Hello,

Petri Tikka wrote (on the subject of Qenya words similar to Finnish):

> > _kantl_ 'a large harp', _kantele_ 'harping' (45) | kantele 'harp'

And Christopher Gilson supplied the citation:

> Kalanluinen kanteloinen 'a fish-bone harp' (40.224) "Dimin. of
> _kantelo_ = _kantele_, 'a kind of harp with five strings'."
> Kust' on koppa kanteletta? 'Of what is the body of the harp?'
> (40.235) "Part. sing. of _kantele_ (stem _-lehe_) 'harp'."

With this, one has to compare Welsh _cathl_ 'hymn, lay, song'. Together
wth [Old] Irish _cétal_ it points to an earlier *_knt-l-_ (syllabic
nasals yield -en- in Goidelic, hence *kentl- > *kétl- > *kédl > kédal
(orthographic _cétal_)). Now these two words [*_kntl_ and _kantele_] do
show a remarkable similarity, both in the form and content (surely the
meanings are akin).

I think it possible to suggest that here we see a reflection of
Tolkien's early conception of the Elvish languages as a sort of
'mediators' between the language of North-Western Europe. The words in
Celtic and Finnish are, to the best of my knowledge, unrelated, but
Tolkien supplies a story-internal explanation for the perceived
similarity.

Or is it just wishful thinking?

Pavel
--
Pavel Iosad pavel_iosad@...

Nid byd, byd heb wybodaeth
--Welsh saying