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G-i-P Report: Sindarin runes on Orkrist’s scabbard!

[News from August has been updated! Runes have been almost resolved!]

About the Sindarin/Angerthas inscription on Orkrist’s blade we’ve alredy written here. As Earl Carvalho reports, a TORn board member, Altariel Noldo, has spotted another runic inscription in Sindarin on Orkrist’s scabbard (as shown on a photo on the Weta Collectors Forum) – see the discussion on TORn board here. The photo is reproduced below.

The Cirth runes are better visible on the photo prepared by „seregon13” from the Weta Collectors forum (see here):

So we can see the inscription which reads probably as follows (obscure runes in cursive):

HÜRN O GORW ITHLUIG UI NI MADWEG A SUIG
‚ready for action (pl.) from impetus [of] wisdom-serpents; everlasting I [am] gluttonous and thirsty’

*hürn adj. pl. ready for action (sg. *hurn, cf. hûr n. readiness for action)
or hern adj. pl. wounded (sg. harn)
or
hürn adj. pl. driven under compulsion, impelled (sg. horn)
o prep. from, of
gorf gorw, n. impetus, vigor
*ithluig, n. wisdom-serpents = dragons
ui adj. everlasting, eternal
ni pron. I/me
madweg adj. gluttonous (PE 17:144)
a conj. and
*suig adj. thirsty (cf. Quenya soica ‚thirsty’)

[source: David Salo, A Gateway to Sindarin]

We should remember that the sword’s handle in the movie is made of dragon’s (literally lŷg ‘snake’) tooth. It seems that the scabbard is made of the same material. It gives more sense to the scabbard’s inscription.

What do you think about our translation of the Orkrist’s scabbard runes?

G-i-P stands for Gwaith-i-Phethain, ‘The Fellowship of the Word-smiths’ or the linguistic website devoted to post-Tolkienian constructions in the “reconstructed” languages of Middle-earth [link].

Kategorie wpisu: Filmy: Hobbit i WP, G-i-P Report, In Westron (English), Lingwistyka

8 Komentarzy do wpisu "G-i-P Report: Sindarin runes on Orkrist’s scabbard!"

Lothenon, dnia 30.08.2012 o godzinie 21:05

Well, given that runes 35 and 54 are somewhat interchangeable one might also read „sarn” and „huig”.
Not that „stone” instead of „wounded” would make any more sense here, or that the lenited form of an unknown word made any more sense to us … 😉

Galadhorn, dnia 03.09.2012 o godzinie 0:01

Probably harn (or sarn) is in fact hern/sern. Do you have any theories concerning the rest of the inscription?

Orcrist: The Sword of Thorin in Book, Film, and Replica « Heirs of Durin, dnia 04.09.2012 o godzinie 1:06

[…] what these runes mean is the topic of the day over on […]

Galadhorn, dnia 04.09.2012 o godzinie 8:36

I think that ithluig means something like ‚wisdom-serpents = dragons’ (sg. would be ithlýg)

The problem is madweg and soig. In my opinion both have something common with the stems for ‚eat’ and ‚drink’. The second of them is probably related to Quenya soica ‚thirsty’ (VT 39:11). Is it possible that madweg means ‚hungry’?

Ui ni madweg a soig ‚Eternally I [am] hungry and thirsty’?

Galadhorn, dnia 04.09.2012 o godzinie 11:16

Yeah, I have found madweg in the Parma Eldalamberon 17.!

madweg ‚gluttonous’ (PE17:144)

Elendilion – Tolkienowski Serwis Informacyjny » Blog Archive » G-i-P Report: The Hobbit linguistic summary (to be continued), dnia 04.09.2012 o godzinie 12:27

[…] 4. [Angerthas Daeron runic inscription of Thorin's scabbard:] Hyrn o gorf Ithluig; ui ni madweg a suig ‘Ready for action (pl.) from impetus [of] wisdom-serpents; everlasting I [am] gluttonous and thirsty’ [analysis] […]

Lothenon, dnia 08.09.2012 o godzinie 12:34

Oh, very nice! „Thirsty” would fit perfectly in context and apparent form (given SUK-, drink, of course).
Though you seem to hesitate between „suig” and „soig”? To me it clearly reads „suig”, and even if the diphthong had been opened to „oi” at some point it should (at least according to VT/48:7) have become „ui” again by the Third Age (< *soikæ < *suika < *suk-jā).

Galadhorn, dnia 08.09.2012 o godzinie 13:34

Thanks for your comment, Lothenon! soig was my error. I have changed it and now it should be ok.

And what you think about the first part of the sentence? Maybe it should rather be something about a dragon’s tooth driven under compulsion, impelled from its mouth?

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