in front of F, S, HT .

Phonology of the noldorin

At the former stage of external development, the noldorin had a phonology very largely comparable, but the historical development of certain sounds was conceived differently. An important difference is that L and lh on the one hand, R and Rh on the other hand, which is distinct phonemes in sindarin (they contrast with initial), was in noldorin only morphophonologic alternatives : only lh and Rh could be with initial absolute, L and R while being the respective correspondents in position of soft change. There exist also differences in the inventory of the diphthongs.

Writing

Out of Ground of the Medium, the sindarin was written initially in runes (the Cirth , invented at the beginning especially for this language), before Ñoldor do not introduce the use of the elfic letters (the Tengwar ) which ended up supplanting them. The romanized transcription of Tolkien makes it possible to regularly envisage the pronunciation, it is not however a rigorously phonological orthography:

• certain facts of allophonie are transcribed, in particular the vowels surlongues
• the transcription of the sounds F and v is rather complex; v is normally noted v , but F at the end of the words and (sometimes) in the combination, transcribed fn or vn ; F is transcribed pH at the end of the word or when it derives from one p by change (see higher), F if not. In noldorin, pH does not appear to be employed, and F is often used between vowels to note v , which returns this C-W communication ambiguity; Tolkien then sometimes used FF for F in order to raise ambiguity.
• in noldorin, Tolkien hesitated between 2D , dh and sometimes ðh to transcribe the sound 2D ; 2D is sometimes employed also in sindarin itself.
• ng note in medium of word and elsewhere.
• aw replaces with the at the end of the word
• in medium of word, the Digramme S comprising a H in second element create some ambiguities, because they rather note sometimes a true group of consonants than fricative.

Nominal group

Name

The Nom sindarin can vary according to three numbers: singular , plural and plural of class - a plural with general or collective direction.

Plural is generally formed by systematic modifications of the vowels. They draw their origin from the influence of an old termination of plural in * - ī disappeared during the evolution of the sindarin, but not without influencing the articulation of the preceding vowels by a series of Métaphonie S. Some examples:

• barad “turn” pl. beraid ;
• edhel “elf” pl. edhil ;
• Golodh “Ñoldo” pl. Gelydh (in the past Gœlydh );
• curu “talent, skill, trick” pl. ^N cyry ;
• to cair “ship” pl. # cîr ;
• naug “dwarf” pl. noeg .

But in some cases, plural is formed rather by adding a syllable (vocalic modifications can combine with it): thus êl “star” pl. elin , ^N mâl “pollen” pl. ^N mely , ^N pêl “closed field” pl. ^N peli .

The plural of class is formed by the suffix, most frequent is - (I) ath : e.g. elenath (synonymous giliath ) “the crowd of stars, the starry vault”, ennorath “the whole of the grounds of the medium” (cf Ennor “Ground of the Medium”), periannath “people of the hobbits” (cf perian “hobbit, semi-man”). For the names of people can get busy - rim (e.g. Golodhrim “Ñoldor”, Galadhrim “Sylvains”, Rohirrim “Lords of the horses”, Haradrim “Suderons”) or pejoratively - hoth (e.g. Orchoth “Orcs”, Gaurhoth “Wolves-Garous”, Lossoth “Horde of snows”), implying a judgment of cruelty; they are at the beginning made up of the words rim “crowd, great number, populate” and hoth “crowd, horde”, but which came from there to get busy like plurals of class.

A small number of names, instead of opposing classically singular and plural, rather follow a system of collective/singulatif : the base form has a total direction, and it is the designation of the unit which of it is derived.

• ^N filig “small birds” singulatif ^N filigod (there exists also a “normal” singular ^N fileg );
• gwanûn “even of twins” singulatif gwanunig ;
• lhaw “ears (two ears of a person)” singulatif ^N lhewig ;
• loth “flowers, inflorescence” singulatif elloth or lotheg .

Tolkien also indicates the existence of a duel quickly become obsolete; an example is Orgaladhad “Day of the two trees” (cf galadh “tree”), under possible influence of the quenya. The duel remained of everyday usage in the dialect of Doriath.

It really does not appear to exist of grammatical Genre, but of the distinction of sex are observed in the lexicon (e.g. ellon “man elf”/ elleth “woman elf”) and at the pronouns of third nobody (at least in noldorin). The situation is similar to that of English.

Adjective

The Adjectif sindarin can vary of number in agreement with the name to which it is referred; plural is formed by the same vowel inflections as for the names. Plurals of class appear to involve the agreement of the adjective in the plural (e.g. Pinnath Gelin “green Peaks”, cf calen “green”). The attributive adjective is generally placed after the name which it describes (e.g. Dagor Aglareb “glorious Battle”, Ered Wethrin “ombreuses Mountains”, Iant Iaur “old Bridge”); frequently - but not systematically - it undergoes the soft change then.

