Cirth: Difference between revisions

{{short description|Artificial script in the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien}}

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>{{cite book |title=Mittelerde: Tolkien und die germanische Mythologie |trans-title=Middle-earth: Tolkien and Germanic Mythology |first=Rudolf |last=Simek |language=de |author-link=Rudolf Simek |pages=155–156 |publisher=C. H. Beck |year=2005 |isbn=3-406-52837-6 }}</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>{{cite conference  |last=Smith |first=Arden R. |author-link=Arden R. Smith |title=The Semiotics of the Writing Systems of Tolkien's Middle-earth |book-title=Semiotics Around the World: Synthesis in Diversity. Proceedings of the Fifth Congress of the International Association for Semiotic Studies, Berkeley, 1994 |editor-first=Irmengard |editor-last=Rauch |editor-link=Irmengard Rauch |editor2-first=Gerald F. |editor2-last=Carr |pages=1239–1242 |volume=1 |publisher=[[Walter de Gruyter]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-3-11-012223-7 }}</ref>

   |{{note|ADch||The ''certh'' [[File:Certh 13.svg|16px|class=skin-invert-image]] indicates Quenya {{angbr|ty}}, which is pronounced {{nowrap|{{IPA|[c^⁽ȷ̊^⁾]}}}} in Noldorin<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tolkien |first1=J. R. R. |author-link= J. R. R. Tolkien |date=2015-06-12 |title=The Feanorian Alphabet (Part 1) and Quenya Verb Structure: Qenya Grammar – Spelling and Transcription |url=http://www.eldalamberon.com/parma22.html |journal=[[Parma Eldalamberon]] |issue=22 |page=66 |quote={{angbr|ty}} is pronounced as a 'front explosive' [c], as e.g. Hungarian ''ty''; but it is followed by an appreciable partly unvoiced ''y''-offglide<!--[ȷ̊᪻]-->.}}</ref> but is a [[voiceless postalveolar affricate]] {{IPA|[t͡ʃ]}} in Vanyarin.<ref name="RE">{{cite web |url=https://realelvish.net/pronunciation/quenya/ |title=Quenya pronunciation |website=RealElvish.net |access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref>}}

 

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|[[File:Certh 17.svg|20px|class=skin-invert-image]]||z||{{IPA|/z/}}

|[[File:Certh 18.svg|20px|class=skin-invert-image]]||k||{{IPA|/k/}}

|[[File:Certh 19.svg|20px|class=skin-invert-image]]||g||{{IPA|/ɡ/}}

|[[File:Certh 20.svg|20px|class=skin-invert-image]]||kh||{{IPA|/x/}}^★

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]].{{citation needed|reason=a random post on imgur is not a sufficiently reliable source to pass muster under [[WP:RS]]|date=October 2021}}

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">{{cite book |title=[[The Hobbit]]|first=J.R.R. |last=Tolkien |author-link=J.R.R. Tolkien |publisher=London: George Allen & Unwin. |year=1937}}</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>{{cite web |url= https://www.tolkienestate.com/en/learning/languages-and-writing-systems/writing-systems.html |title= Writing Systems |first=Arden R. |last=Smith |author-link=Arden R. Smith |website= The Tolkien Estate |quote= The runic alphabet used on Thror's Map and elsewhere in The Hobbit is not the Angerthas, but is rather the futhorc used by the Anglo-Saxons in England over a thousand years ago, adapted by Tolkien for the representation of modern English. |access-date= December 30, 2020}}</ref>

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 Tolkien|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>{{cite journal |last=Hyde |first=Paul Nolan |date=July 1992 |title=Quenti Lambardillion: The 'Gondolinic Runes': Another Picture |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2370&context=mythlore |journal=[[Mythlore]] |volume=18 |issue=3, no. 69}}</ref> The system was reanalyzed by [[Carl F. Hostetter]], who corrected the reading of the χ̑ rune to an ''[[Voiceless palatal fricative|ich-laut]]'' (voiceless palatal fricative)''.''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hostetter |first=Carl |last2=Baynes |first2=Pauline |last3=Martsch |first3=Nancy |date=1992-10-15 |title=Letters |url=https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol18/iss4/12/ |journal=Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature |volume=18 |issue=4 |issn=0146-9339}}</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>{{Cite book |last=Tolkien |first=J. R. R. |editor-last1=Gilson |editor-first1=Christopher |editor-last2=Smith |editor-first2=Arden |editor-last3=Wynne |editor-first3=Patrick |editor-last4=Welden |editor-first4=Bill |url=https://archive.org/details/parma-eldalamberon-15 |title=Parma Eldalamberon 15 |date=2004}}</ref>

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A formal [[Unicode]] proposal to encode Cirth as a separate script was made in September 1997 by [[Michael Everson]].<ref>{{cite web|url= http://std.dkuug.dk/JTC1/SC2/WG2/docs/n1642/n1642.htm|title=N1642: Proposal to encode Cirth in Plane 1 of ISO/IEC 10646-2 | first = Michael | last = Everson | publisher=Working Group Document, ISO/IEC JTC1/SC2/WG2 and UTC|date=1997-09-18|access-date=2015-08-08}}</ref>