Talk:Pel

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Latest comment: 13 July 2011 by Morgan in topic Only in et-pel?

Only in et-pel?[edit source]

I find that phrase rather odd, as there are other forms listed among the examples. And it's in Calembel too (where it has the apparent meaning of "town"{{or}}). -- Ederchil (Talk/Contribs/Edits) 16:30, 13 July 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]

It depends on how we define "attested". From what I've understood from the usage among linguists, a Sindarin word (for example) is only properly attested if it
  • (a) is given the proper language designation (or if that can be directly derived from the context)
  • (b) the word appears in an unreconstructed form.
The problem with Sindarin pel is that there seems to be no place where these two criterias are fulfilled. That it turns up in a compound (and can be reconstructed by using Sindarin grammatical rules) is a good evidence for the existence of such a word in Sindarin, but this is properly a "theory".
The best online dictionary of Sindarin words is Hisweloke, and the only reference given for pel is from the Noldorin appearance of the word in the Etymologies (and actually Didier Willis seems to have missed the correction to Noldorin pêl in VT46). Now, the major problem with this is that we can only guess how the word would have turned out in Sindarin.
This is a lengthy reply (and I might have said many things which are obvious), but I have understood that my many tweaks on linguistic articles are going to cause a stir sooner or later! ;-) --Morgan 16:47, 13 July 2011 (UTC)Reply[reply]