Elf Language is a fictional group of artificial languages that was designed and created by the English writer John Tolkien. In particular, he used them in his most famous novels, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, when choosing the names of the heroes of the works. In The Silmarillion using these fictional dialects, names were given to all the characters and objects mentioned on the pages of the work. So for fans of this science fiction, their study is of genuine interest.
Ancient languages
Of the languages of the elves, one can distinguish several of the largest and most common groups. One of them is ancient languages. Conventionally, it can be divided into proto-elven, accident, and eldarin.
Proto-Elven, which in some sources is called Quenderin, is considered the very first language of the elves. All other dialects have already come from him. It was formed in the first years after Awakening, then it began to actively develop. After the separation of the elves in the language, several groups also stood out.
Part of the native speakers left for the West, and as a result, the proto-Elven fell into the Crash and Eldar branches.
Avarin is considered the collective name for a large number of dialects of accidents. These are the elves who refused to proceed to the West. It is noteworthy that in the original concept of Tolkien, he was called Lemberin, but then he changed it. Moreover, the languages of accidents often vary greatly even among themselves. In the manuscripts, the writer mentioned only six words that belonged to different dialects.
Those who decide to relocate speak the common Elven language, also known as the Eldarin. After some time, it broke up into ilkorin, kor-eldarin, common telerin and ancient quenya.
Eldarino Group
Learning the language of Tolkien's elves is an extremely exciting experience. We will deal with each of the dialects that stood out from the Eldarin group:
- Cor-eldarin is a kind of collective name for several languages at once, which in the future began to develop as independent dialects - the Noldorin, Vanyarin, and Telerin.
- Ilkorin was initially developed as the main concept of the teleri language. Later it was supplanted by Sindarin. In the most recent concepts, it is already called Lemberin, and the very concept of ilkorin becomes a completely incomprehensible and unclear term.
- Ancient Quenya is a peculiar step from the common elven language in the developed Amana Quenya. Common teleler is also considered one of the progenitors of all major languages. From it, the telerin of Aman and Sindarin stood out and developed into independent dialects, and later the Nandor language also stood out.
Nandorin Group
The Nandorin group includes directly the Nandorin language itself, as well as the forest elf dialect and the Ossiriand dialect.
Those elves who separated from the main group of their fellow tribesmen during the mass resettlement to the West speak on Nandor. Moreover, there are at least two varieties of this language - the dialect of the elves of Eastern Middle-earth and the dialect of the elves of Ossiriand.
The forest elf dialect is also called the Sylvan dialect. It communicates with those who populated the expanses of Mirkwood and Lorien.
Finally, in the dialect of Ossiriand speak resettled in the city of the same name. Interestingly, in the original concept, he was known for Elving and her son.
Sindara group
The Sindarin group is considered one of the most common, as it includes golddogrin, noldorin and Sindarin, which we will talk about in more detail.
Goldogrin is also called the Gnomish language; in the original concept, it belonged to the Dwarves. Later it was finalized to make Sindarin. This is one of the two Tolkien elf languages that he created.
Noldorin is a developed version of the Gnomish in the concept of the external development of the languages of Middle-earth. In particular, the author himself mentioned five different dialects that separated from this language in the First Age. In later concepts, this language was already replaced by ilkorin, and then was actually supplanted by Sindarin.
Sindarin
Sindarin is one of the most interesting and popular languages developed by Tolkien. In literal translation from Quenya, this concept means "gray dialect."
Remaining the language of the gray elves, it became the main dialect of the Sindar. These were the Teleri elves who decided to stay in Beleriand during the Great Campaign. As a result, their language began to differ significantly from the dialects on which other tribes that sailed overseas were explained.
In the Third Age, Sindarin became the main language of the elves in The Lord of the Rings. This was the most common dialect in the western part of Middle-earth. It is this language in the book itself that everyone calls Elven.
What determines the choice of Sindarin?
Over time, he was also adopted by the Noldor, who used to speak Quenya. But, returning to Middle-earth, they adopted Sindarin to gain the favor of King Ela Thingola. As a result, Sindarin and Quenya remained separated by a huge space, they still have fundamental differences in grammar, although many similar words remain. Sindarin over time begins to change much more than Quenya, which is why several dialects are formed in the First Epoch. Thus, the gray elves recognized as one of the most magnificent dialects used in Doriath.
Here, the runic kirt system was used here as a writing system. It is worth noting that when creating this language, the writer was based on Welsh. It has a unique feature - consonant mutations, as in most Celtic languages. Also, this language experienced a noticeable influence of the Old Norse and Old English languages.
Tongues of Haman
There are three types of languages of Aman - telerin, vanjarin and quenya, the last most popular and widespread.
Teleri was spoken by the people of the same name who reached Haman. By and large, this is one of the dialects of Quenya, while researchers are always regarded as a separate adverb.