It seems that the adjectives can be intensified by means of a prefix year variously modified - causing a nasal change in particular base interns to which he is added. Ex: ^N parch “dry”/^N afarch “arid”; iaur “old”/ einior “old”.

Articles

The sindarin has a series of definite articles, but not of Indefinite article. All start changes on the words which follow them.

• I is the singular article ; it starts the soft change
• in (reduced to I in certain contexts) is the plural article ; it starts the nasal change
• in (reduced to E in certain contexts) is a article of connection or article genitive , which intervenes in the formation of the complement of the name; it starts the mixed change. It gets busy in the singular, sometimes in the plural. (The article of connection is not attested in noldorin.)
• there exists finally a form suffixée of the article - (I) N , which amalgamates with certain prepositions and functions apparently as well like singular as plural (e.g. Na “with” > nan “with (X)”, naked “under” > nuin “under (S)” the O “of, since” > uin “of (/des), since (S)”; gold “on” > erin “on (S)”). It starts also the mixed change.

Complement of the name

The Complément of the name can be expressed in two ways. One is to employ the preposition Na . This construction is very frequent in noldorin, less later; examples are the names Orod-Na-Tuna “Mountain of Pine” or Taur-Na-Neldor “Forest of Beech”. The other consists with simply juxtaposing the terms, the given one preceding the determinant: Ennyn Durin “doors of Durin”, Dangweth Pengolodh “the answer of Pengolodh”. The given name never takes article in this case and can be regarded as definite from the start. The name determining can, to take an article with the need to him; it is readily the article of connection (e.g. in the singular Narn E•Dinúviel “Tale of the Nightingale”, in the plural Haudh-in-Ndengin “Hillock of Killed”) but one finds also the article ordinary (e.g. in the singular Condir I Drann “Mayor of the County”, in the plural Aerlinn in Edhil “Anthem of the Elves”).

Personal marks

The sindarin expresses the nobody as well in the systems of the noun and the pronoun as that of the verb. One can notice there the opposition to the 1st person of the plural of an inclusive/exclusive us, according to whether the group in question includes/understands or not the interlocutor, and the existence of distinctions of courtesy to the 2nd person. These characteristics also exist in quenya. The attested forms sindarines personal Pronoun and Possessive adjective are presented in the table below; all necessarily did not coexist in the designs of Tolkien.

To present the form im as Reflexive pronoun follows a late interpretation of Tolkien; it is however manifest that before, it had a long time had the direction of a singular personal pronoun of first nobody.

Tolkien implies that the distinction of number to the second nobody is late in sindarin, and results from the introduction by Ñoldor of the polished/honorary singular pronoun the , on the model of a distinction made in quenya. The distinction spread in Beleriand, except in the dialect of Doriath where the new form did not enter the use. Doriath also maintained in the use of the pronouns duels lost elsewhere; Tolkien tried out of them others during the external development of the language. It can be done by internal modification of the radical (strong topics ) or by suffixation (weak topics ).

Starting from the verbal radical, the strong topics can be formed:

• by vocalic Alternation: the radical vowel is modified. E.g.: ^N #hal- > ^N haul “(it/it) raised”, ^N #trenar- > ^N trenor “(it/it) told”. The derived verbs which follow this method appear to lose their suffix of derivation there: #anna- > ónen “I gave”, ^N #dœlia-, doltha- > ^N daul “(it/it) dissimulated”. In sindarin (not in noldorin), one observes also the addition of a Augment, with internal lenition: #car- > agor “(it/it) made”, NOR > onur “(it/it) ran”.
• by consonant Alternation: the radical consonant system is modified, with appearance of nasal consonant. E.g.: #echad- > echant “(it/it) manufactured”, ^N rhib- > ^N rhimp “(it/it) ran in torrent”.

Two suffixes are used with the formation as weak topics:

• - ant , e.g. #teitha- > teithant “(it/it) wrote”, ^N haf- > ^N hafant “(it/it) was sat (E)”
• - ace , e.g. ^N #muda- > ^N mudas “(it/it) hardly”, ^N #egleð- > ^N egleðas “(it/it) was exiled (E)”.

Moreover, several processes can combine. E.g.: ^N #sog- > ^N sunc “(it/it) drank”, carfa- > agarfant “(it/it) spoke”.

Good number of verbs have two topics of indexed past, a fort and weak; the fort being once noted more like antiquated, one can deduce a historical tendency from the sindarin to replace its last forts by the weak ones. The personal endings are added to the topic of past either by a E (e.g. #anna- > ónen “I gave”) or by a I , which starts metaphonies as at the present (e.g. ^N had- > ^N hennin “I launched”).

