A start shines on the hour of our Elvish lesson: Tengwar
Six years ago, if you googled ‘write your name in Elvish,’ the first site to come up would be Write your name in Elvish in Ten Minutes. And if you read the website, someone by the name of PuntCuncher would lead you—or rather, mislead you, as I found out later—through the steps to write your name and other English words in fancy Elvish script.
As I implied, however, the website propagated some glaring falsehoods about the Tolkien Tengwar system. This post, hopefully, will restore truth and integrity to the original script.
Literally ‘signs’ or ‘symbols’ in Quenya, Tengwar is the scripture system associated with the Elvish languages. Tengwar comprises only one set of tengwar but manifests differently in each of the Elvish languages, as well as all languages, by way of ‘modes.’ In this way, each tengwa corresponds not only to a sound but to a culture. Theoretically, we can take English words and write them with Elvish script; Tengwar exists independently of language. In this post, we focus exclusively on the Quenya mode of Tengwar. This mode is also known as the Classical mode of Tengwar.
NOTE: Tolkien did develop a mode of Tengwar specifically for English, with some inconsistencies, but nonetheless original. If you would prefer to transcribe your name with this system of Tengwar, I refer you to this website.
Reference note: most information acquired from Quetin i lambë Eldaiva: a Quenya Course [1] by Thorsten Renk, a German linguist of Tolkien’s languages and member of the Vinyar Tengwar review panel.
Tengwar – Consonants
Sixteen Basic Tengwar
The adjacent table lays out the 16 basic tengwar, their associated sounds and names. Like Chemistry students, we will analyze the table’s horizontal and vertical trends instead of each element as a whole. Notice that each tengwa consists of a telco—a stem— and one or more lúvar—or bows.
Consider the sounds these tengwar represent. As you move from left to right, read the sounds aloud and take note of the anatomical position from which the sounds originate. They move incrementally from the tongue to the lips to the throat to the chest.
Each of rows two through four is an acoustic variation of the four fundamental tengwar, which are listed in the first row. Again, repeat the sounds aloud and take note of where you say them. For example, the nasalized variation of tinco is anto; the presence of the n shifts the source of sound from your mouth to your nose. Nasalization coupled with the softening of the t in tinco gives you ando and, by extent, the correlation between rows one and two. Distinguishably, row three offers the aspirated variation of the fundamental tengwar as the sounds require the movement of air.
Keep in mind that harma is not pronounced as the ‘ch’ in church, but rather the ‘ch’ in the Scottish word loch.
Consonant FAQs:
What about the other sounds, like s and l?
The following eighteen tengwar include script for s and l sounds and more. These characters are also constructed from the fundamental tengwar by eliminating the upwards or downwards extension and adding one or two extra lúvar. Structure of this tengwa table is arbitrary. It should be noted that ñoldo is rarely used, especially in third age Quenya; but when it is, it represents the n sound in ‘wing.’
What if I have a double consonant in my name, like ‘Emma’?
This complication is solved by writing one tengwa corresponding to the letters in question and drawing a horizontal line underneath. Consider the following examples.
Why are there two different characters for r ?
The Elvish linguistically differentiate between a ‘strong’ r and a ‘weak’ r. The former is represented by rómen, and is used when the r is cushioned by two vowels or found at the beginning of a word. The weak r, found at the end of a word or as part of a consonant cluster, is spelled with óre. The following examples demonstrate further.
Why are there so many ways to write s ?
The s is typically indicated by a swirl of some form, with the exception of the basic tengwa thule. In some older Quenya manuscripts, the Elvish s is pronounced as a th, thus fostering thule’s dichotomy. For our purposes, we’ll stick with the thule—th correspondence and use silme for single s sounds. Silme will extend upwards or downwards depending on the existence of a vowel atop it. The same is true for the double s. There is a small deviation, however; for names that end in a consonant and s, as in -ts, -ps, -ls or x = -ks, the s is spelled as the variation of a small concave down curl with tail attached to the final consonant. This is perhaps better demonstrated with an example.
What’s the deal with h ?
