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Are my Sindarin titles for Thranduil accurate?

Sons of the Woodland King

Thranduilion / "SOTWK" (she/her)
Joined
Oct 17, 2022
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138
Hello!
May I ask for the help of any Sindarin experts here to please check my amateurly coined words? I wanted to come up with a few titles and nicknames for Thranduil, in his role as Elvenking, and here is what I've cobbled together using Parf Edhellen:
  • Belaith ("The Mighty" - Sindarin) -- how do I add "the"?
  • Aranel ("Elvenking" - Sindarin) -- this one is said to be a name of Dior's; do you agree with the translation, or have something better for Elvenking?
  • Aratawar ("Forest King" - Sindarin)
Please correct and give suggestions as you see fit! :) Thanks in advance for the help!
 
  • “the” is i and introduces soft mutation, at least in the singular. Belaith derives from mbelektā, so it’s a mutational special case, the etymologically correct mutation would be i·Melaith, but later people started to mutate it like every other b- word instead to i·Velaith.
  • Tolkien didn’t translate Aranel, and while “Elfking” that’s a likely interpretation, with Dior it might have been primarily a statement on his Elfhood rather than his kingship, while for Thranduil it would need to be the opposite.
  • ar(a-)/aran + tawar would likely be either Ar(a)dawar or Arathawar.
However I would suggest to use a normal noun phrase instead, something like Thranduil i·Melaith, aran i·Thewair a Hedhil “Thranduil the Mighty, king of the forests and elves”, cp. Aragorns titles Aragorn ... aran Gondor ar Arnor ar Hîr i Mbair Annui “Aragorn, king of Gondor and Arnor and lord of the Western lands”.
 
  • “the” is i and introduces soft mutation, at least in the singular. Belaith derives from mbelektā, so it’s a mutational special case, the etymologically correct mutation would be i·Melaith, but later people started to mutate it like every other b- word instead to i·Velaith.
  • Tolkien didn’t translate Aranel, and while “Elfking” that’s a likely interpretation, with Dior it might have been primarily a statement on his Elfhood rather than his kingship, while for Thranduil it would need to be the opposite.
  • ar(a-)/aran + tawar would likely be either Ar(a)dawar or Arathawar.
However I would suggest to use a normal noun phrase instead, something like Thranduil i·Melaith, aran i·Thewair a Hedhil “Thranduil the Mighty, king of the forests and elves”, cp. Aragorns titles Aragorn ... aran Gondor ar Arnor ar Hîr i Mbair Annui “Aragorn, king of Gondor and Arnor and lord of the Western lands”.

Thank you so much for helping me again, my friend! I am so very appreciative of your willingness to share your expertise. 😍

I will definitely take your suggestion about the noun phrase; it does sound more regal and official that way. I just would never have been able to construct something like that on my own. So again--thank you for taking the time! 🤩
 

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