Elf question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Elf question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Tacking
08-14-05, 08:28 PM Does anyone has a site for Elf name? I am creating a elf character.
XrP-Leon The Second
08-14-05, 08:40 PM You shouldn't go to a website or a random generator for your character's name. For an NPC, yeah that's fine, but a name should be a big part of your character.
Berzerker_prime
08-14-05, 10:47 PM I agree; your character's name should definately have meaning to it.

There's a lot of ways to go about it. I know there are a number of sample names for Elves in the PHB and from those you can come up with a combination of words to form a new name. For example, Amastacia means "Starflower" and Amakiir means "Gemflower." Since "ama" appears in both, it must mean flower.

If you're looking for a larger vocabulary, you could do what I did and look up Tolkien elvish and combine some words from there. Either a Sindarin name or a Quenya name would fit pretty well.

Sweet water and light laughter to you!

Berz.
braindead345
08-16-05, 11:55 PM I recommend the book The Languages Of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The book has a handy Elvish-to-English dictionary which includes translations of names. However, the book is a bit short on the Dwarvish language end of things.

I am sure that somebody has stolen Ruth S. Noel's work and posted on the internet-probably several somebodies. Otherwise, it is still carried in most bookstores and public libraries.
revaar
08-17-05, 08:05 AM this may sound kinda odd, but get an animal identifacation book, one that has the scientificnames, and open to a random page. It really works well. if you want an evil sounding name, go with the reptiles. I you need a peaceful name, find a flower book.
Inspired_Mage
08-17-05, 09:45 AM I have also found that for a first name that names of Celtic descent (especially Welsh) work very well so if you start looking at sites which can give you an idea of names about people from Wales you may find some goodies there.
Quenditar
08-17-05, 04:00 PM It depends on how seriously you're adhering to linguistics. Tolkien Elvish languages are not in the same language family as Forgotten Realms Elven or Greyhawk Elven; they're probably about as close to each other as Arabic is to English. That said, I've used a Quenya name for an elf character before and no one noticed.

I recommend the book The Languages Of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The book has a handy Elvish-to-English dictionary which includes translations of names. However, the book is a bit short on the Dwarvish language end of things.

I am sure that somebody has stolen Ruth S. Noel's work and posted on the internet-probably several somebodies. Otherwise, it is still carried in most bookstores and public libraries.
Anyone in the field could tell you that that book was horribly, horribly inaccurate even when it was published; with new information about Eldarin languages emerging every year, it looks worse and worse. There are more modern books like David Salo's A Gateway to Sindarin (which is disputed but better than Noel's travesty) and solid websites like Ardalambion (http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/) and Parma Tyelpelassiva (http://www.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/elvish/).

There are Quenya and Sindarin name generators here (http://elffetish.com/names.html); they look mostly sound, although I can't promise an error-free name out of them (especially if you ignore assembly directions). There's also the Quenya Lapseparma (http://www.elvish.org/elm/names.html) for Quenya names; so far there seems to be no equivalent for Sindarin.

That said, you could make the most beautiful Eldarin name ever and still sound out of place when all your cousins have names like "Alustrianna" and "Quarion" which no self-respecting Elda would bear. Here (http://boards.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=403229) is a long list of elf names that have appeared in various D&D sources.
Tacking
08-20-05, 01:20 PM Thank for info
Berzerker_prime
08-21-05, 11:57 PM I recommend the book The Languages Of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The book has a handy Elvish-to-English dictionary which includes translations of names. However, the book is a bit short on the Dwarvish language end of things.

:teach:

Actually, that book is now out of date, on the Elvish front. Further volumes of History of Middle-earth have since come out, revealing more notes on the various Tolkienian languages. Some of it has added information and some of it has actually contradicted a lot of Noel's work. It's nice as a starter, though.

And you're right about the section on Dwarvish Khuzdul. But it's light on it for a reason; in Tolkien lore, Dwarvish is a secret language only spoken by Dwarves to other Dwarves and created for them by Aulë the Vala. When speaking to others, Dwarves use Westron, Sindarin, or Adunaic. So there's not much information on Khuzdul at all, anyway. Gimli's name is actually not a Khuzdul name at all, but rather an Adunaic derivative meaning "star!" ^_^

*strikes heroic pose.*

|_337 Tolkien knowledge! Go! :fight!:

Anyone in the field could tell you that that book was horribly, horribly inaccurate even when it was published; with new information about Eldarin languages emerging every year, it looks worse and worse.

Well, I was gonna put it more gently than that, but... yeah. Her designations for the Tew are just plain wrong!

There are more modern books like David Salo's A Gateway to Sindarin (which is disputed but better than Noel's travesty)...

Well, as much as one can dispute the workings of a fictional language.

Personally, I'd take Salo's word over that of any website out there. I've taken his class on Sindarin and, believe me, the man is a Tolkienian language guru of the highest calibre as well as being a damn fine all-round linguist.

...and solid websites like Ardalambion and Parma Tyelpelassiva.

These sites are very good. I find Ardalambion to be very very technical, though, almost to the point of being unaccessable. The only reason I was able to plow through its material at all was the fact that I had some Linguistics 101 under my belt. I can't imagine trying to get through it without knowing terms like "phoneme" and "agglutinating."

Long story short, if you just want to make a name out of a Tolkienian language, there's lots of places you can go for vocab. If it's for the Realms, you don't have to worry about getting the syntax of Sindarin perfectly correct.

Sweet water to you!

