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Ireth_Telrunya
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Post Help with names?
on: April 05, 2015 12:22
I'm trying to create some elvish names, and wondering if I'm doing it right, grammatically speaking. The meanings I'm going for are "Water-song" and "Water-jewel" respectively.

For "Water-song", I have nen + glîr to start with. Combining the two gives me Nenglîr, which undergoes soft mutation, so the g drops out, leaving me with Nenlîr. But 'nl' isn't a valid combination (to my knowledge), so it would mutate again to Nellîr. Right?

For "Water-jewel", the lenition is similar. Nen + mîr = Nenmîr, which mutates to Nemmîr. Right?

(Side question: If I were to use those names side by side in a story, say for a pair of sisters who are travelling together, would the similarity confuse anyone?)

[Edited on 04/06/2015 by Ireth_Telrunya]
Far over the Misty Mountains cold, to dungeons deep and caverns old. We must away ere break of day, to claim our long forgotten gold.
Galadivren
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on: April 05, 2015 11:34
You don't need to apply mutation twice, and with names you can be flexible, and use either soft mutation or nasal mutation.

Using soft mutation:
nen + glîr = Nenlîr

GL -> L is the change made. N + L -> LL only applies if this is how the two elements start (Nen + Lind -> Nellind), not after mutation has been applied.

Using nasal mutation:
nen + glîr = Nenglîr

For your second name:
Nen + mîr -> Nenvîr

In answer to the question about character confusion, I think it would be somewhat confusing for readers if you went with both Nenlîr and Nenvîr as they're only one letter apart. You'd probably get people who skim it reading one as the other.

[Edited on 04/06/2015 by Galadivren]
Ireth_Telrunya
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on: April 06, 2015 02:19
Thanks, Galadivren! Very helpful. ^^
Far over the Misty Mountains cold, to dungeons deep and caverns old. We must away ere break of day, to claim our long forgotten gold.
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