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Posted by Hey there!
I've listed here some alternative Sindarin translations for the elven units in the Woodland Realm faction. However, I want to preface this by stating that I'm a firm believer that art is not a democracy, or a compromise, between artists and their fans. I appreciate how you as creators seek and incorporate feedback from your fans (I'm not a regular presence in the modding community, but from what I hear this is uncommon), and respect that you will always have the final say when it comes to your work.
You recently asked the community what they would change if they were in charge of the mod for a day: whilst I have many things I would like to add and to try, a priority of mine would be to tweak the Elvish translations that I've seen from each faction. Below are my alternative Sindarin translations, followed by my reasoning behind the changes.
First, I've added a small nuance to the distinction between the Silvan and Greenwood units in their respective translations:
- Silvan Units - Tawarwaith ('Forest-people'), referring to the population of Greenwood at large
- Greenwood Units - Herth Thranduil OR Herth Oropherion (respectively 'House of Thranduil' and 'House of the Son of Oropher'); herth translates as 'troop under a hîr/lord', and seems fitting for the troops recruited from the Royal Barracks
Silvan Units - Tawarwaith
- Hunter - Feredir
- Rangers - Ethir / Ethiriath ('Spies' / '[Group of] Spies'; the singular form would be ethir as well); a literal translation would be 'out-watcher', from ed 'out' and tir- 'to watch [over]'. Alternatively, Faradrim could be a workaround of 'rangers' (meaning 'Group of Hunters')
- Wardens - Maethyr ('Warriors', sing. maethor)
- Spears - Aithryn ('Spearmen', sing. aithron)
- Outriders - Edrechyn ('Outriders'); a literal translation formed by analogy of ethir above (ed 'out' and rochon 'rider')
Greenwood Units - Herth Thranduil / Herth Oropherion
- Warriors - Megyr ('Swordsmen', sing. magor)
- Archers - Pengryn ('Archers', sing. pengron)
- Slayers - Degnir ('Slayers/Banes', sing. dagnir)
- Guards of the Palace - Thamastirnyr / Tirnyr-e-Thamas ('Hall-watchers' / 'Watchers of the Great Hall'); largely unchanged from the original name, but with a correction on the translation of 'great hall' (and here -e- would be appropriate in the second translation, rather than -en-)
- Regarding their Shield Wall formation, Thangail! could be used as an attested translation (you can hear Thranduil using it in BotFA). Their return to their default formation could therefore be Lîr! meaning 'Lines!'.
- Sindar Nobles - Erphin-e-Thaur / Roed-e-Thaur (both 'Nobles of the Woods'); from arphen '[a] noble', pl. erphin, and raud 'champion/eminent man', pl. roed (the -e- is again deliberate)
Miscellaneous Units
- Gilded Guard of Lasgalen - Gerthyr-en-Rhovannor ('Defenders/Keepers of the Wilderness'); gerthyr 'defender/keeper' (sing. garthor) formed from gartha- 'to defend/keep'
- Prison Guards (summoned from the Cellar Door) - Gadortirnyr / Tirnyr-en-Ngedyr ('Dungeon-watchers' / 'Watchers of the Dungeons'); here, the Prison Guards and Palace Guards share similar names to complement their similar art design
- White Stag - Faenaras ('Radiant-[white]-stag'); possibly Aras Araw / Faenaras Araw ('Stag of Oromë')
My reasoning for the changes is as follows: My first priority is a faithfulness both to Tolkien's languages and to your faction plan for the Woodland Realm (particularly the flavour that you're aiming for, near as I can guess). I aimed to capture the spirit of each unit's English gloss in the best Sindarin I could manage, with notable exceptions in the Silvan Rangers (which needed distinguishing from the singular Slivan Hunter) and the Slivan Wardens ('warden' would likely translate as tirnor, which is better suited to the Palace Guards).
I also tried to keep the names fairly succinct. When commanding troops on the battlefield, giving orders to each division via a short, easily spoken/understood word or phrase would be more appropriate than using a longer, more descriptive phrase (compare the English names you've given to each unit). It may seem like I'm contradicting myself here with the inclusion of such longer names as the Roed-e-Thaur (Sindar Nobles) and the Gerthyr-en-Rhovannor (Gilded Guard). These can, however, be reduced to the Roed and the Gerthyr ('Nobles' and 'Defenders/Keepers') for use in the heat of battle.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge that these changes are inordinately nitpicky. You've already established the internal LoreTM for the faction and given the elven units a unique identity of their own, and I don't mean to intrude on that. At the very least I hope these can serve as inspiration.
Keep up the fantastic work!
- Giveaway412 likes this
