Elvish languages of Middle-earth



The Elvish languages of Middle-earth, constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien, include Quenya and Sindarin. These were the various languages spoken by the Elves of Middle-earth as they developed as a society throughout the Ages. In his pursuit for realism and in his love of language, Tolkien was especially fascinated with the development and evolution of language through time. Tolkien created two almost fully developed languages and a dozen more in various beginning stages as he studied and reproduced the way that language adapts and morphs. A philologist by profession, he spent much time on his constructed languages. In the collection of letters he had written, posthumously published by his son, Christopher Tolkien, he stated that he began stories set within this secondary world, the realm of Middle-earth, not with the characters or narrative as one would assume, but with a created set of languages. The stories and characters serve as conduits to make those languages come to life. Inventing language was always a crucial piece to Tolkien's mythology and world building. As Tolkien stated:

"The invention of languages is the foundation. The 'stories' were made rather to provide a world for the languages than the reverse. To me a name comes first and the story follows."

Tolkien created scripts for his Elvish languages, of which the best known are Sarati, Tengwar, and Cirth.

Language construction
J. R. R. Tolkien began to construct his first Elvin tongue c. 1910–1911 while he was at the King Edward's School, Birmingham and which he later named Quenya (c. 1915). At that time, Tolkien was already familiar with Latin, Greek, Italian, Spanish, and three ancient Germanic languages: Gothic, Old Norse, and Old English. He had invented several cryptographic codes such as Animalic, and two or three constructed languages including Naffarin. He then discovered Finnish, which he described many years later as "like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me." He had started his study of the Finnish language to be able to read the Kalevala epic.

"The ingredients in Quenya are various, but worked out into a self-consistent character not precisely like any language that I know. Finnish, which I came across when I first begun to construct a 'mythology' was a dominant influence, but that has been much reduced [now in late Quenya]. It survives in some features: such as the absence of any consonant combinations initially, the absence of the voiced stops b, d, g (except in mb, nd, ng, ld, rd, which are favoured) and the fondness for the ending -inen, -ainen, -oinen, also in some points of grammar, such as the inflexional endings -sse (rest at or in), -nna (movement to, towards), and -llo (movement from); the personal possessives are also expressed by suffixes; there is no gender."

Tolkien with his Quenya pursued a double aesthetic goal: "classical and inflected". This urge, in fact, was the motivation for his creation of a 'mythology'. While the language developed, he needed speakers, history for the speakers and all real dynamics, like war and migration: "It was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the necessary background of 'history' for Elvish tongues".

The Elvish languages underwent countless revisions in grammar, mostly in conjugation and the pronominal system. The Elven vocabulary was not subject to sudden or extreme change; except during the first conceptual stage c. 1910–c. 1920. Tolkien sometimes changed the "meaning" of an Elvish word, but he almost never disregarded it once invented, and he kept on refining its meaning, and countlessly forged new synonyms. Moreover, Elven etymology was in a constant flux. Tolkien delighted in inventing new etymons for his Elvish vocabulary.

From the outset, Tolkien used comparative philology and the tree model as his major tools in his constructed languages. He usually started with the phonological system of the proto-language and then proceeded in inventing for each daughter language the many mechanisms of sound change needed.

"I find the construction and the interrelation of the languages an aesthetic pleasure in itself, quite apart from The Lord of the Rings, of which it was/is in fact independent."

In the early 30s Tolkien decided that the proto-language of the Elves was Valarin, the tongue of the gods or Valar: "The language of the Elves derived in the beginning from the Valar, but they change it even in the learning, and moreover modified and enriched it constantly at all times by their own invention." In his Comparative Tables, Tolkien describes the mechanisms of sound change in the following daughter languages: Qenya, Lindarin (a dialect of Qenya), Telerin, Old Noldorin (or Fëanorian), Noldorin (or Gondolinian), Ilkorin (esp. of Doriath), Danian of Ossiriand, East Danian, Taliska, West Lemberin, North Lemberin, and East Lemberin.

