Henneth Annûn Story Archive

I don't trust those Sindarin phrase generators (if I could even find one) to give me something other than Grelvish. What I need is the phrase "There is always hope" in Sindarin.

Anybody?

 

Here are three suggestions for “There is always hope”:

Ennas an-uir amdir.
There forever (is) hope

Ú-vethed ennas estel.
Without-end there (is) hope

Pân-lú ennas harthad.
All-time there (is) hope.


_Amdir_ means hope based on reason, lit. ‘looking up’

_Estel_ means ‘hope, trust, a temper of mind, steady fixed in purpose, and difficult to dissuade and unlikely to fall into despair or abandon its purpose ‘

_Harthad_ is the gerund form of the verb _hartha_ - to hope.

The verb (is) is understood in these constructions and need not be included.

Also, in this particular instance, I think you could probably use any one of the words for hope in any one of the three expressions without needing to worry about mutations, etc. So take your pick.

Ithildin

 

Thanks, Ith. I will take the second, as I particularly want the word "Estel" to appear in the phrase.

 

Hi, Ithildin,

I'm writing a tale and I needed a character's name (Sindarin) that would bespeak of hope and the Valar at the same time. I'm going to use Valanamdir - and hope it works.... As in Hope based on the Valar....

May I use the link to this page at HASA as a footnote in the tale so folks can see where I got the 'hope' part from?

Many thanks, Agape

 

Hi Agape,

If Ithildin agrees to this, I'd like to recommend that you log off from HASA before copying the link into your tale, so that it won't break if it's clicked on by a non-member or a member who is logged off at the time.

- Barbara

 

Hi Agape,

From my limited knowledge of Sindarin (and support from the Dragonflame dictionary), I think it should be Balanamdir, or possibly Belainamdir (with Vala in plural), since Vala is Quenya. I'm not sure if it should be 'estel' or 'amdir', but both should work.

 

Hi Agape,

My, it's been a while since I've worked with Sindarin. I always enjoy the chance to pick it up again, even for a brief time. Of course, it's not as if RL hasn't been able to keep me busy enough without it, LOL!

I agree with Nath, _Balanamdir_, or the plural _Belainamdir_,would be the Sindarin version of what you suggested. Alternatively, _Balanestel_ (or _Belainestel_) could work. It might also be possible to use either _Balamdir_ or _Balestel_; I don't think you would lose the meaning and it would be shorter, if that's an issue. The verb_hartha-_ might have some possibilities, too, but it is less well known, so I think I prefer _estel_ and _amdir_ here.

Actually, I think _estel_ might carry the meaning of faith-like trust a bit better than _amdir_, but either one conveys the message of hope, and both are fairly recognizable to many people. When differences are slight, I always say go with the one that sounds the best to you. 

The link would be fine with me.

Blessings,
Ithildin

 

Definitely - and thanks for the reminder!

 

My mind is 'stuck' on Valar as being the name for those beings.... not being a linguist, I didn't even think about the foolishness of putting a Sindarin word with a Quenya word.... *duh*

So yes - it's got to be a derivative or some such of the Sindarin word for Valar....

Still thinking.........

 

Ok - now I'm torn....

A friend wrote this -

'well Belamdir might work better since the Sindarin form of Valar is Belain (Balan is singular). Belfalas, for instance has the same initial element referring to the Valar.  Belain + amdir > Belamdir'

I think I will go with 'estel' now that it seems to fit better; since the movie, I think more people are familiar with 'estel' than 'amdir' - valanestel sounded stupid to me - so that's why I was going to go with 'amdir' instead.

Now - should it be belestel or balestel??? I'd like to use the plural - but belainestel just doesn't do it for me.... would Belestel work???? Many thanks and hope the RW let's you have some fun !!!!

Blessings
Agape

 

Yes,  _Belestel_  sounds good to me.

Have fun with your story!
Ithildin 

 

• Forums Home
• 1 Month of Posts
• FAQs

Forum Conferences

• Challenges
• General
• Members
• Resources
• Stories

A conference is a collection of forums.

Intended for: General Audience

This forum is open to all HASA members. It is read-only for the general public.

Membership on HASA is free and it takes only a few minutes to join. If you would like to participate, please click here.

If you are already a member, please log in to participate.

« Back to Research Questions

• Calendars of Middle-earth
• Concerning Pipe-weed