The Silmarillion

NOTE ON PRONUNCIATION

The following note is intended simply to clarify a few main features in the pronunciation of names in the Elvish languages, and is by no means exhaustive. For full information on the subject see The Lord of the Rings Appendix E.

CONSONANTS

C — always has the value of k, never of s; thus Celeborn is 'Keleborn' not 'Seleborn'. In a few cases, as Tulkas, Kementári a k has been used in the spelling in this book.

CH — always has the value of ch in Scotch loch or German buch, never that of ch in English church. Examples are Carcharoth. Erchamion.

DH — is always used to represent the sound of a voiced ('soft') th in English, that is the th in then, not the th in thin. Examples are Maedhros, Aredhel, Haudh-en-Arwen.

G — always has the sound of English g in get; thus Region, Eregion are not pronounced like English region, and the first syllable of Ginglith is as in English begin not as in gin.

Consonants written twice are pronounced long; thus Yavanna has the long n heard in English unnamed, penknife, not the short n in unaimed, penny.

VOWELS

AI — has the sound of English eye; thus the second syllable of Edain is like English dine, not Dane.

AU — has the value of English ow in town; thus the first syllable of Aulë is like English owl, and the first syllable of Sauron is like English sour, not sore.

EI — as in Teiglin has the sound of English grey.

IE — should not be pronounced as in English piece, but with both the vowels i and e sounded, and run together; thus Ni-enna, not 'Neena'.

UI — as in Uinen has the sound of English ruin.

AE — as in Aegnor, Nirnaeth, and OE as in Noegyth, Loeg, are combinations of the individual vowels, a–e, o–e, but ae may be pronounced in the same way as ai, and oe as in English toy

EA and EO — are not run together, but constitute two syllables; these combinations are written ea and eo (or, when they begin names, Eä and Eo: Eärendil, Eönwë).

U — in names like Húrin, Túrin, Túna should be pronounced oo; thus 'Toorin' not 'Tyoorin'.

ER, IR, UR — before a consonant (as in Nerdanel, Círdan, Gurthang) or at the end of a word (as in Ainur) should not be pronounced as in English fern, fir, fur, but as in English air, eer, oor.

E — at the end of words is always pronounced as a distinct vowel, and in this position is written e. It is likewise always pronounced in the middle of words like Celeborn, Menegroth.

A circumflex accent in stressed monosyllables in Sindarin denotes the particularly long vowel heard in such words (thus Hîn Húrin); but in Adûnaic (Númenórean) and Khuzdul (Dwarvish) names the circumflex is simply used to denote long vowels.

INDEX OF NAMES

Since the number of names in the book is very large, this index provides, in addition to page-references, a short statement concerning each person and place. These statements are not epitomes of all that is said in the text, and for most of the central figures in the narrative are kept extremely brief; but such an index is inevitably bulky, and I have reduced its size in various ways.

The chief of these concerns the fact that very often the English translation of an Elvish name is also used as the name independently; thus for example the dwelling of King Thingol is called both Menegroth and 'The Thousand Caves' (and also both together). In most such cases I have combined the Elvish name and its translated meaning under one entry, with the result that the page-references are not restricted to the name that appears as the heading (e.g., those under Echoriath include those to 'Encircling Mountains'). The English renderings are given separate headings, but only with a simple direction to the main entry, and only if they occur independently. Words in inverted commas are translations; many of these occur in the text (as Tol Eressëa 'the Lonely Isle'), but I have added a great many others. Information about some names that are not translated is contained in the Appendix.