Cent O Hedhellem

Cent o Hedhellem An Examination of the Elven Tongues Ostadan November 15, 2000 Contents “The imaginary histories grew out of Tolkien’s prediliction for inventing languages. He dis- 1 Introduction 1 covered, as others have who carry out such inventions to any degree of completion, that a 2 Why Study Elvish? 2 language requires a suitable habitation, and a history in which it can develop” [Letters, #294]. 3 Two Histories 3 3.1 Internal History: The Sundered Certainly, one of the most distinctive features of Tongues . 3 Tolkien’s works is the extensive use of complex 3.2 External History: Qenya and and consistent languages, of which the most vis- Gnomish . 4 ible and best developed are the Elvish languages. Almost all of the exotic place-names in The Lord 4 The Sounds of Elvish 5 of the Rings are Elvish in origin, as (of course) are the names of the Elves, the Numenoreans´ of Gon- 5 Quenya: ‘Elven-Latin’ 6 dor, and even some weapons. A large number of Tolkien’s readers — many more than he expected 6 Sindarin: Shifting Sounds 8 — have studied the Elvish languages and their alphabets, and have employed them for a variety of 7 Some Examples 9 personal uses. Unfortunately, Tolkien himself never wrote 8 Further Reading 10 a work explicitly describing the vocabularies, phonologies, and grammars for these languages, A Word Lists 12 leaving his readers with the task of reconstruct- ing them by inference on the basis of the material Answers to the Exercises 16 available, much as professional linguists reconstruct ancient languages. This makes it difficult for the non-specialist to employ the Elvish lan- 1 Introduction guages effectively. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that the only widely available book on the As many Tolkien enthusiasts know, the world of subject for a general audience, Ruth Noel’s The Middle-earth was first conceived as the result of Languages of Tolkien’s Middle-earth (Houghton Tolkien’s enthusiasm for linguistic invention. As Mifflin, 1974 and 1980) is generally regarded with he wrote in 1967 (in a suggested correction to an scorn by Tolkien language enthusiasts (sometimes article about him), known by the Quenya word lambengolmor), not 1 only because it is outdated — it pre-dates the pub- friend, and enter” over their front door (or lication of the twelve volumes of The History of on their refrigerators), or invent new inscrip- Middle-earth — but because it is filled with mis- tions in Sindarin or Quenya for similar pur- leading and incorrect information. This article, poses. then, is intended as a very rudimentary introduction to Tolkien’s Elvish languages. It does not at- Creative Writing. While there is not enough • tempt to ‘teach Elvish’ or provide a detailed treat- ‘known’ about the Elvish languages to per- ment of their structures. Instead, we hope to give mit anyone to write extensive works1, several a general feel for the ‘features’ of the languages people have composed short works of Quenya for Tolkien fans who have not yet investigated the poetry (usually accompanied by some annota- subject to any great extent, and direct them to tion) simply for art’s sake. other resources for further study. Role-playing Games. Tolkien passed away in • 1973, less than two years before the first pub- 2 Why Study Elvish? lication of Dungeons and Dragons (it is amus- ing to speculate on what the consequences If you are reading this article, you probably don’t might have been if such games had been pop- need anyone to tell you why the study of Elvish ular in Tolkien’s lifetime). Participants in is of interest — one might as well ask why people such games — referees and players alike — memorize Hobbit genealogies (or, for that matter, often wish to give Elvish names to characters, baseball statistics or any other ‘useless’ informa- weapons, or places. Although some may ques- tion). But beyond purely ‘academic’ interest, here tion whether the use of such names in an en- are some of the applications to which people have vironment other than Tolkien’s world — the put their knowledge of this lore. history of which is so closely tied to those languages — is really appropriate, Tolkien him- Small communications among fellow fans. • self was willing to supply one reader with Tolkien himself would sometimes write the several names for bulls in Sindarin (such as Quenya word Namárië (usually translated as Tarmund, ‘Noble bull’) for her herd [Letters, ‘farewell’) at the bottom of letters. In the #345], so such uses may not be unreasonable Father Christmas Letters, one letter to his after all. children from Polar Bear included the ‘Arctic’ phrase Máramesta an ni vélatye ento, ya rato Similarly, it is common for people to assume nea (Goodbye till I see you next and I hope it pseudonyms in Elvish languages for Internet will be soon), closely resembling an early ver- forums and the like. These are sometimes sion of Quenya. Many Tolkien fans will sim- based on the real-world etymology of the in- ilarly inscribe the Sindarin greeting Suilad dividual’s name, such as Meldon for David or the Quenya closing Namárië in letters, or (meaning ‘beloved one’), based on the Quenya quote Frodo’s Quenya greeting to Gildor when adjective melda (‘beloved’). meeting new Tolkien friends. Motion Pictures. While some articles in the • Decoration. This is more appropriate to general press have characterized the Elvish • Tolkien’s invented alphabets, the Cirth and languages as ‘gobbledygook’ requiring subti- the Tengwar (which will not be discussed in tles, Peter Jackson knows that audience ac- this article), than to the languages them- ceptance of his vision of Middle-earth as a selves. Nevertheless, using Tolkien’s alpha- 1Of course, you can write anything you like; but even lam- bets or Roman (English) lettering, some peo- bengolmor will not necessarily understand what you have writ- ple may inscribe the Sindarin for “Speak, ten. 2 real place requires (in part) that ‘real’ Elvish History of Middle-earth XII, Dangweth Pen- language must be portrayed. By all accounts, golodh] ‘Elvish dialogue coaches’ have been retained in order to achieve this and avoid offense to When the rebellious Noldor returned to Middle- the lambengolmor. earth, they learned the speech of the Sindar and it became their tongue of daily use. Indeed, Thin- gol 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 Tolkien’s 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 real- Thus, in The Lord of the Rings, two very dis- world 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 Tolkien’s lin- the proper names such as Minas Tirith or Orcrist; guistic and aesthetic tastes changed, leading to and Quenya, the language of Galadriel’s 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 lan- who ‘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 Namárië, seen guages work. in Galadriel’s lament, is Quenya, while mellyn, the plural of mellon, is Sindarin (‘friend’, perhaps the best-known word in any Elven tongue). We 3.1 Internal History: The Sundered will later see how the sound systems of the two Tongues languages are quite different, and, for the most part, not hard to identify. As told in The Silmarillion, the Elves were once a We see some hints of the relationship between single people in the period following their awaken- the two languages in some words like Quenya ing at Cuivienen,´ and spoke a single tongue, some- lasse, Sindarin lass, ‘leaf’, or in words that times called Common Elvish or Proto-Quendian. diverged from Common Elvish more, such as But as the Great Journey to the West began, the Quenya alda (‘tree’) versus Sindarin galadh (with Elves were divided into several groups, and their dh representing the voiced th sound as in “these”). languages began to diverge. In the words of Pen- These two words both resulted from a primitive golodh, galad¯a. It may be noted here that Ruth Noel’s book, Thus, swifter or slower, yet ever inescapably, while mentioning the existence of a common the far-sundered kindreds of the Quendi were proto-language, seems to say that Sindarin can sundered also in speech: the Avari from the Eldar; and the Teleri from the other Eldar; somehow be derived from Quenya. This simplistic and the Sindar, who abode in Middle-earth, idea makes it impossible to account for the initial from the Teleri that came at last unto Aman; sounds of pairs like Q/S nár/naur (‘flame’) on one and the Exiles of the Noldor from those that hand, but Q n úmen versus S d ûn, both meaning remained in the land of the Valar.

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