Sindarin Lesson 2.
Lesson Two.
Soft Mutation.
The consonant mutations are the hardest part of Sindarin and the one most likely to scare people off. However, they are really far easier than they appear. The most frequent one is soft mutation. like all the mutations, it is designed to make words flow together more melodiously.
The changes caused by soft mutation are as follows:
B becomes V eg i vereth (the queen)
BL becomes VL eg i vlabed (the flapping)
BR becomes VR eg i vrannon (the lord)
C becomes G eg i gabor (the frog)
CL becomes GL eg i glaur (the glory)
CR becomes GR eg i graban (the crow)
D becomes DH eg i dhaen (the corpse)
DR becomes DHR eg i dhram (the heavy stroke/the blow)
F remains F eg i falch (the ravine)
G becomes ' eg i 'alenas (the pipeweed)
GL becomes 'L eg i 'lass (the joy)
GR becomes 'R eg i 'rond (the club)
GW becomes 'W eg i 'wend (the friendship)
H becomes CH eg i chabad (the shore)
HW becomes CHW eg i chwest (the breeze)
L remains L eg i lang (the cutlass)
LH becomes THL eg i thling (the web)
M becomes V eg i vaethor (the warrior)
N remains N eg i nell (the bell)
P becomes B eg i barf (the book)
PR becomes BR eg i brestanneth (the affection of vowels)
R remains R eg i roch (the horse)
RH becomes THR eg i thravan (the wild man)
S becomes H eg i halab (the herb)
T becomes D eg i daur (the forest)
TH remains TH eg i thalion (the champion)
TR becomes DR eg i drenarn (the tale)
There are also special words that began from roots beginning mb, nd and ng. They change as follows.
B becomes M eg i mar (the house)
D becomes N eg i nîr (the man)
G becomes NG eg i ngûl (the sorcery)
Words beginning with vowels stay the same.
Note that B and M both become V. You need to rely on the rest of the sentence to determine whether i vereth means the queen or the feast, for example.
Soft mutation occurs after the singular definite article (i.e. "the" where one thing is discussed), which is i in Sindarin. The plural definite article is in and causes nasal mutation (addressed in a later lesson). Sindarin, like Welsh, has no indefinite article (a/an) thalion means both champion and a champion.
Where grows the rose? Mas gala i veril?
When did you see the mist? Mar cennich i chîth?
He has the harp. Gâr i 'annel.
There is soft mutation too after the following words: adel (behind), ab (after,following), am (up, over, above), ath/athra (across), avo (don't), be (according to, as, like), dad (down), di (under), go/gwa (together), na (towards, at, with, by, to, of), trî (through), ú- (negative prefix for verbs)
towards Gondor na 'Ondor
across a river athra dhuin
He does not have the harp. <>Ú-'âr i 'annel.
Vocabulary.
gala- to grow
i the
meril rose (shown in mutated form, veril above)
mar when (interrogative form)
cen- to see
hîth mist (shown in mutated form, chîth above)
gannel harp
duin river
bar the house
dîr the man (meaning any adult male of a speaking race)
gûl sorcery, evil magic
It is also used for nouns that are the direct object of a verb (ie, the thing to which the action described by the verb is done). For example, I have (gerin) a friend (mellon) is Gerin vellon.
I see a ship Cenin gair
I desire a book Aníron barf
I eat soup Medin halph
Vocabulary.
cair ship (shown in mutated form, gair above)
aníra- to desire
parf book (shown in mutated form, barf above)
mad- to eat
salph soup (shown in mutated form, halph above)
Adjectives that follow the noun are also subject to soft mutation. Going by the example of Welsh, I am sure that this applies only to the first adjective after the noun. Others, however, disagree, and would tell you to mutate every adjective.
I have a great love Gerin veleth dhaer
Do you see the tall warrior? Cenich i vaethor dond?
I see the glittering star Cenin i 'îl hilivren
Vocabulary.
meleth love (shown in mutated form, veleth above)
daer great (shown in mutated form, dhaer above)
maethor warrior (shown in mutated form, vaethor above)
tond tall (shown in mutated form, dond above)
gîl star (shown in mutated form, 'îl above)
silivren glittering (shown in mutated form, hilivren above)
Finally, soft mutation occurs in compounds (words made up of two or more other words. For example orc (orch and slayer dagnir become orchdhagnir. (orc-slayer)
Exercise 2.1
Translate the following into Sindarin.
1. I see the harp
2. He has a great ship.
3. The rose does not grow.
4. Greet my friend, a great warrior.
5. I have a friend across the river.
Exercise 2.2
1. Translate these into English.
1. Gerin gair dond.
2. Cenin i dhuin hilivren.
3. Aníron 'annel.
4. Nin estar Merilvellon.
5. Gerich i halph?