Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
an introduction to Adnaic u
Thorsten Renk Version 1.0 (August 15, 2006)
Concerning copyright:
This text is published under the assumption that teaching and use of a language, even if it is an invented one, does not violate the copyright of the inventor. Any violation of copyright regarding yet unpublished texts by Tolkien about the grammar of Adnaic are unintended these texts are u not accessible to me and this course contains only conclusions based on published texts. No claim is made that Adnaic is taught correctly: The presentation is only based on my assumption about the u best reconstruction of Adnaic grammar given the published material. u Some of the persons and locations appearing in texts are loosely based on persons and places described in Tolkiens works. This is supposed to create some atmosphere only none of the texts is intended as a reinterpretation of Tolkiens works but only as an illustration of the language at work. Similarly, behaviour and thoughts of persons and descriptions of places are more driven by the question what grammatical ideas are presented in a lesson and therefore deviate frequently from the original characters. As for my part of the work: This course has been written to provide rather easy access to Adnaic u for interested readers. It may be downloaded, printed and used for non-commercial purpose without any additional permission. Any commercial use without prior permission is explicitly forbidden, as well as offering the course for download without prior permission. Should anyone nd his copyright violated by this text, please contact me at thorsten@sindarin.de.
C ONTENTS
1 Noun classes, Subjective and Normal 1.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.1 Nouns and gender . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.2 Noun inection, Normal and Subjective 1.2.3 Neuter noun classes . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.4 Adjectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2.5 Postpositional afxes . . . . . . . . . . 1.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 The verb in present tense, Pronouns 2.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 Types of verbs . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Present tense . . . . . . . . . 2.2.3 Pronominal prexes . . . . . 2.2.4 The Subjective case with verbs 2.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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3 Aorist and Imperative, non-Neuter Noun Classes 3.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 The Aorist tense . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 The Imperative . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.3 The Innitive . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.4 Gender-expressing noun classes . . . 3.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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4 4.2.1 Function of the Objective case . . . . . . . 4.2.2 The Objective for Neuter nouns . . . . . . 4.2.3 The Objective for Gender-expressing nouns 4.2.4 Genitive compounds . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.5 The Genitive prex . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.6 Negation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.7 The verb to be . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 22 22 23 23 24 24 24 25 25 26 26 26 27 29 29 30 30 31 32 32 32 33 33 34 34 34 34 35 37 37 38 38 38 39 39
4.3
5 The past tense 5.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 The past tenses of Adnaic u 5.2.2 Formation of the past tense 5.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . .
6 The dual, participles 6.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 The Dual . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 The perfect passive participle . 6.2.3 An intensied form of adjectives 6.2.4 Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Subjunctive and Passive 7.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 The Subjunctive 7.2.2 The Passive . . . 7.2.3 Plural nouns . . 7.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8 Phonology and Word Formation 8.1 Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2 Grammar . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 A little phonology . 8.2.2 Agental sufxes . . . 8.2.3 Relative sentences . 8.3 Vocabulary . . . . . . . . .
P REFACE
Adnaic is one of Tolkiens lesser languages certainly not as well known as Sindarin u or Quenya, and certainly as far as the vocabulary goes, not as far developed. On the other hand, unlike for the Elvish languages, we have an extremely detailed account on some u u aspects of Adnaic grammar by Tolkien himself: Lowdhams Report on the Adnaic language in Sauron Defeated p. 413-440 is a coherent description of the historical development and the case structure of the language, something which is not available for Sindarin or Quenya. Very little material is found outside this essay. Does any of this mean it would be a good idea to cast the material into the form of a language course? This certainly depends on the point of view. For someone interested in a u scholarly study of Adnaic, Tolkiens own account is certainly sufcient and almost nal. Very little can be deduced beyond Tolkiens account unless heavy speculation is involved. On the other hand, maybe you are one of the people like me who need to see the language in use, even in the clumsy assembling of baby-sentences to make sense of Tolkiens tables and descriptions. If so, you will probably nd that this course is a nice and amusing introduction to a language which is otherwise difcult to access with the available material. It is not, u and never was intended to be, a scholarly discussion of Adnaic or the absolute truth. u u Often, it is rather Adnaic how the author of these lines thinks it could be than Adnaic as Tolkien envisioned it. If you nd this unacceptable, please stop reading here and refer to Lowdhams Report instead. u Clearly, the biggest obstacle to writing in Adnaic is the lack of vocabulary. In this course, the texts sometimes heavily rely on extrapolated and reconstructed material. Often Comu mon Eldarin roots are used to coin Adnaic roots or Quenya words are assumed to appear u u as Adnaic loanwords. This is not as crazy as it may sound the origin of Ad naic vocabulary from Elvish roots is well established by Tolkien, and several loanwords are described in Lowdhams report. However, neither is it clear that a particular loanword should come u out in exactly the shape it appears here, nor is it clear that the resulting Neo-Adnaic language is not characterized by an unusually large amount of loanwords. While some parts u of Adnaic are said to be derived from Khuzdul, the lack of Khuzdul vocabulary is quite a problem for appropriate inspiration from this angle.
