Maendeithad Edhellen by D. Andriës

Maendeithad Edhellen

by D. Daniel Andriës

D. Daniel Andriës (Uialdil) is 39 years old and lives in Shreveport, Lousiana, USA. He is of Greek origin. Maendeithad Edhellen means 'Elvish Hand-writting'. Uialdil writes: In general I usually write the tehtar in a different colour than the tengwar. I like using gold leaf (vide Namárië especially!). I tend to use doubled tehtar to represent é, ó and ú rather than the long carrier. I very often use extended stem variations of Grades 3 and 4; J.R.R. Tolkien said that this is permissible. He did so himself in the Ring Inscription.

All the twelve tengwar calligraphy pieces presented below are newly executed exclusively for Gwaith-i-Phethdain, so no one else has seen them yet. I hope they meet with your approval.

Other pieces of his wonderful artwork can be found here.

Ae Adar Nín or Tolkien's Pater noster in Sindarin This is Tolkien's Sindarin translation of most of the Lord's Prayer. He left the last two lines untranslated, but his notes show that he intended to use úthaes as the word for temptation (cognate with Q. úsahtië). To give the look of the final portion of the prayer being "lost", I have portrayed the prayer as being a fragment, maybe rescued from a burning Sindarin missal. The calligraphy style is seldom mentioned, but is one of the most beautiful Tengwar styles designed by Tolkien.

The Elvish Scribal Hand Letter Set Several people have asked to see the full range of Tengwar characters in my Elvish Scribal Hand style. Here I present all the Tengwar from the chart plus the extended stem Tengwar, the carriers, alternate forms, special characters used by Tolkien for English and Old English, ligatures, numerals, punctuation marks and tehtar. At the end is an example of Roman letters made to resemble Tengwar.

Quenya Calligraphy Fragments This was a calligraphy exercise to illustrate different styles of Tengwar Calligraphy. The Elen síla... greeting is in a straightforward Formal Book Hand. Elendil's Declaration (Et Eärello... etc.) is written in my version of Gothic Tengwar which I call Elftext. Cirion's Oath is in my Elvish Scribal Hand style. Heru i Million (Lord of the Rings in Quenya) is another example of Formal Book Hand.

Namárië or The Galadriel's Lament (version 2) This Quenya text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapter VIII. My own personal tengwar calligraphy style; I call it 'Elven scribal hand'. It is characterised by swashes, ligatures and a narrow first bow on double-bowed tengwar. I followed J.R.R. Tolkien's tengwar rendition of the Lament with three notable differences: I used double tehtar for most long vowels, I corrected the few tehtar scribal errors and I used súlë insted of silmë to write sindanóriello and hísië. Those into Eldarin linguistics know why!

Aia María 'Hail Mary'. The portrait of the Theotokos and Child is in watercolours and gold leaf, and is modeled on many Greek and Russian examples (Children raised in Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine rite Catholic households are convinced that this was what Virgin Mary actually looked like based on the icons of her!). The frame surrounding the painting bears the English text of the 'Hail Mary' written in cirth. The Quenya tengwar text is painted in watercolours with with small flat brushes on paper printed with roses in ivory and gold. Though the double dot 'i' and triple dot 'following y' tehtar were not commonly used, they are attested in a calligraphic manuscript of "Namárie" executed by Tolkien himself.

Átaremma 'Our Father'. It is my rendering of Tolkien's Our Father in Quenya as published in Vinyar Tengwar #43. The original is on kidskin vellum and measures 20'' x 16''. The calligraphy was done in purple and carmine fountain India ink and gold leaf. The representation of Christ is based on Byzantine icons. The orb reads: Á cene i Sáro (transl. 'Behold the Saviour'). The style of calligraphy is my take on formal book hand excerpt for the enlarged versals initial letters of Erumande and Násie and the ornamental pointed style letters forming the first word, Ataremma. This is the second version of this artwork.