Simply put, hyarmen is used at the beginning of a word and harma is used in the center of a word. There is a third spelling of h—called halla—which properly scribes a particularly aspirated consonant at the beginning of a word. Halla is particularly useful for Arabic or Indian names.
Tehtar – Vowels
In Quenya, the Tengwar vowels are represented by tehtar—or accents—atop the consonant they follow. Thus, in writing the name ‘Galadriel’ in Quenya, you would place the a tehta over the g tengwa, the a over the l and so on. This is perhaps the biggest difference between Quenya Tengwar and Sindarin Tengwar, for in the latter writing method the vowel embellishes the consonant it precedes.
This constitutes a solid foundation on which we may construct a few examples. To write the name ‘Chip’ in Quenya Tengwar, begin by differentiating the consonant sounds from the vowels.Shift the vowels up and over the preceding consonants. Then translate all letters to the corresponding tengwar and tehtar.
Vowel FAQs:
What if your name starts with a vowel? Or what if your name has an accented vowel, like Mélanie?
Both of these complications we resolve with carriers: tengwa that exist expressly to hold vowels with no consonant present. Short carriers hold short, non-accented vowels. Long carriers hold longer, accented vowels.
What’s up with y?
The Elvish consider y a vowel, and only a vowel. The spelling of y changes depending on where it is in the word. If the y is preceded by a consonant, as in Skylar or Kelly, the appropriate tehta consists of two dots below the preceding consonant. If the y begins the word or name, as in Yorick, the vowel is represented by two dots and awarded its own carrier, anna.
I have a diphthong in my name. How does that work in Elvish?
Diphthongs are vowel clusters that formulate a single sound. The label does not extend to all vowel clusters, however; the ie in Galadriel, for example, is not a diphthong since the cluster makes two different vowel sounds. In this instance, you would put the first vowel atop the preceding consonant and the second vowel atop a carrier.
By contrast, au and ai are examples of diphthongs since they are pronounced as one vowel. Diphthongs ending in u or i are given carriers úre and yanta respectively. The accompanying vowel is then translated accordingly and placed atop this carrier.
Test your newfound skill
You’ve come this far, learned this much. By now you should have enough information to write and read not only your name, but those of your friends and any Quenya Tengwar phrase, for that matter. As homage to your newfound lingual capabilities, translate the inscription on The One Ring. Submit your answers in the comments.
[1] Renk, Thorsten. Quetin i Lambë Eldaiva: A Quenya Course. 2nd ed., Self-Published, 2008.
hI I need help to translate a name. Still dont get it how to do it.
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Hello Wichum. What’s the name you want to translate?
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Hi, thanks for your reply.
The name is Nacho or Nachox (is the nickname of my husband who is no longer with us)
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My condolences. The guide should provide a very direct method of transcription for Nacho. Keep in mind, however, that the sound ‘ch’, as we pronounce it, does not exist in Tengwar. The closest variation would be the aerated ‘ch’ as in the Scottish ‘loch.’ You have a couple options here:
1. Determine the phonetic orthography of your name and transcribe accordingly (see the handbook reference at the beginning of this article);
2. You can brute force stick with a character substitution (such as replacing the ch with the aerated ‘ch’ and using harma, or a different substitution thereabouts). You’d change the pronounciation of the name to fit the Quenya dialect.
Hope this helps.
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How to write my sister name in elvish my sister’s name is Khushi Koul
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Please refer to the above guide.
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Hi there! I think I have the names written correctly, but I just want to double check. My parents are getting a tattoo each of our names in Elvish, so it’s vital that the translation is correct. We’ve used https://www.jenshansen.com/pages/online-english-to-elvish-engraving-translator which seems pretty legit, but when I entered Rachel (one of your examples) it came up with different tehtar and a different middle symbol. Would you be able to provide any assistance?
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Of course, Teddy. Are you looking to write the names in Quenya Tengwar (high Elvish script), Sindarin Tengwar (common Elvish script), or Black Speech Tengwar (an ancient mode of writing most commonly identified in its inscription on the One Ring)?
