How do I know which elvish language I want?

starwen314 #3810

I am getting a tattoo that says "star". Which language should I use? There are so many different Sindaran variations here. Also, is this pretty much the place to get the most accurate and reliable translation? I am finding a lot of conflicting translations on google.

Rínor #3811

Well I can only speak for Sindarin.

There is the archaic form S., N. †êl n. “star” and there is S. gil [ng-] n. “star; (bright) spark, silver glint, twinkle of light”

This is from Eldamo.org one of the main sources we use:

  • †êl: A Sindarin word for “star” that is largely archaic and poetic, and is mainly used as element in names like Elrond (Let/281; WJ/363; Ety/EL); the more usual word for “star” in ordinary speech was gil (RGEO/65). However, the collective form elenath is still used in common speech to refer to the entire host of stars (WJ/363). The plural of êl is elin, as this word was derived from ancient ✶elen, and the final n that was lost in the singular was preserved in the plural. In some cases Tolkien posited a restored analogical singular elen from the plural form (PE17/24, 67, 139), but this isn’t in keeping with the notion that the word was archaic, so I would ignore this for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

Both are correct and attested words.

starwen314 #3813

Thank you for your help. My question now is how to write gil in Elvish script, I am still getting a couple of conflicting images. I think it is just because of computer fonts. They were not made to write Sindarin. Is the image on Eldamo.org how an elf would actually write the word gil? If not, do you know where I can get a more accurate one?

Rínor #3814

If you go to the reddit Tengwar group they can help you out. As there are many ways you can use Tengwar and I am not familiar with using it. LOL Not really interesting in learning it. Also Eldamo does show it using Beleriand eldamo.org and eldamo.org

Oh, and you are quite welcome.