Elves and their Created Languages Word Count: 3,619
Copyrighted by Carly Lopez December 2008
J.R.R. Tolkien, author of the Lord of the Rings, had an ingenious mind in which creativity seemed endless. Although the Lord of the Rings was Tolkien’s literary masterpiece, and also the work he is prominently known for, he had a greater interest that was far more fascinating to him. J.R.R. Tolkien spent years of his life creating languages that very few people could interpret and understand. Tolkien had a passion for linguistics and his created languages were blends of languages present in the eastern hemisphere that he believed were appealing to the sense of hearing (Shippey 1–15). He credited the creation of these languages to an imaginary population, the elves. In effort to make elves and their new languages seem more realistic, he created an entire history including the background and evolution of elves.
As mentioned in the opening paragraph, Tolkien’s languages were created for the elves (Fenlon et al. 23–26). The elves were a fictional group created by J.R.R. Tolkien for use in the Lord of the Rings. Their created history sparked the interest of many Tolkien followers, not only Samwise Gamgee, one of the main characters in the Lord of the Rings. Samwise was one of the four hobbits, and he was mesmerized by the beauty of the elvish culture and their unique lifestyles. Tolkien always had a fascination with fantasy and fictional characters; this was emphasized in his essay on Fairly-Tales that was previously discussed in class. According to Tolkien, elves occupy their time with smith-work, singing, arts, and festivals. The elvish population is responsible for the majority of the harmonious songs and poems found in The Lord of the Rings (Kinsella 10–11).
Elves are unique in several ways. They are immortal and have incredible healing powers (Fenlon et al 23–26). Elves have the ability to recover from wounds that would kill an ordinary man. Although elves are blessed with immortality it does not mean that they cannot die. Elves can die of a broken heart or if they are slain. In the case of the Lord of the Rings, Arwen, the elf daughter of Elrond, was dying of a broken heart. Arwen’s love for Aragorn and idea that she was never going to see him again was killing her. She did not meet this fate however, as her true destiny was for her to be with Aragorn. Due to the elves immortality, they have seen things happen that no mortal has ever seen. According to Kubinski, the elves detailed history and experiences is responsible for their wide range of songs and poems (63–81). There are numerous songs and poems for every aspect of elvish culture.
Tolkien’s book, Lord of the Rings that we have focused on the entire semester was set in the created land of Middle Earth. Middle-Earth elves were settled in the second age, according to Hostetter (1–37). This was the age in which the Sindar elves re-established themselves. The second age was the time period that included the settling of the elves mentioned in the Lords of the Rings (Celeborn, Galadriel, and Elrond) and the first fight in which Sauron was defeated and the ring of power was cut from his hand. The second age was important for the plot of the Lord of the Rings. With the failed attempt to destroy the ring, the opportunity for the rebirth of Sauron was still a possibility.
Tolkien created dozens of elvish languages; some languages have hundreds of words coupled with intricate grammar and phonetic rules, while some of his languages have merely twenty words and are rather undeveloped. For the purpose of this paper focus will be based on Tolkien’s two main elvish languages, Sindarin and Quenya, and the elvish populations who spoke these languages. These two languages were the only elvish languages that were mentioned in the Lord of the Rings.
According to Carl Hostetter, J.R.R. Tolkien devised two different types of alphabets that played a crucial role in the creation of his languages (1–37). It is important to note the creation and use of Tolkien’s alphabets because they were the preliminary works that fueled Tolkien’s artistic language creations. His tengwar alphabet was considered to be ‘letters’ while the cirth letters were commonly known as ‘runes.’ The tengwar was originally created to be written with a brush or pen and the cirth was designed to be inscribed in a tablet of clay or stone. In an article by Stephen Medcalf, he stated that the tengwar alphabet was the older of the two (31–53). Along with Tolkien’s two main alphabets he also created two primary elvish languages that corresponded to their particular alphabet. The tengwar alphabet was common in the creation of the Quenya language. Sindarin was the second of Tolkien’s popular elvish languages and was created using ‘runes’ of the cirth alphabet (Smith 1–17). Cirith runes were only used in creating the Sindarin elvish languages while the tengwar alphabet was used to create not only the Quenya language, but other less developed elvish languages too. Although the elvish alphabets were an obvious creation of J.R.R. Tolkien, he credited the elves with creating both alphabets. This is understandable and is part of the grand scheme to make elves and Middle-Earth more realistic.
