Introductory Topics
First and MOST IMPORTANT: What is
Sindarin?
Sindarin is one of several languages used by the
variety of Elves in Tolkien's world. It is the most widely-spoken
language, and possibly
the only day-to-day spoken Elvish language still existing in
Middle-earth in the Third Age. It became the common Elvish language
back in the First Age, when Thingol forbade the speaking of Quenya in
his realm. Thus from the
First Age onward, most Elves spoke Sindarin in their daily lives.
Additionally, Sindarin was spoken by the Edain and Men of Gondor. It is
the language of Rivendell, Mirkwood, Lórien, the Grey Havens,
and likely also Tol Eressëa.
When would a
Sindarin name be appropriate for my character?
Almost all OCs that occur in
Tolkien fanfic should be named in Sindarin. A soldier of Lindon, a
scribe
of Rivendell, a cousin to Haldir or a love interest for Legolas would
all
have Sindarin names. Essentially, if your story is set in Middle-earth,
your OCs should be named in Sindarin. Almost all of the Elven
characters
in the Silmarillion and LotR go by Sindarin names. If you're unsure
which
language you should use, choose Sindarin.
But
Sindarin is way harder than Quenya!
Yeah, I know. I won't even say how long it took me
to assemble this generator, but I will say that much cursing was
involved. HOWEVER, that means more ease-of-use for you. So don't
complain to me about hard, you whiners.
I want to write a blatant Mary Sue. What's my own
name in Sindarin?
There is no Sindarin baby-book that I'm aware of at the
moment, so chances are you'll have to know what your name means in
order to Sindarinise it. To do this, look up a baby name site on Google
(type in "baby name meanings" or something) and check on your own name.
With any luck you'll get something easy. For example, the name "Mary"
means "bitter". With this information, go to the word listing on the
name generator page, the one alphabetised in English, and look up
"bitter". The word is "Saer". That in itself doesn't make a very good
name, but you can easily add a random feminine ending to it, such as
"eth" or "wen", to get "Saereth" or "Saerwen". Both good Sindarin
names.
What qualifies you to write this page?
Nothing really. I just know a bit (and I do mean a
bit) about Sindarin, and thought I'd use my limited knowledge to the
best of my ability and help others. This page is as accurate as I can
make it, but there are probably still some errors. If you notice any
and are kind enough to want to help me out, my email is listed at the
bottom of the page.
Where can I go to learn
Sindarin for
myself?
A few good resources are available to those
interested in learning Sindarin. Ardalambion
is a great site for information. For examples on Sindarin sentence
construction,
an analysis of all Elvish (mainly Sindarin) from the LotR movies can be
found
at Gwaith-i-Phethdain.
Also check out the Sindarin
Dictionary Project, where you can find an incredibly useful
Sindarin dictionary to download. Through a combination of these
sources, maybe one day you'll be able to figure out how to write stuff.
For the record, I have not, and I've been at it for years now.
Where can
I go
to ask questions about the names I've made?
If you're really stuck, and need advice on whether
or not your name is structually sound or even just appropriate in any
given situation, you can contact me and I'll try my best to help
you. My email is listed at the bottom of this page.
Enough of this crap; I want to do the name
thing now!
Email me: il_perfido@yahoo.co.uk