Post 24wohKYKK6H

Wesley Stump Sep 08, 2017 (19:37)

Greetings fellow Eldar! I am in a dilemma. I am unsure of the usage of plural and dual pronominal forms for the 1st person. Is it inclusive plural, exclusive plural, or dual in which I use each of the following: -lmë, -lvë, and -mmë. Two separate sources say differently from each other, and I am wondering on what the "official" way of using these endings are. Thank you for listening, and I hope you will enlighten me!

Tamas Ferencz Sep 08, 2017 (20:23)

Yeah, well. It all depends which source you are looking at. Tolkien tried several variations over the years. I don't know if we can regard any of them as "official" (that's a can of worms I won't open now) - I think as long as you pick one configuration, stick to it, and you are consistent in your usage you will be fine.
I personally prefer the lme: plural exclusive/lve:plural inclusive/mme:dual exclusive set.

Paul Strack Sep 09, 2017 (01:09)

As Tamas pointed out, "official" is hard to nail down, since Tolkien kept changing his mind. In this particular case, Tolkien used -lme and -mme for 1st-pl inclusive and exclusive when working on the Lord of the Rings, and in the first edition wrote omentielmo for "of our meeting". Sometime between the first and second edition he changed his mind, deciding on -lve and -lme for inclusive/exclusive. For the second edition, he switched to omentielvo.

I personally prefer -lve/-lme, but I've seen some authors (e.g. Thorsten Renk) who prefer -lme/-mme, because it easier to make those consistent with attested Sindarin inflections.

Regarding the duals, Tolkien invented new endings just about every time he wrote about them. My preference is for -ngwe inclusive and -mme exclusive. I am especially fond of the emphatic inclusive dual pronoun inque "thou and I".

Wesley Stump Sep 09, 2017 (01:52)

I would definitely decide to use the most recent form of Tolkien's philology, and since you both prefer the -lvë/-lmë endings for pluralization, I will stick to that! Thank you for replying. It helps a ton!!!