r/Tengwar Jan 23 '24

Please Read Before Posting

55 Upvotes

Welcome to r/Tengwar, where we can discuss all things related to Tolkien's writing systems: Tengwar, Cirth, and Sarati.

If you want to learn Tengwar yourself, we recommend the following resources:

If you want to get a transcription, check with the following tools before posting:

As the tools above aren't perfect, never forget to double-check important transcriptions like for tattoos or jewelry by asking someone knowledgeable, such as the members of this subreddit.


Please note that simply changing English text to a Tengwar font only produces unreadable gibberish. If you are trying to figure out the meaning of some Tengwar without any tehtar (vowel diacritics/accents) or tehtar that aren't aligned with the letters below them it likely is such a mistaken attempt at transliterating. The community calls this the "Mode of Baloneyland", due to its surface-level similarity with the tehtar-less mode of Beleriand.


r/Tengwar 11h ago

Can someone help me with understanding this?

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7 Upvotes

A few friends and I are having a game and one of the hints is not in english 😂

So I've come here to ask for help with what it says


r/Tengwar 1d ago

Learning Tengwar! How did I do?

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34 Upvotes

I made an earlier post on here about how I deciphered part of the Tengwar alphabet from the Ring inscription in Fellowship. Well, I decided to learn the actual alphabet! The top section are letters that I copied down from the Tecendil Tengwar handbook, which I found very useful. The bottom part is a practice sentence I did. If you have any feedback on my work it owuld be much appreciated! Thank you!


r/Tengwar 1d ago

Tattoo

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1 Upvotes

Hello, are these correct?


r/Tengwar 1d ago

Tattoo Spellcheck please

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6 Upvotes

r/Tengwar 1d ago

Can you please check if this is correct

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5 Upvotes

It's a hungarian text and is meant to say my girlfriend's name: Zsófia.

The picture is upside down, and idk why, the original is not upside down.

Thank you everyone!:)


r/Tengwar 2d ago

Sorry, it's another tattoo check...

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4 Upvotes

I've wanted a LOTR tattoo for ages but wanted just a subtle script, and the word Galad has always been so beautiful for me! I know the tools aren't perfect so wondering if someone can confirm this for me? And also if it would be weird to have just as a word on its own without other context?


r/Tengwar 1d ago

Could someone verify this Tengwar transcription before I get it tattooed?

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm planning to get this quote tattooed:

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."

I generated this transcription using the Artano Tengwar transcriber, but I don't know enough Tengwar to verify whether it's correct.

Could someone please check if the transcription is accurate? If there are any mistakes or if there is a more authentic way to write it (following Tolkien's conventions), I'd really appreciate your feedback.

Since this is going to be a permanent tattoo, I want to make sure it's right before I commit.

Thanks!


r/Tengwar 2d ago

For Frodo tattoo script help

2 Upvotes

Getting a For Frodo tattoo, would love to have it done in elvish script, hoping someone here can show me how that would be written. Thanks a ton.


r/Tengwar 2d ago

What does it say?

1 Upvotes

Apologies for the very little information but I'm trying to figure out what does the text say (I'm not even sure if it's written in Tengwar) and if it's correct (grammatically speaking).

Edit: Image link: https://i.imgur.com/Auy3ZfV.png


r/Tengwar 2d ago

Yet another tattoo confirmation post

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2 Upvotes

I was able to double check this using the Tecendil handbook, but I am looking for confirmation that this makes sense.


r/Tengwar 3d ago

Another identical tattoo confirmation post

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1 Upvotes

Are there any of these we consider to *not* be correct, while I settle on a final font?

suggestions of better versions?


r/Tengwar 3d ago

Any tips on writing vertically and legibly?

3 Upvotes

I have been interested in writing English vertically in a way similar to traditional Mongolian writing, and recently came across this post. I absolutely love how this looks, especially how the different words were separated, instead of just being a column of individual tengwar.

Does anyone have any experience/advice on how to achieve this effect when writing vertically? Or, really, any resources on principles for vertical writing with Tengwar?


r/Tengwar 4d ago

Yet another: Tattoo check please

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4 Upvotes

Would love someone more skilled than I to confirm accuracy for this one. Thanks in advance!


r/Tengwar 4d ago

Tattoo transcription check

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2 Upvotes

I'm planning on getting a tattoo of my daughter's and wife's name on my arm. I've used the recommended websites listed in the website but just wanted to get it double checked due to the small discrepancies between each transcript.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated

Names are:

Ayla Melodie Hill

Shona Ann Margaret Hill

Pronunciation

Ayla = AY-luh

Shona = SHOH-nuh


r/Tengwar 5d ago

Gwaihir

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83 Upvotes

The text is literally just the current writing prompt of our Facebook Tengwar group, but I'm quite happy with the result visually, and I would like some feedback on the spelling.

