...is Quenya, of course; "Elf-Latin." Tolkien's invented language contains words of numinous beauty, and I discovered a few more of them today. I thought it would be fun to give my violin a name, and because I am a big nerd, I wanted it to be elvish. But not a Legolas-fangirl sort of elvish - you know, "My name is Alqualondë Calatarilírinen!" Like Sam, I wanted a name that you wouldn't have to cut short before you could use it. Also like Sam, I chose a name that could pass as an English one. He chose "Elanor," I chose "Elen." One of my violin's previous owners carved a small star into it, and Elen means star. Besides the little star, there is the violin's voice: sweet and girlish, with stellar high notes (pun intended). If I'm feeling fancy, I can call her Elerrína - "star-crowned."

As I was searching on an Elvish wordlist, I found the Quenya word for "grace": Erulissë. Literally: God-sweetness. I also found Ainasúle, which means "the Holy Spirit." Tolkien translated the Ave Maria into Sindarin - I think that someone should translate the Salve Regina into either Sindarin or Quenya. It would probably begin "Aiya Airetári," but that's as far as I can take it. And I'm sure there's a vocative in there...

I need to get back to studying Latin.