Cent O Hedhellem

Cent o Hedhellem An Examination of the Elven Tongues Ostadan January 19, 2002 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, no explicit description of the vo- 8 Further Reading 10 cabularies, phonologies, and grammars for the Elvish languages seen in The Lord of the Rings A Word Lists 12 has ever been published, leaving Tolkien’s readers with the task of reconstructing them by in- Answers to the Exercises 16 ference on the basis of the material available, much as professional linguists reconstruct ancient languages. This makes it difficult for the non- 1 Introduction specialist to employ the Elvish languages effec- tively. The situation is exacerbated by the fact As many Tolkien enthusiasts know, the world of that the only widely available book on the sub- Middle-earth was first conceived as the result of ject for a general audience, Ruth Noel’s The Lan- Tolkien’s enthusiasm for linguistic invention. As guages of Tolkien’s Middle-earth (Houghton Mif- he wrote in 1967 (in a suggested correction to an flin, 1974 and 1980) is generally regarded with article about him), proper scorn by Tolkien language enthusiasts 1 (sometimes known by the Quenya word lamben- this article), than to the languages them- golmor), not only because it is outdated — it pre- selves. Nevertheless, using Tolkien’s alpha- dates the publication of the twelve volumes of The bets or Roman (English) lettering, some peo- History of Middle-earth — but because it is filled ple may inscribe the Sindarin for “Speak, with misleading and incorrect information. This friend, and enter” over their front door (or article, then, is intended as a very rudimentary on their refrigerators), or invent new inscrip- introduction to Tolkien’s Elvish languages. It does tions in Sindarin or Quenya for similar pur- not attempt to ‘teach Elvish’ or provide a detailed poses. treatment of their structures. Instead, we hope to give a general feel for the ‘features’ of the lan- • Creative Writing. While there is not enough ‘known’ about the Elvish languages to per- guages for Tolkien fans who have not yet investi- 1 gated the subject to any great extent, and direct mit anyone to write extensive works , several them to other resources for further study. Those people have composed short works of Quenya in a hurry may simply wish to skip to Section 8, poetry (usually accompanied by some annota- Further Reading for references to other sources. tion) simply for art’s sake. • 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’ Similarly, it is common for people to assume phrase Máramesta an ni vélatye ento, ya rato pseudonyms in Elvish languages for Internet nea (Goodbye till I see you next and I hope it forums and the like. These are sometimes will be soon), closely resembling an early ver- based on the real-world etymology of the in- sion of Quenya. Many Tolkien fans will sim- dividual’s name, such as Meldon for David ilarly inscribe the Sindarin greeting Suilad (meaning ‘beloved one’), based on the Quenya or the Quenya closing Namárië in letters, or adjective melda (‘beloved’). quote Frodo’s Quenya greeting to Gildor when meeting new Tolkien friends. • Motion Pictures. Early articles in the popu- lar press covering Peter Jackson’s films glibly • Decoration. This is more appropriate to 1Of course, you can write anything you like; but even lam- Tolkien’s invented alphabets, the Cirth and bengolmor will not necessarily understand what you have writ- the Tengwar (which will not be discussed in ten. 2 dismissed Elvish as a “gobbledygook” of for- ing at Cuivienen,´ and spoke a single tongue, some- eign sounds requiring subtitles, but Jackson times called Common Elvish or Proto-Quendian. knew that audience acceptance of his vision of But as the Great Journey to the West began, the Middle-earth as a real place would require (in Elves were divided into several groups, and their part) that ‘real’ Elvish language must be por- languages began to diverge. In the words of Pen- trayed, beyond the passages that are found golodh, 2 in the books . To this end, Elvish scholars Thus, swifter or slower, yet ever inescapably, David Salo and Bill Welden were employed to the far-sundered kindreds of the Quendi were translate dialogue into Sindarin and Quenya sundered also in speech: the Avari from the (much of which necessarily required inven- Eldar; and the Teleri from the other Eldar; tion and speculation on their part) and assist and the Sindar, who abode in Middle-earth, in proper pronunciation of these dialogues as from the Teleri that came at last unto Aman; well as the other Elvish names that are spo- and the Exiles of the Noldor from those that ken in the films. As it has turned out, these remained in the land of the Valar. [The Elvish ‘fabrications’ have drawn much atten- History of Middle-earth XII, Dangweth Pen- tion, and interest in Tolkien’s Elvish creations golodh] surged greatly with the success of the first When the rebellious Noldor returned to Middle- film. 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 3.1 Internal History: The Sundered the best-known word in any Elven tongue). We Tongues will later see how the sound systems of the two languages are quite different, and, for the most As told in The Silmarillion, the Elves were once a part, not hard to identify.

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