Ádarem 'Our Father'. My interpretation of formal book hand style on rose vellum. As Richard Derdzinski stated that this is in the dialect of Imladris, I used the mode of Beleriand. The Celtic style style seraphim represented as winged lions and Celtic knotwork columns seem to harmonise with the Celtic-influenced letter forms. The inscription at the bottom is my own addition: Uin maerhiniath be Aer-Vattíthu 'From the gospel (lit. 'good news') according to Saint (lit. 'Holy') Matthew (from Hebrew Mattîthiyâh, lenited).

Namárië or The Galadriel's Lament (version 1) This Quenya text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapter VIII. My own personal tengwar calligraphy style; I call it 'Elven scribal hand'. It is characterised by swashes, ligatures and a narrow first bow on double-bowed tengwar. I followed J.R.R. Tolkien's tengwar rendition of the Lament with three notable differences: I used double tehtar for most long vowels, I corrected the few tehtar scribal errors and I used súlë insted of silmë to write sindanóriello and hísië. Those into Eldarin linguistics know why!

Suilad Aran Edhelharn or The King's Letter found in the Sauron Defeated, p. 128. I followed the mode of the King's Letter, Version III, but the word order in the Sindarin Corpus list on Ardalambion. Again I used Elven scribal hand, with the greeting and post-script in the pointed style. I changed the mode used to write Elessar Telcontar'. I felt more comfortable with a Quenya name written in a Quenya mode.

A Elbereth Gilthoniel. The Sindarin text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapter I. From Imladris, thus the mode of Beleriand. Some may object to the curious style, especially the novel ligatures (en, on, eth, emm, etc.), but this is my adaptation of the tengwar to Church Slavonic letter forms found on easter Orthodox icons. This 'ecclesiastical' style seems to me to be sufficiently reverant for a hymn to Varda.

Markirya. The early Quenya or Qenya text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Monsters and the Critics, p. 221-222. It's rare that I use the pointed style for an entire text, but I chose to do so here as a change from the others. I changed atalantëa to atalantië according to the suggested correction on Ardalambion because it modifies mindonnar and should thus be plural.

Ave Maria or 'Hail Mary'. Text by Ryszard Derdzinski. Many have said that the 'pointed style' is a Gothic rendering of the tengwar, but it's not really. I devised this style, which I call 'Elf-text', which does follow the basic letter forms of Gothic calligraphy. The illustration of the Visitation is based on Byzantine examples. I chose a tehta mode for the Sindarin version because it harmonises better with the Quenya. Besides, I actually prefer representing the vowels with ómatehtar. This is the second version of this artwork.

