Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ostadan
January 19, 2002
Contents
1 Introduction
3 Two Histories
3.1 Internal History: The Sundered
Tongues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
3.2 External History:
Qenya and
Gnomish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
5 Quenya: Elven-Latin
7 Some Examples
3
4
8 Further Reading
10
A Word Lists
12
16
1 Introduction
As many Tolkien enthusiasts know, the world of
Middle-earth was first conceived as the result of
Tolkiens enthusiasm for linguistic invention. As
he wrote in 1967 (in a suggested correction to an
article about him),
1
(sometimes known by the Quenya word lambengolmor), not only because it is outdated it predates the publication of the twelve volumes of The
History of Middle-earth but because it is filled
with misleading and incorrect information. This
article, then, is intended as a very rudimentary
introduction to Tolkiens Elvish languages. It does
not attempt to teach Elvish or provide a detailed
treatment of their structures. Instead, we hope
to give a general feel for the features of the languages for Tolkien fans who have not yet investigated the subject to any great extent, and direct
them to other resources for further study. Those
in a hurry may simply wish to skip to Section 8,
Further Reading for references to other sources.
this article), than to the languages themselves. Nevertheless, using Tolkiens alphabets or Roman (English) lettering, some people may inscribe the Sindarin for Speak,
friend, and enter over their front door (or
on their refrigerators), or invent new inscriptions in Sindarin or Quenya for similar purposes.
Creative Writing. While there is not enough
known about the Elvish languages to permit anyone to write extensive works1 , several
people have composed short works of Quenya
poetry (usually accompanied by some annotation) simply for arts sake.
Role-playing Games. Tolkien passed away in
1973, less than two years before the first publication of Dungeons and Dragons (it is amusing to speculate on what the consequences
might have been if such games had been popular in Tolkiens lifetime). Participants in
such games referees and players alike
often wish to give Elvish names to characters,
weapons, or places. Although some may question whether the use of such names in an environment other than Tolkiens world the
history of which is so closely tied to those languages is really appropriate, Tolkien himself was willing to supply one reader with
several names for bulls in Sindarin (such as
Tarmund, Noble bull) for her herd [Letters,
#345], so such uses may not be unreasonable
after all.
Decoration.
This is more appropriate to
Tolkiens invented alphabets, the Cirth and
the Tengwar (which will not be discussed in
1 Of course, you can write anything you like; but even lambengolmor will not necessarily understand what you have written.
ing at Cuivienen, and spoke a single tongue, sometimes called Common Elvish or Proto-Quendian.
But as the Great Journey to the West began, the
Elves were divided into several groups, and their
languages began to diverge. In the words of Pengolodh,
Thus, swifter or slower, yet ever inescapably,
the far-sundered kindreds of the Quendi were
sundered also in speech: the Avari from the
Eldar; and the Teleri from the other Eldar;
and the Sindar, who abode in Middle-earth,
from the Teleri that came at last unto Aman;
and the Exiles of the Noldor from those that
remained in the land of the Valar. [The
History of Middle-earth XII, Dangweth Pengolodh]
When the rebellious Noldor returned to Middleearth, they learned the speech of the Sindar and
it became their tongue of daily use. Indeed, Thingol forbade the speaking of the Noldorin tongue,
3 Two Histories
Quenya, in his realm. Thus, Sindarin (with some
dialectic variation) became the tongue of all the
Unlike the historical languages of our world, Elves of Beleriand. Quenya, itself somewhat
Tolkiens languages each bear two histories: the changed from the Quenya of Valinor, became a
internal or Middle-earth history that describes kind of Elven Latin or ceremonial tongue, known
how the Sindarin, Telerin, Avarin, Vanyarin, to all learned people, but used by only a few in
and Quenya languages evolved from the common daily speech by the end of the Third Age, in which
proto-Elvish spoken by the Elves who first awak- period most of our information was recorded.
ened at Cuivienen; and the external or realThus, in The Lord of the Rings, two very disworld history that describes how the Qenya and tinct branches of the Elvish language are seen:
Gnomish languages devised by Tolkien in 1915 Sindarin, the language in which are given most of
1917 changed over the decades, as Tolkiens lin- the proper names such as Minas Tirith or Orcrist;
guistic and aesthetic tastes changed, leading to and Quenya, the language of Galadriels lament in
the Quenya and Sindarin languages seen in The Lothlorien, and in which Frodo greeted Gildor. It
Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion. People is important to distinguish between the two lanwho do Elvish need to be aware of both histo- guages. For example, someone recently closed an
ries when attempting to understand how the lan- article with Namari
e, mellyn; but Namari
e, seen
guages work.
