The content of App. E of LOTR is condensed. All tengwar have a "full name" in Quenya. Tolkien wrote:
"Each ‘full name’ was an actual word in Quenya that contained the letter in question. Where possible it was the first sound of the word; but where the sound or the combination expressed did not occur initially it followed immediately after an initial vowel."
So where is the tengwa anna in the full name anna? Nowhere! It should have been written by Tolkien: ’anna or ȝanna.
The Plan:
In order to learn to design tengwar I am using Toshi's work.
Red are the tengwar I designed this month in the style of Alcarin Tengwar by Toshi Omagari.
Blue tengwa, I reassigned it.
After mastering the design of the Tengwar and doing the 15 or about Open Type Fonts for each mode Tolkien imagined, I will finish designing my Tengwar Sans Serif, then open a site dedicated to the Tengwar, and then do the "Middle-earth Dingbats Fonts".
The name Árien written in Alcarin Tengwar.
I have reassigned the function of the first tengwa in this Font as the variant anda telco tengwa used especially initially.
Comments are welcome! I'm still learning.
Another forgotten Tengwa.
We do know if it had a name.
It can be called "variant úre" (úre is the name of the 'o' Tengwa).
Comments are welcome! I'm still learning.
Tolkien loved complicated stories.
Nothing is ever 'simple' with Tolkien especially not the Elvish scripts.
On the left my design of the Tengwa called in Noldorin ydew, next to its variant, called in Quenya silma.
Tolkien wrote about this in Appendix E: "The West-gate inscription illustrates a mode of ‘full writing’ with the vowels represented by separate letters. All the vocalic letters used in Sindarin are shown. The use of No. 30 as a sign for vocalic y may be noted".
Toshi Omagari designed "silma" in Alcarin Tengwar.
Comments are welcome! I'm still learning.
Another forgotten Tengwa on the left (it does not appear in any of free Tengwar Fonts available today). It is this variant "rómen" (shown on the right) that I have drawn in the style of Alcarin Tengwar by Toshi.
This glyph does not have a special Elvish name. It might be called "variant rómen".
Below the glyphs, Tolkien's explanation showing his calligraphy of the ('forgotten') glyph.
I changed just a little this Elvish glyph
( previously: https://typo.social/@e_kloczko/114409064965850694 )
The text below written by J.R.R. Tolkien about Elvish Numerals was only published last September (2024).
I redesigned this afternoon the Elvish < > glyph.
(previously: https://typo.social/@e_kloczko/114406960191196424 )
Feedback is welcome. I'm here to learn. 
I think a more 'modern' design is better for this glyph. And you what do you think?
( my first design of this glyph: https://typo.social/@e_kloczko/114398216648962504 )
#tengwar #tolkien #elvishtypography
The text below written by J.R.R. Tolkien about Elvish Numerals was only published last September (2024).
I just designed this evening (it is almost 2 in the night in France) the Elvish < > glyphs.
A bit "thick maybe"? Feedback is welcome. I'm here to learn.
This mark was published for the first time in "Sauron Defeated" (p. 131) in 1992. But I had to wait 2024 to understand what it was exactly and how it was used precisely.
Why? C. Tolkien abstained from publishing the hundreds pages of his father's notes on the Tengwar.
I have reshaped this mark a little bit if compared to what Toshi Omagari did in Alcarin giving it a more symmetrical (typographical) look. That is how I'm learning to do Elvish typography.
I was rather unhappy with my first (quick) attempt at designing a new Tengwa. An alternate form of the Tengwa called rómen in "The Lord of Rings".
This alternate RÓMEN (r sound) is apparently (?only) used in Gondor. This Tengwa appears to be a mix between the glyphs "óre" and "rómen" (see Appx E of LOTR).
Tolkien gave a name (and often many names) to the glyphs of his invented Tengwar script.
This morning I worked on it. What do you think? 
This is my first tentative design of this new "Tengwa" or rather Elvish question mark in the style of the Font Alcarin by Toshi.
C. Tolkien abstained from publishing the hundreds pages of his father's notes on the Tengwar script. He gave instead copies of these ms and an authorization to a closed group of US cultists.
This new (previously unknown) symbol was published for the first time in the fanzine Parma Eldalamberon n° 23 in September 2024.
C. Tolkien abstained from publishing the hundreds pages of his father's notes on the Tengwar. He gave copies of these ms and an authorization to a closed group of US cultists.
This Tengwa was published in "Sauron Defeated" (p. 131), which I bought when it was published in 1992. But I had to wait until 2024 to understand that it was an alternate form of the Tengwa 'rómen' and not a mistake by JRR Tolkien.
And hundreds of pages on the Tengwar remain unpublished to this day! 
#tengwar #tolkien
The Elvish tengwar have in fact two sizes, if only (usually) one shape: minuscules and capitals.
But in my new Elvish typography, some capital tengwar must have also a slightly different shape, like in Latin typography c and C, o and O.
The word Imladris written in the “mode of Beleriand” from Tolkien’s hand.
Second image. Look at the capital i (a telco) in the name Io - rhael.
Iorhael is the Sindarin translation of Frodo.
#tolkien #tengwar #elvishtypography
Tolkien oft made mistakes in his tengwar calligraphies. The image is taken from one the ms. done by Tolkien representing the letter King Aragorn sent to Sam.
It should have been in the Epilogue of "The Lord of the Rings". Tolkien decided not to put in.
It is my transcrip. Tolkien's mistakes are in red.
The Elves wrote numbers backwards if compared to our habit and so passed it to Men and Hobbits. That's why the date 1436 is written backwards 6341. It's not a mistake.
One the difficulties in making a Tengwar OTF for writing English in a phonetic mode are the many "3 sounds ligatures".
Tolkien (like many before him) disliked the traditional English spelling and preferred to write his language phonetically.
The title below is taken from an unfinished drawing illustrating "The Hobbit" showing the coming of the Giant Eagles at the Battle of the 5 Armies.
I use Mac with QXPress 2022, Word 16.96 and InDesign 2022 to verify my OTF fonts.
I have a problem with QXPress.
The vowels are diacritics marks above consonants: a = 3 dots
The diphthongs are written with a special letter. Au is a diphthong in this mode in Quenya.
In Latin it makes not difference: lata and laura but with Tengwar "au" must be written differently.
I put "l a" in rlig: l_a.rlig
the rest in _liga_
But it is not working in QXPress 2022.
Any idea? Thanks!
#Tengwar #Tolkien