6 In view of this situation, the following scheme has been adopted to mark questionable vocabulary: A # is used to mark forms which are derived from an actually observed form, but which cannot be identied with certainty. For example, the observed plural form bal ships is presumably from #balak ship, but since the nal vowel is replaced k by - in Plural, the underlying form could in principle as well be balik or baluk. Formes derived within the scheme of Adnaic forms are marked with a *. For exu ample, in analogy with ugru shadow ugrud- overshadow the pair huzun ear a *huznud to hear has been coined. a Finally, a ? is reserved for forms which are nothing but wild guesses based on Elvish roots, for example ?sapan cloud is assumed to be the Adnaic version of Quenya u fanya and Telerin spania from the root SPAN. Quite clearly, such forms do not deserve to be taken very seriously. All longer passages containing deduced or speculative material are greyed out as a whole.
With many thanks to Helge Fauskanger whose article on Adnaic grammar I have often u used in the preparation of this course and to Roman Rausch for his help in tracking mistakes.
Lesson 1
1.1
T EXT
o lmi. Kad Imrazrun azra-z. Ephal z an Anadn. Zira burda Id o o o e r u e a o Imrazr-nud. Tid bal baw a azra-z Anadnn, o a o ka b-m e u e o don azr a ugru-dalad.
Azra-z e
At the sea
Now is night. And so Imrazr is at the sea. Far is beloved N menor. o u Longing is heavy upon Imrazr. Once ships were with the winds on the o sea from N menor. now the sea is under shadow. u
1.2
G RAMMAR
10 (and rules for Feminine apply). In addition, nouns which explicitly denote a gender distinction fall into this group, for example tamar smith is Masculine whereas nithil girl is Feminine. The Common gender applies to words denoting persons or animals which could in principle have a gender distinction, but the speaker is not making it. Consider for example nimir elf which could denote a male or female elf. It is not uncommon to nd triples of nouns in Common, Masculina and Feminine, cf. karab horse (c), karb stallion (m) and karb u mare (f). The Neuter gender nally applies to all nouns which do not denote persons.
The second strong neuter class of nouns (Strong II) is characterized by having two syllables but a short vocalic ending. Here, this ending is lengthened with the shifts i and u e in Subjective Singular. It is replaced by in Normal Plural and in Subjective plural an o additional ending -ya is appended. We discuss here azra sea, gimli star and n moon: lu
11 N. Sg. S. Sg. N. Pl. S. Pl. azra azr a azr azr ya gimli giml e giml giml ya n lu n o l n l n ya l
The weak class of nouns (Weak) consists, maybe not entirely surprisingly, of those nouns in which the last vowel cannot be lengthened or strengthened because it is already long or because the noun has only one syllable. In these cases, the Subjective is marked by an ending -a, the Normal Plural by an ending - and the Subjective Plural by - Consider as ya. examples ph breath, abr strength, endurance and batn road, path: u a a N. Sg. S. Sg. N. Pl. S. Pl. ph u pha u ph u ph u ya abr a abra a abr a abr a ya batn a batna a batn a batn a ya
These are the three main inection pattern for Neuters. There are slight differences in the inection of gender-distinguishing nouns. We will return to this topic later.
