Elvish languages (Middle earth)

Internal history

The Elvish languages are a family of several related languages and dialects. Here is set briefly the story of the Elvish languages as conceived by Tolkien c. 1965. They all originated from:

Primitive Quendian, also called 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.

All the Elvish languages are presumed to be descendants of this common ancestor.

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".

Avarin is the language of various Elves of the Second and Third Clans, who refused to come to Valinor.

Avarin 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 Eldamar beyond the Sea; it divided into:

Vanyarin Quenya (also Quendya), colloquial speech of the Vanyar, the Elves of the First Clan;

Noldorin Quenya (and later Exilic Quenya), 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.

Nandorin, the language of the Nandor, a branch of the Third Clan.

Nandorin 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.

The acute accent (á, é, í, ó, ú) or circumflex accent (â, ê, î, ô, û, ŷ) marks long vowels in the Elvish languages. When writing Common Eldarin forms, Tolkien often used the macron to indicate long vowels. The diaeresis (ä, ë, ö) is normally used to show that a short vowel is to be separately pronounced, that it is not silent or part of a diphthong. For example, the last four letters of Ainulindalë represent two syllables, rather than the English word dale, and the first three letters of Eärendil represent two syllables rather than the English word ear.

Internal development of the Elvish word for "Elves"

Below is a family tree of the Elvish languages, showing how the Primitive Quendian word kwendī "people" (later meaning "Elves") was altered in the descendant languages.

Fictional philology

There is a tradition of philological study of Elvish languages within the fiction. Elven philologists are referred to by the Quenya term Lambengolmor. In Quenya, lambe means spoken language or verbal communication.

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.

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".

Independently of the Lambengolmor, Daeron of Doriath invented the Cirth or Elvish-runes. These were mostly used for inscriptions, and later were replaced by the Tengwar, except among the Dwarves.

Pronunciation of Quenya and Sindarin

Sindarin and Quenya have a very similar pronunciation. The following table gives pronunciation for each letter or cluster in international phonetic script and examples:

Vowels

Consonants (differing from English)

The letter c always denotes [k], even before i and e; for instance, Celeborn is pronounced Keleborn, and Cirth is pronounced Kirth; thus, it never denotes the soft c [*s] in cent.

The letter g always denotes the hard [ɡ], as in give, rather than the soft form [*d͡ʒ], as in gem.

The letter r denotes an alveolar trill [r], similar to Spanish rr.

The digraph dh, as in Caradhras, denotes [ð] as in English this.

The digraph ch, as in Orch, denotes [x] as in German ach, and never like the ch [*t͡ʃ] in English chair.

The digraph lh denotes [ɬ] as in Welsh ll, a cross between "h" and "l".

Elvish scripts

Most samples of the Elvish language done by Tolkien were written out with the Latin alphabet, but within the fiction Tolkien 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.

List of known Elvish scripts devised by Tolkien

In chronological order :

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

Internal history of the scripts

Prior to their exile, the Elves of the Second Clan (the Noldor) used first the sarati of Rúmil to record their tongue, Quenya. In Middle-earth, Sindarin was first recorded using the "Elvish runes" or cirth, named later certar in Quenya. A runic inscription in Quenya was engraved on the sword of Aragorn (II), Andúril.