Cirth
Template:Short description Template:Infobox writing system The Cirth (Template:IPA, meaning "runes"; sg. certh Template:IPA) is a semi‑artificial script, based on real‑life runic alphabets, one of several scripts invented by J. R. R. Tolkien for the constructed languages he devised and used in his works. Cirth is written with a capital letter when referring to the writing system; the letters themselves can be called cirth.
In the fictional history of Middle-earth, the original Certhas was created by the Sindar (or Grey Elves) for their language, Sindarin. Its extension and elaboration was known as the Angerthas Daeron, as it was attributed to the Sinda Daeron, despite the fact that it was most probably arranged by the Noldor in order to represent the sounds of other languages like Quenya and Telerin.
Although it was later largely replaced by the Tengwar, the Cirth was nonetheless adopted by the Dwarves to write down both their Khuzdul language (Angerthas Moria) and the languages of Men (Angerthas Erebor). The Cirth was also adapted, in its oldest and simplest form, by various races including Men and even Orcs.
External history
[edit]Concept and creation
[edit]
Many letters have shapes also found in the historical runic alphabets, but their sound values are only similar in a few of the vowels. Rather, the system of assignment of sound values is much more systematic in the Cirth than in the historical runes (e.g., voiced variants of a voiceless sound are expressed by an additional stroke).
The division between the older Cirth of Daeron and their adaptation by Dwarves and Men has been interpreted as a parallel drawn by Tolkien to the development of the Fuþorc to the Younger Fuþark.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The original Elvish Cirth "as supposed products of a superior culture" are focused on logical arrangement and a close connection between form and value whereas the adaptations by mortal races introduced irregularities. Similar to the Germanic tribes who had no written literature and used only simple runes before their conversion to Christianity, the Sindarin Elves of Beleriand with their Cirth were introduced to the more elaborate Tengwar of Fëanor when the Noldorin Elves returned to Middle-earth from the lands of the divine Valar.<ref>Template:Cite conference</ref>
Internal history and description
[edit]Certhas
[edit]In the Appendix E to The Return of the King, Tolkien writes that the Sindar of Beleriand first developed an alphabet for their language some time between the invention of the Tengwar by Fëanor (YT 1250) and the introduction thereof to Middle-earth by the Exiled Noldor towards the end of the First Age.<ref name="Tolkien 1955">Template:Cite book</ref>
This alphabet was devised to represent only the sounds of their Sindarin language and its letters were mostly used for inscribing names or brief memorials on wood, stone or metal, hence their angular shapes and straight lines.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> In Sindarin these letters were named cirth (sing. certh), from the Elvish root *kir- meaning "to cleave, to cut".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> An abecedarium of cirth, consisting of the runes listed in due order, was commonly known as Certhas (Template:IPA, meaning "rune-rows" in Sindarin and loosely translated as "runic alphabet"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>).
The oldest cirth were the following:<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/>
| Consonants | ᚹ p | ᚱ b | ᛳ mh | ᛒ m | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ᛚ t | ᚨ d | ᛏ n | |||
| ᚴ k | ᚠ g | ᛉ ng | |||
| ᛕ r | ᛅ l | ᚳ ~ ᚳ h or s | ᚲ s or h | ᚷ ss | |
| Vowels | ᛁ i | ᛟ u | ᚺ e | ᚢ o |
The form of these letters was somewhat unsystematic, unlike later rearrangements and extensions that made them more featural.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> The cirth File:Certh 13.svg and File:Certh 35.svg were used for Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, but varied as to which was which.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> Many of the runes consisted of a single vertical line (or "stem") with an appendage (or "branch") attached to one or both sides. If the attachment was made on one side only, it was usually to the right, but "the reverse was not infrequent" and did not change the value of the letter.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> (For example, the variants File:Certh 13.svg or File:Certh 15.svg specifically mentioned for h or s, also File:Certh 8.svg or File:Certh 10.svg for t, etc.).
Angerthas Daeron
[edit]In Beleriand, before the end of the First Age, the Certhas was rearranged and further developed, partly under the influence of the Tengwar introduced by the Noldor. This reorganisation of the Cirth was commonly attributed to the Elf Daeron, minstrel and loremaster of King Thingol of Doriath. Thus, the new system became known as the Angerthas Daeron<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> (where "angerthas" Template:Nowrap is from Sindarin Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap + "certhas" Template:IPA, meaning "long rune-rows"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>).
