Tengwar Handbook

{{Tengwar}}
{{Handbo'o'k}}

By Arno Gourdol  

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Note

This is a work in progress, an attempt to collect and summarize in an easy-to-read format the sometimes contradictory information about Tengwar.

Please send me corrections and feedback so that I can make this information as accurate as possible.

Introduction

Tengwar is a writing system created by J.R.R. Tolkien. It is also known as the Fëanorian system, from the name of its (fictional) inventor.

It's important to understand that Tengwar is not a language.

Tolkien created many languages to flavor the world of Middle-Earth, including Quenya, the ancient speech of the Noldor Elves, and Sindarin, the language derived from Quenya spoken by the Grey Elves. Those languages can be written with the Tengwar script, but so can the Mannish (human) languages, including English and many more.

In this handbook we will focus on the Tengwar writing system itself. You can find elsewhere information about the grammar and vocabulary of Sindarin, Quenya and other Elvish languages.

Modes

A mode of Tengwar is a set of conventions used to transcribe a specific language. There are modes for Quenya, Sindarin, English and many other languages. Some languages even have multiple modes.

See http://at.mansbjorkman.net/teng_modes.htm

Tengwar is a flexible system and a given inscription can be represented in several ways even when using a specific mode: for stylistic reasons a transcriber may prefer to use one form over another.

We will begin by discussing the tengwar letters in general, followed by the English mode, the Sindarin mode, the mode of Beleriand and the Quenya mode.

Here is the same sentence transcribed using different modes:

English orthographic mode

Not all those who wander are lost

{{Not all those who wander are lost}}

English phonemic mode

not ool dhouz huu wondər ar lost

/nˈɑt/ /ˈɔːɫ/ /ðˈoʊz/ /hˈuː/ /wˈɑndɚ/ /ˈɑr/ /ɫˈɔːst/

51H ~Nj 4yH, 9~M y2^ÊP6 6E jiY1

Sindarin mode

Law ill idh reniar gwenwin

jyE j%¸ 4% 75$`B6E xè5$y5%

Tengwar Letters

A Tengwar glyph is called a letter which is tengwa in Quenya. The plural is tengwar (letters).

The modes of Tengwar can be divided into two categories: Full Modes represent vowels with distinct tengwar and Ómatehta Modes represent vowels with diacritical marks above or below called tehtar (Quenya signs or marking).

The shape of the tengwa correspond to the distinctive feature of the sound it represents. Thus, the place of articulation is represented by glyphs grouped in series (témar) as follow:

• Tincotéma: dental sounds such as /d/, /t/, /n/
• Parmatéma: labial sounds such as /m/, /p/, /b/, /f/
• Calmatéma: velar sounds such as /k/, /g/
• Quessetéma: labiovelar sounds such as /kw/, /gw/
• Telpetéma: palatal sounds such as /sh/, /j/

In addition, each have six corresponding manner of articulations, represented in the six rows (tyeller) of the table below:

• Serie 1: voiceless plosives such as /p/, /t/, /k/
• Serie 2: voiced plosives such as /b/, /d/, /g/
• Serie 3: voiceless fricatives such as /f/, /sh/
• Serie 4: voiceless prenasalized such as /v/, /j/
• Serie 5: nasals such as /n/, /m/
• Serie 6: approximants

Some tengwar have an extended form (with the tail extending above and below), but they are less common and may not be used at all in some modes, or used as an abbreviation. For example in the English mode, "ando extended" is used as an abbreviation for "the".

The diacritics are called tehta (Quenya “marking”). They represent vowels, consonant doubling and nasal sounds.

The tehtar are usually drawn on top of the tengwa following them.

cat =

z1D

In this example, the tehta `C /a/ is drawn above the tengwa 1 /t/.

For languages whose word frequently end in a vowel such as Quenya, Spanish or French, the vowels are drawn on top of the consonant preceding them.

If there is no suitable tengwa available, a “carrier” is used, for example `C (short [a]) or ~C (long [ɑː]).

