The Lord of the Rings

1-24, arranged in four
témar
(series), each of which had six
tyeller
(grades). There were also ‘additional letters’, of which 25-36 are examples. Of these 27 and 29 are the only strictly independent letters; the remainder are modifications of other letters. There was also a number of
tehtar
(signs) of varied uses. These do not appear in the table. 2
    The
primary letters
were each formed of a
telco
(stem) and a
lúva
(bow).

THE TENGWAR
     

     
    The forms seen in 1–4 were regarded as normal. The stem could be raised, as in 9-16; or reduced, as in 17–24. The bow could be open, as in Series I and III; or closed, as in II and IV; and in either case it could be doubled, as e.g. in 5–8.
    The theoretic freedom of application had in the Third Age been modified by custom to this extent that Series I was generally applied to the dental or
t
-series
(tincotéma),
and II to the labials or
p
-series
(parmatéma).
The application of Series III and IV varied according to the requirements of different languages.
    In languages like the Westron, which made much use of consonants 1 such as our
ch, j, sh,
Series III was usually applied to these; in which case Series IV was applied to the normal
k
-series
(calmatéma).
In Quenya, which possessed besides the
calmatéma
both a palatal series
(tyelpetéma)
and a labialized series
(quessetéma),
the palatals were represented by a Fëanorian diacritic denoting ‘following
y’
(usually two underposed dots), while Series IV was a
kw
-series.
    Within these general applications the following relations were also commonly observed. The normal letters, Grade 1, were applied to the ‘voiceless stops’:
t, p, k,
etc. The doubling of the bow indicated the addition of’ voice’: thus if 1, 2, 3, 4=
t
,
p, ch, k
(or
t, p, k, kw)
then 5, 6, 7,
S=d, b, j, g
(or
d, b, g, gw).
The raising of the stem indicated the opening of the consonant to a ‘spirant’: thus assuming the above values for Grade 1, Grade 3 (9-12)=
th
,
f
,
sh, ch
(or
th, f, kh, khw/hw),
and Grade 4 (13-16)=
dh
,
v, zh, gh
(or
dh, v, gh, ghw/w).
    The original Fëanorian system also possessed a grade with extended stems, both above and below the line. These usually represented aspirated consonants (e.g.
t+h, p+h, k+h),
but might represent other consonantal variations required. They were not needed in the languages of the Third Age that used this script; but the extended forms were much used as variants (more clearly distinguished from Grade 1) of Grades 3 and 4.
    Grade 5 (17-20) was usually applied to the nasal consonants: thus 17 and 18 were the most common signs for
n
and
m.
According to the principle observed above, Grade 6 should then have represented the voiceless nasals; but since such sounds (exemplified by Welsh
nh
or ancient English
hn)
were of very rare occurrence in the languages concerned, Grade 6 (21-24) was most often used for the weakest or ‘semi-vocalic’ consonants of each series. It consisted of the smallest and simplest shapes among the primary letters. Thus 21 was often used for a weak (untrilled)
r
, originally occurring in Quenya and regarded in the system of that language as the weakest consonant of the
tincotéma;
22 was widely used for
w;
where Series III was used as a palatal series 23 was commonly used as consonantal
y. 2
    Since some of the consonants of Grade 4 tended to become weaker inpronunciation, and to approach or to merge with those of Grade 6 (as described above), many of the latter ceased to have a clear function in the Eldarin languages; and it was from these letters that the letters expressing vowels were largely derived.
    NOTE
     
    The standard spelling of Quenya diverged from the applications of the letters above described. Grade 2 was used for
nd, mb, ng, ngw,
all of which were frequent, since
b, g, gw
only appeared in these combinations, while for
rd, ld
the special letters 26, 28 were used. (For
lv,
not for
lw,
many speakers, especially Elves, used
lb:
this was written with 27+6, since
lmb
could not occur.) Similarly, Grade 4 was used for the extremely frequent combinations
nt, mp, nk, nqu,
since Quenya did not possess
dh, gh, ghw,
and for
v
used letter 22. See the Quenya letter-names pp. 1122–3 .
    The additional letters.
No. 27 was universally used for
l.
No. 25 (in origin a modification of 21) was used for ‘full’ trilled
r
. Nos. 26, 28 were modifications of these. They were frequently used for voiceless
r (rh)
and
l (lh)
respectively. But in Quenya they were used