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snurtz — TUTORIAL: How to write Elvish
Published: 2007-08-29 18:07:51 +0000 UTC; Views: 111870; Favourites: 996; Downloads: 5503
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If you use this tutorial to make a deviation of any kind, kindly comment below and tell me so. I'd love to view your work,
it, and possibly critique it, if you so desire. You don't have to credit me in the comments, seeing as I didn't actually create Elvish, but I really want to see if you used it. 
This took me like, 2 or 3 days. But that's just because I'm distractable.
I also have this available as a Word document, if you want it for printing purposes. Sorry, the computer the Word document was saved on is LONG gone!!!
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References:
The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth by Ruth S. Noel
The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
thanks to for this fabulous workbook !!! I suggest comparing my tutorial and this workbook to get a more rounded view on how to write in Elvish!
NOTE: The workbook is a pdf, just to let you know. Apparently this workbook has disappeared!!!Elvish fonts found at [link] ... They're fabulous, but make sure you use the character map pdf that comes with it, or what you think says "mellon" will actually say ldfyywhw! And yes, that's what it will actually say.
If there is anything else you want to know, just tell me!
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P.S.- Want a REAL challenge?? Translate THIS! [link]
P.P.S.- I just noticed this, I messed up the example for Quenya, with the word "Elemmire"... The Tehtar are pretty much all in the wrong place. The "practice" example is correct, however.
P.P.P.S.- OHOHOH. If you wanna learn real elvish, go here, it's a great website!!! [link] ...or you can get the book The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth [link] by Ruth S. Noel, it's veeeery helpful.
P.P.P.P.S.- I like P.S... hehehe. Check out this website by .
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I take requests/commissions on Elvish calligraphy such as this. Right now it’s free because I’m not a greedy person, but I don’t know how long it will stay that way. Please see my journal [link] for more information.
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Thank you to everyone for the comments and the
s!
Related content
Comments: 255
It's actually quite easy. All you need to have at hand is the Quenya An Yestandor dictionary, or the begginer's guide to quenya (it is currently the largest quenya-english dictionary available). Next thing you need is the very handy wikipedia! Just search quenya and you will have a complete grammar guide for quenya, but you can also refer to the Quenya An Yestandor for grammar lessons...Mára valto!
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DUDE. YOU'RE AMAZING.
*writes down all this information*
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Thanks! But I'm not that amazing...
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This is awesome! Do you still have the word document?... I would very much like to print this... Thanks
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I have a new laptop now... and I'm in college... it's on my computer at home...
But when I go home I'll be sure to get it to you
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Lol, s'all good. Thank you very much!
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yes! now I can learn elvish writing and no one will understand my writings anymore...
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This is very informative stuff here! While in possession of a trial version of FontMaker (now tragically expired and flaming expensive for me to register), I managed to make some fonts based on the Tengwar ([link] ) and the Angerthas runes.
Of course, my version has variations and simplications based on my limited knowledge... if I only had access to that FontMaker, I could improve it further based on the stuff I'm learning with this guide!
Excellent job you made on it, too!
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This is great, and a big help. I used to know all this stuff, I could write it and speak it when I was in middle school, but then I got in high school and didnt have the time for it, with marching and and all. Now I've been getting back into it, though, and this is very helpful.
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I'm glad you find it helpful!
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Funny... found you from a totally different direction and immediately came here, as I do some (elvish) calligraphy on my own.
Haven't compared it to my edition... I think, in german it's a little different anyway 
But it looks awesome here! 
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Thanks!
I've been doing it for about 5 years now, I learned in 8th grade and have done it just about every day since.
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ehh, if I'm serious about it I use my calligraphy paper, I have some stuff on it in my gallery, but usually when I'm writing in Elvish it's because I'm in class and I'm bored. So... standard notebook paper, or printer paper.
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How can I ever thank you? *Bows*
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Haha, a comment is thanks enough
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hahaha! oh, how i wish i knew this when taking my english exam.
[one of the essay-ish choices was to write a diary entry through one of the characters in LOTR in regards to... something...i would have loved to have handed it up written through legolas's eyes, in tengwar!]
do you know what happens when there's an apostrophe?
like... when elvish is written in letters like this.
is it just omitted?
