The History of Middle-earth Vol-9- Sauron Defeated J.R.R Tolkien by Tolkien J.R.R

Author:Tolkien, J.R.R. [J.R.R., Tolkien,]
Language: spa
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2010-12-27T14:11:55.785000+00:00

THE NOTION CLUB PAPERS (PART TWO) 241

another name: in A Andŏre and in B Yŏzăyan,39 and both mean “Land of Gift”.

‘There seems to be no connexion between the two languages there. But there are some words that are the same or very similar in both. The word for ”sky”

or “the heavens” is menel in Language A and minil in B: a form of it occurs in Minul-tărik “Pillar of Heaven” that I mentioned just now. And there seems to be some connexion between the A word Valar, which seems to mean something like “The Powers”, we might say “gods” perhaps, and the B plural Avalŏim and the place-name Avallŏni. Although that is a B name, it is with it, oddly enough, that I associate Language A; so if you want to get rid of algebra, you can call A Avallonian, and B Adunaic. I do myself.

‘The name Ĕarendil, by the way, belongs to Avallonian, and contains ĕare “the open sea” and the stem ndil “love, devotion”: that may look a bit odd, but lots of the Avallonian stems begin with nd, mb, ng, which lose their d, b, or g when they stand alone. The corresponding Adunaic name, apparently meaning just the same, is Azrubĕl. A large number of names seem to have double forms like this, almost as if one people spoke two languages. If that is so, I suppose the situation could be paralleled by the use of, say, Chinese in Japan, or indeed of Latin in Europe. As if a man could be called Godwin, and also Theophilus or Amadeus. But even so two different peoples must come into the story somewhere.

‘Well there you are. I hope you are not all bored. I could give you long lists of other words. Words, words, mostly just that. For the most part significant nouns, like Isil and Nĭlŭ for the Moon; fewer adjectives, still fewer verbs, and only occasional connected phrases. I love these languages, though they are only fragments out of some forgotten book. I find both curiously attractive, though Avallonian is nearest to my heart. Adunaic with its, well, faintly Semitic flavour belongs more nearly to our world, somehow. But Avallonian is to me beautiful, in its simple and euphonious style. And it seems to me more august, more ancient, and, well, sacred and liturgical. I used to call it the Elven-Latin. The echoes of it carry one far away. Very far away. Away from Middle-earth altogether, I expect.’ He paused as if he was listening. ‘But I could not explain just what I mean by that,’ he ended.

There was a short silence, and then Markison spoke. ‘Why did you call it Elven-Latin?’40 he asked. ‘Why Elven?’

242 SAURON DEFEATED

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