This is the main difference between jenshanson.com and my site; I am writing in modern Quenya Tengwar, whereas Jens Hansen write in Black Speech Tengwar (which, at first glance, violates several interpolated rules of Black Speech Tengwar. i.e., it’s not to be trusted…)
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Is there a way to show possessions such as the apostrophe. Like how in English one may say “The child’s toy” with the apostrophe indicating that the toy belongs to the child?
Also the same goes for contractions (but those can easily be avoided)
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Hello there,
You’re moving into grammatical territory, which is beyond the scope of this course. If you’d like a comprehensive guide to how to transcribe English phrases into Tengwar, I encourage you to visit this site:
https://www.tecendil.com/tengwar-handbook/
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Also, how would you put down an ‘ed’ suffix as in ‘Pierced’ or ‘walked’ as it doesn’t appear that theirs a sound or symbol for the letter ‘d’
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Hi, can you translate my name, Dyan, please?
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Hi Dyan, your name should be fairly straightforward using the guide above. The ‘y’ in your name would be represented by two dots placed below the character for ‘d’.
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My daugther is named Anna for the Quenya word “anna” as in “gift”, and as far as I understand your guide, I would right the word “anna” by writing the short carrier with the tehtar a (3 dots) untop, and then the n with a line under, topped again with the tehtar a. Am I understanding this correctly?
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Yes! That’s exactly how I would write it.
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Super! Thank you so much for your guide and time.
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How would you write the letter j?
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Hi Justin, there is no tengwa associated with the sound ‘j’ as we understand it. You have the option here of determining the phonetic orthography of your name and transcripting accordingly (see the handbook reference at the beginning of this article); or you can brute force stick with a character substitution (such as replacing the j with a ‘ng’ and using anga, or a different substitution thereabouts). You’d change the pronounciation of your name to fit the Quenya dialect.
Alternatively, you can come up with your own chosen Elvish name—a kilmessë—making sure to use only sounds represented by the tengwar and transcribe accordingly. Look here for more information:
http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ess%C3%AB#:~:text=Kilmess%C3%AB%3A%20a%20name%20chosen%20by,deeds%2C%20talents%20and%20personal%20history.
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Hello! I am translating my name for a tattoo, and I want to make sure I have it right. My name is Rae, so would I use the r symbol followed by the ae diphthong or would I use the ‘a’ modifier and the placeholder for ‘e?’ (sorry if this doesn’t make sense). Thank you so much – this guide is really helpful!
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Hi Rae,
You have a few options here:
1. Determine the phonetic orthography of Rae and transcribe accordingly (see the handbook reference at the beginning of this article). Rae would be an easy one to do with this method; it’s possible that a romen with an a tehtar atop it would suffice; or,
2. Tolkien did develop a mode of Tengwar specifically for English, and I believe it includes a tehtar for a silent ‘e.’ If you would prefer to preserve the silent ‘e’ in your name, I refer you to the website mentioned at the top of this article. In this case, your name wouldn’t be written in the Quenya mode of Tengwar.
3. You can brute force stick with a character substitution (just as you mentioned, place the ‘a’ atop the ‘r’ and use a short carrier on which to place the ‘e’). You’d change the pronounciation of your name to fit the Quenya dialect. I wouldn’t recommend this method, but it’s a possibility.
It’s up to you. I’d be interested to know what you decide. Good luck, in any case!
LM
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Can you help me to translate the name Éder? It’s a basque male name who means “Beauty like an angel”. The name has the vowel ‘É’ open, like in the word ‘wEther’, or in the word “Elvish”, open “E”; actually, the word “whether” has a very similar sound with the name Éder, just change de TH for the sound of ‘D’, like in ‘dog’, and suprime the sound ‘w’, and it’s done…But I don’t know how to do… =(
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Hi Amy, it sounds like you’re on the right track there! This post should have all the elements you need to transcribe the name.
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sorry, I meant “ai” diphthong…
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Hello, can you tell me how to write these two Quenya words: cánë and himíte
Thanks!
