Elvish
lesson nine : lention II
Am dhuin a tri dawar na gar Elrond trevadim! (Over the river and through the woods, to Elrond's house we go!)
We looked in the last lesson at what lenition is, and how lenition works. Now, let's take some time to talk about where lenition happens. By far, lenition is the most common of the mutations, and so it occurs in quite a few places. We have already talked about lenition occurring following the definite article 'i'. (Note that this only applies to the singular form of the article. The plural form, 'in', causes a different mutation, just to make things nice and confusing.)
adjectives
I briefly noted in the adjectives lesson that when adjectives follow nouns (as they almost always do), the adjective is lenited. Let's look at some examples:
tawar (forest) + morn (dark) = tawar vorn (dark forest)
hīn (eyes) + lhūn (blue) = hīn thlūn (blue eyes)
melethron (lover) + malthen (golden) = melethron valthen (Glorfindel... I mean, golden lover)
compound words
Lenition also occurs when forming compound words. While it's probably not a good idea to start throwing words together willy-nilly, there are times that combining nouns into a compound word is desirable or necessary. In such cases, the second half of the compound word is lenited before being joined to the first. Examples:
el (elf) + mellon (friend) = elvellon (Elf-friend)
gil (star) + calad (light) = gilgalad (starlight)
cai (hedge) + gūl (magic) = caingūl (hedge-magic -- magic by a non-wizard)
Note that the 'g' in the third example becomes 'ng' instead of disappearing. This is because 'gūl' is on the list of special case vocabulary words that lenit differently due to their primative roots. Very important that you check the list before trying to lenit words beginning with B, D, or G.
negating verbs and direct objects
The next two places where lenition occurs, we won't see again for a while. The first is because it involves verbs, which we haven't covered, and the second because it involves sentence structure, which we won't get into until almost the end of the course. It's important to note them, though, because they will be back.
When negating a verb; that is, transforming "do" into "don't do", the Sindarin word 'avo' is used (sometimes shortened to the prefix 'av-'). The verb that follows the negating adverb is lenited. The most common example is 'Caro!' meaning "Do (it)!". When negated, it becomes 'Avo garo!' or "Don't do (it)!". This can also be shortened to 'Avgaro!' which means the same thing.
Back during our discussion of pronouns, we briefly touched on case differences. If you remember, the accusative case of a pronoun denotes the direct object of a sentence -- the noun upon which the subject is acting. Take a look at your pronoun chart and pay particular attention to the difference between the dative case and the accusative case. For example, the pronoun for "we" in the dative is 'men' and in the accusative is 'ven'. Similarly, the pronoun for "he/she" is 'ten' in the dative and 'den' in the accusative. If those consonant changes look familiar, there's a very good reason: the accusative form of a pronoun is the dative form lenited! This is a specific application of a general rule: the direct object of a sentence is lenited. For example, examine the sentence:
Elrond anna Aragorn vagol dīn. (Elrond gave Aragorn his sword.)
In this sentence, "sword" is the direct object: it is what is being given. Therefore, the word for "sword", 'magol' becomes 'vagol' since it is the direct object.
prepositions and prefixes
One final "lenition zone" is following certain prepositions or prefixes. Unfortunately, not all prepositions and prefixes cause lenition. Some cause other mutations, and some don't cause any at all! And since there really isn't much of a pattern to which cause what, so you'll need to either memorize them or keep a list handy. The list of leniting prepositions and prefixes -- as we are aware of it currently -- is below. Not all of these places are attested, but have been deduced in the absence of hard evidence. If such becomes available that contradicts this, I'll try to stay on top of that.
| Prepositions | Prefixes |
|---|---|
|
Adel "behind, in the rear of" Am "up, above, over" Be "according to, as, like" Dad "down" Na "to, towards, at, of, with, by" Nu "under" Tri "through" |
Ab- "after, behind, following, later" Ath- "on both sides, across" Athra- "across" Di- "under, beneath" Go- (Gwa-) "together" U- "no,not" |
You can see examples of these in the title of the lesson, as well as below:
be (like) + gil (star) = be 'il (like a star)
di- (under) + nen (water) = dinen (underwater) remember, 'n' stays the same during lenition
u- (not) + milui (kind, friendly) = uvilui (unkind, unfriendly)
Notice as well that proper names are not safe from lenition:
am (over) + Caradhras = am Garadhras (over Caradhras)
nu (under) + Moria = nu Voria (under Moria)
adel (behind) + Glorfindel = adel 'lorfindel (behind Glorfindel -- and who wouldn't want to be there?)
conclusion
- Lenition occurs more frequently than other mutations.
- Adjectives following nouns are lenited.
- The second half of compound words are lenited.
- Verbs following 'avo' and 'av-' are lenited.
- The direct object of a sentence is lenited.
- Certain prepositions and prefixes also cause lenition.