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	Ae Adar Nín or Tolkien's Pater noster in Sindarin This is Tolkien's Sindarin translation of most of the Lord's Prayer. He left the last two lines untranslated, but his notes show that he intended to use úthaes as the word for temptation (cognate with Q. úsahtië). To give the look of the final portion of the prayer being "lost", I have portrayed the prayer as being a fragment, maybe rescued from a burning Sindarin missal. The calligraphy style is seldom mentioned, but is one of the most beautiful Tengwar styles designed by Tolkien.
	The Elvish Scribal Hand Letter Set Several people have asked to see the full range of Tengwar characters in my Elvish Scribal Hand style. Here I present all the Tengwar from the chart plus the extended stem Tengwar, the carriers, alternate forms, special characters used by Tolkien for English and Old English, ligatures, numerals, punctuation marks and tehtar. At the end is an example of Roman letters made to resemble Tengwar.
	Quenya Calligraphy Fragments This was a calligraphy exercise to illustrate different styles of Tengwar Calligraphy. The Elen síla... greeting is in a straightforward Formal Book Hand. Elendil's Declaration (Et Eärello... etc.) is written in my version of Gothic Tengwar which I call Elftext. Cirion's Oath is in my Elvish Scribal Hand style. Heru i Million (Lord of the Rings in Quenya) is another example of Formal Book Hand.
	Namárië or The Galadriel's Lament (version 2) This Quenya text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapter VIII. My own personal tengwar calligraphy style; I call it 'Elven scribal hand'. It is characterised by swashes, ligatures and a narrow first bow on double-bowed tengwar. I followed J.R.R. Tolkien's tengwar rendition of the Lament with three notable differences: I used double tehtar for most long vowels, I corrected the few tehtar scribal errors and I used súlë insted of silmë to write sindanóriello and *hísië*. Those into Eldarin linguistics know why!
	Aia María 'Hail Mary'. The portrait of the Theotokos and Child is in watercolours and gold leaf, and is modeled on many Greek and Russian examples (Children raised in Eastern Orthodox and Byzantine rite Catholic households are convinced that this was what Virgin Mary actually looked like based on the icons of her!). The frame surrounding the painting bears the English text of the 'Hail Mary' written in cirth. The Quenya tengwar text is painted in watercolours with with small flat brushes on paper printed with roses in ivory and gold. Though the double dot 'i' and triple dot 'following y' tehtar were not commonly used, they are attested in a calligraphic manuscript of "Namárie" executed by Tolkien himself.
	Átaremma 'Our Father'. It is my rendering of Tolkien's Our Father in Quenya as published in Vinyar Tengwar #43. The original is on kidskin vellum and measures 20'' x 16''. The calligraphy was done in purple and carmine fountain India ink and gold leaf. The representation of Christ is based on Byzantine icons. The orb reads: *Á cene i Sáro* (transl. 'Behold the Saviour'). The style of calligraphy is my take on formal book hand excerpt for the enlarged versals initial letters of Erumande and Násie and the ornamental pointed style letters forming the first word, Ataremma. This is the second version of this artwork.
	Ádarem 'Our Father'. My interpretation of formal book hand style on rose vellum. As Richard Derdzinski stated that this is in the dialect of Imladris, I used the mode of Beleriand. The Celtic style style seraphim represented as winged lions and Celtic knotwork columns seem to harmonise with the Celtic-influenced letter forms. The inscription at the bottom is my own addition: *Uin maerhiniath be Aer-Vattíthu* 'From the gospel (lit. 'good news') according to Saint (lit. 'Holy') Matthew (from Hebrew Mattîthiyâh, lenited).
	Namárië or The Galadriel's Lament (version 1) This Quenya text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapter VIII. My own personal tengwar calligraphy style; I call it 'Elven scribal hand'. It is characterised by swashes, ligatures and a narrow first bow on double-bowed tengwar. I followed J.R.R. Tolkien's tengwar rendition of the Lament with three notable differences: I used double tehtar for most long vowels, I corrected the few tehtar scribal errors and I used súlë insted of silmë to write sindanóriello and *hísië*. Those into Eldarin linguistics know why!
	Suilad Aran Edhelharn or The King's Letter found in the Sauron Defeated, p. 128. I followed the mode of the King's Letter, Version III, but the word order in the Sindarin Corpus list on Ardalambion. Again I used Elven scribal hand, with the greeting and post-script in the pointed style. I changed the mode used to write Elessar Telcontar'. I felt more comfortable with a Quenya name written in a Quenya mode.
	*A Elbereth Gilthoniel. The Sindarin text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Lord of the Rings, Book 2, Chapter I. From Imladris, thus the mode of Beleriand. Some may object to the curious style, especially the novel ligatures (en, on, eth, emm*, etc.), but this is my adaptation of the tengwar to Church Slavonic letter forms found on easter Orthodox icons. This 'ecclesiastical' style seems to me to be sufficiently reverant for a hymn to Varda.
	*Markirya. The early Quenya or Qenya text by J.R.R. Tolkien can be found in The Monsters and the Critics, p. 221-222. It's rare that I use the pointed style for an entire text, but I chose to do so here as a change from the others. I changed atalantëa* to atalantië according to the suggested correction on Ardalambion because it modifies mindonnar and should thus be plural.
	*Ave Maria* or 'Hail Mary'. Text by Ryszard Derdzinski. Many have said that the 'pointed style' is a Gothic rendering of the tengwar, but it's not really. I devised this style, which I call 'Elf-text', which does follow the basic letter forms of Gothic calligraphy. The illustration of the Visitation is based on Byzantine examples. I chose a tehta mode for the Sindarin version because it harmonises better with the Quenya. Besides, I actually prefer representing the vowels with ómatehtar. This is the second version of this artwork.