In this arrangement, the assignment of values to each certh is systematic. The runes consisting of a stem and a branch attached to the right are used for voiceless stops, while other sounds are allocated according to the following principles:<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/>
- adding a stroke to a branch adds voice (e.g., File:Certh 1.svg Template:IPA → File:Certh 2.svg Template:IPA);
- moving the branch to the left indicates opening to a spirant (e.g., File:Certh 8.svg Template:IPA → File:Certh 10.svg Template:IPA);
- placing the branch on both sides of the stem adds voice and nasality (e.g., File:Certh 18.svg Template:IPA → File:Certh 22.svg Template:IPA).
The cirth constructed in this way can therefore be arranged into series, each corresponding to a place of articulation:
- labial consonants, based on File:Certh 1.svg;
- dental consonants, based on File:Certh 8.svg;
- front consonants, based on File:Certh 13.svg;
- velar consonants, based on File:Certh 18.svg;
- labialized velar consonants, based on File:Certh 23.svg.
Other letters introduced in this system include: File:Certh 48.svg and Template:Nowrap for Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr, respectively; runes for long vowels, evidently originated by doubling and binding the certh of the corresponding short vowel (e.g., Template:Nowrap → Template:Nowrap two front vowels, probably stemming from ligatures of the corresponding back vowel with the Template:Angbr-certh (i.e., Template:Nowrap → Template:Nowrap, and Template:Nowrap → Template:Nowrap some homorganic nasal + stop clusters (e.g., Template:Nowrap
Back to the fictional history, since the new Template:Nowrap and Template:Nowrap encompass sounds which do not occur in Sindarin but are present in Quenya, they were most probably introduced by the Exiled Noldor<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> who spoke Quenya as a language of knowledge.
By loan-translation, the Cirth became known in Quenya as Certar Template:IPA, while a single certh was called certa Template:IPA.
After the Tengwar became the sole script used for writing, the Angerthas Daeron was essentially relegated to carved inscriptions. The Elves of the West, for the most part, abandoned the Cirth altogether, with the exception of the Noldor dwelling in the country of Eregion, who maintained it in use<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> and made it known as Angerthas Eregion.
Note: In this article, the runes of the Angerthas come with the same peculiar transliteration used by Tolkien in the Appendix E, which differs from the (Latin) spelling of both Quenya and Sindarin. The IPA transcription that follows is applicable to both languages, except where indicated otherwise.
Notes: Template:Ordered list
Angerthas Moria
[edit]According to Tolkien's legendarium, the Dwarves first came to know the runes of the Noldor at the beginning of the Second Age. The Dwarves "introduced a number of unsystematic changes in value, as well as certain new cirth".<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> They modified the previous system to suit the specific needs of their language, Khuzdul. The Dwarves spread their revised alphabet to Moria, where it came to be known as Angerthas Moria, and developed both carved and pen-written forms of these runes.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/>
Many cirth here represent sounds not occurring in Khuzdul<ref>Template:Cite thesis</ref> (at least in published words of Khuzdul: of course, our corpus is very limited to judge the necessity or not, of these sounds). Here they are marked with a black star (★).