Examples

no =

{{no}}

be =

{{be}}

hero =

{{hero}}

Punctuation

The following marks are used for punctuation:

Capitalization

Capital letters, also called majuscule or uppercase letters, do not exist in Tengwar.

However, it is possible to highlight some tengwar. Typically, this would be used with the first tengwa of personal names.

There are several techniques for this highlighting:

• size: the highlighted tengwa can be drawn larger
• color: the highlighted tengwa can be draw with a contrasting color (often red)
• shape: the vertical stroke of the tengwa can be doubled

Numbers

Numbers can be written in base-10 (decimal) or, more commonly, base-12 (duodecimal). Decimal numbers are indicated by a dot or bar above the digits. Duodecimal numbers may be indicated by a dot or bar below the digits. If no dots or bars are present, base-12 should be assumed.

Numbers are written with the least significant digit first. That is, twelve would be written as 21 in base-10 or 01 in base-12. An open dot (ring) is placed under the least significant digit if there are two digits or more.

The mark {{ {tinco-extended} }} extended tinco is used to indicate an ordinal number, such as 1st, 2nd, etc...

Examples

2016 (=1200₁₂) =

{{2016}}

3rd and 4th =

{{3rd and 4th}}

#3000 =

{{#3000}}

3.141592 =

{{3.141592}}

See Writing Numbers with Tengwar

See Grammar of Elvish Numerals

The English Mode

Several modes have been devised by J.R.R. Tolkien and his son Christopher for transcription of English with the Tengwar system. They were not always consistent, sometimes using different conventions within a single document! You will find that even today people will use slightly different conventions to write Tengwar. It's not necesarily that there is a “right” and “wrong” way. Sometimes, it's just a stylistic difference. Think of the difference between “color” and “colour”.

The mode we describe in this section is based on the conventions used most frequently by contemporary Tengwar writers.

English can be transcribed using an orthographic mode in which the peculiarities of English orthography are preserved in the transcription (for example, ph or gh for a /f/ sound). Using a phonemic mode the sounds of English are transcribed rather than the English spelling.

There was of course no “mode” for the representation of English. One adequate phonetically could be devised from the Fëanorian system. The brief example on the title-page does not attempt to exhibit this. It is rather an example of what a man of Gondor might have produced, hesitating between the values of the letters familiar in his “mode” and the traditional spelling of English.

Tolkien used both phonemic and orthographic modes in various materials, and sometimes an hybrid of both, as indicated in the paragraph above. Furthermore, both Full Modes and Omatehta Modes have been used.

The phonemic mode requires a very good understanding of English phonology and will vary based on dialectal differences. Therefore, a fully phonemic mode for English is rarely used.

In this handbook, we follow an orthographic mode, with a phonemic representation for some common English words. It's a very subjective and personal interpretation, of course, and you could choose a different and equally valid transcription.

For example, a purely orthographic transcription of:

Though she has those things there.

could be:

3y^v dÉ 9iD 3iHË 3b%+ 36RÉ -

We find this more pleasant:

4y^v d~B 9,D 4,H 3b%+ 47RÉ -

The Consonants

The table below indicate how the Tengwar are used in the English mode.

See http://at.mansbjorkman.net/teng_general_english.htm

½: silent h archaic? use 9 instead? Or used for silent-h instead of aspirated-h?

]: /s/, used when a tehtar is placed above instead of 8 or i

(1) <ch> pronounced as /k/ sound, for example as in "Christmas" = {{Christmas}}

(2) <th> as a voiceless dental fricative, as in "thing" = {{ thing }}

(3) The digraph ⟨ch⟩ /k/ (as in "echo" = {{ {hwesta}[e]o }}) can be transcribed with this tengwa, or with Quesse/Hwesta Extended {{ {quesse-extended} }}: {{ {quesse-extended}[e]o }}) Very rarely, for "black".

(4) <th> as a voiced dental fricative, as in "this" = {{ this }}

(5) <g> as in "mirage", <si> as in "illusion" = {{ illusion }} or <su> as in "treasure" = {{ treasure }}

(6) This Tengwa can be used for "ghost" or "aghast", that is >gh< pronounced /g/ + /h/.

