Help me translate a phrase into Quenya

February 21, 2013 4:07 PM

[TolkienFilter] A friend of mine would like to translate the phrase "'plans to give you hope and a future' Jeremiah 29:11" into Quenya. Please help me help her do that.

Quoting now from her message to me: "There doesn't seem to be a word for 'future' in Quenya, so I was thinking about using 'good fortune', 'tomorrow', 'better tomorrow', something like that. I have a transcription tool for getting it in the Tengwar. A Sindarin translation would also be fine, but it looks to me like the vocabulary is more limited and more formal, and I figured 'Jeremiah' would have to just be phonetic. I'd prefer the informal 'you' to the formal 'thee'."

She thinks she does have a translation already, but she would like to double-check it and/or improve on it via the hivemind. If it matters, it's for a tattoo, I believe. She would like the chapter and verse notation translated also. Thanks very much.

posted by Errant to Writing & Language (2 answers total)

Maybe check out Elvish.org. However, note that their FAQ seems to be almost entirely devoted to the purpose of telling you that what your friend is hoping for is quite probably not even possible. Tolkein's various languages are not really fleshed out enough.

With that said, check out their resources page.
posted by Flunkie at 4:44 PM on February 21, 2013

If you find someone willing to help you, Strongs might help with attempting to translate directly from the Hebrew that the weeping prophet wrote that phrase in,

כִּי֩ אָנֹכִ֨י יָדַ֜עְתִּי אֶת־ הַמַּחֲשָׁבֹ֗ת אֲשֶׁ֧ר אָנֹכִ֛י חֹשֵׁ֥ב עֲלֵיכֶ֖ם נְאֻם־ יְהוָ֑ה מַחְשְׁבֹ֤ות שָׁלֹום֙ וְלֹ֣א לְרָעָ֔ה לָתֵ֥ת לָכֶ֖ם אַחֲרִ֥ית וְתִקְוָֽה׃

posted by Blasdelb at 2:46 AM on February 22, 2013