Sukkit
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Posts posted by Sukkit
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If native English speakers don't learn grammar in their English class, what do they learn at all?
I mean, my Spanish class (called simply "Language") was mostly grammar and syntax.
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The word 'uruk' just means 'orc' in Orkish (Black Speech).
Actually, there's no reason to believe that. Uruk, as a Black Speech word (which is not Orkish), is only attested referring to the Uruk-hai. The original Elvish word meant simply "orc" (and before that, "horror"), but it didn't necessarily mean the same in Black Speech. For this reason, I think that when Tolkien writes that there were 'black Uruks of Moria', he referred to Orcs of Uruk-hai race.
but in the Appendices (and/or The Silmarillion) he says that 'uruk' was the orcs' name for themselves. So that's rather ambiguousHeh, then I guess I could be completely wrong. What does it say exactly?
And yes, 'goblin' and 'orc' mean exactly the same. Tolkien used 'goblin' in The Hobbit because the narration didn't originally take place in Middle-earth (where Orcs had already existed for some 20 years by the time The Hobbit was published), and 'goblin' was more readily understandable for English speakers. In The Lord of the Rings, 'goblin' (I think; I don't have the English version!) appears only once, as a pejorative word that the Mouth of Sauron uses to refer to the halflings.
Rationalizing this, I'd say 'goblin' represents a dialectal hobbit word for 'goblin', that wasn't Westron, and that Bilbo used in his original tale. Much like the word 'hobbit' itself.
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I always liked chevaux. The spelling, not quite the sound.
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The masses were probably normal orcs, but no doubt their elites were uruk. For example, the Orkish chieftain, tall as a man, that fights against the Fellowship in Mazarbul, was no doubt an Uruk. I think it's explicitly said that there were "black Uruks of Mordor" (which IMO doesn't mean they had come from Mordor, but rather that that's where the Uruk-hai originated).
By the end of the TA, pretty much every Orkish community would have Uruks in charge.
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As said, the difference between "Sie" and "Du" in German is much of a matter of politeness and formality - "Sie" is being used for talking to (other) adults and people you don't know too well, while "du" is used for personal conversations and also became the general way of speaking in German speaking areas on the Internet. Besides, I personally prefer "du" over "Sie", since I'm not yet that old and it always gives me a shudder if someone refers to me as "Sie" - I simply don't feel like that right now
Like English "thou" and "you", then. It's a shame the informal 2nd person sg. English pronoun has been lost and isn't pereceived as informal anymore
The other day I spent 1 hour with a German grammar for beginners. All I learned was the bit about having only one syntactical group (I don't know the English technical word for Spanish "sintagma") in front of the main verb. Also, I finally found out why I couldn't recognize any plural forms when I saw a German text
Next day I go to the library I think I'll pick an Old High German grammar. It's always better to start from the beginning
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Balar
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That article is hilarious, but not as hilarious as the 50 Reasons why LotR Sucks.
And of course the author knows Grond is supposed to be a massive ram. That's why saying it's a beast and that the visual effects crew screwed up is funny - in an absurd way. I like that kind of humour
Stuff like this is funny in that same absurd way:
# Return of the Living Dead.In FOTR, if you watch closely during the Inn scene, Frodo and his crew are shown getting stabbed by the Ring Wraiths. Then, five seconds later, they are fine again. Note to the director: try proofreading your movie before you release it to the public.
Hilarious.
Oh, and the Bibliography is too funny: "Where's the Beef: Quantifying the Missing Elements from Gollum's Loincloth. Vincent Friel, Loincloth Today. May 13, 2000. pp. 5-27. "
Lastly, this one is even funnier: 8 Things You Didn't Know About 'Return Of The King'
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I'm trying to learn Gothic, if that counts
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You can also say "Noruega" instead of "Norway".
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For the Nth time, welcome to TLA!
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Firstly, there's little we can say about Human pre-history, because Tolkien deliberatedly created a time gap of roughly 300 years to allow some kind of Biblical fall to happen to them. Therefore, everything we say about the Atani (in the Valinorean sense of "Men", not in the Beleriandic sense of "Edain") needs to take that into account.
"Peoples of Middle-earth" gives some insight on the early years of the Atani, but the information is still scarce. We know most of them fell into the shadow very early (I think the Valar are to blame for this... the only Vala they knew was Melkor), and only some of them rebelled and started marching Westwards. However the Edain of Beleriand remembered little or nothing of this.
That said, the issue of the original Atanic language, if there ever existed a common ancestor (we have no reason to assume all the Atani lived together... actually I'd say it's necessary to assume there were different clans and even races from the beginning), is a tricky one. Did the Valar confound their tongues?
No doubt, there's a strong Khuzdul influence. But to say Atanic took its basic structure from Khuzdul might be stretching things too far. I'd say the basic structure of the ancestor of Edainic (now I refer to the houses of Bëor and Hador) could have been mainly consonantal-based before meeting the Dwarves. This wouldn't require for the Khazâd they met to be Petty Dwarves: the influence of Khuzdul would come mainly from word loans.
