Is my 🧝Elvish tattoo wording accurate?

[catsierra_]

Greetings! My name is Cat and I'm from California. Tolkien changed my life and so did my kids, I wanted to combine my two life changers and commemorate them with a tattoo. I used an Elvish translator online to translate their names, I was wondering if anyone would be able to confirm that the translation is correct? I wanted to make sure that the top line reads "David Thomas" and the second line reads "Finn Michael".

Thank you and I'm so happy to be part of this community!

 

[Squint-eyed Southerner]

Welcome to TTF, catsierra_ !

Your question will be more likely seen by our language experts if you post it in the Language forum.

The Languages of Middle-earth

Discussions and activities about the various languages spoken by the Peoples of Middle-earth

thetolkien.forum

If you don't feel like reposting it, I'd be happy to move it for you.

 

[Gilruin]

Sorry for the late reply, moving the topic didn't seem to have triggered the notification for me.

First, let me clarify that there are not automatic translators for any of the Elvish languages that provide even passable results. What you have here is not a translations but a transliteration, which means that the language is still English but written with one of the Elvish writing systems, the Tengwar, so e. g. the first word starts with the sign for D, then the triple dots for A, then the sign for V etc. spelling out David. This is a task that computer programs can handle with much more accuracy, but especially with English's messy orthography they should be always double checked by a human.

I'd change a couple of things in this description:

1. The th in Thomas is not pronounced like in three but is essentially a t, so extended tinco should be used.
2. Silme is usually not reversed in English modes where silme nuquerna is used for soft c instead.
3. English double nn is usually written with a bar below whereas Sindarin nn uses a bar above.
4. We have an attested spelling for Michael directly from Tolkien. (though perhaps extended quesse is possible as well?)

 

[1stvermont]

Welcome to the forum.

 

[catsierra_]

Sorry for the late reply, moving the topic didn't seem to have triggered the notification for me.

First, let me clarify that there are not automatic translators for any of the Elvish languages that provide even passable results. What you have here is not a translations but a transliteration, which means that the language is still English but written with one of the Elvish writing systems, the Tengwar, so e. g. the first word starts with the sign for D, then the triple dots for A, then the sign for V etc. spelling out David. This is a task that computer programs can handle with much more accuracy, but especially with English's messy orthography they should be always double checked by a human.

I'd change a couple of things in this description:

View attachment 11907
1. The th in Thomas is not pronounced like in three but is essentially a t, so extended tinco should be used.
2. Silme is usually not reversed in English modes where silme nuquerna is used for soft c instead.
3. English double nn is usually written with a bar below whereas Sindarin nn uses a bar above.
4. We have an attested spelling for Michael directly from Tolkien. (though perhaps extended quesse is possible as well?)

Hi Gilruin,

Thank you for your response! And thank you so much for taking the time to make changes to the text!

 

[Halasían]

Welcome to TTF CatSierra!
Looks like it will be an excellent tattoo!

 

[Persephone]

Welcome to TTF!! Hope you enjoy your stay!