1.2.4 Adjectives
There is not too much known about the Adnaic Adjective. Adjectives dont distinguish u between the four noun genders. If they are used to describe a noun, they usually come before the noun, for example burda zir a heavy longing o a burda tamar a heavy smith o Adjectives do show agreement in number (at least in Plural). Presumably, the inection pattern more or less follows the noun classes: phal bal faraway ships e k burd zir heavy longings o a Adjectives can also be used predicatively. In this case they usually follow the noun (which is then in Subjective). There is no agreement in case, but number still has to agree: zira burda the longing is heavy a o bal phal the ships are far away ka e If the adjective is used to describe a noun which in turn is subject of a sentence, there is still no case agreement between adjective and noun, simply because the adjective comes rst and the subjective ending goes to the last element of the subject: dulgu balk phal the black ship is far a e Thus, in summary, the adjective always agrees with the noun in number, never in case or gender.
12 -z: at e azra-zat sea e -m: with a balak-m with a ship a -dalad: under ugru-dalad under shadow *-nad: behind Imrazr-nad behind Imrazr o o ?-b: as, like e n e like the moon lu-b In two cases the afx starts with a vowel. In this case, there is a minor complication - if the noun ends with -u, a -v- is introduced between noun and afx; if the noun ends with -i, a -y- is used instead. Same vowels are commonly contracted and lead to a long vowel. It is possible that a vocalic ending is separated from a nel - by the insertion of -n-. e -ad(a): towards, against batnad towards the road a azrd towards the sea a azr yad towards the seas -: from o batn from the road a o n ofrom the moon luv u u e o Anadnn from N menor *-ob: before n luvob before the moon
1.3
VOCABULARY
Adnaic u Anadn u e azra #balak #bawb a burda o #dulug phal e o1 d kad o lmi o tid a o ugru zir a z an r English N menor u sea ship wind heavy black far now and so night once (upon a time) shadow longing beloved
1 d o
Lesson 2
T HE VERB IN P RONOUNS
PRESENT TENSE ,
2.1
T EXT N d ur-dalad lu a
Imrazr utdi azra. Bawb ankhi phal ka azra azgr zyanada. o o a a e o aa a Roth aphurusi azra-z ka roz akalubi. Dulg sap ugrudm sakal. e na a Imrazr uhuznud rkh hunad. Nithil inkhi. Giml o a u a nzilin nkhi. a u Giml nzil: E att! Amm idri. a Imrazr: Ni-nkhi zadanad. o a
2.2
G RAMMAR
13
14 Tolkiens writings. We can identify three main classes of verbs: Monosyllabic primary verbs, disyllabic primary verbs and derived verbs. They are most conveniently listed according to their stems. As a member of the rst class (P1), we nd yad- to go. The second class (P2) can be exemplied by kalab- to fall, and an example for derived verbs (D) would be ugrud- to a overshadow. This is clearly derived from ugru shadow using a derivational sufx -d. a
Whenever a plural prex is used, the verb has to be marked for plural as well. This is done by the ending -m. Hence wed nd: ni-bthi I am speaking e hu-kalubi he is falling yukalubim they are falling ne-azgarm we are making war a
15
2.3
VOCABULARY
Adnaic u amm att u azgar a ?dardur a *huznuda #ka kalabnakhn lu nithil phurus#roth ?roz rkh u #sakal ?sapan *tudugruda zadan zyan a English mother, mom father, dad to make war to wait gloom to hear and to fall to come moon girl to gush foam, cut1 rain shout beach cloud to watch to overshadow house land
1 According to Lowdhams report, Adnaic has neither short o nor short e. However, later attested material u includes words like obroth and Zimraphel which show these short vowels. It is possible that Tolkien relaxed Adnaic phonology later, but it is also possible that there is an implicit convention that any o and e must be read u long.
16
Lesson 3
3.1
Hi-Akallabthin azra-dalad. Tid Imrazr, banth ka phel Giml e a o o a nzilin nakham sakalabanad. o ktha bal yadam phalad. Y ir Id a ka e a . Zadan-nad batna yada thurushad ka ur a dad. Raban tuda thurush. Urkim ur e. d-z Giml nzil: Kitudah batn! Naru! e a Imrazr: Kiyadah zadanad! Ni-zri kan zagar... o e e Giml nzil: Ask naru-nud! a
Imrazr in Middle-Earth o
She-that is fallen lies under the sea. Once ago, Imrazr, his wife and o daughter Giml nzil came to the shore to Middle-Earth. Now all ships went far away. They are alone. Behind the house, a road goes to fenland and mountains. A dog watches the fenland. Orks are in the mountains. Giml nzil: Look at the road! A man! Imrazr: Go into the house! I wish to hold a sword... o Giml nzil: A wound is upon the man!
