Doriath Era Sindar Names?

[eli]

I did not see a thread on this here so I thought I would ask since I need to know for a story. Is there any difference between Doriath era Sindarin names and the later Sindarin names? Are there any special spellings or rules I should be aware of when using the Sindarin name generator to name a character from Doriath?

Thank you for the help.

Eli

[randy]

I don't think there are any special rules. Look at the attested Doriathrin names we have -- Nimloth, Oropher, Luthien, etc. -- they look pretty much like regular Sindarin.

[Darth Fingon]

Nov 7, 2010 6:21:56 GMT -6 @eli said:

I did not see a thread on this here so I thought I would ask since I need to know for a story. Is there any difference between Doriath era Sindarin names and the later Sindarin names? Are there any special spellings or rules I should be aware of when using the Sindarin name generator to name a character from Doriath?

Hi Eli,

There is a difference between Doriathren and Sindarin, but the examples we have are few and the rules so convoluted and incomplete that it would take a very serious scholar of Tolkien's linguistics to even make an educated guess at name creation. The vast majority of people would just use Sindarin names. Tolkien, for the most part, used Sindarin names. (Though I'm not convinced that this is because Sindarin names were used in Doriath. I rather go with the theory that the history of Doraith was written by Sindarin speakers, who changed some names as they saw fit. So it's impossible to know whether the Sindarin names found in Doriath were meant to be so, or if they were updated by the historians.)

Some text examples of Doriathren names:
Dairon (Sindarinised to Daeron in most cases)
Dior (possibly Deor or Dyr with a circumflex over the Y in Sindarin)
Menegroth (possibly Menegrond in Sindarin)
Mablung and Camlost (where Sindarin generally has adjective-noun, Doriathren shows a few instances of noun-adjective)

Because it's too difficult to use the pure Doriathren rules and words with any level of accuracy, what I might suggest for your story, if you want a small differentiation between Sindarin and Doriathren, is to use some noun-adjective construction for your names. The other rules are iffy, but this at least is something that can easily be done on the name generator.

[eli]

Thank you Randy and Darth both for your help. The noun-adjective construction sounds like a good way to goo when it comes to Doriathren names. The name generator has been enormously helpful too.

I always wondered the same too if a lot of the Doriathren history had been re written by historians in a later time and if names were changed. It seems very plausible on a lot of different levels beyond just the language and names.

Again, thanks for the help.

Eli