Vanyarin is another dialect of Quenya, less developed. Valarin had a serious impact on him.
Quenya
Quenya is an artificial language. Literally, this term is translated as “language” or “adverb”. Tolkien began to develop it in 1915. It is noteworthy that Finnish was chosen as the basis for its construction, spelling and grammar were largely borrowed from the Greek language and Latin. It is believed that the name of the language itself is close to the Finnish language of the Kvens, which was very common in the north of Scandinavia in the historical region of Quenland.
At the same time, the writer always devoted much time and attention to the construction of the language. In particular, the grammar of Quenya was reviewed four times, until it found its current form. At the same time, vocabulary remained more or less constant throughout this process.
Interestingly, in parallel with the development of this language, Tolkien described in detail the people to whom it will belong. Their land, history, the world in which they could speak it, that same Middle-earth. A great influence on the entire work of the writer was precisely the development of this language of elves. The Lord of the Rings was born from just these descriptions, becoming a classic of world fantasy.
The position of Quenya in the world of Middle-earth
At the same time, in the novel itself the named language can hardly be found, because at the time of the events described in the work, Quenya went out of everyday use, taking about the same place in the culture of Middle-earth that Latin takes in Europe. Therefore, it was no accident that even Tolkien himself called Quenya "Elven Latin." The main language for everyday communication in his most famous trilogy was Sindarin.
Surprisingly, in our time, the Quenya language has penetrated into everyday life. Now several magazines are published on it, and in America and the UK they defend dissertations on the peculiarities of his grammar.
Interest in Elven languages has increased significantly since 2004, when the last part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy appeared on the screens. For example, one of the Birmingham schools was officially allowed to teach the Elven language to schoolchildren.
Thalassian language
To understand what language the elves speak, it is worth noting that grammar and vocabulary for this nation were developed not only in the world of Middle-earth. For example, special fictional languages exist in the Warcraft universe.
Talasian is the language of the blood elves, which is derived from Darnassian. We will talk about it a little more in detail.
According to legend, its parent language is almost completely lost. Currently, linguists note the striking similarity and harmony of these two languages. At the same time, connoisseurs of this universe should understand that an appeal to a blood or high elf in the Darnassian language, at least using separate phrases and words in this dialect, is likely to be perceived as a stupid act or even an insult. Therefore, the speaker should be extremely careful in using the language of the blood elves.
This is one of the four most famous elven dialects of this universe.
Darnassian language
Darnassian is considered the main language of night elves. It has an oral and written equivalent.
Whereas the night elves are direct relatives of the Nags, as well as the blood and high elves, Darnassian is closely related to the Talasian language and Nazja. It should be understood that there are quite serious and fundamental ideological differences between the night elves themselves and their distant relatives. Therefore, linguists in these comparisons should be extremely careful.
It is important to note that the name of the language is consonant with the name of the capital of night elves - the city of Darnassus, which was built relatively recently. There are several versions of why this could happen. Perhaps the city was so named after the language, or because of the name of the city, the name of the language was changed, most agree that the etymology of the word "darnassus" remains unknown.
Dark elves
There are elves with their own language in the fictional world of Dungeons & Dragons. This is a fantasy role-playing board game. It was first published back in 1974, still remaining one of the most sought after and popular on the planet.
For the first time, dark elves were described in a book of rules intended for the very first edition. They are also called drow.
This is an arrogant and powerful race of dark skin color that lives in many cities of the Dungeon. The people are notorious for their treachery, cruelty, constant internecine wars. Most representatives of this unpleasant nation preach the bloody and bloodthirsty cult of the spider goddess Lolth. Elves who live on the surface, as well as humans, hate the drow, chasing even those who have completely abandoned dark affairs. According to the rules of the board game, they have an inherently neutral evil outlook on everything that surrounds them in this world.
The language of the dark elves is one of the elven dialects. Moreover, on secret missions and during operations, they can use a complex, confusing and soundless sign language, which virtually no one can solve, except for them.
Older speech
You can also find a description of elven languages in the so-called series of dark fantasy novels “The Witcher” by Polish writer Andrzej Sapkowski.
In The Witcher, the language of the elves is called Elder Speech. It is based on runic writing, it is the language of an ancient and respected people.
It is noteworthy that at the same time it is based on French, English, German, Irish, Vali and Latin. Something unique was taken from each of them so that the desired result could be obtained.
The Elder Speech has several dialects. Before the separation of the elves, a single language existed, and many spoke fluently in Classical Elder Speech. At the same time, among the popular dialects, it is also worth mentioning the languages of the Alder People and the Dryads from Brockilon, Skelligue jargon, Nilfgaard dialect.
For example, Skelligin jargon is used only on the archipelago of the same name. He can not be found anywhere else. And the Nilfgaard dialect is used by subjects of the empire of the same name, as well as the provinces that belong to it. Its main distinguishing feature is its unique pronunciation, when vowels should stretch especially strongly.