Timeline for What does the Elvish word "Ai!" mean?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
7 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jul 19, 2021 at 22:31 | comment | added | ibid | Ai only means alas in Quenya. In Sindarin it means hail. | |
| Jul 13, 2015 at 4:12 | comment | added | Wad Cheber | @JanusBahsJacquet - So "Ai!" is just Legolas' version of Hudson's "Game over, man, game over!" speech from Aliens? :) | |
| Jul 13, 2015 at 4:10 | vote | accept | Wad Cheber | ||
| Jun 17, 2015 at 22:10 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | (Actually, upon closer inspection—aka a quick Google search—it seems that, according to Etymologies [NAY-], ‘alas’ in Sindarin was nae. According to this dictionary, ai means simply ‘ah’ or ‘O’ in Sindarin.) | |
| Jun 17, 2015 at 22:07 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet | Actually, the other answer states (correctly) that ai! means ‘alas!’ in Quenya (not sure if we know whether it does in Sindarin too?). Legolas, and Middle-earth elves in general, do go back and forth quite a bit between Sindarin and Quenya in certain common phrases—but realising you're looking at an all-but-immortal demon of fire bearing down upon you doesn't seem like an obvious time to switch to speaking Latin (as it were). I agree that he's probably just saying “Aaaiaiaiai!” here. “Holy fucking shit!” would probably have been a bit provincial for Tolkien’s tastes. | |
| Jun 17, 2015 at 0:05 | history | edited | Matt Gutting | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 1 character in body
|
| Jun 16, 2015 at 10:48 | history | answered | Matt Gutting | CC BY-SA 3.0 |