As a recap, there are two main differences between Tolkien’s two principal differences between the languages. Sindarin, the elvish language of Middle-Earth is more common than Quenya (Hostetter 1–37). Although Quenya is less common throughout the Lord of the Rings, it is claimed to be the more attractive of the two languages. Classifying a language as attractive may seem inaccurate without interpretation. Certain voices appeal to different people, depending on the person and their likes and dislikes. As an example, German is not thought to be an attractive language. With the stopping and unusual categorization of phonemes, the language is not what Tolkien would have called “linguistically aesthetic.” Overall, Tolkien believed the Quenya language was a creation that listeners would like to listen to even without knowledge of the content or meaning. The second and more obvious difference is the alphabet in which each language is written. Quenya is written with the tengwar alphabet letters and Sindarin is written with the cirith runes.
Tolkien incorporated both of his elvish languages into the Lord of the Rings, although it can be difficult for the reader to determine which language is which. The easiest way to decipher between the two languages is by determining which alphabet it was written in. However, in the Lord of the Rings, there was only one example of Quenya elvish written with the tengwar letters, and only one example of Sindarin elvish written with the cirith runes (Medcalf 31–53). Tolkien did this on purpose to emphasize the importance of the specific writings. The inscription on the ring was written in Quenya elvish. The inscription was transcribed to read, “One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them, one ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.” This inscription is very important to the overall plot of the Lord of the Rings, especially since all of the books are based around the events of the ring and those who are escorting the ring to Mordor. The inscription on the top of the Door of Durin at the west gate of Moria was the only example of Sindarin elvish written with the cirith runes. In elvish the inscription read, “Ennyn Durin Aran Moria: pedo mellon a minno. Im Narvi hain echant: Celebrimbor o Eregion teithant I thiw hin.” The English translation to this inscription would be, “The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Say “friend” and enter. I, Narvi, made them. Celebrimbor of Eregion drew these signs.” Scenes in which both inscriptions were made with their respective alphabets were important to the overall plot, however the message inscribed with the Sindarin elvish sparked an interesting question.
Sindarin was the more commonly used elvish language and was more prevalent in Tolkien’s book. According to Hostetter, Sindarin was the language spoken of the Elves in Middle Earth (1–37). As it is already known, Middle Earth was the overall setting for The Lord of the Rings. Even though there are apparent differences between Sindarin and Quenya, the two have common roots and several words are shared among the two languages (Smith 1–17). In order to open the west gate of Moria, Gandalf had to read the passage inscribed on the arch above the door. This scene in which the fellowship enters Moria raises an interesting point. Although Sindarin was the more common of the elvish languages, it was not immediately interpreted by Gandalf (one who claimed to be fluent in the modern elvish tongues). Legolas, a wood elf and member of the fellowship, could not decipher the transcription either. The inscription took several moments to decipher and this was blamed on the fact that the inscription was in an ancient unused language. It was previously mentioned that Quenya was the ancient elvish language. Difficulty in interpretation created a window of time for the sea monster to grab Frodo’s leg and attempt to pull him in. Another explanation for this discrepancy could be that the dilemma faced by the fellowship during this time helped lead up to the conflicts the group faced inside Moria. No one knows the exact purpose of this scene due to the intricate and genius mind of Tolkien that people today are still trying to interpret.
In an additional literary work Tolkien, Sackler, and Swann explained that Aragorn’s coronation oath taken at the end of the trilogy and Galadriel’s farewell as the fellowship departed from Lorien, were two examples of Quenya elvish (23). Although it was less popular than the Sindarin elvish, the Quenya elvish was believed to be a more beautiful and fluent language. As the popularity of Quenya diminished the language was limited to naming people and places. The Sindarin language was the language used for the majority of the poems and songs found throughout the Lord of the Rings. This is understandable because many of these songs were created by the elves of Middle Earth, and Sindarin is the more prominent language for this population of elves. It is also interesting to note that Sindarin had three different dialects; Doriathrin, Falathrin, and North Sindarin (Stanton 36). Incorporation of different dialects makes the elvish languages more practical. It is hard to imagine every elf in Middle-Earth speaking the same dialect with the same accents, just as it would be hard to imagine people from New York speaking the same as people from the South Carolina, or other southern states.