[i've decided i'm just going to learn quenya. for the hell of it...i need something to do...]
this tut helped a LOT. thanks!
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I'm glad you found it useful ^_^
I actually did an English project in Elvish once, but the teacher approved it, so that was pretty cool. I never finished it, but I got an A anyway. It's actually right here .
Concerning the apostrophes, I actually have no idea, myself. I usually just omit the apostrophe or write out the contraction. For the possessive, I just use the small s ending thing (from the part with the gray o things). I think that would be okay. I kind of want to look up some stuff Tolkien wrote now. I'll do that and get back to you, maybe. I'm kind of a procrastinator.
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haha! oh gawd, that's awesome cool. congrats on your A even though you didn't finish! (o^_')b
ooh.
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It still confuses me.
I've looked everywhere to learn how to write in Elvish for my tattoo but for some reason I can't comprehend how to write in it.
All the symbols. They confuzzle me 
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If you tell me what you want for your tattoo, I'll translate it for you... tell me if you want it in Elvish (language) or English. Unless it's a name. I'd be happy to help.
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Mm...I got it. It's in my Deviations now if you wanna see what it looks like lol
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"It's a very, efficient tongue, you can fit a whole book on a napkin"-Haha! I Love "the Lord of the beans" (aka Veggie tales spoof of LOTR)
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Thank you! I worked really hard on it.
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Very nice... though the main font used is a little difficult to read.
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haha, sorry. I just thought it looked ... umm... hobbit-ish. Even though hobbits don't speak Elvish :-P
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very informative tutorial, good job!
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I am vaguely confused, since I learned a few things differently... Does this use both Sindarin & Quenya Tengwar at the same time?
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Ah. Ok.
Ha, your sig is brilliant.
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hmm.
i'm lost.
haha, but this is so awesome.
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I don't really understand it because I'm not really into LOTR, but it looks really cool and informative for those who read the books!
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I must say, though... as I understand it, in english modes, calma is for the "ch" sound and quesse is for the "k" sound, whereas in quenya calma is for the "k" sound and quesse is for "kw" and "qu" as you have it here.... not that I have read Tolkien's actual appendix E, as my version of LOTR is a spanish translation, and they werent kind enough as to include the appendixes in it (bummer!)... what I read was the "tengwar textbook" which you can find here ([link] )
would you be so kind to read it and compare it to what you know and tell me how accurate the author was?
*begs nervously*
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Well, this author has obviously done a LOT more research than I have
That calma being ch thing threw me off a lot... I guess they're right, calma IS ch... But in Quenya, it stands for the k sound, which is I guess where I get that it means c/k. I'm looking at Appendix E right now and it says that the top row is t, p, ch, k OR t, p, k, kw. Hmm.
The problem with Tolkien's Elvish is that he changed it so much and it varied incredibly from one text to another, so it's so hard to tell what is what because it changes everywhere! Sometimes you just have to translate as much as you can, and if something's confusing, it's because the letters mean something different than what you usually use them for... That's what I do. Some texts that I have read use vilya/wilya (#24) as an A!
As for what you sent me, I think that it's pretty much accurate, and in fact, I recommend comparing my tutorial and workbook and finding out just how YOU want to write it! And, I'm actually going to link to it in the author's comments, because some things it explains a lot better than I do...
Thanks for bringing all that to my attention!
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As a matter of fact, I was thinking I could do a spanish mode tutorial after your tutorial! hehehe... delighted to share with a fellow tolkien/tengwar-geek.. heheheh...
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That would be cool! I don't speak Spanish, but hey. Other people do!
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everyone should take a look at this! (specially those who, unfortunately, get a tattoo done using the keyboard value of the font instead of the real value of the tengwa/tehta)
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Haha, I know. They're like "uhuhuhuhh I've got LEGOLAS on my arm" and it actually says yfngwhycj!
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omg! thank you so much hun!
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Haha, you're welcome. It was fun.
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hello i was wondering if you could translate this for me into elvish--> Andrew Rutkowski. i would really appritiate it!! please!!
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