Of course, the Dwarves didn't feel comfortable revealing their tongue - but it wasn't exactly 'secret' either: it's just that they needed to build up a lot of trust before willing to share their language with others. Now, naturally, if the Dwarves taught the Atani how to make chain mail, and the Atani didn't have a word for chain mail, the Dwarves would call chain mail by its Khuzdul name, and that would become the Atanic word too. No doubt the Atani received tons of these early word loans, especially in the fields of metallurgy, weapons, etc (while they could have received from the Avari much of their forest vocabulary, for example). These Khuzdul loan words would have influenced the Atanic tongue, introducing new sounds and displacing others; and if the loan words were numerous and common enough, then yes, their structure could have influenced the very basic structure of Atanic, but hardly could have replaced it. That's what I think at least, but I don't really know anything of how such a proccess could be possible, or under what conditions it could be possible.
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Well, if they didn't get chain mail from the Dwarves in the East, they undoubtedly got it from their Noldorin lords in the 4th century, when they reached Beleriand. So it's safe to assume their weapons were pretty good, probably not worse than those of the Sindar.
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While we're talking of German, could I get this translated, please? I think I understand the basic meaning of it, but I'd need more insight.
Die imperiale Politik begann mit Wacho, dem achten König aus dem Geschlecht der Lethinger. Ein Usurpator, der seinen Onkel Tato (um 510) ermordet hatte. Dessen Sohn Risiulf floh zu den Warnen und wurde dort auf Wachos Betreiben umgebracht. Hildigis, Risulfs Sohn, war noch ein Kind und floh später mit Gefolge zu den Sklaveniern, von wo aus er mit Hilfe der Gepiden vergeblich versuchte sein Erbe zu bekommenSomething about the imperial politics starting with Wacho (an Usurpator), his uncle Tato, Tato's son Risiulf, Risiulf's son Hildigis (who fleed to the Slavs), and the Gepids. I need to start learning German (it's there in my priority list, along with Hebrew, Gothic, Old English and Greek
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I'll mod my Orkish banners so that they resemble a dead Celebrimbor
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"Professionals"? Are we getting paid and nobody informed me?
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We could scan and mail parts to people that might not have them. So what do you think?
I think that's probably illegal
Now, seriously. This is a great idea!
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I went on with my routine of being lazy; but somehow that didn't make the news.
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The only thing that bothered me of that scene (aside from the whole "it's not Glorfindel" issue) was that the Nazgûl tried to scape the flood... by outruning it! The hell is that? Why didn't they turn and leave the river course?
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Yes, Quenya is an easier language, but the Noldor had a great interest on languages, like on anything they considered "artsy" and/or "crafty". Because of that, they had a good knowledge of the deep structures of languages, and were especially gifted for them. They were philologists
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I'll take this chance to point out that my name is not English...
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I totally have to post this
WULF AND EADWACER
Leodum is minum swylce him mon lác gife willað hy hi
ne aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð ungelic is ús . wulf
is on iege icon oþerre fæst is þæt eglond fenne bi
worpen sindon wæl reowe weras þær on ige willað hy
hine aþecgan gif he on þreat cymeð ungelice is us
wulfes ic mines wid lastum wenum dogode þon hit wæs
renig weder & ic reo tugu sæt . þon mec se beadu cafa
bogum bilegde wæs me wyn to þon wæs me hwæþre eac
lað . wulf min wulf wena me þine seoce gedydon þine .
seld cymas murnende mód nales mete liste gehyrest þu
ead wacer uncerne earne hwelp bireð wulf to wuda þæt
mon eaþe tosliteð þætte næfre gesomnad wæs uncer giedd
I think a verse is missing here, considering the translation:
To my people it is as if one gives them an offering:
They desire to take him if he comes against the threat.
It is different with us.
Wulf is on one isle, I on another;
That island is fast, surrounded by fens;
Blood-thirsty men are there on the isle:
They desire to take him if he comes against the threat.
It goes differently with us.
I dogged the far-wanderings of my Wulf with expectations:
When the weather was rainy, and I sat grief-withdrawn,
When the battle-bold forequarters laid down by me;
There was joy to me in that, yet it was also hateful to me.
Wulf, my Wulf, my expectations of you
Caused sickness, your infrequent visits,
A mourning spirit—though not through starvation.
Do you hear, wealth-watcher? Our ready whelp
Wulf bears to the wood.
Man easily rends apart that which was never assembled:
The riddle of us together.
To this day scholars have no idea of what this is about
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Adding to what Adam said, pretty much all the Noldorin kingdoms had many Sindarin inhabitants as well. Nevrast was populated by the Sindar and they went to Gondolin too; but in the whole the kingdom of Turgon was the epitomy of Noldorin culture in the exile. Only in Gondolin Quenya had any importance as every-day conversation language, at least among the elites. (IIRC the sons of Fëanor spoke Quenya too among them, but I think their folks preferred Sindarin). Also, there's the whole Tirion resemblance of Gondlin, the Two Trees, etc.
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My major complain about the movies is the oversimplification and "beastification" of the evil guys - which includes those horses with red eyes the Nazgûl ride.
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Khand and Variag are actually Easterling words
About giving units randomized stats, what happens if a player has lots and lots of resources and unit production buildings, and also some spare time between battle and battle? Wouldn't he kill those units who are less able at fighting, replacing them with new units to see if they turn out to be better? How could possibly an Elven player play like this? (I mean once they hit the population cap)
Although I don't think we've said anything about killing your own units so far
Spanish!
in Introductions & Off-Topic Discussion
Posted
Ah, I see.
In Spain, these are two different classes; what you described would be Literature class, while we're taught grammar & syntax in Language class.