[Morbidmuch]

I need help with naming an Elvish sword. I have no idea how the Elvish went about naming their weaponry, so any help that can be given is appriciated.

[DarkElfChilde]

Well, not Tolkien, but what I do is name the sword or whatever weapon my character has with a name related to that character.

I'm currently working on my own fantasy novel when I have time to do it, and my main character's swords have a wolf head on the pomel...which is the end of the handle part. It's a long sword and a short sword. One is named Shadow Fang and the other is called Shadow Claw. He's a Rogue type of character, so everything about him is sneaky. Also, his clan name has wolf in it. Very fitting.

Hope this helps you, and if you need to translate it to Elvish, there's plenty of good Tolkien-Elvish sites you can use.

[NeumeIndil]

Thought: Elves didn't always name their swords, or at least not always their own. The first example I can think of is from The Hobbit: Gandalf and Bilbo both carried swords (or a sword and a really friggin' long knife, considering the size difference) that the Orcs they were fighting christened 'Beater' and 'Biter'.

I'd say: pick a name you like for the sword (one of my characters carried one called 'Anda' from the Old English/Norse word for fear or dread) and then translate it into the appropriate tongue. The Quenya Lapseparma can be a good resource for human/creature names (A sword called Gary? ) but for "things", I'd go to the Encyclopedia of Arda as a jumping point first.

[NancyBrooke]

I would suggest fIrst naming the sword, then translating the name e.g. 'Foe eater', or 'fearless', 'silver bright', etc. then look up the Sindarin (Quenya?) that most closely matches those words.

A resource I like is here: http://www.realelvish.net/namelists.php

and, by the by, Beater and Biter did have Elven names given by their makers and engraved on them: Orcrist, meaning Goblin Cleaver, and Glamdring, the Foe Hammer. They were forged specifically for the Goblin Wars and so, apparently, were well enough known to the goblins of the Misty Mountains for them to have Orc names.

You can actually see the engraving on Orcrist in the picture of Richard Armitage as Thorin Oakenshield here:

http://www-images.theonering.org/torwp/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/thorin-richardarmitage.jpg

if you're a total geek like me and you look closely enough.

[Viv]

In Silm, there's the example of Anguriel and Anglachel/Gurthang, but those are cosmically important swords. Their names reference the fact that they were formed from meteorites, so if your sword has some interesting history attached, that might be part of the naming.

[MegW7]

I'm with NancyBrooke... name the sword first, then look for the translation. There may be people in this forum who are knowledgeable enough in all matters Elvish to translate for you... or you could also go to Council of Elrond or find a dictionary online to help you translate the name.

I personally think it's pretty cool to name the sword... why wouldn't you?! All my "I can't live without" gadgets have names !

[Sulriel]

try this link for a good naming resource: http://www.elffetish.com/names.html