The Nandor spoke a Telerin dialect called Nandorin (N.) or Danian, known to men as Sylvan Speech. After the split of the Nandor the west-Danian dialect evolved into Ossiriandeb (also Ossiriandic, Ossiriandrin or Ossiriandish and Laiquenderin or later Uialrin, Sîrrandrai and Lindellin) while East-Danian evolved into Leikvian or Silvan-Elvish (with dialects such as Galadhrin and Lam Tawaren).
Genealogy[]
- Primitive Quendian
- Common Eldarin
- Archaic Telerin
- Lemberin
- Nandorin
- West-Danian
- Ossiriandeb (Green-Elvish)
- Siragalian or Siranna
- Uialrin
- Lindellin or Eriadorian Nandorin
- Ossiriandeb (Green-Elvish)
- East-Danian
- West-Danian
- Nandorin
- Lemberin
- Archaic Telerin
- Common Eldarin
Phonology[]
Modern reconstructions of Nandorin suggest that its sound system is more “open” than that of Sindarin. Nandorin tends to preserve full vowel pronunciations and shows less consonant mutation at the beginnings of words. For example, while Sindarin regularly applies soft mutations (lenition) to signal grammatical relationships, Nandorin appears to favor the maintenance of original consonant clusters and open syllables. Stress in Nandorin is typically penultimate, giving it a lilting quality that many have compared to the cadence of Estonian (a trait noted in some Neo-Nandorin works).
Nandorin tends toward softer, more fluid consonant sounds than Sindarin. Consonant clusters are relatively rare, and the language prefers a gentle, flowing production of sounds. For instance, while Sindarin features a series of initial mutations and a noticeable sibilant quality, Nandorin favors a smoother articulation with lightly rolled or tapped “r” sounds. The vowel system is relatively open and simple, with five primary vowels ([a], [e], [i], [o], [u]) that often appear in clear, unmodified forms. Diphthongs occur, but less frequently than in Sindarin. The stress generally falls on the penultimate syllable, lending the language a steady, measured cadence. The overall intonation is gentle and “woodland” in character, evoking images of quiet glades and soft breezes. In comparison, Sindarin’s melody is often described as lilting and dynamic due to its complex mutation system.
Wordlist[]
- alm - elm-tree
- Amroth - up-climber
- -as - group, host
- Beorn - man, warrior
- Bor - fist
- car - building, house
- Caras - moated settlement
- cogn - bow
- cwenda -Elf
- Dan - one who turned back
- Danas, Dani - followers of Dan, those who turned back
- Danitharo - saviour of the Dani
- don -place, land
- dóri -land, people
- duil- spring
- dunna - black
- ealc - swan
- eb -language, tongue
- edel, elda - elf
- el - lady, female ending
- enel - middle, in the middle, between
- Eria -lonely
- fene - shape
- fin - slope, height
- Gal - growth
- Galad - tree
- Galion - descendant of growth
- Garma -wolf
- gof -fruit
- gol -light
- golas -foliage
- Golda - a Noldo
- gwind - girl
- hrassa -precipe
- huin - far, far away
- ion - scion, descendant
- Las - leaf
- larm - elm tree
- Leg, leik - green
- Len - far, arrive
- Lindai, Lindi - Singers, Wood-Elves
- Linda, Lind - Singer, Wood-Elf
- Lindon - Place of song
- Lindóri - Singers, Wood-Elves
- Loeg - pool
- Lóri - golden
- lygn - pale
- meord -fine rain
- nand - Valley
- Nel - bell
- Nî - woman
- Nim - white
- Nimrodel - lady of the white grotto
- on -man, male ending
- or - rise
- orgof - rising fruit
- Orgol - rising light
- Oro - Mountain, height
- Oron - tree
- ornar - forest
- rod - cave, grotto
- scella, sciella - shade, screen
- seld - daughter
- Snād - wounding, wound
- Snaes -spear-point
- spenna- cloud
- Swarn - crooked, corrupted
- telf - silver
- telfin - silvern, of silver
- Tharo - saviour
- Thran - vigorous
- Tôr - wood
- Urc, Urch - Orc pl. yrc
- Utum - deep
- vir -host, folk
Outer information[]
Tolkien's Nandorin languages seem to have been inspired mainly by anglo-saxon, gothic and maybe to some degree by old Greek.The Neo-Nandorin languages, made up by the ICE Authors, are however loosely based on Estonian vocabulary.In 2000 Tolkien-Linguist David Salo published an extensive study and document on Nandorin featuring a dictionary of Neo-Nandorin in #28 of Other Hands Magazine.He based most of his Neo-Nandorin on the few given Nandorin fragments and to some degree of Tolkien's earlier Ilkorin and Goldogrin languages.