More of Fëanor

[Noble Elf Lord]

So, my buddy asked me if there are more stories about Fëanor than Sil? I didn't know. Anyone? :D

[Lefty Scaevola]

Nothing really in the way other narrative stories, but there there is further snippit and characterization of him in various parts of HoME, most of which make him look even more selfish and wicked than he does in the published Sil (like him shrugging off acidently burning his yougest son to death at the burning ofthe ships).

[Noble Elf Lord]

Thanks. That's the answer I needed. :)

[Alcuin]

There is also “The Shibboleth of Fëanor” in Peoples of Middle-Earth. Fëanor was the founder of the Lambengolmor, the Ñoldorin “loremasters of tongues”. (Perhaps Tolkien, a philologist, saw himself a Human Lambengolmo. The Lambengolmor were also historians and keepers of other sorts of lore, such as Pengoloð (variants Pengolodh, Pengolod), who recorded much of the history of the First and Second Age up to the destruction of Eregion. It might be noteworthy that Tolkien assigned to Fëanor such a prominent position in his (Tolkien’s) own field.) (The Númenóreans became acquainted with Pengoloð and his writings after the end of the War between the Elves and Sauron when he left Middle-earth for Tol Eressëa: he traveled by sea from Lindon to Númenor, where he sojourned for a time before going into the Uttermost West.)

The “Shibboleth” of Fëanor was the deliberate shift by the Noldor of the initial þ- (“th”) sound to an s- sound. The Noldor would shift the sounds of their words out of preference, or even as a matter of fashion. Fëanor’s mother’s name was Þerindë, and he refused to say “Serindë” instead. He insisted that his family and followers keep the þ-.

[Galin]

Just to add, the þ that arose in proto-Quenya was not quite like the sound of English th as in think. The Elvish þ was made with the tongue-tip behind the back of the upper front teeth, and thus it was closer to s, which in the Noldorin dialect, it would merge with s later, as Alcuin noted.

And to really babble on! In VT 47 & 48 are published some texts from 1967-70. One of them, Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi or ELN ("The Elvish Fingers and Numerals", VT 48) gives an alternative story of Pengoloð...

.... but first off the name appears explained as 'teaching sage' in Tolkien's Words, Phrases, and Passages (at least), and in Sindarin it was said: 'Goloð was used of any sage or loremaster. A teacher of lore was pengoloð. KWEN- (whence kwenedé) 'speak with rational words'

When he returned West might raise a bit of a question mark, since Tolkien appears to have revised his history, or forgot about his earlier history and invented a new one, which is still revising in some sense. The Editors of Vinyar Tengwar explain this well...

Editors Note 25: An earlier and more detailed biographical sketch of Pengoloð appears in Quendi and Eldar (XI:396-97), which describes him as "an Elf of mixed Sindarin and Ñoldorin ancestry, born in Nevrast who lived in Gondolin from its foundation", and who after the fall of Gondolin "collected much material among the survivors of the wars at Sirion's Mouth concerning languages and gesture-systems with which, owing to the isolation of Gondolin, he had not before had any direct acquaintance". He is said to have remained in Middle-earth well into the Second Age to further his studies, dwelling for a time among the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm, but he sailed to Eressëa "when the shadow of Sauron fell upon Eriador".

The account of Pengoloð in ELN differs from this in some points. ELN states that Pengoloð was an Exile, meaning that he was born in Valinor instead of Nevrast and had no Sindarin blood. Also, in ELN Pengoloð is said to have learned something of Khuzdûl "in its archaic form as used in the habitations of the Dwarves in Ered Lindon" (i.e., in Nogrod and Belegost), whereas Quendi and Eldar states that Pengoloð gained his knowledge of Khuzdûl from the Dwarves of Khazad-dûm in the Second Age.

In any case, I'm a Pengolodh fan!

[Attalus]

In any case, I'm a Pengolodh fan!He sounds like an avatar for JRRT, who, if he had been transported to Gondolin, would have done just that!

Fascinating stuff, I am going to have to bookmark this thread and ponder it before I post again.