Counting in Sindarin
Language overview
Sindarin (Edhellen, edhellen in Tengwar script) is one of the fictional languages spoken by the Elves, in the Arda world of J. R. R. Tolkien (of which The Lord of the Rings is one of the most renown work). It was the language of the Sindar, those Teleri which had been left behind on the Great Journey of the Elves, and is written in Latin alphabet, in Tengwar script or in Cirth script. Mainly influenced by Finnish, in grammar, phonology and vocabulary, it is also influenced to some extend by Latin, Greek, German and Spanish.
Due to lack of data, we can only count accurately up to 1,000 in Sindarin. Please contact me if you can help me counting up from that limit.
Sindarin numbers list
- 1 – mîn (mîn)
- 2 – tâd (tâd)
- 3 – nêl (nêl)
- 4 – canad (canad)
- 5 – leben (leben)
- 6 – eneg (eneg)
- 7 – odog (odog)
- 8 – tolodh (tolodh)
- 9 – neder (neder)
- 10 – pae (pae)
- 11 – minig (minig)
- 12 – uiug (uiug)
- 13 – pae-a-nêl (pae-a-nêl)
- 14 – pae-a-canad (pae-a-canad)
- 15 – pae-a-leben (pae-a-leben)
- 16 – pae-ar-eneg (pae-ar-eneg)
- 17 – pae-ar-odog (pae-ar-odog)
- 18 – pae-a-tolodh (pae-a-tolodh)
- 19 – pae-a-neder (pae-a-neder)
- 20 – taphae (taphae)
- 30 – nelphae (nelphae)
- 40 – canaphae (canaphae)
- 50 – lephae (lephae)
- 60 – enephae (enephae)
- 70 – odophae (odophae)
- 80 – tolophae (tolophae)
- 90 – nederphae (nederphae)
- 100 – haran (haran)
- 1,000 – meneg (meneg)
Tengwar script numerals
The Tengwar alphabet has been created by J. R. R. Tolkien for his Middle-Earth world, well-know for his The Lord of the Rings. The Tengwar script is used to write many of the languages used in that world, including Quenya and Sindarin. As these languages (originally) use a duodecimal number system (base 12), the Tengwar script has numerals digits for ten and eleven.
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
Sindarin numbering rules
Now that you’ve had a gist of the most useful numbers, let’s move to the writing rules for the tens, the compound numbers, and why not the hundreds, the thousands and beyond (if possible).
- Digits from one to nine and numbers from ten to twelve are specific words, namely mîn (mîn) [1], tâd (tâd) [2], nêl (nêl) [3], canad (canad) [4], leben (leben) [5], eneg (eneg) [6], odog (odog) [7], tolodh (tolodh) [8], neder (neder) [9], pae (pae) [10], minig (minig) [11] and uiug (uiug) [12]. As the elves originally used the duodecimal number system (base 12), eleven and twelve are still irregular.
- The tens are formed by adding a form of the ten word (phae, phae) after the matching multiplier digit root (or its first syllable), with the exception of ten: pae (pae) [10], taphae (taphae) [20], nelphae (nelphae) [30], canaphae (canaphae) [40], lephae (lephae) [50], enephae (enephae) [60], odophae (odophae) [70], tolophae (tolophae) [80] and nederphae (nederphae) [90].
- Numbers from thirty to ninety-nine are built by saying the ten first, then the unit linked with -a- (-a-) or with -ar- (-ar-) before a vowel for teens only (e.g.: pae-ar-eneg (pae-ar-eneg) [16], pae-ar-odog (pae-ar-odog) [17], taphae-a-leben (taphae-a-leben) [25], canaphae-a-eneg (canaphae-a-eneg) [46]).
- The hundreds are built exactly the same way as the tens, i.e. by adding the hundred word (haran, haran) after the matching multiplier digit root, except for one hundred itself: haran (haran) [100], tacharan (tacharan) [200], nelcharan (nelcharan) [300], canacharan (canacharan) [400], lefaran (lefaran) [500], enecharan (enecharan) [600], odocharan (odocharan) [700], tolocharan (tolocharan) [800] and nedercharan (nedercharan) [900].
- The word for thousand is meneg (meneg), or menig (menig) in plural. From there we have: (mîn) meneg (mîn meneg) [1,000], tâd menig (tâd menig) [2,000], neled menig (neled menig) [3,000]… caer menig (caer menig) or paer menig (paer menig) [10,000].
Write a number in full in Sindarin
Let’s move now to the practice of the numbering rules in Sindarin. Will you guess how to write a number in full? Enter a number and try to write it down in your head, or maybe on a piece of paper, before displaying the result.
Books
The Ring of Words: Tolkien and the Oxford English Dictionary
by Edmund Weiner, editors Oxford University Press (2009)
[ Amazon.com, Kindle - Amazon.com]
A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Ring
by David Salo, editors University of Utah Press (2007)
[ Amazon.com]
The Languages of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth
by Ruth S. Noel, editors Mariner Books (1980)
[ Amazon.com]
La route perdue
by J.R.R. Tolkien, editors Bourgois (2008)
[ Amazon.com]
Articles
Babies named from Lord of the Rings What’s behind a name? A projection of wishes and personality traits, which sometimes comes from modern mythology nourished by novels and movies. Let’s see in this article the influence of Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings on names given to babies from the seventies to 2014 in the United States of America. |
J. R. R. Tolkien Etymologist for the Oxford English Dictionary, philologist, professor in English Language at the University of Leeds and of Old English in Oxford, J. R. R. Tolkien developed his fiction world in parallel of his career, writing The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings he will need over ten years to complete, bringing a legendary (and philologic) depth to the world he depicted. |
Links
Lord of the Rings languages
Quenya, and Sindarin.
Other supported languages
As the other currently supported languages are too numerous to list extensively here, please select a language from the full list of supported languages.