The Languages of Arda
✦ Guide to Tolkien Languages ✦
A reference page for the study of J.R.R Tolkien’s invented languages and writing systems.
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J. R. R. Tolkien is highly renowned for creating some of the most detailed fictional languages ever devised. Being a philologist himself, he treated his constructed languages as evolving systems, which he soon incorporated in his legendarium - The World of Middle-earth, thus giving these languages a world to live in. Language and grammar for Tolkien was a matter of aesthetics and euphony, and Quenya in particular was designed from "phonaesthetic" considerations; it was intended as an "Elven-latin", and was phonologically based on Latin, with ingredients from Finnish, Welsh, English, and Greek. The most notable of these languages are Quenya (a formal, ancient language influenced by Finnish and Latin) and Sindarin (a more commonly spoken language inspired by Welsh). Languages such as Khuzdul, Adûnaic and the harsh Black Speech were developed to reflect the cultures and values of their speakers. Tolkien's constructed languages form interconnected families, similar to real-world groups such as the Indo-European languages.
In order to enjoy the entire extent of his constructed languages, I would highly recommend you to read his works (The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales, and many other side stories) and 'The History of Middle-earth' which contains a large amount of the remaining unpublished materials, together with notes and extensive commentary, in a series of twelve volumes, written and published by his literary successor Christopher Tolkien
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Comprehensive reference websites
Tolkien Gateway (https://tolkiengateway.net/) - A beautiful and comprehensive general wiki for Tolkien’s legendarium and works
Digital Tolkien Project (https://digitaltolkien.com/) - A major digital humanities and corpus-linguistic resource for Tolkien studies
Languages Created by J.R.R. Tolkien (General Information)
- Quenya - Quenya (Q, pron. [ˈkʷwɛɲa]) was one of the languages spoken by the Elves. It was the tongue that developed among those non-Telerin Elves who reached Aman (the High Elves) from an earlier language called Common Eldarin. Quenya was typically written with the Tengwar of Fëanor. An older script, Rúmil's Sarati, was used also.
- Sindarin - Sindarin was the Elvish language most commonly spoken in Middle-earth in the Third Age.
- Adûnaic - Adûnaic ("Language of the West"), or the native name Adûnayân, was the Númenórean language, spoken by the Men of Númenor during the Second Age.
- Westron - Westron (Adûni in itself) was the language of the Dúnedain of Middle-earth. By the end of the Third Age it was more or less a universal language spoken throughout the races and peoples of the Westlands, thus it was also known as the Common Speech.
- Telerin - Telerin was a word used to refer to the tongues of any Elf-people that are of Lindar origin but is best reserved for the language of the Teleri that came to Valinor, the Falmari;[1] it is a tongue related to both Quenya and Sindarin. It is also called Lindalambe or Lindárin.
- Doriathrin - Doriathrin or the language of Doriath, was a form of Sindarin used during the First Age which preserved many archaic forms.
- Mannish - Mannish is a term used to refer to the languages of Men, as opposed to the Elvish tongues, or those of the other races of Middle-earth. By far the most prominent Mannish language was Westron.
- Nandorin - Also called Silvan Elvish. Silvan Elvish was a name for the tongue spoken by the Silvan Elves.
- Old Sindarin - Old Sindarin is the conventional name for the hypothetical earliest form of the Sindarin language, gradually mutated from Common Telerin.
- Ilkorin - Ilkorin, a language Tolkien wrote in the earliest versions of his legendarium, was the tongue of the Ilkorindi.
- Avarin - Avarin is a term used to refer to the combined languages of the Avari.
- Khuzdul - Khuzdul, or Dwarvish, was the secret language of the Dwarves.
- Iglishmêk - Iglishmêk was a Dwarvish language of silent gesture-signs. Considered far more elaborate and organized than the Elvish systems (mátengwië), iglishmêk was a secondary language which Dwarves started learning almost as soon as their spoken one.
- Entish - Entish or Old Entish was the slow, sonorous, rumbling and ancient language of the Ents.
- Black Speech - The Black Speech was the language of Mordor. This speech was created by Sauron during the Dark Years to be the sole language of all the servants of Mordor, replacing the many different varieties of Orkish and other languages used by his servants.
- Valarin - Valarin, also called the Eldest Speech, was the language of the Ainur.
- Primitive Quendian - Primitive Quendian is the proto-language of the Quendi, or Elves, which they spoke soon after their Awakening.
Reference Sites and Resources
1. Elvish
Gives you information about scholarly journals regarding Tolkien linguistics, like "Parma Eldalamberon" and "Vinyar Tengwar". Majority of the pdfs of Parma Eldalamberon and Vinyar Tengwar can be found on Anna's Archive/Libgen; only a few versions/editions of these journals are digitally missing.
