Stupid Sindarin question #1: Yes's & No's

[aearwen]

At the risk of derision here...

After my discussion with Darth in PM about how to say "yes" and "no" in Quenya, I thought it might not be a bad idea to get a clearer idea about how to say them in Sindarin too.

No

Thorsten Renk only lists "Baw" as "no" and "don't" (re: intentions) in Pedin Edhellen.

The ArwenUndómiel site lists "Baw" as denying intentions, and "Law" as denying facts. Do I dare take this as proper, given Renk's inclusion of "baw" - or is this fanon?

I'm not touching the ú- prefix added to vowels here. I'm thinking A asks B a question, and the answer is "no".

Yes

Nothing in Salo or Dragon Flame. ArwenUndómiel lists "má", which Renk lists as meaning "good!" or "Excellent!"

I submit these as potential additions to that wordlist we were going to compile...

[Darth Fingon]

Jun 16, 2009 20:23:16 GMT -6 aearwen said:

No

Thorsten Renk only lists "Baw" as "no" and "don't" (re: intentions) in Pedin Edhellen.

The ArwenUndómiel site lists "Baw" as denying intentions, and "Law" as denying facts. Do I dare take this as proper, given Renk's inclusion of "baw" - or is this fanon?

Baw appears on Sindarin wordlists, but law looks like it's borrowed from Quenya lá. Baw specifically does mean 'don't do it' (its Q equivalent is áva, which is also related to S avo of the same meaning), while Q lá is a generic negation. Its Sindarinisation law would be more useful in more situations.

There's also the Quenya word fó, which is 'an interjection of displeasure/dissent', and it could be Sindarinised as faw.

Yes

Nothing in Salo or Dragon Flame. ArwenUndómiel lists "má", which Renk lists as meaning "good!" or "Excellent!"

Mae? Má looks like the Quenya (Sindarin words don't end in acutes).

In either case, this isn't the word for 'yes', but for 'good' or 'well', as Renk says. 'Yes' in Quenya is ná, which comes from the verb 'to be', and means something like 'it is'. If you want to use the same in Sindarin, it would be na. Or, to Sindarinise the Quenya word, naw.