# How to say hello in Elvish/Quenya?



## esrbl (Apr 22, 2020)

I wonder how, and generally, which of the languages is harder?


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## Elthir (Apr 22, 2020)

For greetings, you can say *Mae govannen *in Sindarin, 
or *namárie* in Quenya 🐾


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## doron (Jun 8, 2020)

Namárie, that means more farewell. But mae govannen is correct. We can also say aiya.


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## Elthir (Jun 8, 2020)

doron said:


> Namárie, that means more farewell. But ( . . .)




Hello again doron. There's a little note in Tolkien's _Words, Phrases and Passages_ (published in _Parma Eldalamberon_ 17) revealing that Quenya namárie "be well" is a formula for greeting or farewell.

This new bit of info stuck in my memory due to years of folks taking this word only to mean farewell -- though not without good reason of course, especially considering Nerwen's lament 
in _The Lord of the_ _Rings_, for example, _Altariello nainie Lóriendesse._

🐾


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## doron (Jun 8, 2020)

Merci beaucoup, vous venez de m'apprendre quelque chose, je m'en souviendrai! 😊


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## Olorgando (Jun 8, 2020)

Elthir said:


> Hello again doron. There's a little note in Tolkien's _Words, Phrases and Passages_ (published in _Parma Eldalamberon_ 17) revealing that Quenya namárie "be well" is a formula for greeting or farewell.
> 🐾


In south German (I believe Bavarian, specifically), there is the term "servus" (some kind of corrupted Latin, I would guess) that can also be used both for greeting or farewell.
I have a private hypothesis about the reason for this Bavarian specialty (though my knowledge of other German dialects, and we have a lot of them, is very spotty). Bavaria is well-known for (one sort of) beer festivals, the best-known world-wide certainly being the Oktoberfest in Munich. We have one of the regionally best-known ones besides the Oktoberfest, in the city I live in, and with which I'm far more familiar with than the Munich one (and as for that, ours, originating in 1755, is 55 years older than that poor copy in Munich, starting in 1810 😝 ).
If one sits around gabbing and babbling away with a bunch of friends long enough, the 1-liter steins being replenished at regular intervals, it may become somewhat unclear if someone one is addressing just arrived or is just leaving; and the term itself is spoken with very little lip movement, never mind complicated ones. Perfect thing for a situation with declining verbal skills … 🥴


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## Atwe (Jun 9, 2020)

_Servus_ comes from _servus humillimus_ "[your] most humbled servant" and it's also a widely used (although by now a tiny bit dated) greeting in Hungary and Poland.


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## doron (Jun 9, 2020)

Pour en revenir à la question au début, je pense que le sindarin est un peu plus facile, car c'est la langue la plus utilisée dans le Seigneur des Anneaux, donc les gens nous ont donné plus d'informations sur leurs sites Web, forums, etc.😊

Going back to the question at the beginning, I think Sindarin is a bit easier, because it's the most used language in Lord of the Rings, so people have given us more information in their websites, forums and so on. 😊


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## Atwe (Jun 9, 2020)

On the other hand, our knowledge of Quenya is larger and more complete, and the available vocabulary is also bigger.


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## Elthir (Jun 9, 2020)

Maybe you could just wave hello?

*falma* Quenya (crested/foaming) wave.

I apologize in advance.


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## Tulukastaz (Jun 10, 2020)

Another way to greet is to say "Mae govannen" it is "well met my friend"


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## Elthir (Jun 10, 2020)

I recommended *mae govannen* in my first post, although granted I just gave the Sindarin. . . but anyway *mellon* is "friend" and not really part of this . . .

. . . unless this greeting is only used between friends (and then it's implied)?

I don't recall this particular usage, if so.


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