Notes:
| A. | Template:NoteThe Khuzdul language has two glottal consonants: Template:IPA and Template:IPA, the latter being "the glottal beginning of a word with an initial vowel".<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> Thus, in need of a reversible certh to represent these sounds, File:Certh 54.svg and File:Certh 34.svg were switched, giving the former the value Template:IPA and using the latter for Template:IPA, and its reversed counterpart File:Certh 35.svg for Template:IPA. |
| B. | Template:NoteThese cirth were a halved form of File:Certh 46.svg, used for vowels like those in the word Template:Angbr Template:IPAc-en. Thus, File:Certh 55.svg represented a Template:IPA sound in unstressed syllables, while File:Certh 56.svg represented Template:IPA, a somehow similar sound, in stressed syllables. When weak they were reduced to a stroke without a stem (File:Certh 55a.svg, File:Certh 56a.svg).<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> |
| C. | Template:NoteThis letter denotes aspiration in voiceless stops, occurring frequently in Khuzdul as kh and th.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> |
| D. | Template:NoteThis certh is a scribal abbreviation used to represent a conjunction, and is basically identical to the ampersand Template:Angbr used in Latin script. |
Template:Center
In Angerthas Moria the cirth File:Certh 14.svg Template:IPA and File:Certh 16.svg Template:IPA were dropped. Thus File:Certh 29.svg and File:Certh 30.svg were adopted for Template:IPA and Template:IPA, although they were used for Template:IPA and Template:IPA in Elvish languages. Subsequently, this script used the certh File:Certh 12.svg for Template:IPA, which had the sound Template:IPA in the Elvish systems. Therefore, the certh File:Certh 22.svg (which was previously used for the sound Template:IPA, useless in Khuzdul) was adopted for the sound Template:IPA. A totally new introduction was the certh File:Certh 53.svg, used as an alternative, simplified and, maybe, weaker form of File:Certh 22.svg. Because of the visual relation of these two cirth, the certh File:Certh 17.svg was given the sound Template:IPA to relate better with File:Certh 54.svg that, in this script, had the sound Template:IPA.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/>
Angerthas Erebor
[edit]At the beginning of the Third Age the Dwarves were driven out of Moria, and some migrated to Erebor. As the Dwarves of Erebor would trade with the Men of the nearby towns of Dale and Lake-town, they needed a script to write in Westron (the lingua franca of Middle-earth, usually rendered in English by Tolkien in his works). The Angerthas Moria was adapted accordingly: some new cirth were added, while some were restored to their Elvish usage, thus creating the Angerthas Erebor.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/>
While the Angerthas Moria was still used to write down Khuzdul, this new script was primarily used for Mannish languages. It is also the script used in the first and third page of the Book of Mazarbul.Template:Citation needed
Angerthas Erebor also features combining diacritics:
- a circumflex File:Certh Circumflex.png used to denote long consonants;
- a macron below File:Certh Macron below.png to indicate a long vowel sound;
- an underdot File:Certh Underdot.png to mark cirth used as numerals. As a matter of fact, in the Book of Mazarbul some cirth are used as numerals: File:Certh 39.svg for 1, File:Certh 50.svg for 2, File:Certh 52.svg for 3, File:Gondolin rune b.svg for 4, File:Certh 22.svg for 5.
The Angerthas Erebor is used twice in The Lord of the Rings to write in English:
- in the upper inscription of the title page, where it reads "[dh]ə·lord·ov·[dh]ə·riŋs·translatᵊd·from·[dh]ə·red·b[oo]k' ..." (the sentence follows in the bottom inscription, written in Tengwar: "... of Westmarch by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien. Herein is set forth/ the history of the War of the Ring and the Return of the King as seen by the Hobbits.");
- in the bottom inscription of Balin's tomb—being the translation of the upper inscription, which is written in Khuzdul using Angerthas Moria.
The Book of Mazarbul shows some additional cirth used in Angerthas Erebor: one for a double Template:Angbr ligature, one for the definite article, and six for the representation of the same number of English diphthongs:
Notes:
| A. | Template:NoteThis certh is a scribal abbreviation used to represent the definite article. Although in English it stands for Template:Angbr, it can assume different values according to the used language. |
| ∗. | Template:NoteThe cirth marked with an asterisk are unique to Angerthas Erebor. |
Other runic scripts by Tolkien
[edit]The Cirth is not the only runic writing system used by Tolkien in his legendarium. In fact, he devised a great number of runic alphabets, of which only a few others have been published. Some of these are included in the "Appendix on Runes" of The Treason of Isengard (The History of Middle-earth, vol. VII), edited by Christopher Tolkien.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Runes from The Hobbit
[edit]According to Tolkien himself, those found in The Hobbit are a form of "English runes" used in lieu of the Dwarvish runes proper.<ref name="Hobbit">Template:Cite book</ref> They can be interpreted as an attempt made by Tolkien to adapt the Fuþorc (i.e., the Old English runic alphabet) to the Modern English language.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