(7) ng is often written as x{ (g preceded by n)

(8) Used for final r or when preceding a consonant

(9) Used for /r/ preceding a vowel.

(10) Sometimes used for consonantal y when h is used for final or vowel y. Mostly used for i-glide diphthongs such as "their".

(11) <th> pronounced as /t/ sound, for example as in "Thomas" = {{Thomas}}

(12) /k/ sound, also <ck> as in "black" = {{ black }}, <ch> as in "chaos" = {{ chaos }}, <q> as in "technique" = {{ technique }}

(13) <gh> when silent, e.g. "Hugh" = {{Hugh}}

Need to confirm /y/ consonantal vs. not. Conflicting info.

Consonant Modifications

Doubled Consonants

Doubled (geminated) consonants are indicated by placing a horizontal line (straight bar or tilde) below the tengwa, or inside it for lambe {{ {lambe} }}.

For n or m the line may be placed above the tengwa, as per the nasalized consonant rule.

Nasalized Consonants

Nasalized consonants, e.g. nt, mp or nk, are indicated by a horizontal line (straight bar or tilde) above the tengwa.

Labialized Consonants

Labialized consonants are indicated by a wavy-curl placed above the tengwa.

Examples

quiet =

{{quiet}}

The Vowels

In English, vowels are indicated by diacritics on the tengwa following the consonant.

The vowels are represented by the following tehtar, as if they were placed on the short vowel carrier:

See also: http://www.skymind.com/~ocrow/tengwar/tehtar.html, http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/tengwar-textbook.pdf, p32

Silent ⟨e⟩ is transcribed with a dot under the preceding consonant.

Double vowels are each placed on their own vowel carrier.

Vowel diphthongs can be represented as two consecutive short-carriers with the appropriate tehtar or by the following tengwa/tehta combinations. These special combinations should only be used when they are pronounced as one. For example ⟨ai⟩ as in main, rather than ⟨ai⟩ as in archaic.

Examples

plain =

{{plain}}

now =

{{now}}

earth =

{{earth}}

aunt =

{{aunt}}

feud =

{{feud}}

there =

{{there}}

seen =

{{seen}}

The letter ⟨y⟩

The letter ⟨y⟩ can be represented by several tehtar:

• following a consonant, used on the preceding consonant

• preceding ⟨y⟩ (style, system)

⟨s⟩ pronounced /z/ and ⟨ch⟩ pronounced /k/

When using the English orthographic mode each tengwa corresponds to a specific letter or sequence of letters. However, some adjustments are frequently made to account for different pronunciation, in which case a given letter will be represented by different tengwa.

That's the case for the letter ⟨s⟩: when pronounced as a soft-S /s/ it is transcribed with 8 Silme or i Silme Nuquerna, but when pronounced as a hard-S /z/, it is transcribed with k Esse or , Esse Nuquerna.

However, a final ⟨s⟩, for example to indicate plural, is usually transcribed with a hook {{ [upward-curl] }} regardless of its proncunciation. If you prefer to us a silme instead, add a ⟨*⟩ after the ⟨s⟩

Another example would be the digraph ⟨ch⟩: it is transcribed with a Calma when it is pronounced /tʃ/, but with a Quesse or Extended Quesse when it is pronounced /k/.

⟨x⟩

The letter ⟨x⟩ is usually transcribed as a quesse {{ {quesse} }} (for a /k/ sound) or ungwe {{ {ungwe} }} (for a /g/ sound) with a hook: {{ tax }}, {{ Alexander }}.

