116-566: The Silmarils ( Quenya in-universe pl. Silmarilli [sil.maˈril.li] , lit. ' radiance of pure light ' ) are three fictional brilliant jewels in J. R. R. Tolkien 's legendarium , made by the Elf Fëanor , capturing the unmarred light of the Two Trees of Valinor . The Silmarils play a central role in Tolkien's book The Silmarillion , which tells of
232-454: A vernacular language for every-day use, Tarquesta , and a more educated language for use in ceremonies and lore, Parmaquesta . The Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger observed that the "degree of proximity" to the light of the Valar affected the development of both languages in terms of phonology, morphology and semantics. The division between Light Elves and Dark Elves that took place during
348-680: A class of demons "with red-hot eyes that emitted sparks and faces black as soot". The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey states that this contributed to the sun-jewel Silmarils, and "helped to naturalise the Balrog " (a demon of fire). The Aethiopians suggested to Tolkien the Haradrim , a dark southern race of men. Another likely origin is the Sampo in Elias Lönnrot 's 1849 Kalevala , a text that Tolkien studied with interest, thinking to use it in
464-662: A collapsing Nazi Germany and Tolkien's starting his mythology amidst the collapse of pre-1914 Europe in the First World War . Fëanor is, he writes, not an exact equivalent of Doctor Faustus: he does not make a pact with the devil ; but both Fëanor and Leverkühn outgrow their teachers in creative skill. Ellison calls Leverkühn "a Fëanor of our times", and comments that far from being a simple battle of good versus evil, Tolkien's world as seen in Fëanor has "the creative and destructive forces in man's nature ... indivisibly linked; this
580-523: A different form as restated by Celegorm, third son of Fëanor, in chapter 3, "The Lay of Leithian." Canto VI, lines 1848–1857. A later version is found in Morgoth's Ring . Fëanor is among those major characters whom Tolkien, who also used to illustrate his writings , supplied with a distinct heraldic device . The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance sees Morgoth's corruption of Elves and Men as clearly Biblical, as it "mirrors that of Adam and Eve by Satan ;
696-599: A fiery pit, and Maglor throws his Silmaril into the sea. Thus the Silmarils remain in the sea, the earth, and the sky—their light present but inaccessible to those in Middle-earth. According to a prophecy of Mandos , following Melkor's final return and defeat in the Dagor Dagorath (Battle of Battles), the world will be changed and the Silmarils will be recovered by the Valar. Then Fëanor will be released from
812-545: A guide to character. Shippey writes that The Silmarillion echoes Norse mythology in this belief, and that one perhaps needs to study the family trees to see clearly how it all works: Flieger writes that Fëanor's fire drives his creativity, making the beautiful letters of the Fëanorian script, and jewels, including, fatefully, the Silmarils. She comments that Tolkien, choosing his words very carefully, calls Fëanor both "subtle", by etymology from Latin sub-tela , "under
928-548: A major source of inspiration , but Tolkien was also fluent in Latin and Old English , and was familiar with Greek , Welsh (the primary inspiration for Sindarin , Tolkien's other major Elvish language), and other ancient Germanic languages , particularly Gothic , during his development of Quenya. Tolkien developed a complex internal history of characters to speak his Elvish languages in their own fictional universe. He felt that his languages changed and developed over time, as did
1044-469: A number of unpublished writings on Quenya, and later Tolkien scholars have prepared his notes and unpublished manuscripts for publication in the journals Parma Eldalamberon and Vinyar Tengwar , also publishing scholarly and linguistic analyses of the language. Tolkien never created enough vocabulary to make it possible to converse in Quenya, although fans have been writing poetry and prose in Quenya since
1160-644: A particular kind of artificial language that helps to create a fictional world. Other such languages would include Robert Jordan 's Old Tongue in his novel The Wheel of Time , and the Klingon language of the Star Trek series invented by Marc Okrand . It was observed that they form "a sociolinguistic context within which group and individual identities can be created." Two journals, Vinyar Tengwar from issue No. 39 (July 1998), and Parma Eldalamberon from issue No. 11 (1995), have been exclusively devoted to
1276-582: A particular way: the sin of the Elves is not human pride, as in the Biblical fall , but their "desire to make things which will forever reflect or incarnate their own personality". This Elvish form of pride leads Fëanor to forge the Silmarils, and, Shippey suggests, led Tolkien to write his fictions: "Tolkien could not help seeing a part of himself in Fëanor and Saruman , sharing their perhaps licit, perhaps illicit desire to 'sub-create'." John Ellison, writing in
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#17327659254321392-590: A ritual or poetic language, whereas the Vanyar who stayed behind in Eldamar retained the use of Quenya. In this way, the Quenya language was symbolic of the high status of the Elves, the firstborn of the races of Middle-earth, because of their close connection to Valinor, and its decreasing use also became symbolic of the slowly declining Elvish culture in Middle-earth. In the Second Age of Middle-earth's chronology