These runes are basically the same found in Fuþorc, but their sound may change according to their position, just like the letters of the Latin script: the writing mode used by Tolkien is, in this case, mainly orthographic.<ref name="Lindberg">Template:Cite web</ref> This means that the system has one rune for each Latin letter, regardless of pronunciation.<ref name="Lindberg"/> For example, the rune File:Certh 13.svg Template:Angbr can sound Template:IPAc-en in Template:Angbr, Template:IPAc-en in Template:Angbr, Template:IPAc-en in Template:Angbr, and even Template:IPAc-en in the digraph Template:Nowrap Template:Angbr.<ref>Template:Cite letter</ref>
A few sounds are instead written with the same rune, without considering the English spelling. For example, the sound Template:IPAc-en is always written with the rune File:Certh 24.svg whether in English it is spelt Template:Angbr as in Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr as in Template:Angbr, or Template:Angbr as in Template:Angbr. The only two letters that are subject to this phonemic spelling are Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr.<ref name="Lindberg"/>
Finally, some runes stand for particular English digraphs and diphthongs.<ref name="Hobbit"/><ref name="Lindberg"/>
Here the runes used in The Hobbit are displayed along with their Fuþorc counterpart and corresponding English grapheme:
Notes: Template:Ordered list
| English grapheme | Sound value (IPA) |
Rune |
|---|---|---|
| Template:Angbr | Template:IPAc-en | File:Certh 9.svg |
| every other sound | File:Tolkien's Futhorc A.svg | |
| Template:IPAc-en | File:Certh 24.svg | |
| Template:Angbr | every sound | |
| Template:Angbr | Template:IPAc-en | |
| every other sound | File:Certh 5.svg |
Gondolinic runes
[edit]Not all the runes mentioned in The Hobbit are Dwarf-runes. The swords found in the Trolls' cave bore runes that Gandalf could not read. In fact, the swords Glamdring and Orcrist (which were forged in the ancient kingdom of Gondolin) bore a type of letters known as Gondolinic runes. They seem to have become obsolete and been forgotten by the Third Age, and this is supported by the fact that only Elrond could still read the inscriptions on the swords.<ref name="Hobbit"/>
Tolkien devised this runic alphabet in a very early stage of his shaping of Middle-earth. Nevertheless, they are known to us from a slip of paper that Tolkien wrote; his son Christopher sent a photocopy of it to Paul Nolan Hyde in February 1992. Hyde published it, with an extensive analysis, in the 1992 Summer issue of Mythlore, no. 69.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The system was reanalyzed by Carl F. Hostetter, who corrected the reading of the χ̑ rune to an ich-laut (voiceless palatal fricative).<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Later, in Parma Eldalamberon 15, the original manuscript including a script variety of Gondolinic, the first cursive form of any of Tolkien's runic scripts, was presented.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
The system provides sounds not found in any of the known Elvish languages of the First Age, but perhaps it was designed for a variety of languages. However, the consonants seem to be, more or less, the same found in Welsh phonology, a theory supported by the fact that Tolkien was heavily influenced by Welsh when creating Elvish languages.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
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Encoding schemes
[edit]Unicode
[edit]Equivalents for some (but not all) cirth can be found in the Runic block of Unicode.
Tolkien's mode of writing Modern English in Anglo-Saxon runes received explicit recognition with the introduction of his three additional runes to the Runic block with the release of Unicode 7.0, in June 2014. The three characters represent the English Template:Angbr, Template:Angbr and Template:Angbr graphemes, as follows:
A formal Unicode proposal to encode Cirth as a separate script was made in September 1997 by Michael Everson.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> No action was taken by the Unicode Technical Committee (UTC) but Cirth appears in the Roadmap to the SMP.<ref name="roadmapsmp">Template:Cite web</ref>
ConScript Unicode Registry
[edit]Template:Infobox Unicode block
Unicode Private Use Area layouts for Cirth are defined at the ConScript Unicode Registry (CSUR)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Under-ConScript Unicode Registry (UCSUR).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Two different layouts are defined by the CSUR/UCSUR:
- 1997-11-03 proposal<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> implemented by fonts like GNU Unifont<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Code2000.
- 2000-04-22 discussion paper<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> implemented by fonts like Constructium and Fairfax.
Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols below instead of Cirth.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]Template:Languages of Middle-earth Template:Middle-earth Template:Constructed languagesTemplate:List of writing systems