The Lord of the Rings

of
cht
, as in German
echt
,
acht
: e.g. in the name
Telumehtar
‘Orion’. 1 See also CH, DH, L, R, TH, W, Y.
I
initially before another vowel has the consonantal sound of
y
in
you
,
yore
in Sindarin only: as in
Ioreth
,
Iarwain
. See Y.
K
is used in names drawn from other than Elvish languages, with the same value as
c
;
kh
thus represents the same sound as
ch
in Orkish
Grishnákh
, or Adûnaic (Númenórean)
Adûnakhôr
. On Dwarvish (Khuzdul) see note below.
L
represents more or less the sound of English initial
l
, as in
let
. It was, however, to some degree ‘palatalized’ between
e
,
i
and a consonant, or finally after
e
,
i
. (The Eldar would probably have transcribed English
bell
,
fill
as
beol
,
fiol
.) LH represents this sound when voiceless (usually derived from initial
sl
-). In (archaic) Quenya this is written
hl
, but was in the Third Age usually pronounced as
l
.
NG
represents
ng
in
finger
, except finally where it was sounded as in English
sing
. The latter sound also occurred initially in Quenya, but has been transcribed
n
(as in
Noldo
), according to the pronunciation of the Third Age.
PH
has the same sound as
f
. It is used
(a)
where the
f
-sound occurs at the end of a word, as in
alph
‘swan’;
(b)
where the
f
-sound is related to or derived from a
p
, as in
i-Pheriannath
‘the Halflings’ (
perian
);
(c)
in the middle of a few words where it represents a long
ff
(from
pp
) as in
Ephel
‘outer fence’; and
(d)
in Adûnaic and Westron, as in
Ar-Pharazôn
(
pharaz
‘gold’).
QU
has been used for
cw
, a combination very frequent in Quenya, though it did not occur in Sindarin.
R
represents a trilled
r
in all positions; the sound was not lost before consonants (as in English
part
). The Orcs, and some Dwarves, are said to have used a back or uvular
r
, a sound which the Eldar found distasteful. RH represents a voiceless
r
(usually derived from older initial
sr
-). It was written
hr
in Quenya. Cf. L.
S
is always voiceless, as in English
so
,
geese
; the
z
-sound did not occur in contemporary Quenya or Sindarin. SH, occurring in Westron, Dwarvish and Orkish, represents sounds similar to
sh
in English.
TH
represents the voiceless
th
of English in
thin cloth
. This had become
s
in spoken Quenya, though still written with a different letter; as in Q.
Isil
, S.
Ithil
, ‘Moon’.
TY
represents a sound probably similar to the
t
in English
tune
. It was derived mainly from
c
or
t+y
. The sound of English
ch
, which was frequent in Westron, was usually substituted for it by speakers of that language. Cf. HY under Y.
V
has the sound of English
v
, but is not used finally. See F.
W
has the sound of English
w
. HW is a voiceless
w
, as in English
white
(in northern pronunciation). It was not an uncommon initial sound in Quenya, though examples seem not to occur in this book. Both
v
and
w
are used in the transcription of Quenya, in spite of the assimilation of its spelling to Latin, since the two sounds, distinct in origin, both occurred in the language.
Y
is used in Quenya for the consonant
y
, as in English
you
. In Sindarin
y
is a vowel (see below). HY has the same relation to
y
as HW to
w
,and represents a sound like that often heard in English
hew, huge; h
in Quenya
eht, iht
had the same sound. The sound of English
sh,
which was common in Westron, was often substituted by speakers of that language. Cf. TY above. HY was usually derived from
sy-
and
khy-;
in both cases related Sindarin words show initial
h,
as in Q.
Hyarmen
‘south’, S.
Harad.
     
    Note that consonants written twice, as
tt, ll, ss, nn,
represent long, ‘double’ consonants. At the end of words of more than one syllable these were usually shortened: as in
Rohan
from
Rochann
(archaic
Rochand).
    In Sindarin the combinations
ng, nd, mb,
which were specially favoured in the Eldarin languages at an earlier stage, suffered various changes.
mb
became
m
in all cases, but still counted as a long consonant for purposes of stress (see below), and is thus written
mm
in cases where otherwise the stress might be in doubt. 1
ng
remained unchanged except initially and finally where it became the simple nasal (as in English
sing
).
nd
became
nn
usually, as
Ennor
‘Middle-earth’, Q.
Endóre;
but remained
nd
at the end of fully accented monosyllables such as
thond’ root’
(cf.
Morthond
‘Blackroot’), and also before
r
, as
Andros
‘long-foam’. This
nd is
also seen in some ancient names derived from an older period, such