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01-28-2016, 04:13 PM | #1 |
Regal Dwarven Shade
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: A Remote Dwarven Hold
Posts: 3,591
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Demonyms
A very simple question (well, two questions...well, two and a related third).
Why is it Gondorians instead of Gondorrim? Similarly, why is it Numenorians instead of Numenorrim? I initially thought it was to avoid being pejorative (i.e. Haradrim) but the greatest allies of Gondor were the Rohirrim, so that might not be the case...at least not directly. Perhaps it was still a bit of cultural pretension of "-rim" not being used to describe directly Edainic peoples (I say "directly" because the Rohirrim were of ultimate Edainic extraction). A related question would be...Elves did not generally seem to have "national" demonyms for themselves, at least to my recollection. What would an Elf of Nargothrond have called himself, if anything?
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01-28-2016, 04:26 PM | #2 |
Blossom of Dwimordene
Join Date: Oct 2010
Location: The realm of forgotten words
Posts: 10,401
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Never thought about it. Could it have something to do with the Common Tongue, where the "-rim" ending is only kept as an exception, in imitation of Elvish (or at least the Gondorian dialect)? Perhaps it was Gondorrim and Numenorrim when spoken in their language.
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01-29-2016, 05:29 AM | #3 | |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: The Deepest Forges of Ered Luin
Posts: 733
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Quote:
We do this in English: Scotland = Scottish England = English Ireland = Irish Japan = Japanese Portugal = Portuguese Taiwan = Taiwanese Russia = Russian Lithuania = Lithuanian Bulgaria = Bulgarian Because it's English, and English is essentially a square peg of French hammered into a round hole of German, it isn't always consistent. But, I think it's the same idea.
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01-29-2016, 07:45 AM | #4 |
Ghost Prince of Cardolan
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Lonely Isle
Posts: 706
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Because Tolkien wrote it that way
One answer to your question, Kuruharan, ones that's a little tongue in cheek, is that it's because Tolkien wrote things that way.
For example, he wrote 'Middle-earth', not 'Middle Earth'; so we and other fans who write about him and his works tend to write that title according to the first example, with the dash. You asked a good question, and Galadriel55 and Andsigil offered some good answers. |
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elves, gondor, names |
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