All in all it's a pretty standard English phonetic short mode (as far as anybody may consider this standard), but I chose to incorporate a few of Tolkien's earlier concepts, writing /i:/ and /u:/ as [ij] and [uw], because that's just more appropriate phonetically, I feel, and I also used both óre and rómen to spell "despair at", which I think I've only seen in Qenyatic texts like the Bombadil ones or Errantry.


r/Tengwar 5d ago

‘White shores and beyond’ - confirmation

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7 Upvotes

Hi folks,

I’m looking forward to get a tattoo with the ‘White shores and beyond’ transliteration.

I saw previous posts here about that, but there was some debate about the writing of the word ‘shores’ - with hooks, no hooks, different characters and so on.

So, I just wanted to double-triple-check the spelling before going ahead with a tattoo.

This is what Tecendil gives me. I particularly want to use the Artano font on the tattoo.

Does it look correct?
Thanks!


r/Tengwar 5d ago

Thinnas in Beleriandic

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5 Upvotes

For the first time I actually tried the archaic Beleriandic spelling in which unmarked vowels are long by default and short ones are marked with *thinnas*.

I find that such an odd concept, because you'll be hard pressed to find a sample in which short vowels aren't more numerous...

Have you ever tried it?

Any opinions?


r/Tengwar 5d ago

Help making a Doors of Durin architectural drawing canonically accurate (Cirth transcription)

1 Upvotes

Hi everyone!

I'm working on a personal art project that will eventually hang in my home office, and I'd love some guidance from people who know Tolkien's writing systems (I definitely don't).

The idea is to create an architectural presentation drawing of the West Gate (Doors of Durin) as if it had been drafted in the workshops of Narvi.

Think of it as the kind of drawing that might have been presented before construction began, rather than modern concept art. I've tried to stay close to lore:

  • Narvi is listed as the draftsman, with Celebrimbor credited as consultant
  • The title block references Khazad-dûm and Moria
  • The artwork itself is being manually recreated as vector art rather than left as AI-generated

The remaining piece is the runic text, which is wayyy out of my depth!

I'd love help replacing Notes section below with canonically appropriate Cirth.

A few questions:

  1. Would Angerthas Moria be the most appropriate script for something that would have originated in Khazad-dûm?
  2. Rather than inventing Khuzdul, would it be more lore-appropriate to simply transcribe English into Angerthas Moria?

NOTES

Stone shall be quarried
from the eastern face,
free of seam and flaw.

Set all joints dry and
prove their fit before
final bedding.

Ithildin inlay to be
laid only after the
carving is complete.

Verify the alignment
of the central device
before sealing.

Doors shall remain
closed until opened
by the appointed word.

Not looking to invent new Khuzdul vocabulary / grammar, as I'd rather produce something that feels like it could have plausibly existed in Middle Earth.

Is anyone be willing to help transcribe the drafting notes above? I'd genuinely appreciate those corrections / feedback as well.

Thank you!


r/Tengwar 5d ago

Tattoo check please! <3

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3 Upvotes

Hello lovely people, I've used tecendil to transcribe the line 'Cormacolindor, a laita tárienna!' from the lovely praise of the Hobbits after Sam and Frodo awake on the Field of Cormallen.

Considering getting this as a tattoo so just wanted to check if it's correct?

(It's in Quenya, translating to 'the Ring bearers, bless (or praise) them to the height')

Thank you 😊!


r/Tengwar 5d ago

DEATH in tengwar

0 Upvotes

Earlier today I posted a AI-generated picture of the word DEATH in "Tengwar", it was not Tengwar. Can someone tell me what the word DEATH in Tengwar Looks Like?


r/Tengwar 6d ago

Is this right?

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6 Upvotes

I want it to say “Jonny Wilson was here”


r/Tengwar 5d ago

What does this say?

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0 Upvotes

r/Tengwar 7d ago

Tattoo help

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7 Upvotes

Looking to get a tattoo with the name Eowyn, and using Tecendil i have 2 slightly different texts depending on the language I chose.

As far as I can tell, its just changing the 'y', but if its just English written in tengwar, would the curved version be correct, as opposed to the 2 dots?


r/Tengwar 8d ago

Does this make sense?

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11 Upvotes

Is it possible to write Tengwar like this? Also, can anybody translate?