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Black Speech School
elven_languages
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Elven languages
Many Black Speech and Orcish words incorporate roots taken from languages of Elves. While Quenya and Sindarin are well-known some other tongues (specially older in external history) mentioned at this wiki may confuse a reader. This page will shortly overview them.
| Language | Description | Links |
|---|---|---|
| Doriathrin | Language of Doriath, The Hidden Kingdom of Beleriand, in the First Age. Almost all examples are from early drafts and Etymology chapter of The Lost Road and Other Writings. In Silmarillion it's considered as archaic dialect of Old Sindarin | |
| Gnomish | also Goldogrin. Invented by Tolkien for the first drafts back to 1917. Lexicon is published in Parma Eldalamberon 11 and in shorter form in appendices to The Book of Lost Tales. By 1930 evolved into Noldorin. | |
| Ilkorin | in early drafts was the language of Teleri elves left in Beleriand, later replaced by Noldorin and then by Sindarin in external history. May remain as “northern dialect” of Sindarin. | |
| Noldorin | in early drafts was a combined language of elves of Fëanor (Old Noldorin) and dark elves of Beleriand (Ilkorin), later replaced by Sindarin. | |
| Old Noldorin | replaced by Noldorin dialect of Quenya | |
| Qenya | Written by 1915, so predates any Legendarium. Published in Parma Eldalamberon 12. By 1940s it evolved into Quenya. | |
| Quenya | Ancient tongue common for all elves. One of the best-developed languages of elves. By the time of The Lord of the Rings (Third Age) it became a scholar language not used in colloquial speech like it was the Latin in Middle Ages. The grammar of language was still changing after the publication of LOTR until 1973. Has two major dialects: Vanyarin (language of elves of Valinor, continued to live there) and Noldorin (or Exilic) Quenya, a speech of elves returned to Middle-Earth. Replaced by Sindarin in real usage during the First Age. | |
| Sindarin | Language of “modern” elves. While it was born during the First Age (merging Exilic Quenya and Ilkorin) it survived as colloquial language by the time of The Lord of the Rings. In early drafts (before 1940s) was called Noldorin. |
Links
If your are interested in other languages of Tolkien's mythos the following pages are essential.
- Ardalambion. Of the Tongues of Arda, the invented world of J.R.R. Tolkien
elven_languages.1554290788.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/09/07 14:47 (external edit)
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