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Hi there. Doing a little research regarding a tattoo I’m considering. I appreciate your guide but English is not my first language, so I’m a little confused and I want to make sure that I get it right.
As I understand it the Elvish word for Family is “noss” in Sindarin and “nosse” in Quenya (all singular).
But I’m unsure as how to write “noss” and “nosse” in Tengwar.
And what would it look like to just use the word “family” as an English mode?
Could you be so kind and help me out?
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Hi Sarah, good to hear from you.
In order to avoid mixing up language classes, I encourage you to stick with “nossë” since the guidelines I’ve written above are for the Quenya mode of Tengwar. Here, you’ll write numen, on top of which you’ll write the character for the vowel “o.” Following that, you’ll put esse (of the “vowel above” variation), upon which you’ll place the character for the vowel “e.” This is how I would go about it.
If you’d prefer the Sindarin mode (and thus “noss”), Thorsten Renk’s guide to Sindarin “Pedin Edhellen” is a reliable source to consult.
To write just “family” in the English mode of Tengwar, consult the handbook on this website: https://www.tecendil.com/tengwar-handbook/.
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I have spent way too much time researching the different modes and now I’m completely confused. How will I write “Joe” and “Jen”? I think I’ve got it correct in the Mode Of Gondor but I want to double check.
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Hi Jen,
The Mode of Gondor is a branch of Sindarin, which I’m not as familiar with as with the Quenya mode, which is described here in this article. I would suggest consulting other sources. Here’s a Reddit thread which may help explaining the different modes: https://www.reddit.com/r/tolkienfans/comments/4oqiwr/need_help_understanding_tengwar_modes_or_writing/
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So in the text you say hyarmen is for the beginning of the word and harma is for the middle of the word. However, the graphic shows the exact opposite. Also, harma is listed as having a ch sound not an h sound. So which is it?
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Hi Emma,
You’re absolutely right; thanks for bringing the error in the graphic to my attention. To clarify, the graphic is incorrect and the text is correct.
If you have access to the LOTR appendices, you’ll find a pronunciation guide there. Tolkien insists the ‘ch’ is an aspirated sound, similar to the German ‘ch’, as pronounced in the word ‘loch,’ not as in the word ‘church.’ In this way, it kind of sounds like a harder ‘h.’ This is why it’s listed as having a ‘ch’ sound, and why I used it in the transcription of ‘Rachel.’
I hope this clarifies.
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Hi, am I missing something, or is the example of the name “Israel” above incorrect? It appears to end with an “n” symbol.
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Hi Criz, you’re absolutely right. Thanks for pointing it out. I’ll be updating that shortly.
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What about names that start with a “B”? Like Bret, Bailey, Brianna, etc. The only “b” sound I saw in the consonant tables was “mb”. I’m not sure that could be used at the beginning of a name.
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Hi arandor, the only similar sound in Tengwar to “b” is the umbar, which you saw. I’d suggest you head over to https://www.tecendil.com/tengwar-handbook/ to find other conventions when applying Tengwar to English characters/sounds.
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Hi! Great article – thanks so much for putting it together. I wondered how you would handle other diphthongs that aren’t listed, such as ie and ee (as in Ellie Renee). The tengwar handbook you referenced shows an ae as a symbol that looks like an upside down v with three dots on top for the a. Could I use the upside down v with a dot or slash on top for an ie and ee respectively? Thanks!
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Hi Ashley, the diphthongs written above are the only ones I know of in Quenya. I definitely refer you to the Tengwar Handbook for a more comprehensive look at the diphthongs available in other methods of writing Elvish, such as the method constructed specifically for English.
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Hi I really want to get my brothers name tattooed and am struggling allot. I would greatly appreciate it if you could please do this for me. His name: Mitchell David
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Hi Jocelyn, I find that transcription into Quenya is a very personal journey since you have quite a few options.