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18
3.2
G RAMMAR
19
There is a variant to this class in which the second vowel is long (Strong Ib). Since for gender-expressing nouns the Subjective is always formed by an ending and not by strengthening of the syllable, those nouns are very similar to the above (only the loss of the nal syllable doesnt take place, it remains in Singular and is changed to in plural). We show this with the examples phazn prince (m), banth wife (f) and zigr wizard (m): a a u N. Sg. S. Sg. N. Pl. S. Pl. phazn a phaznun a phaz n phaz nim banth a banthin a ban th ban thim zigr u zigrun u zig r zig rim
The counterpart of the Strong II nouns is very straightforward: Since u must be the nal vowel of such nouns if they are Masculine, i if Feminine and a if Common, the Subjective Singular just needs to add the ending -n. In Normal plural, the nal vowel is replaced by - and in Subjective plural by - for all genders. We show this with the examples naru m male, zini female and raba dog: N. Sg. S. Sg. N. Pl. S. Pl. naru narun nar nar m zini zinin zin zin m raba raban rab rab m
The rst weak class consists of monosyllabic nouns. It has the endings -un (Masculine) -in (Feminine) and -(a)n (Common) in Subjective singular, in Nomrmal Plural and - in m
20 Subjective plural for all genders. As an example, we show br lord (m), m little girl a th (f) and n ph fool (c): u N. Sg. S. Sg. N. Pl. S. Pl. br a brun a br a br a m m th m thin m th m m th nph u nphan u nph u nph u m
The second weak class is a little more complicated since it has a long nal vowel. This vowel cannot be replaced by in Normal plural, thus an already present - is changed into u -w , an - is allowed to remain unchanged, is changed to -i and - into n . To these u o o e e endings, -m is appended in Subjective plural. As examples, we discuss nard soldier u (m), zr nurse (f), mn spirit (c) and izr beloved (f). o a o e N. Sg. S. Sg. N. Pl. S. Pl. nard u nardn u nardw u nardw u m zr o zr o n zr o zr o m mn a o mnn a o mni a o mnim a o izr e izrn e izrn e izrn e m
3.3
VOCABULARY
Adnaic u #Aban ?aska banth a batn a Hi-Akallabth e *iri ktha a naru #phel raban *sakalaban #thurush #urud uruk #zagar #zirEnglish Arda, realm wound wife road, path she-that-is-fallen, N menor u alone all male, man daughter dog shore realm, Middle-Earth fenland 1 mountain orc sword to wish, to desire, to love
1 The form thurush does not agree with Adnaic phonology as outlined in Lowdhams report, but Agathurush u as Adnaic translation of Sindarin Gwathlo is attested. u
Lesson 4
4.1
Narun d zadan-z. Hu-bthi: o e e Ulbar: Ni-na Ulbar. Ni-nkhi kadar-. Dolg kalubi! Urkim nnud, a o o e kadar-li agan Ni-na l nard, ni-na zagur-tamar. Liyadah a . a u e kar b-m! B lidarah! Liyadah nim a a e e r-ada! Giml nzil: Att, Bth n Ulbar saphd u e ya . Imrazr: L kisaphudi. L n-polam yad Nim o a a e r-ada. Nard-b n Aru e Pharazn ni-nakha sakalabanad ka l ni-na nimruz o a r. Giml nzil: L nisaphda. L ni-na agnubl! a a e
21
22
4.2
G RAMMAR
In the class Strong II, the Objective is formed by an -u replacing any nal vowel: N. Sg. S. Sg. azra azru gimli gimlu n lu n lu
Finally, in the Weak noun class an ending -u is simply appended to the noun: N. Sg. S. Sg. ph u phu u abr a abru a batn a batnu a
Hence we nd e.g. zadun-magn house-builder a azru-bl sea-lover e batnu-magn road-builder a a zagur-tamar sword-smith
In the variant strong class Strong Ib, in modern Adnaic an ending -u is actually more u common than the strong replacement of the last vowel by -. u N. Sg. O. phazn a (phazn) phaznu u a banth a (banth) banthu u a zigr u (zigr) zigru u u
The Strong II class is again very simple: -u replaces all nal vowels in Objective:
In the Weak I class, again the common ending is -u. If the noun is Feminine, -i is also an acceptable variant or sometimes even preferred: N. Sg. O. br a bru a m th m (m thi thu) nph u nphu u
Only the class Weak II is somewhat different: Here, usually the last vowel is kept, although in some cases archaic forms are known: N. Sg. O. nard u nard u zr o zr (zr o o yu) mn a o mn a o izr e izr (izryu) e a
24
4.2.6 Negation
A negative imperative can be used with th particle b dont!. a b kitabdah! dont touch! a e Since the above particle is well known in Elvish, we may infer that Adnaic could have a u particle l used to deny fact (note that b only denies intentions). If so, this could simply a a be in front of a sentence to negate it: Giml nzil l hiydhi kadarad. Giml a a nzil does not go into town.
