Post L5uzGXR6rCh

Tamas Ferencz Jan 04, 2013 (13:46)

I was wondering - for no apparent reason - how to express various algebraic operations in Quenya.

2+3=5; atta ar/yo nelde ná (nar?) lempe?
7-4=3; kanta lo otso ná nelde?
3*4=12; nelde luinen(?) kanta ná yunque?
8/4=2; tolto asta kantanen ná atta?

Olga García Jan 04, 2013 (22:48)

As far as I know the only published example is "hue yullume i hualqe" (twice nine is eighteen) in the Early Qenya Grammar (published in PE14). "Hue" is nine, "yullume" means twice, and "hualqe" means eighteen.

Ицхак Пензев Jan 05, 2013 (17:41)

I'm not sure if we have enough information to solve this task correctly :(

Tamas Ferencz Jan 05, 2013 (20:55)

No worries:) What Olga has cited above from PE14 shows that Tolkien imagined it rather simple: a -lume suffix is quite close to the English 'times'. Presumably the other 3 operations would be rendered in a similarly simple way.

Olga García Jan 06, 2013 (14:36)

I should add a little correction here: it's not -lume, but -llume, with two L's.
So neldellume=three times, kantallume=four times and so forth.

Tamas Ferencz Jan 07, 2013 (10:03)

Following that, an *-(a)sta suffix to denote division wouldn't be that far-fetched; the questions is though, is it the dividend or the divisor that would get the suffix.

Jenna Carpenter Jan 07, 2013 (16:30)

I'm musing on whether you could use lû to a similar purpose in Sindarin now, given I already use minlû to mean 'once' (literally 'one time'), leben tadlû cae...

Tamas Ferencz Jan 07, 2013 (16:48)

Maybe yes, although I think Sindarin would sooner employ a preposition; but I may be mistaken.

Ицхак Пензев Jan 07, 2013 (18:39)

Navin i minya nat ya mauya men hanya, ná nótessi ambë "yunquë".

Tamas Ferencz Jan 08, 2013 (10:42)

Samilve nóti tenna neterque; nas pia néka imbi 20 ar 24; ta nótello yurasta quíta eke men intya nóti ve *nelrasta, *carrasta, nete nete? (Quíta 114 ná *yunquerasta?)

Ицхак Пензев Jan 11, 2013 (14:04)

I'm not sure about duodecimal system. PE14 grammars and lists of numbers in VT48 show plain decimal one. And I don't know what to do with rejection of "cainen" (was it changed into "quean"?).

Jenna Carpenter Jan 14, 2013 (12:48)

As I don't have a copy of #14 can someone tell me whether the 'i' in "Hue yullume i hualqe" glosses as 'is' or something else?

Tamas Ferencz Jan 14, 2013 (13:08)

Yes, it is clearly glossed like that: "...; only -llume forms are used in multiplication, as hue yullume i hualque = 'twice nine is eighteen'."

Jenna Carpenter Jan 14, 2013 (18:02)

Alrighty, cheers. (Doesn't massively help me given the word 'is' is implied in Sindarin, but I'll have a think).

Tamas Ferencz Jan 14, 2013 (18:09)

Yes, I see your problem there. Perhaps you can circumvent that by resorting to things like 'A x B anna C', but that may be awkward.