For example, you have the option here of determining the phonetic orthography of your brother’s name and transcribing accordingly (see the handbook reference at the beginning of this article); or you can brute force stick with a character substitution (like using harma as the ‘ch’ sound in Mitchell, even though it represents more of the hard German ‘ch’ as in loch). If that’s your choice, you’d change the pronounciation of your name to fit the Quenya dialect. Another option is to use the class of Tengwar specifically built for English (again, see the handbook reference at the beginning of this article). It really is based on your preference.
Alternatively, you can come up with your own chosen Elvish name—a kilmessë—making sure to use only sounds represented by the tengwar and transcribe accordingly.
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I have looked everywhere and can’t figure our how to write the phrase “Keeping the Faith”
I am hoping you can help me. I need it for a tattoo. I already got a beautiful “There is always Hope” and I would like to add more. My youngest daughter is named Arwen and I am collecting tattoos to honor them and their sister. I like these phrases since their middle names are Hope and Faith. Thank you
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Hi Crisi,
It depends on how you want to go about translating the phrase “Keep the Faith” before attempting to transcribe it. For example, you can translate the phrase into Quenya elvish, and then transcribe the now elvish words into the Classical form of Tengwar.
Alternatively, you can skip the translation and go directly for the transcription of the English phrase. This is not necessarily my area of expertise, so in this case, I’ll refer you to this website:
https://www.tecendil.com/tengwar-handbook/
where there is a nice description of Tolkien’s developed system of Tengwar for English specifically.
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I was looking at the diphthong portion and ea is interesting. I’m looking at the name Sean. I would write it as the Silme with the vowel above the S. But where would I put the a? Would it default over the n?
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If you want to preserve the orthography of Sean, you’d have the ‘e’ above the ‘s’, followed by the ‘a’ atop a short carrier (numen), and then the ‘n.’ However, in Quenya, this would probably be pronounced something like ‘say-ahn,’ which may not be what you’re looking for. Instead, you could preserve the phonetic integrity of the name ‘Sean.’ For more information on how to do this, I recommend using the tools available here: https://www.tecendil.com/tengwar-handbook.
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Thank you for that! I had another question. For the Elvish word tári, I had a question about how to write it. At first, I thought it should be written with the “a” over the “T” and the “i” over the strong “r” since it’s sandwiched in between two vowels. However, the “a” is accented. So would you then put the “a” over the malta carrier? Thank you again for all of your help!
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Yes, that’s exactly how I would go about writing that.
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Hi, thanks so much for explaining this language in so much detail! I am looking to have my name tattooed but am still a little confused and want to make sure its correct first. Can I please email you an image to see if it reads correctly? Thanks in advance!
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Hi Ray, I’m understandably hesitant to put my email up here, but if you want, you can go ahead and ask your questions here. I’m sure others will find the dialogue useful.
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Thanks for the quick reply…sorry I missed it! Totally understand and apologies for the short-sighted request. Since I can’t send you an image of my attempt, could you please comment on the accuracy of the below translator? Thanks so much!
https://www.jenshansen.com/pages/online-english-to-elvish-engraving-translator
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The Jens Hansen transcriptor does not go into much technical detail as to what mode of Tengwar it uses. I, myself, wouldn’t trust it outright without validating the transcription against more primary sources of Elvish, like the appendices of the LotR and the Silmarillion. Proceed with caution.
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Hi Loreinmacenulty, I am trying to understand which rule to apply in the case of translating two names into Elvin. I am finding 4 variations of Rémy and I think I’ve found the correct one for Ella. Is there a place I can post an image of the lettering I’ve put together?
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You can go ahead and post it here, if you like.
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The comment box will not allow me to post an image. I used the tengwars in this article to create the names so I only have them as an image. Any other way I can share them with you?
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Ah! I didn’t realize. Tried to change that, looks like it’s not possible. If you head to my other website macenulty.com, you can find ways to contact me there.
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Would like to translate the name Vaida. I have tried other “elvish translation” sites but I don’t think it’s correct. Could you help?
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Hi Mary Ann, of course! What’s interesting about the namae “Vaida” is the presence of the “ai.” Is it a diphthong (i.e., does it make the sound “ay”)? Or is it rather a two-syllable sound (as in ah-ee)? That will change how you end up transcribing it.
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