6.837, Tolkien's Elvish languages

[The Linguist List]

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LINGUIST List:  Vol-6-837. Thu 22 Jun 1995. ISSN: 1068-4875. Lines: 91
 
Subject: 6.837, Tolkien's Elvish languages
 
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1)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 09:26:50 +1000 (EST)
From: j.guy at trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy)
Subject: Tolkien's Elvish languages: Austronesian?
 
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1)
Date: Wed, 7 Jun 1995 09:26:50 +1000 (EST)
From: j.guy at trl.OZ.AU (Jacques Guy)
Subject: Tolkien's Elvish languages: Austronesian?
 
(This, of course, started as a spoof of Proto-World)
 
Is Elvish Austronesian or has Sakao (Espiritu Santo) an Elvish
substratum? That is the question. As I was looking for an Elvish cognate
for my Proto-World *hu(n)t I came across (and the whole effort took
me perhaps five minutes, writing it down much longer, however):
 
1. - Losgar (Red Snow). The place where Feanor burned the ships of the
   Teleri. los=snow, gar from car = red (Noel 1980:164).
   - Sakao kar = red.
 
2. - Minas Tirith S 'Tower of Watch', 'Tower of Guard' (ibid. p.170)
   'Minas' being 'tower', 'tirith' is evidently 'watch, guard'.
   - Sakao t(y)ry = to look at, to watch out.
 
3. - lad 'plain', 'valley', S/361 (p.160)
   - Sakao la^dh = earth, ground
 
4. - kel 'go away', 'flow away', 'flow down'. S/360 (p.159)
   - Sakao gher 'to go past', 'to flow'.
 
5. - in (of the). See various place names, including
     Haudh-in-Gwanur. (p.158)
   - Sakao -yn, same meaning, as in 'waldhyn ietar'
     'son of Yetar (God)'.
 
6. - ia^ 'void', 'abyss' S/360 (p.156)
   - Sakao ia 'oral cavity', 'opening (of a cave)'
 
7. - ondo Q[uenya] 'stone' S/359 (p.180)
   - Sakao iedh 'stone' (there is a pervading correspondence e/o
     throughout Austronesian languages, and I am *not* making that up!).
     Or perhaps also:
   - Sakao dhon 'mountain' (with metathesis and semantic shift).
 
Enough? Aren't you convinced yet?
 
All right...
 
8. - vorn 'black'. S/360 (p.205)
   - Sakao vyr 'black'.
 
9. - galadh S. 'tree' (p.146)
   - Sakao gholadh  a tree sp. (Bislama "nangkalat", a tree with
     urticant leaves)
 
10. - esse Q[uenya] 'name' (p.142)
    - Sakao ase- 'name'
 
11. - sil Q[uenya] 'shine with white or silver light' (p.189)
    - Sakao hoel 'cooking stone', regularly derivable from *s(ui)l(aeo)
    - Sakao syl 'to singe'
 
And let's make it an even dozen:
 
12. - loa 'growth' (p.163)
    -Sakao lu 'to grow'.
 
Work cited:
 
Ruth S. Noel. The Language of Tokien's Middle-earth. Houghton Mifflin.
Boston 1980.
 
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