4.3
VOCABULARY
Adnaic u agan #agani bithbl e bth e dolgu kadar karab li a nanard u nimir ?pulsapdi saphadz r English death dead to speak lover word, saying night (evil) town, city horse people to be soldier elf to be able to wise to understand lover, friend
Lesson 5
T HE
PAST TENSE
5.1
Imrazrun bthi Giml o e nzilad: Imrazr: Ar-Pharaznun br n Adni. Huphazzaga ktha zin n sakalo o a u a a a aban ka uzabbatha Zigr. Nlu anakkha Anadn-ad. Aru a u e Pharaznun z n Zigr. Hu-azaggara avaliyada n Amatthni. o r u o a Agan anakkha nimruz yada. Azr phurrusa ka Anadn hir ya u e kallaba akhsada. o n-yada azlada. Zagar-m n ni nimruz a Id e u a r yakallabam. Nim l yatarkam n . r a e Giml nzil: L n-plim dar! Sibth-m ni-ydi ur a e o a e a a d-ada. Imrazr: Ni-zira, phel n ni. o
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26
5.2
G RAMMAR
27
5.3
VOCABULARY
Adnaic u akhs a Amatthni a avali o azl u br a nlu a *phazagsibth a e *tarak#zabathzigr u English chasm Aman the powers, Valar east lord shadow to conquer assent to support, to help to humble wizard
28
Lesson 6
T HE
DUAL , PARTICIPLES
6.1
Death is coming!
Sun and moon shine in the sky. The way through the fenland is curvy. All watch the mountains far away. The mountains are like pillars. Imrazr holds a sword. Ulbars breath is heavy. o The sun sinks and they come under the shadow of the mountains. Imrazor kindles a re. Ulbar: Dont light the re! The path is watched! Imrazr: My ears dont tell me of orks. . . o Now are cries and seven orcs are upon them. Giml nzil is running straight into the night. Her beloved parents are dead.
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30
6.2
G RAMMAR
In the Neuter class Strong II there are two variants of the dual. The original forms would involve a contraction of the ending when the nal vowel of the noun is -a to -t and the a insertion of -w- and -y- when the nal vowel is -u or -i. However, there are also variant forms for which the nal vowel is simply dropped and replaced by the endings -at/-t. a N. Sg. N. D. S. D. azra azrt (azrat) a azrt a gimli gimliyat (gimlat) gimliyt (gimlt) a a n lu n luwat (n lat) n at (n at) luw l
In the Weak Neuter class, the dual inectional endings are simply appended: N. Sg. N. D. S. D. ph u phat u pht u a abr a abrat a abrt aa batn a batnat a batnt a a
In the gender-marking noun classes, the Dual is always identical in form in Normal and Subjective. In the strong I class of nouns, the last vowel of the noun is again lost, then the ending -at is appended. Thus we nd: N. Sg. D. tamar tamrat nithil nithlat nimir nimrat uruk urkat
In the variant class Strong Ib, the loss of the last vowel cannot happen. Thus, the Dual is formed just with the ending -t. a N. Sg. D. phazn a phaznt a a banth a bantht a a zigr u zigrt ua
In the Strong II class, the Duals are formed by loss of the vowel ending in Normal and a new ending -t. Thus, we have a N. Sg. D. naru nart a zini zint a raba rabt a
In the Weak I class, the ending is simply appended: N. Sg. D. br a brt aa m th m at th nph u npht u a
Perhaps not entirely surprisingly, the Weak II class has the most complicated development with original forms involving the insertion of consonants -w- and -y- between noun and dual ending -t in addition to simplied later forms. We have a
31 N. Sg. D. nard u narduwt a zr o zriyt o a mn a o mnt (mna wt) a o a a izr e izrt (izrayt) e a