Although Quenya and Sindarin elvish languages were only written in tengwar and cirith runes merely once, there are other examples throughout the text. Aragorn’s coronation song at the end of the books was an example of Quenya elvish (Medcalf 31–53). This is also fitting because a coronation is based in ancient beliefs. The Quenya coronation song is both beautiful and fitting for the scene it was created for. The coronation song performed by Aragorn in elvish is, “Et Earello Endorenna utulien, Sinome maruvan ar Hildinvar, tenn’ Ambar-metta!” The English translation for the song would be, “Out of the great sea to Middle-Earth I am come, in this place I will abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world.” Tolkien’s goal in creating his languages was to create a language with linguistic aesthetics. Linguistic aesthetics was coined by Tolkien and involved the relationship between the sounds of words, their definitive meaning, and the emotional response elicited by the sound (Smith 1–20). When comparing the elvish version to the English translation, the Quenya elvish version seems more meaningful. Although many people do not know the meanings of Tolkien’s languages and more specifically the meaning of the coronation oath, he would be pleased that it elicited an emotional response and was meaningful without to the listener’s even though they did not know the exact meaning.
The configuration of the actual phonemes within Tolkien’s languages is more complex than the language itself. Phonemes are simply individual sounds that are combined to form meaningful words. Although Tolkien’s elvish words are constructed systematically they still have little meaning to those uneducated on Tolkien linguistics. Tolkien’s elvish languages are created based on the use of over eighty vowels (Hostetter, 1–37). This is an excessive amount when compared to the number of vowel sounds in American English. American English has less than 15 vowel sounds, this includes dipthongs, front, back, and central vowels. Dipthongs are the combination of two different vowel sounds. The majority of words in Tolkien’s language begins with a consonant and end in a vowel. The vowels at the end of words combine easily with the vowels at the beginning of words to create a smooth flowing language. The combination of phonemes within Tolkien’s invented languages explain why elvish is so melodious and comforting. Creating such a beautiful language was very pleasurable for Tolkien and was one of his great passions in life (Smith, 1–37). Tolkien portrayed this love of language in the Lord of the Rings novel by including numerous elvish poems within the text. He was well aware that very few (if any) would be able to decipher the poems but he truly believed that the sounds alone and the beauty they created would be sufficient enough. Tolkien did not use any systematic method when inserting poems or songs into the text either. Songs and poems appeared in all parts of the Lord of the Rings and at times were simply used to break up the text.
Tolkien’s creativity played a major role in the configuration of the Lord of the Rings. Not only did he create a language that was used on several occasions throughout the trilogy but he used his creative mind to invent the names and places identified his major work. Tolkien created the names of his characters by fitting the appropriate sound with their particular personality (Hostetter 1–37). The sound of words impacted how Tom Bombadil and Lord Denethor received their names. It is hard to imagine the names of these two characters being reversed. Tom Bombadil was a jolly, energetic character that assisted the hobbits when they had encountered an unpleasant willow tree that stood tall along the Withywindle River. Although Tom was not one of the main characters in Tolkien’s story, his name was an example of how Tolkien incorporated phonemic fitness. Tom Bombadil’s name fit his bubble personality just like Withywindle was a fitting name for a winding, slow flowing river. Phonemic fitness is simply how the sounds blend together to create a “fitting” name for a character or place (Smith 1–17). Tolkien believes there is a strong link between phonetic fitness and pleasure in language. Meaning, if a word is phonetically fit it is also blissful to listen to. In a way people today still demonstrate a sense of phonemic fitness. This may seem a little off topic but when parents are choosing names for their unborn children, they are usually searching for names that are fluent and phonemically appealing. Although the parents are unaware of the personality of their child to demonstrate exact fitness the concept is still very similar.
The use of phonemic awareness and fitting sounds to specific objects is one linguistic method Tolkien used to name his characters (Smith 1–17). Some of the characters were named by using Old English definitions. Tolkien’s two primary elvish languages were created by blending Old English, Hebrew, and Sumerian languages. The grammar and vocabulary was also created using the Finnish and Welsh languages (Hostetter 1–56). The Finnish language was one of Tolkien’s favorite languages. He read studied the Finnish language so he could read the Kalevala. The Kalevala is a book and epic poem that is popular in Finland. The Quenya was the main elvish language to be influenced by Finnish. The Finnish language has the most restricted rules regarding the structure of phonemes, and this appealed to Tolkien. Several Finnish vocabulary words played a role in the creation of the Quenya language as well. Legolas’ name was composed of elements from the Old English language. “Leg” was interpreted to mean fresh and green and “go-las” meant collection of leaves (Hostetter 1–37). With these two interpretations combined the actual meaning of Legolas was “fresh and green collection of leaves.” This name was fitting for the wood elf that loved the outdoors and was fascinated by the mysteries of Fangorn forest. During the scene which Gimli, Argorn, and Legolas followed the orcs to rescue Merry and Pippin it was obvious that Legolas was the best tracker of the three rescuers. Again, the definition of his name alone deems it appropriate for Legolas to be able to track footsteps in the leaves and pay so meticulous attention to detail. Tolkien had a love for nature and trees; it is interesting how he used his characters to portray his likes and dislikes. In this case, Legolas is the outlet used to depict Tolkien’s love for trees.
