Elvish languages
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Elvish languages are constructed languages used typically by elves in a fantasy setting.
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Elvish languages of Middle-earth
Author J. R. R. Tolkien created many languages for Elves to complement his books set in the fictional universe of Middle-earth. His interest was primarily philological, and he said his stories grew out of his languages. Indeed, the languages were the first thing Tolkien ever created for his mythos, starting with "Qenya", the first primitive form of elvish. This is now one of the two most complete - Quenya (High-elven) and Sindarin (Grey-elven). In addition to these two he also created several other (partially derived) languages.
In Tolkien's mythology, these languages originated as follows:
- Primitive Quendian (language of the Elves in Cuiviénen)
- Avarin
- Various Avarin languages (some later merged with Nandorin)
- Common Eldarin (the early language of all the Eldar)
- Quenya (the language of the Ñoldor and the Vanyar)
- Quendya (also Vanyarin Quenya) (daily tongue of the Vanyar: closest to archaic Quenya)
- Ñoldorin Quenya (also Exilic Quenya) (the "Elven Latin" of Middle-earth)
- Common Telerin (the early language of all the Lindar)
- Telerin (the language of the Teleri who reached the Undying Lands)
- Nandorin (languages of the Nandor — some were influenced by Avarin)
- Original language of Greenwood the Great
- Original language of Lórinand
- Sindarin (language of the Sindar)
- Doriathrin (dialect of Doriath)
- Falathrin (dialect of the Falas and Nargothrond)
- North Sindarin (dialects of Dorthonion and Hithlum)
- Quenya (the language of the Ñoldor and the Vanyar)
- Avarin
Professor Tolkien also created the Tengwar and Cirth scripts for his languages.
Pronunciation
Sindarin and Quenya have in most aspects very much the same pronunciation. The following table gives pronunciation for each letter or cluster in international phonetic script and examples:
Vowels
| Letter / Digraph | Pronunciation | IPA | Further comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| a | as in father, just short | Template:Unicode | never as in cat |
| á | as in father | Template:Unicode | / |
| â | (in Sindarin) as in father, but even longer | Template:Unicode | / |
| ae | (in Sindarin) the vowels described for a and e in one syllable. | Template:Unicode | Similar to ai |
| ai | a diphthong, similar to that in eye, but with short vowels | Template:Unicode | never as in rain |
| au | a and u run together in one syllable. Similar to the sound in house | Template:Unicode | never as in sauce |
| aw | (in Sindarin) a common way to write au at the end of the word | Template:Unicode | / |
| e | as in pet | Template:Unicode | / |
| é | the same vowel lengthened (and in Quenya more closed; as in German) | S: Template:Unicode, Q: Template:Unicode | Rural Hobbit pronunciation allows the sound as in English rain |
| ê | (in Sindarin) the vowel of pet especially lengthened | Template:Unicode | Rural Hobbit pronunciation allows the sound as in English rain |
| ei | as in eight | Template:Unicode | never as in either (in neither pronounciation) |
| eu | (in Quenya) e and u run together in one syllable | Template:Unicode | never as in English or German |
| i | as in machine, but short | [i] | not opened as in fit |
| í | as in machine | Template:Unicode | / |
| î | (in Sindarin) as in machine, but especially lengthened | Template:Unicode | / |
| iu | (in Quenya) i and u run together in one syllable | Template:Unicode | later by men often as in English you |
| o | open as in British got | Template:Unicode | / |
| ó | the same vowel lengthened (and in Quenya more closed; as in German) | S: Template:Unicode, Q: Template:Unicode | Rural Hobbit pronunciation allows the sound of "long" English cold |
| ô | (in Sindarin) the same vowel especially lengthened | Template:Unicode | Rural Hobbit pronunciation allows the sound of "long" English cold |
| oi | (in Quenya) as in English coin | Template:Unicode | / |
| oe | (in Sindarin) the vowels described for o and e in one syllable. | Template:Unicode | Similar to oi. Cf. œ! |
| œ | (in Sindarin) as in German Götter | [œ] | in published writing often oe has falsely been used, as in Nírnaeth Arnoediad! |
| u | as in cool, but shorter | [u] | not opened as in book |
| ú | as in cool | Template:Unicode | / |
| û | (in Sindarin) the same vowel as above, but especially lengthened | Template:Unicode | / |
| y | (in Sindarin) as in French lune or German süß, but short | [y] | not found in English |
| ý | (in Sindarin) as in French lune or German süß | Template:Unicode | / |
| ŷ | (in Sindarin) as in French lune or German süß, but even longer | Template:Unicode | not found in English |
Consonants (differing from English)
- The letter c is always pronounced like the letter k, even before i and e.; for instance, Celeborn is pronounced Keleborn, and Cirth is pronounced Kirth.
- The letter g is never pronounced in the soft form, as in giant. For instance, Region is pronounced unlike the English word region.
- The letter r is lightly trilled, as in Spanish.
- The digraph dh, as in Caradhras, is pronounced like the th in this.
- The digraph ch, as in Orch, is pronounced as in German ach.
It's important to remember that, while most samples of the Elvish language are written with the Latin alphabet, within the fiction the languages were written using Tengwar, or occasionally carved in Cirth. Tengwar can however be used to write many other languages.
See also: Languages of Middle-earth
Other Elvish languages
Tolkien was not the only one to create an Elvish race and language, but his is by far the best known. Other Elvish languages include:
- Ssamath, the language of the Dark Elves or Drow of Dungeons & Dragons,
- Common Elvish, the language of the surface Elves of D&D
- Eltharin, the language of the elves of Warhammer:
- Fan-Eltharin, the language of the Wood Elves
- Tar-Eltharin, the language of the Sea Elves and High Elves
- Elvish language of Andrzej Sapkowski's Hexer saga, based on Welsh and English
External links
- TL'Ilythiiri Zhaun'ol — - The D&D Drow Dictionary (http://php.iupui.edu/~asimmon/drow.html)
- Ardalambion - a very complete source for learning Elvish (http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/)
- - Elvish fonts for Windows (http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/4948/index.html)
- - Elvish.org (http://www.elvish.org)
- - Various Tolkien resources (http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/)
- - A downloadable course in Quenya (http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/qcourse.htm)
- - Elvish & Dwarf fonts for Mac Classic (http://babel.uoregon.edu/yamada/fonts/tolkien.html)
- - List of available books about Elvish (http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/resources)
- - Elvish fonts (http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/fonts/) for TEX
- - Pronunciation guide (http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/TolkLang/pronguide.html)
- - Learn Tengwar and Cirth (http://web.comhem.se/~u86023928/at/)es:Lenguaje élfico