Re: Elliott's peoples

Yeah, but you could say that about our ears.  That's not an indication,
IMHO, that he meant his Elves to have pointed ears, only that the root for
both words were the same.  It says, to my mind, that the Elves saw the shape
of the ear to be veined and invaginated like leaves, or vice versa.   Maybe
it says that the leaves "hear," or that Elvish hearing is pitched to the
subtle sounds of the forest.   I can't imagine that Tolkien would allow a
people he saw as being more human than human...tall, grey-eyed, beautiful,
majestic--to have this deformity.  I read an article, I'm sorry I can't
document it, which quoted his indignant denial of such a thing.

At any rate, my original question still stands for Elliott.  What does he
mean by the "Elvish" when he describes Silindion and other languages as
"Elvish" languages?  Who are the Neste?  Who are "Elves" in his cosmology,
and are they immortal?  Preternaturally gifted?  Based on Tolkien's Elves?

Sally Caves
scaves@frontiernet.net
Eskkoat ol ai sendran, rohsan nuehra celyil takrem bomai nakuo.
"My shadow follows me, putting strange, new roses into the world."



----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Jones" <devobratus@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 12:21 PM
Subject: Re: Elliott's peoples


> Sally Caves wrote:
> >How do elves get associated with pointy-ears, for instance?  In some
letter
> >of his, IIRC, Tolkien inveighs indignantly against such interpretations
of
> >his elves, and insists that they have no such deformities in body or
limb.
> >And I think it was about things like pointy-ears, not the diminished
size.
>
> But in the Etymologies, didn't Tolkien himself comment upon the
> similarities of the roots for "leaf" and "ear" (both LAS-, IIRC), saying
> that the Quendi's ears were "leaf-like"? Thus, "pointy"?
>
> Dan
>
> --------------------------------
> Pa vezer o vageal e bae Douarnenez e klever a-wechoù un trouz iskis:
>          Kleier kêr Is a zo a seniñ dinandan ar mor.
>

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