Tolkien hade en mycket inkonsekvent användning, han kapitaliserade olika saker vid olika tidpunkter och verkade ha konsekvensen man förväntar sig från gammal engelska. Detta har visat en kontinuerlig kamp för Christopher och förlagarna att försöka skapa viss konsistens, som noteras i "Ringenes Herre: En läsarens följeslagare" .
Med avseende på ord som började Elf- / elf, hade Hammond och Scull följande att säga i frågan.
In 1975 Christopher Tolkien advised Allen & Unwin, regarding a list of sug-gested emendations to a reprint of the 1974 Unwin Books edition of The Lord of the Rings, that in words such as dwarf-candles, elf-fountains, and goblin-barkers the first element is used attributively and is properly in lower case. ...
Of this second group, most appear to be specific names or titles, or to refer to specific groups, e.g. Elven-rings denotes the whole body of rings made by the Elves of Eregion, and Elven-smiths refers to those particular Elves; and on this basis we emended one instance of elven-folk in Appendix F ('the Elven-folk of Mirkwood and Lorien') to Elven-folk.
The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion
Den första gruppen är små bokstäver (dvs elf-) och det andra övre fallet. Hela listan nedan, 1 Detta ger oss lite insikt så att vi inte kan göra att huvudstaden verkar användas för specifika namn / titlar / grupper i det här fallet och att små bokstäver används när ett objekt tillhör en av raserna.
En senare analys av H & S föreslår att Tolkien föredrog att använda huvudstaden för Elf när han talade om loppet som helhet (även om analysen var specifikt för "Elf-vän").
In our analysis of the various editions of The Lord of the Rings the capitalized spelling Elf-friend was found to be Tolkien's clear preference ('friend of the Elves', of the entire race), rather than elf-friend, which had also appeared. Two instances of the latter form were emended to the former in the edition of 2004.
ibid.
Det verkar uppenbart att Tolkien hade preferenser för hur han tyckte om att använda sina huvudstäder, men även han var skyldig att tillämpa dem inkonsekvent:
in a check copy of the second edition Tolkien wrote: 'Elvish as a separate adjective should always have capital (as English French etc.)'. Thus one finds Elvish character, Elvish knife, Elvish smiths as well as Elvish language, Elvish speech, etc., but elvish minstrels, elvish robes, etc. as well, capitals and lower case about evenly divided in occurrences.
ibid.
Tolkien gör en slutgiltig regel i frågan, oavsett om han själv tillämpat det konsekvent. I en korrespondens med Allan och Unwin hade han följande att säga:
The capital should be reserved to cases where Orcs (etc.) are referred to as a race, a kind, or in some generalised sense. There will of course be marginal cases - no doubt also definite inconsistencies within the general scheme. Thus the foreword (written later) should have Orcs . .. and Hobbits.. .. The same applies to Dwarves, Elves, Wizards. But on the whole I would strongly suggest leaving the text as it is in this respect - and certainly if in any doubt.
ibid. citing: Tolkien-George Allen & Unwin archive, Harper Collins
Tolkien hade emellertid lite intresse av att redigera inkonsekvenserna, och när han genomförde projektet lämnade han flera luckor eller "avsiktliga" missar, vilket enligt min Christopher Tolkien i en privat korrespondens med H & S och i ett brev från Tolkien till Allen & Unwin, skrivet i oktober 1967:
However much my father desired to achieve consistency at every level of his work, from capital letters to the dates of dynasties, he was bound to fail. He didn't go in for steady, meticulous, plodding reading (re-reading) of his texts; rather, his eye lit upon things that struck him, & he made a hasty note in the margin. His life was a perpetual battle against time (& tiredness), and for a world-class niggler (as he cheerfully recognized himself to be) this was a perpetual frustration. But he 'niggled' on a grand and noble conception, & indeed its coherence in fine detail is a part of its power
ibid. in private correspondence with Christopher Tolkien
Personally I have ceased to bother about these minor 'discrepancies', since if the genealogies and calendars etc. lack verisimilitude it is in their general excessive accuracy: as compared with real annals or genealogies! Anyway the slips were few, have now mostly been removed, and the discovery of what remain seems an amusing pastime! But errors in the text are another matter.
ibid. citing: Tolkien-George Allen & Unwin archive, Harper Collins
Även om ovannämnda brev säger att han inte hade för avsikt att göra ändringar, gjorde han några innan den andra upplagan släpptes.
1
Of similar kind are forms in elven- : elven-blade, elven-blood, elven-boat, elven-bows, elven-brooch, elven-cake, elven-cloak(s), elven-eyes, elven-fair, elven-fingers, elven-flowers, elven-glass, elven-grey, elven-hoods, elven-light, elven-maids (excepting the poetic 'An Elven-maid there was of old', Book II, Chapter 6), elven-mail, elven-princeling, elven-rope, elven-runes, elven-script, elven-sheath, elven-ship(s), elven-skill, elven-song, elven-strands, elven-sword, elven-tongue, elven-tower, elven-voices, elven-white, elven-wise (but compare 'the Elven-wise, lords of the Eldar', Book II, Chapter 1), and elven-work. In Tolkien's usage these are clearly in the majority compared with capitalized Elven-folk, Elven-home (as a place name), Elven-kin, Elven-kind, Elven-king(s), Elven-lady ('the Elven-lady', lady of the Elves, i.e. Galadriel), Elven-latin, Elven-lord(s), Elven-lore, Elven-rings, Elven-river (i.e. the Esgalduin), Elven-smiths, Elven-speech (but compare elven-tongue), Elven-stars (poetically), Elven-tears (poetically), Elven-way ('the Elven-way from Hollin'), and (the) Elven-wise.