2. Quettar
Quettar was founded in 1980 by Susan Rule as the Bulletin of the Linguistic Fellowship of the Tolkien Society. Under the successive editorships of Susan Rule, Steve Pillinger, Michael Poxon, David Doughan and Julian Bradfield, it was published three or four times a year (nominally) until 1995, when the last published issue (number 49) appeared.
A free resource is given in this website: https://www.quettar.org/special1.pdf.
3. Omentielva
The International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Invented Languages, held biennially. The proceedings of these meetings are published in a series named "Arda Philology", which can be viewed for free: https://www.omentielva.com/ardaphil.htm
4. Sindanoorie
A dedicated site for Tolkien’s languages.
5. Glaemscrafu
https://glaemscrafu.jrrvf.com/english/index.html
A detailed linguistic cellar for getting accustomed to these languages. From their website description:
>"Each language is illustrated by a sample of published texts, transcribed in the scripts devised by Tolkien and voiced by audio records. In the case of some poorly represented languages we sometime had to resort to mere wordlists. The given translations are not necessarily literal but were chosen or composed primarily to shed light upon the texts. We also wish to give a glimpse of certain languages of this world that left a deep mark on Tolkien and provided inspirations: Old English, Middle English, Gothic, Old Norse, Finnish, Welsh and Latin. For those we give a selection of prayers together with literary texts significant to him, and when relevant some of his own compositions in these languages. Their transcriptions emulate styles in which they were historically written."
6. Tengwar.info
A website dedicated to the Tengwar writing system created by Tolkien.
The Tengwar (pron. [ˈteŋɡʷar], Quenya for “letters”, singular tengwa [ˈteŋɡʷa], Sindarin tîw) was a writing system invented by Fëanor (and was therefore also called the Fëanorian alphabet or script). It was used for a variety of languages among the Free peoples and became perhaps the most prominent writing system of Arda, used by a variety of Races through the Ages.
7. Mellonath Daeron / Forodrim
https://forodrim.org/daeron/md_home.html
> "Mellonath Daeron is the language guild of Forodrim, both founded in 1972. We study the languages created by Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, in particular Quenya and Sindarin, and the writing systems known as tengwar and cirth.
8. Eldamo
> This collection of documents is a lexicon of Tolkien’s invented languages, particularly his Elvish languages, which are the most detailed. The collection is called a “lexicon” because it is not a dictionary in the traditional sense; it also analyzes the relationships between the languages and their development both within Tolkien’s fictional history and conceptual changes through Tolkien’s lifetime. The title “Eldamo” superficially resembles an Elvish word, but it is actually is an abbreviation for Elvish Data Model, since its content is derived from an XML data model describing Tolkien’s languages and their relationships.
It has a Quenya introductory course which is good for beginners.
9. Realelvish
A resource focused on reliable, well-researched, and up-to-date translations in Tolkien’s languages.
10. ElfDict
A comprehensive dictionary for Tolkien languages.
11. Ardalambion
Website with essays and other resources for the languages of Arda. It has really detailed information of each languages and many other apt resources.
12. Amanye Tenceli
https://at.boktypografen.se/index.html
>*This page is dedicated to the beautiful writing systems that in Tolkien’s works derived from the continent of Aman. They are often collectively called Tengwar, although strictly speaking this is wrong, Tengwar being the name of Feanor’s writing system (Feanor’s Tengwar) but not of the Sarati, Rúmil’s script (the “Tengwar of Rúmil”). *
13. Tecendil
A Tengwar transcriber, not a translator.
The site also provides a free handbook for learning the system.
14. Sindarin and Quenya Course
https://www.science-and-fiction.org/bookstore.html
The main highlights here are:
- Pedin Edhellen — a Sindarin course
- Quetin i lambë eldaiva — a Quenya course
As per their descriptions :
>"They contains 22 lessons on Elvish grammar, each with short Sindarin texts introducing the new information, in addition to exercises and blocks with helpful information. Appendices provide tables for the most common consonant mutation patterns and a basic list of vocabulary." The books are freely available on the website as pdfs (you can buy the books to support the website and author"
15. Journal of Tolkien Research
http://scholar.valpo.edu/journaloftolkienresearch/
A peer-reviewed, open-access electronic journal published through the Institutional Repositories of Valparaiso University.
It won the 2016 Tolkien Society Award for Best Online Content.
16. Atanquesta
A Neo-Quenya primer.
17. Gelio Edhellen!
A "barebone" set of lessons to give a general idea of Sindarin
18. Tolkien Studies
https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/299
An annual scholarly review of critical work on Tolkien’s fiction and academic writing in literary and linguistic studies.
Access may require institutional or personal subscription.
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Thank you for referring to my guide.
For resource/link suggestions, corrections, or general feedback related to this guide, please feel free to reach out
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