Future

The topic of the future is known only for the derived verbs, it is formed by a suffix - tha ; the personal endings are then in the same way added that for the verbs derived to the present. E.g. #linna- > linnathon “I will sing”, #anglenna- > anglennatha “(it/it) will approach”.

Requirement

The requirement is formed by suffixant - O with the verbal radical. E.g. #tir- > tiro “(Re) guard (Z)! ”, #anna- > ass “gives (Z)! ”. The requirement is employed to express the order, but also the wish or the prayer, use attested well in an incomplete version sindarine of the Our Father: tolo I arnad lín “that your reign comes”.

Not combined forms

Among the not combined forms, the sindarin knows at least three Participe S: present, perfect and spent, two first being active direction and the third of passive direction. The three are attested for the verb #tir- “(Re) to keep”: tiriel “(Re) keeping”, tíriel “having looked at”, tirnen “(Re) kept (E)”.

There exist also verbal forms substantivized. A Gérondif is formed by a suffix - ED for the basic verbs (e.g. ^N gonod- > ^N# gonoded “to count, enumeration”), - AD for the derived verbs (e.g. eitha- > eithad “offense (R), insult (R)”). It is primarily a name abstracts built on the verbal radical, which can use at the same time nominal construction industries (e.g. Cabed-in-Macaws “the Jump of the Stag”, with complement of the name) or verbal (e.g. E will aníra ennas suilannad mhellyn ín phain “it wishes to greet all his/her friends there”, with direct object).

In noldorin, there exists moreover a Infinitif, used like such as a form of quotation of many verbs in the Etymologies . It is formed by the suffixes - I and - O ; the first, which determines a metaphony of the preceding vowels, is associated with the basic verbs (e.g. #tol- > teli “to come”), the second more with the derived verbs (e.g. #anna- > ass “to give”), but a certain number of basic verbs have also an infinitive in - O (e.g. #sog- > sogo “to drink”). However, this form was not found in texts properly sindarins (from the point of view of the external chronology), and where one could have awaited infinitives one observes in the place the use of gerund; it is thus not improbable that Tolkien gave up the idea of an infinitive in the evolution of its designs, and allotted its employment to gerund.

Elements of syntax

Syntax is by far the field most badly known of the invented languages of Tolkien, for lack of a sufficient number of texts to be able to study it in detail; the sindarin does not make exception. Only the syntax of the nominal group is relatively quite illustrated; it was evoked above. The consonant shifts of the sindarin, more especially the soft change, play a part in the organization of the sentence by marking the dependence between the terms.

The order of the various components of the simple sentence appears rather flexible, several types are found:

• Subject-Object-Verb: Im Narvi hain echant “Me, Narvi, I have do them” or “Narvi itself did them”;
• Subject-Verb-Object: Celebrimbor O Eregion teithant I thiw hin “Celebrimbor of Houssaye engraved these signs”;
• Verb-Subject-Object: rear ennas will aníra I aran (…) suilannad mhellyn in phain “and the king wishes to greet there all his friends”

Testimonys are too very few to specify if there exist conditions of appearance of these various possibilities, and if one is dominant.

The conjugation clearly indicating the person, the expression of the prone pronoun is not obligatory: the nallon sí “towards you I shout now”.

The sindarin knows the nominal Phrase and uses it to express the attribute without the intermediary of a verb: Ae Adar nín I VI Menel “Our Father which are with the skies”, more literally “O my father who in (it) sky”.

The negation is expressed by ú which causes the soft change of the word which follows it: ú-chebin estel anim “I did not keep a hope for myself”. Does interrogation one know only interrogative the man “what? ”.

Complex sentence, one knows the conjunctions has/ah “and, with”, rear “and”, egor “or”, ir “when”, if “at the time”, sui “like”. There exist also examples of relative Proposition, introduced by various particles close to the article by the form: sui mín I gohenam di have to gerir úgerth ammen “as we also forgive with those which offended us”, more literally “as we who forgive with those which make us misdeeds”.

Vocabulary

Formation of the words

In its lexical Derivation, the sindarin uses from a point of view synchonic the following processes:

• the addition of affixes, as well of the suffixes (e.g. aglar “glory” > aglar' eb “glorious” , nogoth “dwarf” > nogoth eg “small dwarf”) as prefixes (e.g. adar “father” > # pen' adar “without tired father”, “sheet” > go tired “foliage”). It is the most frequent process.
• the direct conversion of a lexical Class with another, without formal amendment (e.g. morn means “black, dark” like adjective and “night, darkness” like name).
• of the internal modifications like vocalic alternation (“left” e.g. ^N crom /^N crum “left hand”).