In his lifetime J.R.R. Tolkien never ceased to experiment on his constructed languages, and they were subjected to many revisions. They had many grammars with substantial differences between different stages of development. After the publication of The Lord of the Rings (1954–1955), the grammar rules of his major Elvish languages Quenya, Telerin and Sindarin went through very few changes (this is late Elvish 1954–1973).

Publication of Tolkien's linguistic papers

 * The linguistic papers published in Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon are listed in the Bibliography of this article.

Two magazines (Vinyar Tengwar, from its issue 39 in July 1998, and Parma Eldalamberon, from its issue 11 in 1995) are exclusively devoted to the editing and publishing of J.R.R. Tolkien's gigantic mass of previously unpublished linguistic papers (including those omitted by Christopher Tolkien from "The History of Middle-earth"). However, no new publications have appeared since 2015.

At the time of the Lhammas and The Etymologies, 1937
The Elvish languages are a family of several related languages and dialects. In 1937, Tolkien drafted the Lhammas and The Etymologies, both edited and published in the 1987 The Lost Road and Other Writings. They depict a tree of languages analogous to that of the Indo-European languages that Tolkien knew as a philologist.



This was internally consistent, but for one thing. Central to the story was the history of the Noldor. Their language, Noldorin, evolved very slowly in the changeless atmosphere of Valinor. Tolkien had developed its linguistics in some detail. With their return to Beleriand, the language was evidently sharply distinct from Qenya, implying rapid change. As Tolkien worked on The Lord of the Rings, starting soon after The Hobbit was published in 1937, the matter troubled him. He came up with a radical solution: the Noldor adopted the local language, Sindarin, as spoken by the Sindar or Green-Elves, when they settled in Beleriand. That allowed Noldorin to be, more plausibly, a scarcely-altered dialect of Quenya; and it freed up his linguistically-developed material to be rebadged as Sindarin, which would have had a long time to evolve in Middle-earth. This was to some extent an awkward solution, as Sindarin had quite different origins, and should have developed rather differently. Tolkien reshaped his "Tree of Tongues" accordingly.

The Etymologies is Tolkien's etymological dictionary of the Elvish languages, contemporaneous with the Lhammas. It is a list of roots of the Proto-Elvish language, from which he built his many Elvish languages, especially Quenya, Noldorin and Ilkorin. The Etymologies, never meant to be published, does not form a unified whole, but incorporates layer upon layer of changes. In his introduction to The Etymologies, Christopher Tolkien wrote that his father was "more interested in the processes of change than he was in displaying the structure and use of the languages at any given time."



With The Lord of the Rings
The story of the Elvish languages as conceived by Tolkien from when he began working on The Lord of the Rings is that they all originated from Primitive Quendian or Quenderin, the proto-language of all the Elves who awoke together in the far east of Middle-earth, Cuiviénen, and began "naturally" to make a language. With the sundering of the Elves, all the Elvish languages are presumed to be descendants of this common ancestor, including the two languages that Tolkien developed most fully, Quenya and Sindarin, as shown in the tree diagram.

In detail, Tolkien invented two subfamilies (subgroups) of the Elvish languages. "The language of the Quendelie (Elves) was thus very early sundered into the branches Eldarin and Avarin". These further subdivided as follows:


 * Avarin is the language of various Elves of the Second and Third Clans, who refused to come to Valinor. It developed into at least six Avarin languages.
 * Common Eldarin is the language of the three clans of the Eldar during the Great March to Valinor. It developed into:
 * Quenya, the language of the Elves in Valinor (Eldamar) beyond the Sea; it divided into:
 * Vanyarin Quenya or Quendya, colloquial speech of the Vanyar, the Elves of the First Clan;
 * Noldorin Quenya (and later Exilic Quenya, when the Noldor moved from Valinor to Beleriand), colloquial speech of the Noldor, the Elves of the Second Clan.
 * Common Telerin, the early language of all the Teleri
 * Telerin, the language of the Teleri, Elves of the Third Clan, living in Tol Eressëa and Alqualondë in Valinor.
 * Nandorin, the language of the Nandor, a branch of the Third Clan. It developed into various Nandorin and Silvan languages.
 * Sindarin is the language of the Sindar, a branch of the Third Clan, who dwelt in Beleriand. Its dialects include Doriathrin, in Doriath; Falathrin, in the Falas of Beleriand; North Sindarin, in Dorthonion and Hithlum; Noldorin Sindarin, spoken by the Exiled Noldor.



