Need a sindarin word for Phalanx

inglor · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:43 am Post subject: Need a sindarin word for Phalanx

I am writing a fic where the Elves will use a phalanx. For those of you who don't know, the phalanx was a formation of heavily armored infantry that used spears to thrust and heavy shields. The basic fomation consisted of 8 or more lines of men, the front 4 rows held their spears pointing forward and the remaining men held their spears with the points skyward so that the whole formation resembled a porcupine. Phalanx is a Greek term and I don't want to use a word that won't be invented for 14+ millenia.

Inglor the Great Wink

Thuriniel · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 11:51 am Post subject:

Inglor the Great asking Great Questions Laughing

...

Well, obviously there is no word for phalanx ... can you think of an expression that would convey the concept? I was thinking about "formation of eight" ...

Dírnaith-en-doloth

But then I don't think this would be very accurate ...

I gotta go to work, I'll give it more thought ... maybe SpaceWeavil will be able to help, she's good with this type of questions Wink

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inglor · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:23 pm Post subject:

I thinking more along the lines of "Forest of Spears" or "Wall of Spikes" or "Spikey Turtle" or some kind of spikey slow moving animal. If we had the name for porcupine it would be great.

The Greek word means: "line of battle"

Maybe that will help

sindohte · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 1:34 pm Post subject:

Here's a thought Inglor - even if you did use the word phalanx, it might not be a term with which every reader would be familiar. And even if you are able to find a Sindarin equivalent for phalanx, you are still probably going to have to describe what the battle formation looks like in order to get the reader to visualize the battle scene. So it might be less hassle to just describe the formation. But I will take a look at my nice, new Sindarin grammar book that I got for Christmas and see what I can find for you. Very Happy

SpaceWeavil · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:36 pm Post subject:

Thuriniel · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:39 pm Post subject:

Forest of Spears:

taur-in-ich

Wall of Spikes:

ram-i-chebir

Apparently the dashes are optional, Tolkien was inconsistent with the use of dashes in the genitive cases. I guess you could also combine the words ... but that always scares me Laughing

. I think that "taurinnich" would be a safe bet ...

Sind ... what book did you get?

sindohte · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:44 pm Post subject:

A Gateway to Sindarin - it seems to be quite comprehensive but I have only skimmed over a small bit of it. One of my New Years Resolutions is to read books on other subjects besides Tolkien Laughing

SpaceWeavil · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:45 pm Post subject:

inglor · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:47 pm Post subject:

Sind... I'm a guy... did you really think I was going to write about a combat formation and NOT describe it in intimate detail??? I will have trouble losing readers to too much detail. Razz

I really need it for shorthand reasons, the formation will play a prominant role in several battles. It is a specialized unit and I wanted a sure way to let the reader know I was talking about it and not just a bunch of infantry.

Edit: I wrote that ^ before Thuri and Space answered.

Thanks, ladies. Again this is a great place.

Inglor the Terrible

inglor · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:56 pm Post subject:

Thuriniel · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:56 pm Post subject:

SpaceWeavil · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 2:59 pm Post subject:

Thuriniel · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 3:18 pm Post subject:

My dictionary gives it as Cebir too ... Gebir is the lenited form.

Thuriniel · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 5:52 pm Post subject:

SpaceWeavil · Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2005 6:14 pm Post subject:

Hopefully it'll come out in the UK as well. I only have one proper book on elvish, which is by J Allen I think, and I'm not altogether impressed by it. Not that it's inaccurate or anything like that, but it really just is a collection of essays on different languages, and not much use for us fan fic writers who want to use the stuff Laughing

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Need a sindarin word for Phalanx