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Re: CHAT: Tolkienian conlangs in the movie [was Re: CHAT: Best/Worst/Missing Scenes in LotR]

From:Elliott Lash <al260@...>
Date:Saturday, December 22, 2001, 5:28
All characters who spoke in Elvish Tongues did so in Sindarin...except for
Saruman, Galadriel, Gandalf..and supposedly Elrond.

Saruman's spell to 'bring down the mountain' was in (a slightly weird form of) Quenya,
and it can be found on the web here:

http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/movie_news.htm#spectator

Galadriel merely said 'Namarie' 'Farewell'

Gandalf said a barely audible phrase in Quenya when he was trying to open the doors of
Moria, see above link.

Supposedly Elrond said farewell to the Fellowship in Quenya, but I must have missed that,
see above link.

All other spoken Elvish was in Sindarin..and why not? Afterall, that was the main
language of the Elves in Middle-Earth during the Third Age. Quenya would only
be used in very special occasions...such as rituals or ceremonys.

Elliott.


"Thomas R. Wier" <trwier@...> writes:

> Quoting Christian Thalmann <cinga@...>: > > > I'd like to hear other opinions on scenes that were missed, hated or > > loved... anyone? > > I was rather impressed at how many lines of Tolkien's conlangs > they managed to fit into the movie -- it musta been at least > 15 or so. I'm no expert at them; were they using Quenya, or > Sindarin? One thing I noticed was that they got the illocutionary > effect of using the Elvish tongues just right: to bring home your > point emotionally to the person you're addressing (an Elf). Westron > (English) was used just to communicate information; Sindarin/Quenya > was used to convince. > > ===================================================================== > Thomas Wier <trwier@...> <http://home.uchicago.edu/~trwier> > > "...koruphàs hetéras hetére:isi prosápto:n / > Dept. of Linguistics mú:tho:n mè: teléein atrapòn mían..." > University of Chicago "To join together diverse peaks of thought / > 1010 E. 59th Street and not complete one road that has no turn" > Chicago, IL 60637 Empedocles, _On Nature_, on speculative thinkers