Tolkien's Elvish languages: list, history of creation. Elvish names

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

J. R. R. Tolkien created an amazing world - Middle-earth, which was inhabited not only by people, but also by other unusual creatures. One of the most amazing and beautiful people is the elves. J. R. R. Tolkien approached the creation of this world so responsibly that he even invented a separate language for it. Fans of his work and no less magnificent world have even created textbooks with which you can learn the Elvish language.

Briefly about the author

John Ronald Reuel was born in South Africa because that's where his father was sent for a promotion. After the death of Arthur Tolkien, his wife and children returned to England. The family lived in poverty, and Mabel Tolkien herself converted to Catholicism. And thanks to her influence, John Tolkien became a deeply religious man.

Also, the mother instilled in the child an interest in botany, and little Tolkien was happy to draw landscapes. She also taught the child the basics of the Latin language, and at an early age Tolkien could read and write. After her death, Father Francis Morgan, a priest, took care of his upbringing. It is heinstilled in the boy an interest in philology, for which Tolkien was very grateful.

Then he learned a few more languages: the child had a talent for linguistics. Elvish languages Tolkien began to develop at school. Moreover, some of them have signs of "linguistic aging". JRR Tolkien became a professor at Oxford University. Then he began to work on the Middle-earth cycle.

The Lord of the Rings trilogy has been in the works for many years, and when it was released, it was a huge commercial success. The mid-1960s saw the peak of The Lord of the Rings' fame. The writer rejoiced at such a success of his creation, but was a little tired of popularity. Tolkien made a huge contribution not only to literature, but also to linguistics, studying, creating and popularizing languages.

History of Creation

J. R. R. Tolkien was not just a writer and he was not just a linguistics. The writer was a creator who wanted to give people a piece of magic. The history of the creation of the Elvish language began in Tolkien's school years. The writer became interested in Old English poetry and liked the beauty of the works so much that he decided to create something special.

Quenya Elvish was created from Finnish, and Sindarin from Welsh. In his student years, John Ronald Reuel began to write poetic works on them. The most popular text written in Quenya is the Elvish language of Tolkien - "Lament of Galadriel", and in Sindarin - a hymn to Varda, the deity of light.

WriterHe said that he would write with pleasure only in these dialects. When Tolkien created new languages, he thought about how they would be spoken. The writer created for each language its special mythology. Tolkien said that his works were written in order to create a world for the languages invented by the writer.

Elves in brief

Elves and hobbits are the original invention of JRR Tolkien. It was these characters that became the main characters of his works - The Silmarillion and The Lord of the Rings. According to the idea of the writer, elves exist as long as the world exists, they are its spirit.

Although elves are immortal beings, but for them it is not a gift, as for ancient gods. Therefore, these beings envy mortal people who are "free from the circles of the world." Elves are the highest creatures, they are beautiful, agile and fast. Elves also love music, literature and have strong magic. Elves are distinguished by their polite manner, wisdom and philosophical attitude to life.

They try not to interfere in the affairs of Middle-earth, but in the events in the "Lord of the Rings" they take an active part in the fight against Sauron and his army. Tolkien's Elvish languages are as beautiful as these creatures themselves. That's why so many fans of his work want to learn it.

Proto-Elven and Avari

The group of Elvish languages originated from one ancient dialect - Proto-Elven, or Quenderin. Quendarin appeared during the first years of the awakening of these beautiful creatures. Proto-elvishdivided into several groups - this is due to the fact that the people were divided into several branches.

Part of the elves decided to move to the West in Valinor. As a result, a new language branch was formed - the Eldarin. But there were also those elves who did not want to move to Valinor and they began to be called "Avari". And so another dialect appeared - Avarin.

Another of Tolkien's Elvish languages is Avari. Its first name was "lemberin". The dialects of the Avarin branch differed greatly from each other. Only a few words in the Avarin dialect are mentioned in the writer's manuscripts.

Eldarin group, ancient Quenya and common Telerin, Nandorin

Eldarin is the common language of the elves, which belongs to an ancient language group. It was spoken by the elves who went west to Valinor. The Eldarin then split into two dialects.

Kor-Eldarin - it is from this group that the Quenya dialects originated. Ilkorin was originally supposed to be the language of the elves who remained in the valley of the Anduin, which then split into two more dialects. Then it was replaced by the Sindarin language. Then, in the dialect of Elfo, who did not go to the West, he received the name lemberin.

Ancient Quenya is a transitional step from the Eldarin to the more advanced Quenya of Amana. And from the common Telerin, Sindarin and Telerin of Aman were formed. The Nandor language also originated from it.

Nandorin was spoken by those elves who did not stay in the Anduin valley, but moved along the river to the South. The Nandorin group also includes dialects of elvesOssiriander and the elves of Eastern Middle-earth.

Sindarin group

Goldogrin - originally it was supposed to be the language of nolnor - the elves who continued their journey to Valinor. It was then expanded into Sindarin, which became one of Tolkien's first Elvish languages.

Noldorin is a more developed dialect of Noldor. The writer said that he was divided into several more groups that appeared in the First Age. Then Noldorin replaced Ilkorin and evolved into Sindarin.

