e_kloczkoThe Dwarven or Rúmilian numerals.
Above Tolkien's manuscript. Below my interpretation in Tengwar Grotesk Medium.
So I am developing OpenType Fonts of the Tengwar (the script Tolkien invented).
The stylistic alternates of the "mode of Beleriand". A mode especially used for the Sindarin language.
How to choose the tengwa using QuarkXPress.
The tengwa "a" can have a square dot or not.
The tengwa "i" can be without the dot.
The tengwa "y" (pronounced like the German ü) has 2 shapes.
Tolkien often used the dot with 2 denotations (meanings).
A dot could have a typographical usage (to make the Elvish letter more visible) or a dot could have a "meaning".
In order to help the reader, in my font, the square dot = typographical usage; round dot "meaning".
Tolkien's explanation & presentation of the mode of Beleriand and opposite my font Tengwar Grotesque Medium.
Two tengwar are missing. I'm still working on them.
I have also decided to not include the variant adew (n° 41) with a light stroke (very unpractical to design with a police without serif like my Tengwar Grotesque), but instead I propose an adew with a dot, a variant also used by Tolkien in this mode.
Comments are welcome!
So I have re-worked to re-arrange the glyphs and put "rules" in Tengwar Typography.
These are the 2 "styles" of "Tengwar Sans" I am working on right now.
I have some idea for a 3rd one. Will show in a few days.
Feedback is welcome!
Don't be shy.
Say what you think.
Tolkien did coin many of the Elvish words of Elvish typography.
And as there is plenty of unpublished stuff on Elvish by Tolkien we might get to know the words we miss today, like "spur" or "counter".
Tolkien's Elvish writing systems have an inner history (paleography) and a complex terminology.
From my dictionary of Quenya (still a work in progress).
‽ = an Elvish word not published but logically deduced by me.
In Europe early "German" printed books matched the style of handwritten manuscripts.
It is thanks to the "crazy Italian" eyes, minds and hands that Typography was born by drinking Roman's monumental capitals.
Tolkien fortunately did experiment a lot and he left us with plenty of paths to follow in making Tengwar Fonts.
Tolkien imagined a complex set of names for each letter or Tengwa: alphabetic names, different in each languages and modes, and a 'full name' a Quenya word used in every languages as a loanword to designate the letter.
The full name of hwá was hwesta "breeze" in Quenya.
The letter called hwá in Quenya was named chwae in Sindarin (Noldorin), and in real Common Speech it was akha, later aha (as in Rohan).
#tolkien #tengwa #elvishtypography
