#tengwar

Name Etymologies of Middle-Earth: Gandalf

“Yes, yes, my dear sir—and I do know your name, Mr. Bilbo Baggins. And you do know my name, though you don’t remember that I belong to it. I am Gandalf, and Gandalf means me!”

Just always thinking about them 💙💙💙

Just always thinking about their history and all the horror and the moments of respite that are so precious and so precarious and both of them being so aware of the ways their bond puts them in greater danger and I just love them so much, both as separate figures and their relationship

Re-uploading one of my most monumental traditional pieces. These are the Fëanorians ✨

To be honest, this was my very first time painting with gouache, and it's huge (A3 size). Looking back, selling this massive original piece for just $8 was a massive mistake on my part, but it taught me a lot about valuing my art.

[tekst po polsku: pod kreską]

I did not find brain space to translate any of my fics for Tolkien Nativelang :( (because I was focusing on writing my main WIP)

So there is an improvement of a thing that I've made some time ago but didn't post: an attempt (another attempt --- in addition to ones that have been made by other people) to make a Tengwar mode for Polish.

Goals:

all Polish sounds included

compatibility with other modes as much as feasible

logical and consistent as much as feasible

not adding too many new vowel symbols (but come on, we need the ą and ę)

No separation of ó/u, ż/rz and h/ch. This is Tengwar, let's make it more phonetic.

The vowel mark is placed over the preceding consonant (like in Quenya; unlike in Sindarin and English), because IIRC other Polish modes do it, and I feel like Polish has a lot of open syllables. (Alas! I am not a linguist.)

Some notes under the image:

T, P and many others are like in most other modes.

Calma for K, because it is the K sound. QU for C, because I have to place it somewhere. (Note to non-Polish-speaking people: our "C" is the "TS", not a K or Q)

Double arc letters are the voiced letters because all normal modes do it (not you, Quenya).

Vilya letter is Ć because I had no better place for Ć.

Anna letter is J because this is how it sounds + I when it sounds like J. Like "radio".

Not included in examples, but in words where "U" sounds like "Ł" (auto, dinozaur) it's written as Ł.

The RD and LD combos are quite rare in Polish, but let's include them, why not, I have nothing to do with these letters anyway.

For non-sylable-making I that dos not sound like J, (example: "Mickiewicz") let's just stack the I and the other vowel together.

For Ą and Ę let's just use the nasalization mark (~) with the vowel mark. It makes sense.

Ś and Ź get the top-heavy letters because they don't happen before a vowel.

Monogram of Elros Tar-Minyatur

An early monogram, displaying few of the features conventionally associated with later devices, or only in germ. The name of the king is in black (Tar-Minyatur) while 'Elenna' is written in red.

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Monogram of Tar Vardamir, named Nólimon

This is certainly an invention of a scribe working long after the death of Vardamir, as the presence of features adopted much later attest - doubtless because the nominal second ruler of Númenor never reigned.

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Monogram of Tar Amandil

In this monogram, the star shape is more pronounced; the tehta representing the 'a' of 'Elenna' has also been moved to the centre of the device - representing, naturally, the summit of Meneltarma.

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Monogram of Tar Elendil

The conventional features are now all present: the star shape is evident, and only the tehtar representing the 'a' in 'Tar' and 'Elenna' have been retained, in symbolic positions, one representing Meneltarma and the other the promontory of Forrostar or, in some interpretations, the stars (clearly the choice made by the scribe who invented the device of Vardamir, perhaps in reverence towards the Valië for whom the king was named).

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Monogram of Anardil, Tar Aldarion

In this monogram the tehtar are now circumflexes. The king's two names are present, one on land, the other at sea. A ship has been added.

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Monogram of Tar Ancalimë

The names of both of the Ruling Queen's parents have been included in this monogram, one that is particularly ornate for the period.

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explanation: ever since visiting Istanbul a year ago I've been interested in the tughra, a calligraphic monogram used by Ottoman sultans, much as seals were elsewhere (to authentify the sultan's correspondence or official documents), and also on a variety of objects, e.g. here on a wall at Topkapı palace or here on a coin). They started out fairly simple but some ended up being very ornate and gorgeous; and they typically contained the name of the sultan, that of his father, as well as things like epithets and prayers, and also had some conventional features which made them easy to recognise - the beyze (egg), i.e. the loops on the left hand side, and the three tuğ (flagstaff) at the top.

Anyway I've been trying to come up with a Númenorean version and ended up with this, combining some form of the prefix 'Tar' and the name 'Elenna'. As it happens the Ottoman tughra may have had a cartographic element as well - the loops on the left are said to possibly symbolise the two seas - Black Sea, Mediterranean - on whose shores they ruled. Hence the star shape (which I wanted from the start really) and Meneltarma.