The Tengwar were the most ancient; for they had been developed by
the Noldor, the kindred of the Eldar most skilled in such matters, long before
their exile. The oldest Eldarin letters, the Tengwar of Rúmil, were not used in
Middle-earth. The later letters, the Tengwar of Fëanor, were largely a new
invention, though they owed something to the letters of Rúmil. They were
brought to Middle-earth by the exiled Noldor, and so became known to the Edain
and the Númenorians.
It appears the change was made before the Noldor left Valinor, so what prompted
the change? Was the old form not good enough? I could understand a new alphabet
being formed after the schism formed, but not before.
The Cirth were devised first in Beleriand by the Sindar, and were long used
only for inscribing names and brief memorials upon wood or stone. To that
origin they owe their angular shapes, very similar to the runes of our times,
though they differed from these in details and were wholly different in
arrangement. . .
. . . As with their speech the Dwarves made use of such scripts as were
current and many wrote the Fëanorian letters skilfully; but for their own
tongue they adhered to the Cirth, and developed written pen-forms from
them.
But in our world, traditionally the the stone-carving letters come first, and
the written forms after. When writing is still fairly new, it’s reserved for
the very important stuff, the stuff that will be carved on stone, and later the
pen-forms are derived from them. This can be seen in many early Roman
manuscripts, which are written in scripts designed to emulate the writing on
Roman inscriptions, the most famous of which is Trajan’s column (see the link
below for a sample of the writing.) The more fluid written script comes after,
which is what the Dwarves did with the Cirth. The Elves, however, reversed that
order. Why would the written forms of the letters come before the carved forms?
Once they have the written forms, why would they develop entirely new forms for
the inscriptions instead of modifying the forms they already have?
As for the actual forms and the classifications of the letters, the consonants
seem very straightforward, but again I would like to draw your attention to the
way the vowels are treated—that is, they are relegated to subsidiary markings,
even though they are complicated enough (as we know from the rules of
pronunciation) that they would certainly merit (I think) a full set of letters
of their own. I don’t have anything in particular to ask about that, though.
It’s just an
observation.
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But you are welcome to let your pen run as it will (it is horrible writing letters to people with whom you have to be 'careful'), since you give me such close attention, and sensitive perception.
Letters #179