Examples

as =

,E

is =

,T

his =

9,T

hers =

96R,

rings =

{{ rings }} or {{ rings* }} ("rings*")

champion =

aqpE`B5^

Christmas =

z7iT1tiE or {{ Christmas }}

Soft and hard ⟨th⟩

The digraph ⟨th⟩ in English can represent either a soft, voiceless /θ/ sound ("think") or a hard, voiced /ð/ sound ("this, that, these, those, then, than, they, them, their, theirs, themselves, though, there, than, thus, together, thing, smooth, soothe"). Note that aside from the words in the preceding list, most initial ⟨th⟩ are soft, most medial ⟨th⟩ are hard with a few exceptions ("earthy, healthy, pithy, wealthy") and loan words ("atheist, anthem, cathedral, author" etc...). Nouns ending in ⟨th⟩ are usually soft.

Even when using the orthographic mode, the tengwa anto (4) is used to represent hard ⟨th⟩ and sule (3) for soft ⟨th⟩. For example, 4iT for "this", rather than *3iT. By default, ⟨th⟩ is transcribed with sule (3). To override this and use anto (4) representing a hard /ð/, replace the ⟨th⟩ with ⟨dh⟩. For example:

Examples

cloth =

{{cloth}}

clothe =

*zj3HÊ

*clodhe =

zj4^Ê

The R-rule

To represent the /r/ sound, two tengwar can be used, Rómen (7) and Óre (6).

7 Rómen is used before vowels except before a final silent-e

6 Óre is used before consonants, and at the end of words.

Examples

red =

{{red}}

story =

{{story}}

car =

{{car}}

there =

{{there}}

Shorthand

A few English words are transcribed with a shorthand tengwa.

Variants

Although JRR Tolkien left extensive material using the English mode, his son Christopher Tolkien also contributed writings in Tengwar. In some cases, he used slightly different conventions than his father. Some of it could be considered personal preferences or perhaps regional variations, much like the words "color" and "colour".

Here's a list of some of these differences:

Source for this section: /u/machsna.

Full Mode for English

English can be transcribed using a Full Mode where each vowel is represented by a distinct tengwa. See the section on the Beleriand mode for details.

See this analysis.

The Sindarin Mode

Sindarin is written in one of two modes:

• Mode of Beleriand: a Full Mode where vowels are represented by separate tengwar. See the following section for details
• Mode of Gondor: Omatethar Mode where the vowels are represented with diacritics (tehtar) on the following tengwar, different tengwar are used to represent some sounds (/g/, etc...). This is the mode described in this section.

Vowels

The vowels are:

A vowel carrier (`) is used if there is no suitable tengwa, e.g. at the end of a word.

pedo, speak =

q2$`N

In Roman transcription, long vowels are indicated with a circumflex or acute accent above the vowels. The tehta for long vowels is placed on a long vowel carrier.

dûn, west =

2~M6

Diphthongs

Initial /i/ followed by a vowel is pronounced as a consonantal /y/ and transcribed with Yanta (l) in Gondor mode.

iarwain (oldest) =

l7EyhE5

Consonants

The tengwa to represent consonants in the Beleriand mode are as follow.

(1) Final r.

(2) Non-final r.

See p. 16 of http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/tengwar-textbook.pdf for vowels

Consonant Modifications

Doubled (geminated) consonants are written with a doubled-tengwa, except for /m/, /n/ and /s/ which are written with Malta (t), Nuumen (5) and Esse (k).

Sindarin has two unvoiced consonants: r and l, transcribed as Arda (u) "rh" and Alda (m) "lh". These are always initial. An rh or lh in non-initial position is a coincidence and should be represented by separate tengwar.

When tehtar are placed above /s/ 8 silme and /ss/ k ssse, i silme nuquerna and , Esse Nuquerna can be used instead.

mellon, friend =

yj$¸5^ (yljjh6)

anim, for myself =

5#t% (]6`y)

rammas, great wall =

7t#{iD (7]t]8)

brannon, lord =

w75#{5^ (w7]5h6)

bess, wife =

w,F (wlk)

Nasalized consonants (/nt/, /nd/, /mp/, /mb/, /nc/, /ng/) are indicated by a line placed above the tengwa.

thond, root =

32^{ (3h2{)

ennorath, Middle-Earth =

5${7Y3D (l5h7]3)

lembas, waybread =

jw${iD (jlw{]8)

The letter /r/ is written with Roomen, except in final position where Oore is used.

curunîr, wizard =

z7U5&~B6 (a.7.6`F6)

Aníra =

5#~B7`C

Gelir =

xj$6T

Aran =

7E5#

Edwen =

2éR5$

Dûn =

2~M5 , 2.F6 , 2.F5

Ónen =

~N55$ , hR6l6 , hF5l5

Byr =

w~×6 , wiR7 , wiR7

An overbar is used to indicate that a n or m preceeds the tengwa that it is placed above.