Berz.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Tacking 08-14-05, 08:28 PM	Does anyone has a site for Elf name? I am creating a elf character.
XrP-Leon The Second 08-14-05, 08:40 PM	You shouldn't go to a website or a random generator for your character's name. For an NPC, yeah that's fine, but a name should be a big part of your character.
Berzerker_prime 08-14-05, 10:47 PM	I agree; your character's name should definately have meaning to it. There's a lot of ways to go about it. I know there are a number of sample names for Elves in the PHB and from those you can come up with a combination of words to form a new name. For example, Amastacia means "Starflower" and Amakiir means "Gemflower." Since "ama" appears in both, it must mean flower. If you're looking for a larger vocabulary, you could do what I did and look up Tolkien elvish and combine some words from there. Either a Sindarin name or a Quenya name would fit pretty well. Sweet water and light laughter to you! Berz.
braindead345 08-16-05, 11:55 PM	I recommend the book The Languages Of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The book has a handy Elvish-to-English dictionary which includes translations of names. However, the book is a bit short on the Dwarvish language end of things. I am sure that somebody has stolen Ruth S. Noel's work and posted on the internet-probably several somebodies. Otherwise, it is still carried in most bookstores and public libraries.
revaar 08-17-05, 08:05 AM	this may sound kinda odd, but get an animal identifacation book, one that has the scientificnames, and open to a random page. It really works well. if you want an evil sounding name, go with the reptiles. I you need a peaceful name, find a flower book.
Inspired_Mage 08-17-05, 09:45 AM	I have also found that for a first name that names of Celtic descent (especially Welsh) work very well so if you start looking at sites which can give you an idea of names about people from Wales you may find some goodies there.
Quenditar 08-17-05, 04:00 PM	It depends on how seriously you're adhering to linguistics. Tolkien Elvish languages are not in the same language family as Forgotten Realms Elven or Greyhawk Elven; they're probably about as close to each other as Arabic is to English. That said, I've used a Quenya name for an elf character before and no one noticed. I recommend the book The Languages Of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The book has a handy Elvish-to-English dictionary which includes translations of names. However, the book is a bit short on the Dwarvish language end of things. I am sure that somebody has stolen Ruth S. Noel's work and posted on the internet-probably several somebodies. Otherwise, it is still carried in most bookstores and public libraries. Anyone in the field could tell you that that book was horribly, horribly inaccurate even when it was published; with new information about Eldarin languages emerging every year, it looks worse and worse. There are more modern books like David Salo's A Gateway to Sindarin (which is disputed but better than Noel's travesty) and solid websites like Ardalambion (http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/) and Parma Tyelpelassiva (http://www.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/elvish/). There are Quenya and Sindarin name generators here (http://elffetish.com/names.html); they look mostly sound, although I can't promise an error-free name out of them (especially if you ignore assembly directions). There's also the Quenya Lapseparma (http://www.elvish.org/elm/names.html) for Quenya names; so far there seems to be no equivalent for Sindarin. That said, you could make the most beautiful Eldarin name ever and still sound out of place when all your cousins have names like "Alustrianna" and "Quarion" which no self-respecting Elda would bear. Here (http://boards.wizards.com/showthread.php?t=403229) is a long list of elf names that have appeared in various D&D sources.
Tacking 08-20-05, 01:20 PM	Thank for info
Berzerker_prime 08-21-05, 11:57 PM	I recommend the book The Languages Of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel. The book has a handy Elvish-to-English dictionary which includes translations of names. However, the book is a bit short on the Dwarvish language end of things. :teach: Actually, that book is now out of date, on the Elvish front. Further volumes of History of Middle-earth have since come out, revealing more notes on the various Tolkienian languages. Some of it has added information and some of it has actually contradicted a lot of Noel's work. It's nice as a starter, though. And you're right about the section on Dwarvish Khuzdul. But it's light on it for a reason; in Tolkien lore, Dwarvish is a secret language only spoken by Dwarves to other Dwarves and created for them by Aulë the Vala. When speaking to others, Dwarves use Westron, Sindarin, or Adunaic. So there's not much information on Khuzdul at all, anyway. Gimli's name is actually not a Khuzdul name at all, but rather an Adunaic derivative meaning "star!" ^_^ strikes heroic pose. \|_337 Tolkien knowledge! Go! :fight!: Anyone in the field could tell you that that book was horribly, horribly inaccurate even when it was published; with new information about Eldarin languages emerging every year, it looks worse and worse. Well, I was gonna put it more gently than that, but... yeah. Her designations for the Tew are just plain wrong! There are more modern books like David Salo's A Gateway to Sindarin (which is disputed but better than Noel's travesty)... Well, as much as one can dispute the workings of a fictional language. Personally, I'd take Salo's word over that of any website out there. I've taken his class on Sindarin and, believe me, the man is a Tolkienian language guru of the highest calibre as well as being a damn fine all-round linguist. ...and solid websites like Ardalambion and Parma Tyelpelassiva. These sites are very good. I find Ardalambion to be very very technical, though, almost to the point of being unaccessable. The only reason I was able to plow through its material at all was the fact that I had some Linguistics 101 under my belt. I can't imagine trying to get through it without knowing terms like "phoneme" and "agglutinating." Long story short, if you just want to make a name out of a Tolkienian language, there's lots of places you can go for vocab. If it's for the Realms, you don't have to worry about getting the syntax of Sindarin perfectly correct. Sweet water to you! Berz.