Po9d8EmQpFv — G+ LoME Archive

Paul Strack Jul 07, 2018 (16:00)

I've released Eldamo 0.6.6

https://eldamo.org/

I've got quite a lot to say about this release, so I will be making several posts. The main thing about this release is that I have more or less finalized my approach to addressing Neo-Eldarin (Neo-Quenya and Neo-Sindarin). The pages are organized they way I want them to be, and although I am nowhere near done evaluating vocabulary (I've only gotten up to the roots beginning with M) I am starting to speed up my progress. I hope to have a first pass complete by the end of this year.

As a result, I've decide to highlight the Neo-Eldarin features of Eldamo a bit more. The home page of Eldamo now has three search options:

* Neo-Eldarin Word Search
* Academic Word Search
* International Searches

I will say more about the international searches in a separate post.

The "Academic" search is the old search mode, which is "objective" in the sense that it tries presents Tolkien's words as he wrote them. Bear in mind that since I entered the data, the "Academic" search is still filtered through my mind and may reflect subtle biases of my own.

The "Neo-Eldarin" search makes additional suggestions about what words you should and should not use, and includes and sometimes highlights neologisms (mine and those of others). It also combines entries from multiple periods if appropriate. For example, "alda" appears as:

Q., ᴹQ., ᴱQ. alda n. “tree, ⚠️[ᴱQ.] branch”

This indicates that the word spans multiple periods, as well as showing some glosses that appear only in earlier periods, with “⚠️” markers recommending whether such glosses should be used in Neo-Eldarin writing. I personally find the Neo-Eldarin search to be quite useful, and would appreciate it if others gave it a try.

This is how I want the Neo-Eldarin content to work, but I am by no means done evaluating the content. I would also very much appreciate feedback from others regarding the content I have added and especially on the neologisms I am adding to the system. To facilitate review, there are two neologism pages for Neo-Quenya and Neo-Sindarin:

https://eldamo.org/content/neologism-indexes/neologisms-nq.html?neo
https://eldamo.org/content/neologism-indexes/neologisms-ns.html?neo

These pages are broken down by release so you can tell which neologisms are newer vs. older.

Anyway, that is it for this post. I am going to post separately later on the international searches and on some technical changes in this release.

Eldamo : Home

Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon. by Paul Strack — v0.6.6 — generated July 6, 2018. Languages · References. Word Searches: Neo-Eldarin Word Search · Academic Word Search · International Searches. This collection of documents is a lexicon of Tolkien's invented languages, particularly his Elvish ...

Tamas Ferencz Jul 07, 2018 (20:11)

You say that the NeoEldarin search makes suggestions about what words should be used and what shouldn't. What are your criteria to determine that?

Paul Strack Jul 07, 2018 (21:04)

+Tamas Ferencz Basically, the suggestions are based almost entirely on my own opinions of how to craft a functional Neo-Eldarin language family, in the same way that your Atanquesta course acts as a record of your approach to writing Neo-Quenya. My approach to organizing Neo-Eldarin is discussed on this Eldamo page:

eldamo.org - Eldamo : Motivations and Methodology

I've also posted previously on it here.

That said, I very much don't want the Neo-Eldarin in Eldamo to be exclusively a reflection of my own ideas. I've solicited suggestions from others, most frequently on the Vinya Lambengolmor Discord server, but here as well, and where someone else crafts a compelling neologism, I use that. I find other people's creations are often better than my own.

Realistically, though, I have to acknowledge that the bulk of the material reflects my own biases. I since I am the primary author, I have no idea how to avoid that. The best I can do is minimize the effect by soliciting and incorporating as much feedback as I can.

Paul Strack Jul 07, 2018 (21:16)

+Tamas Ferencz Upon brief reflection, I've decided that my previous post, while true, may be a bit overly defensive.

To more briefly answer your question about the criteria, I generally suggest using later forms over early forms where they have similar meanings. In cases where there are early forms with no later equivalents, I suggest using the early forms only if they are not contradicted by later forms and roots. If necessary, I suggest minor adaptations to bring early forms into consistency with later forms. Where this is not possible, I try to coin an appropriate neologism based on later forms and roots.

In some cases, I prefer earlier forms over later forms for a variety of reasons. Sometimes a later form is an isolated and possibly transient replacement for a single word, and replacing that one word would require rejecting a large number of associated words without clear replacements. In some cases, I prefer early forms that are from an "better known source", simply because I think it more likely that the reader would understand such words. And in some cases I simply like the aesthetics of an earlier form better.

The "rules" I follow for crafting neologism are complicated and still evolving. I'd need to spend more time composing my thoughts to accurately express them, assuming you are still interested after all my blathering :)

Tamas Ferencz Jul 08, 2018 (00:00)

+Paul Strack thank you. There was no suggestion of reproach or criticism in my question, I was merely interested

Paul Strack Jul 08, 2018 (00:17)

+Tamas Ferencz Yes, I figured that out. That’s why I decided my first post was too defensive and wrote a more direct reply to your question.

Arno Gourdol Jul 09, 2018 (11:21)

FWIW, I like the split between "Neo-Eldarin" and "Academic". I think that's a good way to partition the dictionary.

Paul Strack Jul 09, 2018 (15:46)

+Arno Gourdol thank you. I wanted to add Neo-Eldarin to Eldamo without reducing its usefulness as a research tool.

Arno Gourdol Jul 09, 2018 (15:59)

I'll use the same terminology in Tecendil. I wanted to do the same thing, but I was struggling with the what to call the two sets. I like your terminology.