Tlm.com. English: Thank you

Noldorin Quenya (Exilic) differed somewhat from Valinorean Quenya, because the language continued to evolve after exile, and it underwent some regularisation as it became a language of lore. Within Tolkien's mythos Quenya was the language of the Elves that dwelt in Valinor in the Uttermost West; being spoken in the Blessed Realm, it 6. Notice that in the Etymologies, 'Noldorin' ( Sindarin) is sometimes called 'EN' = Exilic Noldorin, as if implying that ON is 'non-exilic Noldorin'. Unlike other archaic forms, the 'ON' words are not usually asterisked, as if they were attested in writing: This agrees with LR:173, where it is stated that the Noldor started to write their tongue.

Literal Translation: I give thanks to you (formal)

Tengwar the Mode of Beleriand, used for Exilic Sindarin:
9]5h6 ]jjl6

Tengwar with vowel-tehtar, used for Quenya, Gondorian-Sindarin, Adúnaic, and Black Speech:
95#{5^ jE¸5$

Language(s):
- Exilic Sindarin
  This dialect of Sindarin is spoken by the Noldorin exiles and their students. In Middle-earth in the 2nd and 3rd ages, they were most often found west of the Misty Mountains.
- Gondorian Sindarin
  This dialect of Sindarin was spoken by the Gondorians. It has many grammatical and pronunciation differences from the other dialects, because Sindarin is spoken as a second language there.
Phrasebook Chapter(s): Praise and Friendly Phrases

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Abbreviation List

*Asterisks mark fan-made words. Learn more about this: About Neo-Elvish.
[ex]/[inc] = Exclusive/Inclusive. This is for different meanings of 'we'. Exclusive 'we' means 'us, excluding you', and Inclusive 'we' means 'us, including you'.
[2] = Dual Plural. This is a plural form of when there are 2 of something.
[pl] = Plural.
[sing] = Singular.

DISCLAIMER: This article is preliminary research on the part of its author (Paul Strack) and does not necessarily reflect the opinions of the owner of this site. Since the source material is complex and its interpretation can be subjective, multiple conclusions are possible.

Sindarin has a second plural form formed with suffixes like -ath, -hoth or -rim. Compare:

êl “star”, elin “stars”, elenath “all stars”.
orch “orc”, yrch “orcs”, orchoth “all orcs”.
Nogoth “Dwarf”, Negyth “Dwarves”, Nogothrim “all Dwarves”.

Tolkien himself usually called this the “collective” or “group” plural, but in the literature on (Neo) Sindarin this second plural is usually referred to as the “class plural”, and I follow that convention to avoid confusion. The notion of a class or collective plural dates all the way back to Gnomish of the 1910s, and Tolkien mentioned this feature of the language frequently throughout his life.

… the Eldarin languages show a tendency also in the plural to make a distinction between the “partitive plural” — men, some men; and the group plural — the men, all the men of a group or kind, the whole body … In Exilic Noldorin the partitive form was lost and the old general plural extended its use; but new group names of peoples were made with suffixed hoth, rim etc. — Golodh, Gnome, Gelydh, Gnomes, Golodhrim, the Gnomes (Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants, 1936, PE21/57 and note #24).

The Eldarin languages distinguish in forms and use between a “partitive” or “particular” plural, and the general or total plural. Thus yrch “orcs, some orcs, des orques” occurs in vol I pp. 359, 402; the Orcs, as a race, or the whole of a group previously mentioned would have been orchoth. In Grey-elven the general plurals were very frequently made by adding to a name (or a place-name) some word meaning “tribe, host, horde, people”. So Haradrim the Southrons: Q. rimbe, S. rim, host; Onod-rim the Ents (1954 letter to Naomi Mitchison, Let/178).

Both Quenya & Sindarin have for most nouns two plural formations: the general or group, and the partitive or special. The plural element in nouns is [i] as a suffix [ī] … In Sindarin the old ī plurals causing “affection” are partial (as a rule) and the group plurals have -ath: a group suffix, or other endings as -rim (draft of a 1955 letter to David Masson, PE17/62).

… the suffix -ath (originally a collective noun suffix) was used as a group plural, embracing all things of the same name or those associated in some special arrangment or organization. So elenath means “the host of stars”, sc. (all) the (visible) stars of the firmament. Cf. ennorath, the group of central lands, making up Middle-earth. Note also Argonath “the pair of royal stones” at the entrance to Gondor; Periannath, “the Hobbits (as a race)” as collective pl. of perian, “halfing” (pl. periain) (The Road Goes Ever On, 1962, RGEO/66).

ath: Though it cd. be an S. form of Q. atta “2”, it is not in fact related, nor a sign of a dual. It was a collective or group suffix, and the nouns so formed [were] originally singulars. But they were later treated as pl[ural]s, especially when applied to people(s) … e.g. Periannath the Hobbit-folk, as distinguished from periain hobbits, an indefinite number of “halflings” (1972 letter to Richard Jeffery, Let/427).

Probably the simplest English translation of the class plural would be to put “all” before plural form. This could be either in the sense “all of the thing in existence” or “all of the thing in this particular context”. As Tolkien said above, orchoth could mean “the Orcs, as a race, or the whole of a group previously mentioned” (Let/178). Most of the attested examples of the class plural seem to use it in the sense of “all in existence”, but in the King’s Letter the class plural ionnath was used to refer to the group of all the sons of Samwise:

ar Iorhael, Gelir, Cordof, ar Baravorn, ionnath dîn “and Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Hamfast his sons [ionn-class-plural]” (SD/129).

Perhaps the most extreme example of the class plural being used with a specific group is the Argonath “(pair of) Royal Stones” (RGEO/67), where the “group” consists of only two items, though at other points Tolkien did consider making this a dual formation (RC/347).

The most common class plural suffixes -rim, -hoth and -waith are used for groups of people: orchoth, Rohirrim, Forodwaith. Of these, -hoth is mostly used the “bad” groups given its connotation of “horde”. However, by far the most common class plural suffix is -ath, which seems to be the “default” suffix and the only used with inanimate items like elenath “all stars” and sammath “(all of the) chambers”. Tolkien connected -ath to ✶atta “two” and related ancient collective suffixes ✶-attā and ✶-astā, the latter also seen in Quenya:

The latter -tta, sta probably did not originally indicate duality, but merely close grouping. Cf. the same suffixes -tta, sta: as in Q tengwesta, collection of writing (tengwe). Also -atta, -asta is a collective suffix, which in {Ilk. >>} Ilk. & N. yields the collective plural ending -ath as in cīr, ship, círiath, ships (Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants, 1936, PE21/57 and note #28).

NB. Only Q. had atta 2. And NB. S. -at

Exilic Sindarinsindarin Lessons