🧝Elvish Calendar and Language Help Needed

[1stvermont]

I am looking to do an engraving in high elvish language to commemorate a special date for a fellow Tolkien nerd for what would be January 9th 2023.

I did a google search and would Hrívë be the proper month to engrave?

Also, how do you say
-love
-I love you
-A chance meeting

 

[Gilruin]

Hríve would be "winter", one of the five seasons of the calender of Rivendell. In the Gondorian calendar the month roughly corresponding to January would be Narvinye "New-fire". (See also https://psarando.github.io/shire-reckoning/)

- "love (as an abstract concept)" is emel, "a particular case of love between two people" is melme
- "I love you" is melin tye
- "a chance meeting" is the most uncertain one of the bunch, but one could form omentie ecestanen with the neologism ecesta from the root KĒ/EKE- "may (be); have chance, opportunity or permission; it is open"

 

[Tar-Elenion]

Note that √mel refers to the love between two close friends (which can occur between two persons of the same or different sex) rather than a romantic love.
√yer is the romantic/sexual love.

i.e. agape or storge vs eros.

 

[Gilruin]

Not quite. YER- is "sexual desire" per EtymAC/YER and NM/20,25. In NM Tolkien explains that platonic love = MEL- and sexual love = MEL- + YER-, but YER- alone doesn't capture fully capture the emotion involved. *yerin tye is something that one might say in the heat of the moment, not (usually) something you'd engrave somewhere.
The evidence is pretty well summarized here:

Eldamo : Primitive Elvish : MEL

Eldamo : Primitive Elvish : YER

 

[1stvermont]

Great stuff, thank you.