The language of the elves. The most interesting fictional languages

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The Elven language is a fictional group of artificial languages that was designed and created by the English writer John Tolkien. In particular, he used them in his most famous novels "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" when choosing the names of the heroes of the works. In The Silmarillion, using these invented dialects, names were given to all the characters and objects mentioned on the pages of the work. So for fans of the work of this science fiction writer, their study is of genuine interest.

Ancient languages

From the languages of the elves, several of the largest and most common groups can be distinguished. One of them is ancient languages. Conventionally, it can be divided into proto-elven, avarin and eldarin.

Proto-Elven, which in some sources is called Quenderin, is considered the very first language of the elves. All other dialects have already originated from it. It was formed in the first years after the Awakening, at the same time it began to actively develop. After the separation of the elves in the language alsoseveral groups stood out.

Part of the native speakers left for the West, and as a result, the proto-elvish split into Avarin and Eldarin branches.

Avarin is the collective name for a large number of Avari dialects. These are the elves who refused to proceed to the West. It is noteworthy that in the original concept of Tolkien it was called lemberin, but then he changed it. At the same time, the Avari languages often differ greatly even among themselves. In the manuscripts, the writer mentioned only six words that belonged to different dialects.

Those who choose to migrate speak the common Elvish language, also known as Eldarin. Over time, it split into Ilkorin, Kor-Eldarin, Common Telerin, and Ancient Quenya.

Eldarin group

Learning the language of Tolkien's elves is an extremely exciting experience. Let's deal with each of the adverbs that stood out from the Eldarin group:

1. Kor-Eldarin is a kind of collective name for several languages at once, which in the future began to develop as independent dialects - Noldorin, Vanyarin and Telerin.
2. Ilkorin was originally developed as a basic concept of the Teleri language. It was later supplanted by the Sindarin. In the most recent concepts, it is already called lemberin, and the very concept of ilkorin becomes a completely incomprehensible and unclear term.
3. Ancient Quenya is a kind of step from the common Elvish language in the developed Amana Quenya. The common telerin is also considered one of the progenitors of all majorlanguages. Telerin Aman and Sindarin emerged from it and developed into independent dialects, and later the Nandor language also emerged.

Nandorin group

The Nandorin group includes the Nandorin language itself, as well as the Wood Elf dialect and the Ossiriand dialect.

Nandor is spoken by those elves who separated from the main group of their fellow tribesmen during the mass migration to the West. Moreover, there are at least two varieties of this language - the dialect of the elves of Eastern Middle-earth and the dialect of the elves of Ossiriand.

The Wood Elf dialect is also called the Sylvan dialect. It is used by those who settled the expanses of Mirkwood and Lorien.

Finally, the dialect of Ossiriand is spoken by those who moved to the city of the same name. Interestingly, in the original concept, he was known thanks to Elwing and her son.

Sindarin group

The Sindarin group is considered one of the most common, as it includes goldgreen, Noldorin and Sindarin, which we will talk about in more detail.

Goldogrin is also called the Gnomish language, in the original concept it belonged to the Dwarves. It was later modified to make Sindarin. It is one of two Tolkien elf languages that he created.

Noldorin is a developed variant of Gnomish in the concept of the outward development of the languages of Middle-earth. In particular, the author himself mentioned five different dialects that separated from this language back in the First Age. In later concepts, this language has already replaced Ilkorin, andthen it was actually supplanted by Sindarin.

Sindarin

Sindarin is one of the most interesting and popular languages developed by Tolkien. Literally translated from Quenya, this concept means "grey speech".

Remaining the language of the Gray Elves, it has become the main language of the Sindar. These were elves from the tribe of the Teleri, who decided to stay in Beleriand during the Long March. As a result, their language began to differ significantly from the dialects used to explain other tribes who sailed across the sea.

In the Third Age, Sindarin becomes the primary language of the elves in The Lord of the Rings. It was the most widespread dialect in the western part of Middle-earth. It is this language that everyone calls Elvish in the book itself.

Why choose Sindarin?

Over time, it was adopted by the Noldor, who used to speak Quenya. But when they returned to Middle-earth, they adopted the Sindarin in order to win the favor of King Ela Thingola. As a result, Sindarin and Quenya have remained separated by a huge space, they retain fundamental differences in grammar, although many similar words remain. Sindarin begins to change over time much more than Quenya, which is why several dialects are formed already in the First Age. Thus, the Gray Elves recognized one of the most majestic dialects used in Doriath.

Kirt runic system was used as a writing system. It is worth noting that when creating this language, the writer was based on Welsh. It has a unique feature -consonant mutations, as in most Celtic languages. The language has also been heavily influenced by Old Norse and Old English.

Aman languages

There are three types of Aman languages - Telerin, Vanyarin and Quenya, the latter being the most popular and widespread.

The Teleri language was spoken by the people of the same name who reached Aman. By and large, this is one of the Quenya dialects, while researchers are always considered as a separate dialect.

