Tengwar/Mode of Beleriand

The history of this mode is not known but the name suggest it evolved in the First Age, on Beleriand, when the Noldor came to Middle-earth; we are told that they were forbidden by King Elu Thingol to use Quenya and were forced to adopt Sindarin.

Normally, they adapted Tengwar to their new language, taking advantage of their inherent flexibility to other sounds, imitating maybe the way the Falmari of Eldamar represented the Telerin sounds that didn't exist in Quenya. For some obscure reasons we do not know, they found the most usual tehta-mode inappropriate for Sindarin, and they took therefore also example of the original Fëanorian Quanta Sarmë, using distinct tengwar for vowels.

The Mode of Beleriand seems to have been held "traditionally" by the Noldor who were established in Eregion during the Second Age, as seen on the West-gate of Moria Inscription written by Celebrimbor. After Eregion was destroyed in Second Age 1697, the Noldor migrated to Imladris, where the Mode of Beleriand was perhaps used even till the Third Age.

It seems that Sindarin speakers found use only for 3 of the 5 témar since Sindarin lacked the palatalized (ly, ny, ty) sounds of Quenya as well as the labialized qu.

Vowels

Of the Quessetéma, Wilya was used for a final -u (or -w). There is also an a-tengwa called Osse, not corresponding with any of the older ones known from Quenya; it could have been imported from a Quenya semivowel unknown to us, which belonged to the Quanta-Sarme.

The carriers took vowel values too: The telco was used for i, while the long carrier could have been used for the semiconsonantal initial sound y- (or i- as in Ioreth).

Diphthongs were expressed by tehtar. Two amatixi (maybe a remnant of the earlier Tyelpetéma), used for -i in the diphthongs ai, ei and ui. Au (spelled -aw at the end of words) is not attested, but perhaps similarly the w-tehta was used (caun, ).

ae, although a diphthong, is attested written with the separate letters for a and e, and maybe the same applies to the diphthong oe too.

Labialised consonants

In Quenya mode, labialised consonants (kw, ngw etc) belonged to the Quessetéma. It's possible that the Mode of Beleriand used a w-tehta over consonants for this (edwen, would perhaps be written here as ).

Nasalization

Anto, Ampa and other letters used for nasalized stops in Quenya took different values. A tilde is used before stops for nasalisation. (mb, )

Length

A well-known tehta that indicates long consonants, the under-tilde, was not used. Long m and n were written with Malta and Númen (i.e., doubling of the lúva), and other long consonants were written with two letters (mellon, ).

A tehta was used to indicate long vowels, an acute accent called Andaith (á, )

The best known sample of the Mode of Beleriand is of course the Inscription of the West-gate of Moria, written by Celebrimbor of Eregion; this suggest that this Mode was preserved there by the Noldor.

Ennyn Durin Aran Moria. Pedo mellon a minno.

Im Narvi hain echant. Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant i-thîw hin.

A Elbereth Gilthoniel was an aerlinn of the Elves of Imladris. Imladris was inhabited by the refugees of Eregion and is one of the places that might have kept the Mode of Beleriand, even in the 3rd Age.

1. Esta ficha se ha importado inicialmente de TolkienGateway.net el día 30/05/2026.