The Mode of Beleriand

The mode of Beleriand is a full mode where vowels are represented by separate Tengwar and which can be used to transcribe Sindarin or English.

Examples

aglareb (glorious) =

{{beleriand:aglareb}}

Vowels

The vowels are:

An accent (Andaith, .F) is placed above the vowel to indicate a long vowel.

dûn, west =

2.F6

Diphthongs

Sindarin has six diphthongs:

iarwain (oldest) =

`]7n]Ô6

Consonants

The shaded cells in the table below indicate the Tengwar that are specific to this mode.

(1) Final r.

(2) Non-final r.

See p. 16 of http://www.starchamber.com/paracelsus/elvish/tengwar-textbook.pdf for vowels

Consonant Modifications

Doubled (geminated) consonants are written with a doubled-tengwa, except for /m/, /n/ and /s/ which are written with Malta (t), Nuumen (5) and Esse (k).

Sindarin has two unvoiced consonants: r and l, transcribed as Arda (u) "rh" and Alda (m) "lh". These are always initial. An rh or lh in non-initial position is a coincidence and should be represented by separate Tengwar.

mellon, friend =

yljjh6

anim, for myself =

]6`y

rammas, great wall =

7]t]8

brannon, lord =

w7]5h6

bess, wife =

wlk

Nasalized consonants (/nt/, /nd/, /mp/, /mb/, /nc/, /ng/) are indicated by a line placed above the tengwa.

thond, root =

3h2{

ennorath, Middle-Earth =

l5h7]3

lembas, waybread =

jlw{]8

The letter /r/ is written with Roomen, except in final position where Oore is used.

curunîr, wizard =

a.7.6`F6

Aníra =

{{beleriand:aniira}}

Gelir =

xj$6T

Aran =

7E5#

Edwen =

2éR5$

Dûn =

2~M5 , 2.F6 , 2.F5

Ónen =

~N55$ , hR6l6 , hF5l5

Byr =

w~×6 , wiR7 , wiR7

Quenya Mode

Quenya is transcribed using an omatehtar mode where the tehtar (diacritics) are on top of the preceding consonant.

Examples

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen, yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron! =

{{quenya:Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen, yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!}}

Vowels

Consonants

Samples

JRR Tolkien and his son Christopher produced Tengwar inscriptions in English, Sindarin, Quenya, Latin and Old English. Some were included in their published works, and others were part of their unpublished work. Below are a few examples.

Namarie — DTS 20

Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind, 
long years numberless as the wings of trees! 
The years have passed like swift draughts 
of the sweet mead in lofty halls beyond the West, 
beneath the blue vaults of Varda 
wherein the stars tremble in the song of her voice, holy and queenly. 

Who now shall refill the cup for me? 

For now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars, 
from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds, 
and all paths are drowned deep in shadow; 
and out of a grey country darkness lies on the foaming waves between us,
and mist covers the jewels of Calacirya for ever. 
Now lost, lost to those from the East is Valimar!

Farewell! Maybe thou shalt find Valimar. 
Maybe even thou shalt find it. Farewell!
			
		

The Jacket Namarie — DTS 19

Lord of the Rings Title Page — DTS 5

The Silmarilion

Unfinished Tales

Sources

• The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E., by J.R.R. Tolkien
• DTS: Mellonath Daeron Index of Tengwa Specimina
• Amanye Tenceli, by Måns Björkman
• Writing Sindarin with Tengwar (PDF), by Per Lindberg
• Font Tengwar Annatar by Johan Winge