Sindarin is one of Tolkien's most popular Elvish languages. This dialect was spoken by the elves who lived in Beleriand. It is descended from the common telerin. Tolkien constantly refined and supplemented Sindarin. This language is also known as the language of the gray elves. And it's spoken by the characters from The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Aman languages

This group includes several adverbs. Telerin, or another name for it, Lindarin, is the language of those elves who reached Aman. It is a dialect of Quenya, but it is considered a separate dialect. Quenya is the language of the Elves who first reached Aman and then Valinor. Then it was spoken by the Noldor, and the Vanyar communicated in its dialect - Vanyarin.

Quenya comes from the Eldarin. Quenya is also one of the first languages created by Tolkien. Also in the Amana language group is Vanyarin, which is a dialect of Quenya.

Description of Quenya

Tolkien's most famous Elvish language is Quenya. It is also called High Elven. work on itThe writer began in 1915. Finnish was taken as the basis, and Tolkien also took Greek and Latin spelling and phonetics. Perhaps the writer was inspired to name this language by the Kven language close to Finnish, which is common in Kvenland.

Tolkien refined the grammatical structure several times, but the lexical component of Quenya was stable. In addition to developing the language, the writer also described the people who were supposed to speak it. At the time described in The Lord of the Rings, it had already fallen into disuse and was replaced by Sindarin.

Quenya Tolkien called "Elvish Latin". It was not a simple spoken language, only scholars and children from we althy and influential families could speak it. Also, all official Elvish documents were written in Quenya. And the kings were given Quenya names, because it is one of the noblest and highest languages.

Grammar and phonetic features of Quenya

Tolkien created it as archaic, retaining the main features of Quenderin. The transcription of Quenya Elvish is similar to Latin, to which the phonetic features of Finnish and Greek have been added. Tolkien described in detail his phonetic, lexical and grammatical features.

Quenya vowels sound more like Spanish or Italian than English. Also, High Elvish only has the definite article. To show the indefinite article, it is simply not put. Quenya also has a grammatical category for number:

• singular - denotes one item;
• dual number - denotes an inseparable pair of objects (an interesting feature of Quenya: best friends are called meldu, i.e. "pair of best friends" - this shows the degree of their closeness);
• plural - several items;
• collective number - serves to designate an inseparable group of objects ("people") or a certain group of objects with an article.

Quenya also has a category of cases. The most interesting is "mysterious" - some call it "substantial" or "relevant". A distinctive feature of Quenya grammar is the use of case endings instead of prepositions. Elves constantly improved their language and sought to find new words that could convey all the beauty of the world around them.

Sindarin

Also one of Tolkien's popular Elvish languages is Sindarin. It was on it that all the elves began to speak. Initially, it was used by those elves who did not go overseas to Valinor. Synadrin was owned by humans and dwarves, and in Numenor all Numenoreans were required to learn it.

Then, when the influence of the Elvish languages became not so great, only elves began to communicate in Sindarin, while other peoples either did not study it at all or met it in literature. The writing system of Sindarin is based on the runic one: in it the letter corresponded to a certain sound. Also, sometimes letters were used to write Sindarin words to indicate consonants.sounds, and special icons for vowels. Sindarin phonetics retained more Proto-Elven consonants than Quenya.

Phrases and their translation

Invented languages are becoming so popular that some people start learning them. Then they are supplemented with new words, expanding the lexical component. Here are the phrases in Elvish:

• Elen sila lumenn omentilmo - "The star illuminated the hour of our meeting".
• Coramamin lindua ele lle - "My heart sings, looking at you".
• Vanya sulie - "Magic winds".
• Aa` menealle nauva calen ar` m alta - "May your path be covered with gold and leaves".
• Lissenen ar` maska`lalaith tenna` lye omentuva - "Sweet water and light laughter until we meet again".
• Vanimle sila tiri - "Your beauty shines bright light."
• Cormlle naa tanya tel` raa - "You have a lion heart".

In Elvish, an inscription was made on the gates of Moria, Gandalf cast spells on it. It is also inscribed with all known poetry in Middle-earth.

Elven names

Some fans of the universe of Middle-earth are so imbued with that magical atmosphere that they begin to study the languages and culture of these peoples. Here are examples of Elvish names:

• Aredel Ar-Feiniel - translated from Sindarin means "noble elf" and "noble white lady".
• Arwen - the name is of Sindarin origin and translates as"noble lady".
• Galadriel - translated from the Sindarin "virgin, adorned with a shining crown".
• Celeborn - Sindarin for "silver tree".
• Kirdan - this name means "ship, shipbuilder".
• Legolas is a name of Sindarin origin, translated as "green leaf".
• Miriel Serinde - Quenya name, translated as "precious embroiderer wife".
• Pengolod - the name is translated as "teacher of wisdom".
• Thranduil - consists of two Sindarin words and means "stormy spring".
• Elrond - means "Star Trek".

Some Quenya names have been adapted to Sindarin. Names in Quenya were most often given to kings and other members of the nobility.

Ways to study

How to learn the Elvish language? Tolkien fans have even created special textbooks that talk about the features of grammar, phonetics and vocabulary. There are also special forums where fans discuss the world of Middle-earth. Some schools in the UK offer Elvish language courses.

J. R. R. Tolkien created an amazing and unique world, which has a lot of fans. The Elvish language from The Lord of the Rings is part of the legacy of this fine writer and linguist. J. R. R. Tolkien loved linguistics, and he sought to popularize it. And his books are an opportunity to create for his languagesspecial world.