How long have you been on CoE?
Faramirs_first_kiss: Since Easter ’03. Easter Sunday or Easter Monday, I believe, in between the munching of chocolate.
IdhrenethMeril: A little more than two years.
How did you discover CoE?
Faramirs_first_kiss: I actually found it via the gallery, when I was looking for pictures from TTT. I lurked a while before joining, and I’ve visited nearly every day since.
What are your favorite areas of the site?
Faramirs_first_kiss: The RPG forum, without a doubt.
IdhrenethMeril: Of course, I love the Languages section! But besides that, I love going through the Last Homely House, Humor, and the Gallery.
How did you get involved in the names database?
Faramirs_first_kiss: Another member had started a thread in Elvish 101 where she translated names into Rohirric. I came across the thread and realised that the previous translator hadn’t posted on the site for months, so I thought I could try my hand at the translation for those who had been waiting for their names to be translated for all that time. People kept requesting translations, so I kept doing them, and Naneth contacted me to see if I’d be interested in maintaining a Rohirric Names Database.
IdhrenethMeril: About a year ago, Naneth posted a request in the Sindarin 101 Forum for people who would be interested in joining the names database team. I responded through PM, did a short interview, and then was offered a chance to start translating!
What category of names do you translate?
Faramirs_first_kiss: Rohirric, or Anglo-Saxon, or Old English. Different names for the same language.
IdhrenethMeril: I translate in the Sindarin Names Database.
Where did you learn to translate?
Faramirs_first_kiss: My very earliest attempts at translation were for names of RPG characters. The characters Freolic, Holenhael, Ferran and others all got their names from me looking at an Old English vocabulary list and picking out words and meanings I liked. I looked around online to find an Old English course and there are literally hundreds to choose from, depending on how in-depth you want to be. I don’t consider myself an expert in Old English and if I wrote any long prose or poetry in the language it would probably be somewhat inaccurate, but simple combinations of two or three words for names are within my grasp.
IdhrenethMeril: When I started translating for the names database, I had already spent a lot of time studying Sindarin through the workbooks on this website, outside research, and (of course!) reading what the professor actually wrote. After I joined the names database team, those who had already been working on it for some time showed me some small nuances and rules that apply to names, especially for forming masculine/feminine names.
How do you guys come up with the name translations?
Faramirs_first_kiss: First off, I check the meanings of the name. Sometimes the meanings I’m given are inaccurate or apparently made up, and sometimes people don’t know the names, so I’ve got into the habit of checking all of them. Some names are almost impossible to translate, either because they refer to something the Saxons had never encountered or left a word for, or because the meaning is too long. In either case, I try and find a way around it, using the closest equivalent words I can find; for example, I’ve translated a name meaning ‘pearl’ as ‘sea-gem’. I also try and find the simplest form of the name’s meaning, for instance ‘star-daughter’ instead of ‘daughter of the stars’. This makes the eventual Rohirric name a lot less cumbersome to write or say. Then I look for the translations of the words in the meaning, and try to find ways to put them together so they sound cohesive and match examples of similar combinations in Old English texts we still have. Again, I sometimes have to find ways to deal with words that don’t have any translation. Most of the text we have from that period in history is epic poetry like Beowulf, and as such there aren’t many words for plants or agricultural things. On the other hand, there are eleven words for ‘man’ and as just as many variations, such as ‘young man’ or ‘noble man’, and in these cases I have to choose those that make most sense and fit best when put together.
Have you stumbled onto any funny names in the process?
Faramirs_first_kiss: Not funny, perhaps, but I certainly came across an interesting one. The name Phoebe means ‘light, shining’, and one word for shining light in Old English is the same as the one they use for the morning star, Earendel. A little delving found Lin Carter’s book ‘Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings’, in which she explains the growth of this character of Saxon myth. His earliest incarnation was as a heroic archer in Aryan myth; this is the same source as a prominent character in Hindu mythology, and the Greek Orion. He was also, through Scandinavian folk lore, the inspiration for Shakespeare’s Hamlet. He was first found in Norse mythology as the character Orwandel, a brave hunter, and he earned his place in history when he met the god Thor who carried him across a river in a basket. The weather was frozen, and Orwandel’s big toe stuck out of the basket, and soon froze solid. So it wouldn’t become infected, Thor snapped the toe off and, so impressed was he that Orwandel hadn’t cried out, he threw the toe into the sky where it became a star that was named after him, and later renamed Earendel. To the early Saxons, then, Earendel was the toe-star. Later, though, when they converted to Christianity, this star became a symbol of Christ, and Carter quotes an ancient hymn:
Eala Earendel
engla beorhtast
ofer Middangeard
monnum sended
O Earendel
brightest shining of angels
thou who over Middle-Earth
art sent to Men
Has anyone given you requests for funny/interesting names?
Faramirs_first_kiss: No, but I get requests asking me to translate Elvish names into Rohirric…
IdhrenethMeril: I can’t think of any funny names offhand, but it’s definitely possibly that we could get some!
What made you decide to get involved in this project?
Faramirs_first_kiss: Love of all things Rohirric, and wanting to help out on CoE, this fantastic site.
IdhrenethMeril: When given the opportunity, I decided that I wanted to become involved with the database because I love learning about names. I did this even before I was involved with the database here, and now I am able to integrate that with another love of mine (Sindarin!).
How much time do you spend working on the names database?
Faramirs_first_kiss: Because of other real-life and online commitments (I’m currently the admin of the sister site MonkeyGames.net for non-Tolkien RPGs) I generally only translate names that are requested, so I don’t usually spend longer than quarter of an hour a day working on the db.
by minuial_gil_estel