We have to assume that verbs and adjectives just show Plural if number agreement with a Dual is required. Thus, one may see e.g. Gimlt nimram. Both stars shine. a N-nam npht. We are both fools. e u a Some things can also be viewed as a pair although they are rather different and have differu ent names, such as sun and moon. In this case, Adnaic uses the Dual as well, however there are several possibilities how this may be realized. Either both nouns are compounded and the Dual ending is added to the compound, or one of them is left out (and the other understood) or one is put in Dual, the other follows in Singular. Thus, sun and moon can be rendered as: rin u luwat sun and moon riyat sun and moon u riyat n sun and moon u lu
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6.2.4 Numbers
In Adnaic, numbers formally count as nouns, thus the English seven stars must be transu u formed into a seven of stars in Adnaic. This in essence means that the number follows the noun it counts, as this is in Genitive, and the Genitive has to precede the noun it refers u to. Since we only know two Adnaic numbers, hazid seven and satta two, this should not be a big issue in practice though. gimli hazid seven stars ur satta two orcs k
6.3
VOCABULARY
u Adnaic an a hazid izindi #lkhi o minal nimir#nitirnlu u nuphr a ?nutph u trik a r ue #zr o English man, human being seven straight crooked heaven to shine to kindle night parent to sink breath pillar sun re
Lesson 7
T HE S UBJUNCTIVE
AND
PASSIVE
7.1
T EXT Ur d-z e
Kad Giml o nzilin nahka ur dad. Tid khazdim yagunnudam zimr a o ur o. o Giml d Id nzilin iri. Sap khainam thurush-nud. Gimil yanimram minalz ka zarm n e a o kheled-b. Inz sakalz. L huznad bth. e la e a a e Giml nzil: Att du-zir tud kheled-zarm... o tudam mn... Ni du-bith o a a Id a o a huwad... Tudam Giml nzil. Nimir-zini iydi batnad. Giml a a nzil idri. a
In the mountains
And so Giml nzil comes to the mountains. Once dwarves dug jewels out of the mountains. Now Giml nzil is alone. Clouds lie upon the fenlands. The stars shine in the sky and from a lake like glass. Flowers are at its rim. No word is heard. Giml nzil: My father would like to see the mirror-lake... Now his spirit is watched over... I would speak to him... Giml nzil is watched. An elf-woman is stepping onto the path. Giml nzil holds.
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34
7.2
G RAMMAR
35
7.3
VOCABULARY
Adnaic u ?gunud inzil khain?khazad ?kheled mn a o ?zarm a #zimra zini English to excavate, to dig ower to lie dwarf glass spirit lake jewel woman, female
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Lesson 8
P HONOLOGY F ORMATION
AND
W ORD
8.1
T EXT Nimr -z e
Elloth: Giml nzil: Elloth: Giml nzil: Elloth: Giml nzil: Elloth:
Daro! Mae govannen, friel! L nisaphda Nimriy! a e Kidarah! Kinkhi agat-thniy. e a a o Nuphrt agan Urkim ya kitdi ninad. Kitarkah! a . o e Ni l sapthth. L ki-pli yad sibeth-m n ni iri. a e a o a a Ni-na nithil. L ni-na bn n Zigr. a e u Ki-bthi izindi. Ki-nakhah! e e
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38
8.2
G RAMMAR
39 If that is true, we could e.g. analyze zigr wizard as one who does magic from a verb u *zig- to do magic. The same endings also seem to apply to nouns, so would pharaz gold lead to pharazn o golden one.
8.3
VOCABULARY
u Adnaic *agat-thni a bn e *sapthth e English death-land servant wise-woman
Suggested further reading: Lalaiths Guide to Adnaic Grammar by Andreas Moehn u http://lalaith.vpsurf.de/Tolkien/Grammar.html Adnaic - the vernacular of Numenor by Helge Fauskanger u http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/adunaic.htm Lowdhams Report on the Adunaic Language by J. R. R. Tolkien Sauron Defeated, p.413-440