With mention of Tolkien’s love for trees, the Ents were obviously an appealing topic for this magnificent writer. The ents were trees of ancient times that were slowly dying out and on the verge of extinction (Stanton 35). The ents had their own language among themselves. This language was not emphasized in the book but the idea of one more language existing in Tolkien’s Middle Earth is eye-opening. Tolkien was truly amazed with linguistics and the creation of languages as a whole and he made a remarkable effort to incorporate new languages any way possible. Even something as minor as the un-interpreted language of the ancient ents was held fulfilling effect for Tolkien.
Linguistics who analyzed Tolkien’s Sindarin and Quenya languages has concluded that no one can learn the complete language. This conclusion is due to the insufficient nature of syntax, morphology, and phonology (Smith 1–20). Again these are linguistic terms that are not easily understood without a background in language. Syntax is a complex name for sentence structure. It summarizes the different types of sentences and specific phrases such as basic SVO sentences (subject, verb, object), and prepositional phrases. Morphology is the internal structure of word forms that help determine the tense of a word. Morphemes are divided into two different groups, free and bound morphemes. Free morphemes can stand by themselves and still have a meaning, while bound morphemes cannot. An example of a free morpheme would be “hobbit.” Bound morphemes can be used to make a word plural. For example, to make the word “hobbit” plural one must add an “s.” The “s” added to hobbit is known as a bound morpheme. Phonology refers to how sounds combine to form words. As already acknowledged, phonemes are the basic units of sound. The rules that govern phonology determine which sounds can and cannot go together. Tolkien broke the basic rules of syntax, morphology, and phonology to create his elvish languages (Smith 1–20). Breaking these rules is hard in itself, but Tolkien created his own set of rules to go by. This is yet another example of the masterful mind of J.R.R. Tolkien. Lack of interpretations of Tolkien’s linguistic rules also explains why no one will ever be able to learn his languages completely. However, this does not mean people will not be able to decipher and create phrases using his languages; this has been done for decades.
One of Tolkien’s greatest fears was that others could not appreciate or understand his invented languages. His goal was not mainly for people to understand his languages, but for people to appreciate them. He had numerous critics at the time degrading his work and claiming that it was not acceptable in the academic world. Tolkien did not survive to see how his work influenced those of the linguistically fascinated world. My question to these critics would be, “who are you to judge what is and is not academic?” To dispute these critics, several books have been written in effort to decipher his elvish languages that are still undefined. Supporters of the Tolkien Society even formed their own Linguistic Fellowship which gave Tolkien followers the opportunity to discuss his created languages. J.R.R. Tolkien was truly the greatest author of his time and although he did not have the chance to see how his languages inspired people, he is very lucky that he still has avid supporters more than three decades after his death.
Works Cited
Fenlon, Peter C., Terry K. Amthor, R. Mark Colburn, and J. R. R. Tolkien. Elves. Charlottesville, VA: Iron
Hostetter, Carl F. “Tolkien Linguistics: The First Fifty Years.” Tolkien Studies 4 (2006): 1–46.
Kinsella, Sean. “Elves and Angels in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.” Notes on Contemporary Literature
Kubinski, Wojciech. “Comprehending the Incomprehensible: On the Pragmatic Analysis of Elvish Texts in The Lord
Medcalf, Stephen. “The Language Learned of the Elves: Owen Barfield, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings.”
Shippey, Tom A. J.R.R. Tolkien Author of the Century. London: Harper Collins, 2000. 226–63.
Shippey, Tom A. “Light-elves, Dark-elves and Others: Tolkien’s Elvish Problem.” Tolkien Studies 1 (2004): 1–15.
Smith, R. “A Fitting Sense to Sound: Linguistic Aesthetics and Phonosemantics in the Work of J.R.R. Tolkien
Stanton, Michael N. Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards: Exploring the Wonders and Worlds of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord
Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. New York: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1987.
Tolkien, J. R. R., Howard Sackler, and Donald Swann. Poems and Songs of Middle Earth. New York: Caedmon, 1972.
Other Works Reviewed
http://www.elvish.org/FAQ.html
http://www.geocities.com/magpie930/SOURCE_SONGS/ROTK/SSelessars_oath.htm
