Editing Cirth (section)

===''Certhas''===

In the Appendix E to ''[[The Return of the King]]'', Tolkien writes that the [[Sindar]] of [[Beleriand]] first developed an [[alphabet]] for their language some time between the invention of the [[Tengwar]] by [[Fëanor]] ([[Years of the Trees|YT]] 1250) and the introduction thereof to [[Middle-earth]] by the Exiled [[Noldor]] towards the end of the [[First Age]].<ref name="Tolkien 1955">{{cite book |title=[[The Return of the King]] |at=Appendix E |first=J. R. R. |last=Tolkien |author-link=J. R. R. Tolkien |location=London |publisher=George Allen & Unwin |year=1955}}</ref>

This alphabet was devised to represent only the sounds of their [[Sindarin]] language and its letters were mostly used for inscribing names or brief memorials on wood, stone or metal, hence their angular shapes and straight lines.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> In [[Sindarin]] these letters were named ''cirth'' (sing. ''certh''), from the Elvish [[Root (linguistics)|root]] ''*kir-'' meaning "to cleave, to cut".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eldamo.org/content/words/word-285722173.html |title=Sindarin Words: ''certh''|author=<!--Not stated--> |website=eldamo.org |access-date=2019-03-31}}</ref> An [[abecedarium]] of ''cirth'', consisting of the runes listed in due order, was commonly known as '''''Certhas''''' ({{IPA|sjn|ˈkɛrθɑs|}}, meaning "rune-rows" in Sindarin and loosely translated as "runic alphabet"<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eldamo.org/content/words/word-1641782601.html |title= Sindarin Words: ''certhas''|author=<!--Not stated--> |website=eldamo.org |access-date=2019-03-31}}</ref>).

The oldest ''cirth'' were the following:<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/>
{| class="wikitable"
|- align="center"
! rowspan="4" | Consonants
| [[File:Certh 1.svg|20px|ᚹ]] ''p'' ||[[File:Certh 2.svg|20px|ᚱ]] ''b'' ||[[File:Certh 5.svg|20px|ᛳ]] ''mh'' ||[[File:Certh 6.svg|20px|ᛒ]] ''m'' ||
|- align="center"
| [[File:Certh 8.svg|20px|ᛚ]] ''t'' || [[File:Certh 9.svg|20px|ᚨ]] ''d'' || [[File:Certh 12.svg|20px|ᛏ]] ''n'' || ||
|- align="center"
| [[File:Certh 18.svg|20px|ᚴ]] ''k'' || [[File:Certh 19.svg|20px|ᚠ]] ''g'' || [[File:Certh 22.svg|20px|ᛉ]] ''ng'' || ||
|- align="center"
| [[File:Certh 29.svg|20px|ᛕ]] ''r'' ||[[File:Certh 31.svg|20px|ᛅ]] ''l'' || [[File:Certh 13.svg|20px|ᚳ]] ~ [[File:Certh 15.svg|20px|ᚳ]] ''h'' or ''s'' ||[[File:Certh 35.svg|20px|ᚲ]] ''s'' or ''h'' ||[[File:Certh 36.svg|20px|ᚷ]] ''ss''
|- align="center"
| style="border-right:none;"| || style="padding-left: 2.825em; padding-right: 2.825em; border-right:none; border-left:none;"| || style="padding-left: 2.825em; padding-right: 2.825em; border-right:none; border-left:none;"| || style="padding-left: 2.825em; padding-right: 2.825em; border-right:none; border-left:none;"| || style="padding-left: 2.825em; padding-right: 2.825em; border-right:none; border-left:none;"| || style="padding-left: 2.825em; padding-right: 2.825em; border-left:none;"|
|- align ="center"
!Vowels
| [[File:Certh 39.svg|20px|ᛁ]] ''i'' || [[File:Certh 42.svg|20px|ᛟ]] ''u'' || [[File:Certh 46.svg|20px|ᚺ]] ''e'' || [[File:Certh 50.svg|20px|ᚢ]] ''o'' ||
|}

The form of these letters was somewhat unsystematic, unlike later rearrangements and extensions that made them more [[featural script|featural]].<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> The ''cirth'' [[File:Certh 13.svg|16px]] and [[File:Certh 35.svg|16px]] were used for {{angbr|h}} and {{angbr|s}}, but varied as to which was which.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> Many of the runes consisted of a single vertical line (or "stem") with an appendage (or "branch") attached to one or both sides. If the attachment was made on one side only, it was usually to the right, but "the reverse was not infrequent" and did not change the value of the letter.<ref name="Tolkien 1955"/> (For example, the variants [[File:Certh 13.svg|20px]] or [[File:Certh 15.svg|20px]] specifically mentioned for ''h'' or ''s'', also [[File:Certh 8.svg|16px]] or [[File:Certh 10.svg|16px]] for ''t'', etc.).