Vanyarin is another Quenya dialect, less developed. Valarine had a serious effect on him.

Quenya

Quenya is an artificial language. Literally, this term is translated as "language" or "adverb". Tolkien began to develop it in 1915. It is noteworthy that Finnish was chosen as the basis for its construction, spelling and grammar were largely borrowed from Greek and Latin. It is believed that the very name of the language is close to the Finnish language Kven, which was very common in the north of Scandinavia on the territory of the historical region of Kvenland.

At the same time, the writer has always paid a lot of time and attention to building the language. In particular, Quenya grammar was revised four times until it took on its current form. At the same time, the vocabulary remained more or less constant throughout this process.

Interestingly, in parallel with the development of this language, Tolkien described in detail the people to whom it would belong. Their land, history, a world in which they could speak it, the sameMiddle-earth. It was the development of this elven language that had a great influence on the entire work of the writer. "The Lord of the Rings" was born just from these descriptions, becoming a classic of world fantasy.

The position of Quenya in the world of Middle-earth

At the same time, the named language can hardly be found in the novel itself, because at the time of the events described in the work, Quenya went out of everyday use, occupying approximately the same place in the culture of Middle-earth that Latin occupies in Europe. Therefore, it is no coincidence that even Tolkien himself called Quenya "Elvish Latin". Sindarin remained the main language for everyday communication in his most famous trilogy.

It is amazing that the Quenya language has made its way into everyday life today. Now several magazines are published on it, and in America and the UK they defend dissertations on the peculiarities of its grammar.

Significantly increased interest in the Elvish languages after 2004, when the last part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy appeared on the screens. For example, in one of the Birmingham schools, they officially allowed teaching Elvish to schoolchildren.

Talas language

To figure out what language the elves speak, it is worth noting that the grammar and vocabulary for this nation were developed not only in the world of Middle-earth. For example, special fictional languages also exist in the Warcraft universe.

Talasian is the language of the blood elves, derived from Darnassian. We will tell you a little more about him.

According to legend, his proto-language is practicallycompletely lost. Currently, linguists note the striking similarity and consonance of these two languages. At the same time, connoisseurs of this universe should be aware that addressing a blood or high elf in Darnassian, even if using separate phrases and words in this dialect, is likely to be perceived as a stupid act or even an insult. Therefore, the speaker should be extremely careful when using blood elf language.

This is one of the four most famous Elvish dialects in this universe.

Darnassian

Darnassian is considered the primary language of the night elves. It has a spoken and written equivalent.

Because the night elves are directly related to the Naga, as well as the blood and high elves, Darnassian is closely related to the Talassian language and Nazja. At the same time, one must understand that there are quite serious and fundamental ideological differences between the night elves themselves and their distant relatives. Therefore, linguists should be extremely careful when making these comparisons.

It is important to note that the name of the language is consonant with the name of the capital of the night elves - the city of Darnassus, which was built relatively recently. There are several versions of why this could happen. Perhaps the city was so named after the language, or because of the name of the city the name of the language was changed, most agree that the etymology of the word "Darnassus" remains unknown.

Dark Elves

There are elves with their own language in the fictional worldDungeons & Dragons. This is a fantasy role-playing board game. It was first published back in 1974, and still remains one of the most sought-after and popular on the planet.

The Dark Elves were first described in a rule book intended for the very first edition. They are also called drow.

This is an arrogant and powerful dark skinned race that lives in many cities of the Underground. The people are notorious for their treachery, cruelty, constant internecine wars. Most representatives of this unpleasant people preach a bloody and bloodthirsty cult of the spider goddess Lolth. Elves who live on the surface, as well as people, hate the drow, persecuting even those of them who have completely retired from dark deeds. According to the rules of the board game, they have a neutral evil alignment with everything that surrounds them in this world.

The language of the dark elves is one of the dialects of Elvish. At the same time, on secret missions and during operations, they can use a complex, confusing and silent sign language, which almost no one else can decipher except them.

Senior Speech

You can also meet the description of Elvish languages in the so-called series of dark fantasy novels The Witcher by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.

In The Witcher, the language of the elves is called Elder Speech. It is based on runic writing, it is the language of an ancient and respected people.

It is notable that it is based on French, English, German, Irish, Welsh andLatin languages. Something unique was taken from each of them so that the desired result could be obtained.

The Elder Speech has several dialects. Before the division of the elves, there was a single language, and many are fluent in Classical Elder speech. At the same time, among the popular dialects, one should also note the languages of the Alder People and the dryads from Brokilon, the Skellig jargon, the Nilfgaardian dialect.

For example, Skellig jargon is used only in the archipelago of the same name. It cannot be found anywhere else. And the Nilfgaardian dialect is used by subjects of the empire of the same name, as well as the provinces that belong to it. Its main distinguishing feature is its unique pronunciation, when vowel sounds should stretch especially strongly.