Fictional philology
A tradition of philological study of Elvish languages exists within the fiction of Tolkien's frame stories:

"The older stages of Quenya were, and doubtless still are, known to the loremasters of the Eldar. It appears from these notices that besides certain ancient songs and compilations of lore that were orally preserved, there existed also some books and many ancient inscriptions."

Elven philologists are called the Lambengolmor; in Quenya, lambe means "spoken language" or "verbal communication." Known members of the Lambengolmor were Rúmil, who invented the first Elvish script (the Sarati), Fëanor who later enhanced and further developed this script into his Tengwar, which later was spread to Middle-earth by the Exiled Noldor and remained in use ever after, and Pengolodh, who is credited with many works, including the Osanwe-kenta and the Lhammas or "The 'Account of Tongues' which Pengolodh of Gondolin wrote in later days in Tol-eressëa".

Elvish scripts


Tolkien wrote out most samples of Elvish languages with the Latin alphabet, but within the fiction he imagined many writing systems for his Elves. The best-known are the "Tengwar of Fëanor", but the first system he created, c. 1919, is the "Tengwar of Rúmil", also called the sarati. In chronological order, Tolkien's scripts are:


 * 1) Tengwar of Rúmil or Sarati
 * 2) Gondolinic runes (Runes used in the city of Gondolin)
 * 3) Valmaric script
 * 4) Andyoqenya
 * 5) Qenyatic
 * 6) Tengwar of Fëanor
 * 7) The Cirth of Daeron

Books
A small fraction of Tolkien's accounts of Elvish languages was published in his novels and scholarly works during his lifetime.


 * 1937 The Hobbit a few elvish names (Elrond, Glamdring, Orcrist); no texts or sentences
 * 1962 The Adventures of Tom Bombadil
 * 1954–1955 The Lord of the Rings
 * 1967 The Road Goes Ever On.

Posthumously:


 * 1980 Unfinished Tales: the "Oath of Cirion"
 * 1983 The Monsters and the Critics: "A Secret Vice", with Oilima Markirya, Nieninqe, and Earendel.
 * 1987 The Lost Road and Other Writings:
 * "Alboin Errol's Fragments", p. 51
 * "Fíriel's Song", p. 69
 * Lhammas, explaining the relationships between the languages, pp. 182–217
 * The Etymologies, adding some 600 words and many links between languages, pp. 377–448

Posthumous articles
Many of Tolkien's writings on his invented languages have been annotated and published by Carl F. Hostetter in the journals Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon, as follows:


 * 1989 "The Plotz Quenya Declensions", first published in part in the fanzine Beyond Bree, and later in full in "Vinyar Tengwar'' 6, p. 14.
 * 1991 "Koivieneni Sentence" in Vinyar Tengwar 14, pp. 5–20.
 * 1992 "New Tengwar Inscription" in Vinyar Tengwar 21, p. 6.
 * 1992 "Liège Tengwar Inscription" in Vinyar Tengwar 23, p. 16.
 * 1993 "Two Trees Sentence" in Vinyar Tengwar 27, pp. 7–42.
 * 1993 "Koivieneni Manuscript" in Vinyar Tengwar 27, pp. 7–42.
 * 1993 "The Bodleian Declensions", in Vinyar Tengwar 28, pp. 9–34.
 * 1994 "The Entu Declension" in Vinyar Tengwar 36, pp. 8–29.
 * 1995 "Gnomish Lexicon", Parma Eldalamberon 11.
 * 1995 "Rúmilian Document" in Vinyar Tengwar 37, pp. 15–23.
 * 1998 "Qenya Lexicon" Parma Eldalamberon 12.
 * 1998 "Osanwe-kenta, Enquiry into the communication of thought", Vinyar Tengwar 39
 * 1998 "From Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D." Vinyar Tengwar 39, pp. 4–20.
 * 1999 "Narqelion", Vinyar Tengwar 40, pp. 5–32
 * 2000 "Etymological Notes: Osanwe-kenta" Vinyar Tengwar 41, pp. 5–6
 * 2000 "From The Shibboleth of Fëanor" (written ca. 1968) Vinyar Tengwar 41, pp. 7–10 (A part of the Shibboleth of Fëanor was published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, pp. 331–366)
 * 2000 "Notes on Óre" Vinyar Tengwar 41, pp. 11–19
 * 2000 "Merin Sentence" Tyalie Tyalieva 14, p. 32–35
 * 2001 "The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor" (written 1967–1969) Vinyar Tengwar 42, pp. 5–31.
 * 2001 "Essay on negation in Quenya" Vinyar Tengwar 42, pp. 33–34.
 * 2001 "Goldogrim Pronominal Prefixes" Parma Eldalamberon 13 p. 97.
 * 2001 "Early Noldorin Grammar", Parma Eldalamberon 13, pp. 119–132.
 * 2002 "Words of Joy: Five Catholic Prayers in Quenya (Part One), Vinyar Tengwar 43:
 * "Ataremma" (Pater Noster in Quenya) versions I–VI, p. 4–26
 * "Aia María" (Ave Maria in Quenya) versions I–IV, pp. 26–36
 * "Alcar i Ataren" (Gloria Patri in Quenya), pp. 36–38


