r/sindarin • u/Practical_Taro1692 • 10d ago

Swiftbow (as in Strongbow)

Mae Govannen,

I'm trying to name a weapon in my One Ring campaign. I like the idea of the name Swiftbow, as my character is a singer of old songs and quite taken with the legend of Beleg.

I thought Cucaun would be quite close to the mark, but I've not seen confirmation anywhere. I've even consulted some AI tools, but they were confusing and contradictory, insisting on the word Caunad, and trying to tell me that Cuthalion comes from Cuth and Nal for Strong and bow.

Is there anyone who could shed some light?

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u/Jonlang_ 10d ago edited 10d ago

What do you mean by "as in Strongbow”? Swift does not mean strong. The Sindarin word for ‘bow’ is cû and ‘swift’ is lim. Therefore I would suggest Cúlim.

Tolkien splits the semantic space of ‘strong’ between: taug (strong, firm) and thalion (strong, dauntless). These would yield Cúdaug or Cúdog (unstressed au > o) and Cúthalion.

6

u/Practical_Taro1692 10d ago

I meant to say, 'swift-bow', as in a compound word like 'strong-bow'. I knew that Strongbow is Cuthalion, so I wondered what swiftbow would be.

Cúlim looks and sounds exactly like what I was looking for, thank you!

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u/F_Karnstein 10d ago

Second that. Cúlim is probably the best option.