QMNj7kxeH68 — G+ LoME Archive

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (04:01)

Possible Quenya linear measurements? UPDATED

lár a league; 3 miles
*larnelesta a mile; 1 mile (> NQNT)
rangwe a fathom; 6 feet
ranga a yard; 3 feet
ranko an arm; 2 feet (> GL/65 rath)
*perranga a cubit; 18 inches (> NQNT)
*tál a foot; 12 inches (> TAI/150.3700 tâl)
*má a hand; 4 inches
palta a palm; 3 inches
*nápo a thumb; 1inch (Anglo-Saxon measurement)
leper a digit; 3/4 inch (Anglo-Saxon measurement)

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (04:03)

Of course since a ranga is 38 inches, these would be a little longer.

Ицхак Пензев Feb 14, 2018 (05:06)

+James Coish Tamas and I discussed it a couple of weeks ago. Search the earlier messages.

Tamas Ferencz Feb 14, 2018 (09:34)

Perhaps ranko would be more natural for 'arm' if we stick to parts of the body?

Paul Strack Feb 14, 2018 (14:19)

+James Coish For neo-Quenya purpose I think ranga could be an English yard (36 inches) or an Elvish yard (38 inches). If you needed to distinguish, you could say ranga Atanwa or ranga Eldarin. Ditto for the other measures. You might even be able to use ranga for a meter (39.37 inches).

Tamas Ferencz Feb 14, 2018 (15:07)

This made me think of measurements of volume, which will be much harder to figure out I think, we don't have a lot of words for vessels in the first place. Perhaps kalpa can be used for a gallon or similar, but other than that I don't have any ideas.

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (15:22)

Kalpa sounds good to me. Gallon does come from a word meaning bucket, pail.

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (15:26)

yulma cup
kamba handful

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (15:30)

*salpinke spoon

Ицхак Пензев Feb 14, 2018 (15:59)

All this stuff seems too Neo for me… 😣

Tamas Ferencz Feb 14, 2018 (16:03)

+Ицхак Пензев why exactly? mostly attested words

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (17:04)

*salpinke > G. salfinc lit. small bowl

Paul Strack Feb 14, 2018 (17:22)

+Ицхак Пензев Tolkien himself used N. tal “foot” as a unit of measure. eldamo.org - Eldamo : Noldorin : lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh

Though I admit the measure of volumes feels funny to me. I’d want to append -quanta myself. yulmaquanta = cupful.

Tamas Ferencz Feb 14, 2018 (17:26)

+Paul Strack yet 'cup' and 'spoon' as a measurement are used all the time in English recipes. As is barrel for oil etc.

James Coish Feb 14, 2018 (17:59)

-quanta seems an acceptable ending. Cupful, spoonful, barrelful all are used in English and separates the object from the measure.

Ицхак Пензев Feb 15, 2018 (15:36)

+Tamas Ferencz I don't mean the words. I mean the system of measurements.

Tamas Ferencz Feb 15, 2018 (15:42)

+Ицхак Пензев people used their own body parts for reference for hundreds of years across humanity until standardized systems were put in place. To me it makes sense to apply a similar system in NQ. I mean what is the alternative?

Ицхак Пензев Feb 15, 2018 (15:54)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biblical_and_Talmudic_units_of_measurement

Ицхак Пензев Feb 15, 2018 (15:55)

Metric and the abovementioned "natural".

Tamas Ferencz Feb 15, 2018 (16:14)

+Ицхак Пензев please do elaborate because I am probably having a dumb day here. Are you suggesting that we use the biblical system (so basically we have digits, palms, cubits etc. but their relations to each other would be different)? Or that we somehow adopt metric with the use of loanwords?