Parma Eldalamberon 15

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Parma Eldalamberon 15
Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings
Parma Eldalamberon 15.png
AuthorJ.R.R. Tolkien
EditorArden R. Smith, Christopher Gilson, Patrick H. Wynne, and Bill Welden
IllustratorAdam Christensen (front and back cover)
PublisherElvish Linguistic Fellowship
Released27 September 2004
FormatPaperback journal
Pages122

Parma Eldalamberon 15: Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings is the fifteenth issue of Parma Eldalamberon, a journal of linguistic studies of the Elvish languages and names in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

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Contents[edit | edit source]

  • Cover — Adam Christensen
  • "Names and Required Alterations" — J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Patrick H. Wynne
  • "Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin" — J.R.R. Tolkien, eds. Christopher Gilson and Patrick H. Wynne
  • "Sí Qente Feanor" — J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Christopher Gilson
  • "Early Qenya Pronouns" — J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Christopher Gilson
  • "Index of Names for The Lay of the Children of Húrin" — J.R.R. Tolkien, eds. Bill Welden and Christopher Gilson
  • "English-Qenya Dictionary" — J.R.R. Tolkien, eds. Arden R. Smith and Christopher Gilson
  • "Addendum to The Alphabet of Rúmil and The Valmaric Script" — J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Arden R. Smith
  • "Early Runic Documents" — J.R.R. Tolkien, ed. Arden R. Smith
  • List of abbreviations

Description[edit | edit source]

"Sí Qente Feanor" is a prose excerpt written in Qenya. It was composed by Tolkien in the same notebook that contains the tale called "The Nauglafring" and the Gnomish Grammar. Other writings from the Lost Tales period presented in this issue include a list of Qenya and Gnomish "Names and Required Alterations" connected with "The Cottage of Lost Play"; two charts laying out the sound system of Gnomish; and various early notes on Elvish words and names not found anywhere else. Also presented here is the full text of the "Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin", excerpts from which were published in The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two. Editorial commentary is provided on the connections of these various texts with the contemporary tales and lexicons.

"Early Runic Documents" is an edition of Tolkien's charts and notes from about 1918 to 1925 dealing with runes and various rune-like alphabets. Tolkien's examples of the scripts are reproduced in facsimile — charts of the sounds represented by the letters, and Elvish words and English texts written in the scripts. These include English and Gothic runes; Gondolinic runes; and two invented scripts, one called simply "Runic" and the other called "Gnomic Letters". Transcriptions of the examples, and commentary on the dating and historical background are provided. Also published in this issue is an "Addendum to The Alphabet of Rúmil and The Valmaric Script" (Parma 13). This is a document recently encountered among Tolkien's papers which includes texts written in both of these early invented scripts.

Tables of "Early Qenya Pronouns" provide a glimpse of the transition in the conception of the language between the Lost Tales period and the "Early Qenya Grammar" (Parma 14) that Tolkien composed while at Leeds. And closely connected with the grammar we also present the beginnings of an "English-Qenya Dictionary" which Tolkien started to compile at this time. A remarkable feature of this dictionary is that most of the Qenya words in it are transcribed into the Valmaric script, providing one of the more elaborate examples of Tolkien's own representation of an Elvish language using an Elvish writing system. From about the same period, a partial "Index of Names" for The Lay of the Children of Húrin is also presented in this issue. Detailed annotations and commentary on the conceptual developments in these texts are included.

External links[edit | edit source]


Parma Eldalamberon issues
Issue 1 · Issue 2 · Issue 3 · Issue 4 · Issue 5 · Issue 6 · Issue 7 · Issue 8 · Issue 9 · Issue 10 ·
Issue 11 · Issue 12 · Issue 13 · Issue 14 · Issue 15 · Issue 16 · Issue 17 · Issue 18 · Issue 19 · Issue 20 ·
Issue 21 · Issue 22