Hi, I am trying to say "forever yours faithfully" in quenya. Please note languages are not my thing (being a science graduate) so i need alot of help! So far i am happy with "oir’" meaning everlasting/forever. I have found "voronda" or "v’rima" to mean "faithful" but am not sure if there is a way to add "ly"to this or if it needs a completely different/new word? Then i am really stuck on how to join it all up into a true quenya phrase with "yours" Any suggestions are most appreciated, this is going to be part of a tattoo design so its really important to me to find the correct (or as near to correct) translation. Alternatively if some one found this easier in sindarin that would be ok. I have selected quenya as it seemed this is the more complete language, plus this was the more formal language for a law and learning for elven folk which just appeals to me haha Thanks guys, Elestar

Would you be able to point this thread out to him? I tried to send a pm but his name doesn't appear on the list Thanks

Hello!

I'm not a trained linguist nor an expert on Tolkien's languages (not even close), and there are plenty of people on the web who could help you better than I could. I do dabble, although I'm rather very much on the conservative side when it comes to Neo-elvish, especially when it comes to tattoos.

For me the problem here is English 'yours' with a secondary problem being the seemingly thin evidence for constructing adverbs. Altering your request a bit, the following Neo-quenya...

*ni vórima tyen tennoio (or oiale)

might mean: *I (am) faithful to you for ever

This is based on the work of someone who could help you much better than I could, Ales Bican (although he does not post here to my knowledge). And this trained linguist, or so I suspect him to be, and Queny enthusiast, has commented on the name Fido in his Quenya book of names:

 

'FIDO (m.) - Latin 'I am faithful'; ni (the copula can be omitted in Quenya as well as in Latin), vórima "faithful".

 So I too left out the verb 'to be' here. And I chose the dative case ('to, for' you). This pronoun is familiar, by which I mean it is a more intimate pronoun (not that it is more well known to people interested in Quenya).

Tennoio 'for ever' is from Cirion's Oath (Unfinished Tales) and oiale looks like a noun but appears to be used as an adverb in The Lord of the Rings, in Namarie. I know your choice is attested in Etymologies, but I'm not sure if it appears anywhere else -- if not, these two words would be later, and the latter even published by JRRT himself -- oiale is translated 'everlastingly' in The Road Goes Ever On.

I don't keep lists of words or anything, so this is only based on a bit of footwork. If you like my altered suggestion I would still recommend you check it out on various sites...

... unless tattoos wash off easily these days  

I'm not sure if Ales does translation requests for example (I don't think he does), but his website is elm if you're interested.

http://www.elvish.org/elm/index2.html#creations

 

Also, and considering this is the writing forum, you could write this in English using the Elvish characters. Thus your tattoo will look Elvish but express the English sentiment you're looking for.

Thank you for the input. I quite like your version as it is in what I would call the elvish vernacula (I'm sure that's not the right linguistic term). I thought about it and if I were translating in other languages I wouldn't go for a word for word translation.so it works. Thanks again

That is a great choice of words, you can never get into trouble with it if down the road you end up with someone else.

Just who are you Galin. I so long to know. You say you are not a professor, but you are very learned. So , who are you our man of mystery?