in Galadriels lament, is Quenya, while mellyn,
the plural of mellon, is Sindarin (friend, perhaps
3.1 Internal History: The Sundered the best-known word in any Elven tongue). We
will later see how the sound systems of the two
Tongues
languages are quite different, and, for the most
As told in The Silmarillion, the Elves were once a part, not hard to identify.
single people in the period following their awakenWe see some hints of the relationship between
2 Oddly, many of Tolkiens actual Elvish passages are not
the two languages in some words like Quenya
portrayed in the film.
lasse, Sindarin lass, leaf , or in words that
3
(flame) on one
hand, but Q numen
versus S dun,
both meaning
west, on the other (the latter words both derive
from a primitive root, ndu).
The result is a series
of impossible-to-apply rules contrasting the two
languages.
3.2
External History:
Gnomish
Qenya and
contradictory.
Nevertheless, one area that is quite well understood is that of phonology: the sounds associated
with the Elvish dialects. Appendix E of The Lord
of the Rings, describing the alphabets, provides
very complete descriptions of the sounds used by
the Noldor and Sindar. As this is intended as an
introduction, not an encyclopedic treatment, we
will illustrate the phonological characteristics of
Sindarin and Quenya by presenting a collection of
elementary rules by which one can usually distinguish between Sindarin and Quenya. Of course,
there will be many exceptions.
In this discussion, the abbreviation CE refers to
Common Elvish, the common ancestor of Quenya
and Sindarin.
Final vowels in CE disappeared in Sindarin.
If you see a word with more than one syllable ending in a vowel, it is probably Quenya,
although Sindarin verbs like daro will often
end in vowels.
Conversely, if an Elvish word ends with a letter other than a vowel, or the letters n, r, l, or
s, it is almost certain to be Sindarin.
The CE sounds t, p, and k were normally softened, or lenited, in Sindarin when they occurred in the middle of words, especially between vowels. Their sounds became d, b, and
g, respectively. If you see a word with the unlenited forms in such a position, it is probably
Quenya, and not Sindarin.
On the other hand, CE included the d, b, and
g sounds, and these were modified in Quenya.
d regularly became l (although it remained
when strengthened in combinations like nd
and ld); b became v (as in Q vala versus S
balan), and g disappeared entirely (except after n). Thus, if you see a word with these consonants appearing outside the combinations
ng, mb, nd, rd, or ld, it is not Quenya.
As the foregoing discussion makes clear, many aspects of the Elvish languages are unclear even to
scholars; inferences must be drawn from materials that are necessarily incomplete and unsystematic. Indeed, Tolkien changed his mind often, and
the available materials are sometimes downright
occur in Quenya. The qu sound of Quenya With this survey of elementary Elvish phonology
is not found in Sindarin; it was based on a under our belts, we now look at a few of the salient
CE sound that became p in Sindarin3 . The features of Quenya and Sindarin.
older sound th (as seen in English words like
threat) was modified to Quenya s.
Quenya: Elven-Latin
Taniquetil;
Morimaite; Calenardhon; Balrog;
Gandalf.
o mentielvo.
Here, we meet the allative case ending -nna to
give us at/upon the time8 . Our meeting is
o mentielva, so the genitive -o inflection gives us
the well-known translation, on the hour of our
meeting.
Endorenna utulien,
Quenya prose and poetry, and essays dealing primarily with its structure, Quenya is actually more
well documented than Sindarin. This is surprising to many people, for whom the word Elvish
usually suggests the Sindarin language, which is
so visible in The Lord of the Rings in the names
of people and places, and of course in the inscription on the West-gate of Moria. With this in mind,
we now turn our attention to the language of the
Grey Elves.
Not only vowels, but consonants shifted in Sindarin. Earlier, we saw how consonants changed
from primitive Elvish in certain contexts. This
softening, or lenition 11 , of consonants could occur
at the beginning of words in certain contexts, including the formation of compounds. The exact
rules are uncertain12 , and it seems that Tolkien
changed his mind about them frequently, judging from manuscript corrections and different versions of names from different times. The most
common context for lenition is when a word is
used in close compounds. So, we see elvellyn, elffriends from el+mellyn; Perhael, Half-wise, Sam6 Sindarin: Shifting Sounds
wise from per+sael; fanuidhol, cloudyhead, from
As we learned earlier, Tolkien modeled Sindarin fanui+dol, and so on. Lenition also occurs at the
in some ways after the Welsh language. One of beginnings of singular nouns following the defithe unusual things about Welsh is that plurals nite article i (e.g., i Varanduiniant, the Brandyare often formed by the change of internal vowels. wine bridge). Finally, lenition occurs when the
This is the result of old plurals ending in -i. Even noun is the direct object of the verb. For example,
though that ending was dropped, it affected the when the hosts of the West praise Frodo and Sam,
Egpronunciations of the other vowels in the word. A they say Daur a Berhael, Conin en Annun!
