Conventions and Abbreviations
Comments and other editorial matter inserted into quotations, or by the editors of Tengwestië into articles, are enclosed in square brackets: [].
The following bibliographical citation abbreviations are used throughout this site. Citations are to the standard hardcover/trade paperback editions (the links below are to the precise editions used, where still in print), except where otherwise noted.
| H | The Hobbit | |
| LR | The Lord of the Rings | N.B.: In articles published prior to Nov. 27, 2005, all references are to this earlier edition |
| RC | The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion | |
| R | The Road Goes Ever On | |
| TC | A Tolkien Compass | Now superseded by RC |
| S | The Silmarillion | |
| UT | Unfinished Tales | |
| L | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien | |
| MC | The Monsters and the Critics | |
| I | The Book of Lost Tales, Part One | |
| II | The Book of Lost Tales, Part Two | |
| III | The Lays of Beleriand | |
| IV | The Shaping of Middle-earth | |
| V | The Lost Road | |
| VI | The Return of the Shadow | |
| VII | The Treason of Isengard | |
| VIII | The War of the Ring | |
| IX | Sauron Defeated | |
| X | Morgoth's Ring | |
| XI | The War of the Jewels | |
| XII | The Peoples of Middle-earth | |
| PE | Parma Eldalamberon | |
| VT | Vinyar Tengwar | |
| GL | The “Gnomish Lexicon”, in PE 11. | |
| QL | The “Qenya Lexicon”, in PE 12. | |
| PME | The “Poetic and Mythologic Words of Eldarissa”, in PE 12. | |
| Etym. | The Etymologies, in V. | |
| A&C | The “Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies”, in VT 45 and 46. | |
| OED | Oxford English Dictionary |
Example citations: “(LR:90)” = The Lord of the Rings p. 90. “(VT43:24)” = Vinyar Tengwar 43, p. 24.
Non-bibliographical abbreviations should be used sparingly and only where doing so is not likely to prove ambiguous or not readily interpretable.
| § | section |
| c. | circa |
| cf. | refer to |
| cp. | compare |
| e.g. | for example |
| ed. | editor, edited by |
| esp. | especially |
| etc. | et cetera, and so on |
| f., fol., ff. | folio, folios |
| fn. | footnote |
| i.e. | that is |
| ibid. | in the same place |
| lit. | literally |
| ms., mss., MS., MSS. | manuscript, manuscripts |
| n. | note |
| no. | number |
| op. cit. | work cited |
| p., pp. | page, pages |
| r. | recto |
| sc. | namely |
| q.v. | which see |
| s.v. | under the word or entry |
| v. | verso |
| CE | Common Eldarin |
| CT | Common Telerin |
| Dan. | Danian |
| Dor. | Doriathrin |
| Eld. | Eldarin |
| EN | Exilic Noldorin |
| Engl. | English |
| F.A. | First Age |
| Finn. | Finnish |
| G. | Gnomish, Goldogrin |
| Gk. | Greek |
| Gmc. | Germanic |
| Gn. | Gnomish |
| Gold. | Goldogrin |
| Goth. | Gothic |
| Heb. | Hebrew |
| Hitt. | Hittite |
| Hung. | Hungarian |
| IE | Indo-European |
| Ilk. | Ilkorin |
| L. | Lindarin |
| Lat. | Latin |
| Lith. | Lithuanian |
| ME | Middle English |
| Mod. | Modern |
| MW | Middle Welsh |
| N. | Noldorin |
| Ñ | Ñoldorin |
| OE | Old English |
| OFris. | Old Frisian |
| OHG | Old High German |
| ON | Old Noldorin |
| ONor. | Old Norse |
| Oss. | Ossiriandeb |
| PE | Primitive Eldarin |
| PGmc. | Proto-Germanic |
| PIE | Proto-Indo-European |
| PQ | Primitive Quendian |
| Q. | Qenya, Quenya |
| Qe. | Qenya |
| Qu. | Quenya |
| R. | Rohanese |
| S. | Sindarin |
| S.A. | Second Age |
| Skr. | Sanskrit |
| T. | Telerin |
| T.A. | Third Age |
| V. | Valarin |
| W. | Welsh |
| √ | prefixed to a form indicates that it is a root. |
| * | prefixed to a form indicates that it is a hypothetical, reconstructed form unattested in the historical records. |
| ** | prefixed to a form indicates that it is an erroneous, ungrammatical from. |
| † | prefixed to a form indicates that it is archaic and/or poetic. |
| < | derived from (historically) |
| > | developed to (historically) |
| << | changed from (in the manuscript) |
| >> | changed to (in the manuscript) |
| 1, 1st. | first person |
| 2, 2nd. | second person |
| 3, 3rd. | third person |
| abl. | ablative |
| acc. | accusative |
| act. | active |
| adj. | adjective |
| adv. | adverb |
| aff. | affix, affixed |
| all. | allative |
| aor. | aorist |
| coll. | collective |
| com. | common |
| conj. | conjunction |
| cpd., cpds. | compound, compounds |
| d.o. | direct object |
| dat. | dative |
| dial. | dialectal |
| dim. | diminutive |
| du. | dual |
| f., fem. | feminine |
| fu.t. | future tense |
| gen. | genitive |
| imp. | imperative |
| impers. | impersonal |
| impf. | imperfect |
| inf. | infinitive |
| interj. | interjection |
| instr. | instrumental |
| intr. | intransitive |
| IPA | International Phonetic Alphabet |
| loc. | locative |
| m., masc. | masculine |
| n. | noun |
| n., neut. | neuter |
| nom. | nominative |
| obj. | object, objective |
| p.p., pa.p. | past/passive participle |
| pa.t. | past tense |
| part. | partitive |
| pass. | passive |
| pl. | plural |
| poss. | possessive |
| pr.p. | present/active participle |
| pr.t. | present tense |
| pref. | prefix, prefixed |
| prep. | preposition |
| pret. | preterite |
| prn. | pronoun |
| refl. | reflexive |
| sg. | singular |
| subj. | subject, subjective; also subjunctive |
| suff. | suffix, suffixed |
| tr., trans. | transitive |
| v., vb. | verb |
Copyright ©2003 Carl F. Hostetter
Quotations from the works of J.R.R. or Christopher Tolkien are the copyright of their publishers and/or the Tolkien Estate, and are used here with their kind permission. The word TOLKIEN is a registered trademark of The J.R.R. Tolkien Estate Limited. The characters and scripts of Tolkien’s invented languages and works in those languages are the copyright of the Tolkien Estate.
URL: https://www.elvish.org/Tengwestie/conventions.phtml
First published on November 20th, 2003
Last modified on Friday, June 13th, 2025 5:29 am UTC
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