The sindarin uses also abundantly of the nominal composition, to form proper names in particular. The fitting of the elements is variable:

• generally the determinant precedes the given one there: morn “sinks, black” + gûl “sorcery” > morgul “magic black”, forod “northern” + gwaith “people” > Forodwaith “People of north”;
• but in other cases the determinant follows the given one (with the image of the usual order in the nominal group): #bass “bread” + corn “round” > basgorn “round loaf”, dôr “country” + iath “barrier” > Doriath “Country of the barrier”;
• there exist finally some cases of made up words “unsuitable” which are in fact of the Syntagme S condensed in only one word by Univerbation: Dantilais , a name for the autumn, rests on a nominal group * dant I alluvium “the fall of the sheets”.

It occurs frequently various phonetic modifications at the joint between the two elements of a compound word, which can make of it the analysis rather complex.

Bonds with other languages

The sindarin having been conceived like language connected with the quenya, its vocabulary derives from the same roots, common to all the elfic languages invented by Tolkien. However, this relationship is often not very apparent because of considerable differences in the Phonétique history of the two languages. In addition, their author made sensitive their historical separation (from an internal point of view) by introducing divergences into the Sémantique of related words and the processes of lexical derivation. Some examples to illustrate the range of the possibilities:

• the relationship is manifest in certain words, not very different even identical between the two languages: S aran /Q aran “king”, S curu /Q curwe “talent, skill”, S ost /Q osto “city, citadel”, S taur /Q taure “forest”, S shooting /Q shooting “(Re) to keep”
• much correspondences are however much less obvious: S amarth /Q umbar “destiny”, S celeb /Q tyelpe “money (metal)”, S due /Q lóme “night, darkness”, S galadh /Q alda “tree”, S the developing countries /Q quet- “to say, to speak”
• for certain terms, the direction also diverged: S arod “noble”/Q #arata “exalté, supreme”, S calen “green”/Q calina “clearly, shining”, S goe “terror”/Q áya “feared reverential”, S gûl “sorcery”/Q ñóle “knowledge major, long study, science”, S orod “mountain”/Q orto “summit of a mountain”
• rather often the root is common, but the languages used different processes of lexical derivation: S arnad /Q aranie “reign”, S forod /Q formen “northern”. In sindarin especially, the basic words, eroded by the phonetic evolution, were often lengthened of Affixe S: S calad /Q fixed “light”, S ithron /Q istar “magician”, S echui /Q cuivie “awakening”
• finally, certain concepts are indicated by entirely different words: S aphad- /Q hilya- “to follow”, S beleg /Q Alta “large, imposing”, S egleria- /Q laita- “glorifier, to rent”, S eneth /Q ess “name”, S gwaith /Q binds “people”.

Later (in-house), the contact renewed between Sindar and Ñoldor in exile involved a series of lexical loans reciprocal:

• of the quenya to the sindarin, e.g. Q tecil > S tegil “feather (to write)”;
• of the sindarin to the quenya, e.g. S certh > Q certa “rune”.

One finds also many phenomena of copies, in particular in onomastics: good number of characters and places have a name in quenya and one in sindarin whose directions and form correspond more or less exactly (e.g. S Galadriel /Q Altariel “crowned young girl of a radiant garland”).

The sindarin also borrowed some words from the other spits of land of the Medium: for example “Dwarf” Hadhod and heledh “glass” come from the Khuzdul (the language of the Nains) Khazâd and kheled , respectively.

Some basic words

Sources:

• Hiswelókë' S Sindarin dictionary for the sindarin
• Dictionary of the elfic languages, volume 1 (COp cit.) for the quenya

Use after Tolkien

Although extremely incomplete, the knowledge of grammar and the vocabulary sindarin is sufficient to make it possible to form sentences there. Some impassioned are tried to compose of the texts in this language, in more or less conjectural forms. Morphology must be supposed by analogy with the existing certificates. The missing vocabulary can be imagined by extension of the processes of derivation known in sindarin, by linguistic rebuilding starting from the other elfic languages, or compensated by Périphrase S, Métaphore S and Métonymie S based on attested terms. The resultant sees often called “néo-sindarin”, in order to differentiate it from the authentic creation of Tolkien. This phenomenon is connected with the Fan art or the Fan fiction. One finds of it an illustration in the film adaptation of the Seigneur of the Rings by Peter Jackson, including one certain number of sentences in “elfic” concern this “néo-sindarin” (beside others directly drawn from the novel of Tolkien).

Like the fan fiction in general, this practice is in hillock with a series of criticisms: it is in particular reproached to him for arbitrarily selecting its sources to lead to an artificially regularized language, to amalgamate without distinction various external levels of development, to resort to semantically obscure or not very plausible convolutions, to introduce copies of the languages practiced by the authors of these tests, and as a whole, to be unaware of J.R.R. Tolkien as an author of these languages, which did not have as an key objective to make them usable.

In addition, various languages of fiction freely took as a starting point the sindarin at the same time as of the other languages invented by Tolkien, in sight inter alia theirs use in Roleplay.

Appendices

Random links:

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