Recovering The Ancient Tongue Of The Elves.

[Glurg_Howdan 7]

SO ja twiggys wunt ta be like urcsies and ;ave ja uun blah?

Ja blah suunds skah and ja be tupid ta try ta be urksies

[Sporadic 2801]

The Elven dialect is a noble, mysterious and ancient language which has been gradually studied and recovered, starting at Aerin Lissar and his two companions, for four Seasons now.

The... blah... was the brainchild of an Orc's little too intimate meeting with a club, whereupon he decided his race's collective inability to converse properly may as well be called a 'language'.

To say the Elven tongue attempts to mimick the Orcen is as preposterous as suggesting the Black Hand was inspired by the cult of Krakeshut.

[Sporadic 2801]

((I do like the Orc language. It's very fitting and readily applicable.

EDIT: I'd like to say I'm not the one who -1'd the Orc post. I know when stuff is meant IC.))

Alright.. next question :mrgreen:

Mali'ame is Wood Elf? What would High Elf be? Mali'laurir?

And how do I get in on this zealous quest? :mrgreen: I'd love to be able to contribute in a ICly manner and help spread the elven culture around a bit.

A little language would help the elves act like elves instead of human I think. At least in a small way.

High Elf is Mali'Aheral (Lit: Blessed Elf). Used to be Mali'Aher but due to a grammatical change...

Well, spreading-wise, just have your own phrasebook ready. Outcries and such are easily scattered in everyday conversation, as are a few hello/goodbye phrases. Use them enough and people will wonder. (Having to think about how you'd reply to ingame convo's in elvish also helps realizing what words the vocabulary is really lacking, and what words are used often. There's no better way to see how well the actual language works.)

If your character isn't a wise old scholar IG, I tend to use them in some forum occassions as well, either in OOC or IC posts.

I personally also created the 'Elf up your name' guide to further create awareness among new players.

[Yuln 206]

Question 1: can you make a separate section for verbs, because it is difficult to find things sometimes.

Question 2: what is "to be" in elvish?

Thanks to you if you awnser my question.

[Elindor 654]

'to be' would be 'to exist'. One does not bring attention to their own existence, otherwise you have shifted the paradigms upon which self-awareness cloaks the insecurities that you do not actually exist at all.

You could use 'to live' which was added recently.

[Yuln 206]

'to be' would be 'to exist'. One does not bring attention to their own existence, otherwise you have shifted the paradigms upon which self-awareness cloaks the insecurities that you do not actually exist at all.

You could use 'to live' which was added recently.

I meant if something is gold, what means "is" in that case?

[Sporadic 2801]

I meant if something is gold, what means "is" in that case?

There's a section on it in the grammar section. Using 'to be' and 'to have' in elvish is very complicated as it's not used in the way we're accommodated to.

I suggest you read it. An example:

'Acaln ito Mali'leh': Gold to the elf's spirit -> The Elf is gold (golden?)

Yes, very counterintuitive. Also:

'Acaln ito Mali': Gold to the elf -> The Elf HAS gold.

Take special atttention to the possessive form here ('leh). A neophyte to elvish might just want to take these examples as is, but explanation for it can be found in the OP.

[Yuln 206]

Oh thats quite confusing...

[Aerinyes 402]

It can be confusing because the elven langauge is meant to be overly poetic. Which is probably why it won't catch on as a common language itself (thats why we have common :mrgreen: ). But for formal occasions and a smattering here and there, it will become very prevalent which is what I think the intent was.

I used to know the drow language about 7-8 years ago, its grammar rules and such were almost identical to english, except simplified a tad. It ran the full gamut, with pluralization, adjectives (bad, worse, worst), and possessive nouns, ect.

Example of Grammar Rules

With only about 2-3 weeks of using it, I was pretty fluent in it and could hold a conversation in about 80% drow. The other 20% were words not yet defined.

Can't do it anymore however :mrgreen:

But one thing I do remember, is if you use the words, I, you, me, as well as words for addressing someone (my'lady, my'lord, my friend), greetings such as hello, bless you, good bye, and words to describe the race you're talking to. You will learn the language very very quickly.

I'm wondering if the same could be done with this elvish language. Also common phrases should have priority when making the language. Such as:

"How are you?"

"Stay safe"

"Good Morning"

"Good Evening"

"Good Afternoon"

"Get back/away"

"To arms"

And anything else LotC related like "Beware! Undead!" ect.

[Aerinyes 402]

I was recording some words down yesterday and organizing them so its easier for me to reference when I found there is quite a few words missing. I'll list them here:

High Prince*

Prince*

King or other non-elf noble titles

Sword

Swordsman

Warrior

Archer

Ranger

Bow

Arrow

Quiver

Fletching

*I don't see the elves as distinguishing between prince and princess in their language. Elves seem to treat males and females in equal capacities. In fact the only difference would probably be in anatomy.

[Sporadic 2801]

Actually 'prince' is Malaurir,

which makes High Prince Malaurir'aheral

[Aerinyes 402]

I think it would be easier if the table in the thread and the wiki had a section for the Common to Elvish listings in alphabetical order.

Right now its Elvish to Common with the elvish in alphabetical order and that makes it hard to find things.

[Glurg_Howdan 7]

((Who did -1 my post? I don't really get why you would.))

[Yuln 206]

If you take the word arrow, bow should be "arrow-shooter" and quiver "arrow-carrier", so ranger should be "arrow-user".

[Aerinyes 402]

If you take the word arrow, bow should be "arrow-shooter" and quiver "arrow-carrier", so ranger should be "arrow-user".

While correct there.. its a tad convoluted, and thats assuming we have a word for arrow which we do not. Or at least as far as I can see.

Like for example, the words for Dark Elf, Wood Elf, and High Elf should be in the list, rather then having the would be users try to figure it out. For example I didn't know High Elf meant Blessed Elf, instead I thought it was Noble Elf.

Unless we want to spend time correcting people, the information should be out there.