very similar phenomenon occurs in Sindarin, al- lerio!, Noble and Halfwise (i.e. Frodo and Sam),
13
though the details are a bit different. Even ca- Princes of the West, glorify (them)!. Here, the
sual readers of The Lord of the Rings probably words taur and perhael are implicitly the direct
recognize the resulting plural formations: adan, objects of the verb eglerio, and so their initial conman (as in dunadan),
uin
but these are uncommon.
12 In Welsh, lenition occurs under very complex rules, such as
a feminine singular after an article. Sindarin appears simpler.
13 This appears to be an irregular plural.
9 This
7 Some Examples
Finally, perhaps
we want to be really ambitious and say Farewell
to my friends. Here, we need a dative case ending
(used typically when something is being given to
gate of Moria.
17 This analysis may be what misled Gandalf in interpreting
pedo mellon.
Further Reading
10
11
21 http://www.elvish.org/resources.html
22 http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/index.html
23 http://www.elvish.org/gwaith
24 http://www.terracom.net/dorothea/elfling.html
25 http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/
A Word Lists
Herein are set forth all the Quenya and Sindarin words and phrases discussed in this article.
Anna malollo
e
avani
Eldalambi-centa
Eldalambion
elen
elen sila
elen siluva
eleni silar
esse
Et Earello
Endorenna utulien
i parma
KALKenta
laica
Laice Parmar
laiquendi
lambe
lambengolmor
lanta
lasse
e
lum
lumenna
omentielvo
malo
malollo
malor
mante
mata
melda
Meldon
e
Namari
e malonyain
Namari
e,
malonyar
Namari
e,
malor
Namari
nar
numen
omenti
e
omentielva
osanwe
palantir
tree
sun
The sun will shine on your path
gift
A gift from a friend
Has passed away
An enquiry into Elvish tongues
Of the elvish tongues
star
A star is shining
a star will shine
stars are shining
name
From out of the great sea to Middle-earth I have come
the book
Light
Inquiry/examination
green, bright
Green Books
green-elves
language, tongue
language loremasters
falls
leaf
time, hour
upon the time
friend
from a friend
friends
ate
eats
beloved
David
Farewell
Farewell to my friends
Farewell, my friends
Farewell, friends
fire, flame
west
meeting of ways
our meeting
mind-speech
far-seer
12
parma
parmalva
parmalya
parmanya
parmanyallo
parmar
parmaron essi
parmat
parmo esse
quendi
quetta
quetta i parmallo
tie
TIR
Tiran
i eleni
TUL e
utuli
e
utuvi
utuvienye
utuvienyes
e
van
book
our book (thine and mine)
thy book
my book
from my book
books
names of books
a pair of books
a books name
elves
word
a word from the book
path
watch, see
I am watching the stars
come
has come
has found
I have found
I have found it
passed away
dun
dunadan
edain
edhel
edhel-lam
edhil
edro!
eglerio
el+mellyn
man
hill
King of Gondor
king of Gondor and Lord of the Western Lands
lands, dwellings
vala
words
green, bright
silvery
silver-foot
examination, inquiry
rune
runes
live well
stop!
Noble and Halfwise, Princes of the West!
west
west-man
men
elf
elf-language
elves
open!
glorify them!
elf+friends
13
elenath
elvellyn
emyn
en
Ennyn Durin Aran Moria
ered
host of stars
elf-friends
hills
the (sing. gen.)
Doors of Durin Lord of Moria
mountains
mountains of my home
Prince of the Halflings
mountains
cloudy+head
cloudyhead
Gateway of (the) dwarf-folk, hear my tongues word
tree
trees
(concerning) elf-tongues
the
the Baranduin (Brandywine) bridge
the (plural)
language
leaf
hear!
hear my tongues word
ears
eat!
well
well met
dwellings (with nasal mutation)
to eat
friend
friends
enter, friend, and eat well
fire, flame
from, of, concerning
orc
mountain
city, fortress
fortress of the elves
book
Green lawn
speak, friend
half
half+wise
half-elves
books
Green Books
Samwise, half-wise
Halfling, hobbit
the race of halflings
word
Green Ridges
14
Suilad
tal
Tarmund
taur
vellyn
yrch
Greetings
foot
Royal Bull
High, lofty, noble
friends (with lenition)
orcs
15
16