 * 2002 "Words of Joy: Five Catholic Prayers in Quenya (Part Two), Vinyar Tengwar 44:
 * "Litany of Loreto" in Quenya, pp. 11–20.
 * "Ortírielyanna" (Sub tuum praesidium in Quenya), pp. 5–11
 * "Alcar mi tarmenel na Erun" (Gloria in Excelsis Deo in Quenya), pp. 31–38.
 * "Ae Adar Nín" (Pater Noster in Sindarin) Vinyar Tengwar 44, pp. 21–30.


 * 2003 "Early Qenya Fragments", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
 * 2003 "Early Qenya Grammar", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
 * 2003 "The Valmaric Scripts", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
 * 2004 "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", ed. Smith, Gilson, Wynne, and Welden, Parma Eldalamberon 15.
 * 2005 "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part One)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 47, pp. 3–43.
 * 2005 "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part Two)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 48, pp. 4–34.
 * 2006 "Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", Part 1, ed. Smith, Parma Eldalamberon 16.
 * 2006 "Early Elvish Poetry: Oilima Markirya, Nieninqe and Earendel", ed. Gilson, Welden, and Hostetter, Parma Eldalamberon 16
 * 2006 "Qenya Declensions", "Qenya Conjugations", "Qenya Word-lists", ed. Gilson, Hostetter, Wynne, Parma Eldalamberon 16
 * 2007 "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part Three)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 49, pp. 3–37.
 * 2007 "Five Late Quenya Volitive Inscriptions." Vinyar Tengwar 49, pp. 38–58.
 * 2007 "Ambidexters Sentence", Vinyar Tengwar 49
 * 2007 "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", edited by Gilson, Parma Eldalamberon 17.
 * 2009 "Tengwesta Qenderinwa", ed. Gilson, Smith and Wynne, Parma Eldalamberon 18.
 * 2009 "Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 2", Parma Eldalamberon 18.
 * 2010 "Quenya Phonology", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
 * 2010 "Comparative Tables", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
 * 2010 "Outline of Phonetic Development", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
 * 2010 "Outline of Phonology", Parma Eldalamberon 19.
 * 2012 "The Quenya Alphabet", Parma Eldalamberon 20.
 * 2013 "Qenya: Declension of Nouns", Parma Eldalamberon 21.
 * 2013 "Primitive Quendian: Final Consonants", Parma Eldalamberon 21.
 * 2013 "Common Eldarin: Noun Structure", Parma Eldalamberon 21.
 * 2015 "The Fëanorian Alphabet, Part 1", Parma Eldalamberon 22.
 * 2015 "Quenya Verb Structure", Parma Eldalamberon 22.

See also Douglas A. Anderson, Carl F. Hostetter: A Checklist, Tolkien Studies 4 (2007).