Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Early Noldorin

orlham

adjective. dumb

A word appearing in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, first given as uvlam “dumb” in the (untranslated) phrase maint uvlam o ballam “✱better dumb than evil-tongued”, which was then revised to maint orlham o vallam, although uvlam as an independent word was allowed to stand (PE13/138). The revision clearly relates to Tolkien’s decision to change the negative prefix from ᴱN. um- to ᴱN. ur-/or- in this document (PE13/155). The second element of uvlam/orlham is ᴱN. lham(b) “tongue” (PE13/148).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would update this word to ᴺS. úlam “dumb, unable to speak, (lit.) untongued” using the later negative prefix ú-.

Changes

  • uvlam → orlham ✧ PE13/138

Element in

Elements

WordGloss
ur-“privative prefix, without, -less”
lham(b)“tongue”

Variations

  • uvlam ✧ PE13/138; PE13/138 (uvlam)
Early Noldorin [PE13/138] Group: Eldamo. Published by