h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Useful Elvish Phrases - A723430
Author: Petkan - U191798

Hello, please check out this entry I've been working on!
I'd like to be corrected if I have made an error; please also give me ideas for other English phrases you want translated into Quenya!

Thanks!

Petkan

Brilliant idea. I can't really verify anything here, not being an expert on Quenyan myself (despite my groovy name! ). If you could find any other everyday phrases (like "where's a bathroom?" or even "I'm drowning") to translate, that would make it all the better. Also, you could link to

A672022 - The Life and Works of JRR Tolkien
A193961 Hobbits

This is interesting. You might like to mention that the two dots over the vowels mean that they should be pronounced as a separate vowel, so that Ossë is pronounced Ossay and Namarië is Namaree-ay.

What about providing a dictionary of Elvish words? I know dor=land, mor=black, tol=hill etc.

Yeah, I'll mention the stuff about the e with the dots.

It is not very easy to compose everyday phrases, as the available Quenya texts are only poems and the vocabulary is limited (how would you fit "bathroom" in a poem?), but I'll do my best.

Thanks for the suggestions, if anyone else has an idea, speak up!


Petkan

I just added a note about the e umlaut, references to other entries and a new bunch of Quenya phrases. Have fun


Petko

Looks like you've incured the wrath of the Gods (Powers that be, etc)

Alji

How did that happen? You didn't put in Quenyan phrases for por**graphy, did you?

I don't think the Elves are the kind of people to have profane stuff in their language.

I really don't know what have I done wrong, but I'll fix that when (and if) I am notified


Petkan

Petkan, when you put stuff in your entry which is in a foreign language, the moderators automatically hide it until either they find someone who speaks that language or they get a nod from the editors. In this case, they're porbably furiously trying to find a moderator who speaks elvish to check that what you have said really is the case and not "down with the queen, death to perverts" in Elvish. I'm sure they'll give you back your entry in a day or two.

Haha, I see.
I've used an English-Quenya dictionary located at http://www.geocities.com/lambengolmo/wordlist.html. The meanings of the words can easily be verified, even if you don't know the grammar.


Petkan

That link has gone!


A-L

The full stop at the end confused it. Try this: http://www.geocities.com/lambengolmo/wordlist.html

It's finally back, so you can see it now and tell me your suggestions.


Petkan

While Quenya pronunciation is very much like Italian, there is one major difference: c and g are always pronounced hard as in car and garden, so Celeborn is Keleborn and Cirith Ungol is Kirith Ungol.

You say in a footnote "However, it would probably not be silent even if written as a normal e." There's no probably about it. This should be:

"The final e is always pronounced, whether marked or not. The marking is just a reminder."

Since this whole topic is very "anorak", perhaps you should move the phrase "Get a life" to the end of the table, making it the final phrase of your article.

And a word of advice: collect up your changes and do them all together. The entry may disappear into the grey limbo of moderation again, so get all the changes done in one go before this happens. If you don't change any of the elvish phrases, it should come out of moderation fairly quickly. It might even be worth your while putting a bold text message to the moderators at the very start saying:

Moderators, all the Elvish phrases in this entry have already been moderated. I have not added any since the last time this entry was moderated.

Thanks, I've followed all of your advices. And I've put a note for the moderation team in the entry's discussion forum.


Petkan

Hello.

Petkan, are you still working on this entry?

It looks like the suggestions gathered here in WW have been incorporated, and the entry looks good to me. I don't see why the author shouldn't take it out of WW (by going to <./>RF2</.> and clicking 'remove') and submit it to Peer Review. That'd be more fun than letting it sink again into the WW back pages.


GTB

Agreed!

Would you translate these:
I am ... daughter of ... Princess of orks and the Northern kingdoms.
You should hold your tongue ..., if you don't know to whom you speak.