1508-420: A self-consistent character not precisely like any language that I know. Finnish, which I came across when I had first begun to construct a 'mythology' was a dominant influence, but that has been much reduced [now in late Quenya]. It survives in some features: such as the absence of any consonant combinations initially, the absence of the voiced stops b, d, g (except in mb, nd, ng, ld, rd , which are favoured) and
1624-586: A story in 1914. The Tolkien scholar Jonathan B. Himes states that the Sampo is the "central mythic object" in the Kalevala ; it gave its owner "socio-economic supremacy". He suggests that Tolkien reworked this into "the world war among all races of Middle-earth for the moral and terrestrial stability offered by the Silmarils". He adds that Tolkien's approach was to present moral conflicts and medieval pagan thought plainly; to fill in gaps from other sources; and to make
1740-488: Is a constructed language , one of those devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for the Elves in his Middle-earth fiction. Tolkien began devising the language around 1910, and restructured its grammar several times until it reached its final state. The vocabulary remained relatively stable throughout the creation process. He successively changed the language's name from Elfin and Qenya to the eventual Quenya . Finnish had been
1856-616: Is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien 's The Silmarillion . He creates the Tengwar script, the palantír seeing-stones, and the three Silmarils , the skilfully forged jewels that give the book their name and theme, triggering division and destruction. He is the eldest son of Finwë , the King of the Noldor Elves, and his first wife Míriel. Fëanor's Silmarils form a central theme of The Silmarillion as Men and Elves battle with
1972-469: Is ambushed by a force of Balrogs , with few Elves about him. He fights mightily with Gothmog , captain of the Balrogs. His sons come upon the Balrogs with a great force of Elves, and drive them off; but Fëanor knows his wounds are fatal. He curses Morgoth thrice, but with the eyes of death, he sees that his Elves, unaided, will never throw down the dark towers of Thangorodrim . The Oath of Fëanor affects
2088-638: Is echoed by that of the Númenórean man Ar-Pharazon, and then at the end of The Silmarillion by the (angelic) Maia , Sauron , who becomes the Dark Lord of The Lord of the Rings . The philologist Elizabeth Solopova suggests that the character of Fëanor was inspired by the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth , and in particular his appearance in the poem " The Battle of Maldon ". The poem tells how he
2204-847: Is lit by The Two Trees . When these too are destroyed, their last fragment of light is made into the Silmarils , and a sapling too is rescued, leading to the White Tree of Númenor , the living symbol of the Kingdom of Gondor . Wars are fought over the Silmarils, and they are lost to the Earth, the Sea, and the Sky, the last of these, carried by Eärendil the Mariner, becoming the Morning Star . Some of
2320-416: Is not always on the first syllable of a word. Typical Finnish elements like the front vowels ö , ä and y are lacking in Quenya, but phonological similarities include the absence of aspirated unvoiced stops or the development of the syllables ti > si in both languages. The combination of a Latin basis with Finnish phonological rules resulted in a product that resembles Italian in many respects, which
2436-579: Is not easily recognised. Tolkien almost never borrowed words directly from real languages into Quenya. The major exception is the name Earendel/Eärendil , which he found in an Old English poem by Cynewulf . Yet the Finnish influence extended sometimes also to the vocabulary. A few Quenya words, such as tul- "come" and anta- "give", clearly have a Finnish origin. Other forms that appear to have been borrowed are actually coincidental, such as Finnish kirja "book", and Quenya cirya "ship". Tolkien invented
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#17327659254322552-399: Is realised as [ʍ] , a " spirantal voiceless w . It has more tense with closer lip-aperture and more friction than the voiceless wh of English". According to Tolkien, the graph ⟨q⟩ or ⟨qu⟩ is pronounced as "a lip-rounded 'k' followed by a partly unvoiced w-offglide", that is /kʷ/ . Sons of F%C3%ABanor Fëanor ( IPA: [ˈfɛ.anɔr] )
2668-532: Is slain in that battle , which took place in the year 991. Tolkien wrote a short play in verse, The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth, Beorhthelm's Son on the character's misplaced pride, and described Byrhtnoth as misled by "pride and misplaced chivalry proven fatal" and as "too foolish to be heroic". Fëanor is similarly driven by "overmastering pride" that causes his death and that of countless followers. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey comments that Fëanor and his Silmarils relate to The Silmarillion ' s theme in
2784-462: Is something about his action that can be applied to Tolkien's life. Tolkien calls Fëanor " fey "; Ellison notes that Tolkien analysed his own name as tollkühn , with the same meaning. Further, Tolkien seems, Ellison writes, to have felt a conflict between his own "sub-creation" and his Catholic faith. Shippey and the Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger both note that Tolkien intended ancestry to be
2900-408: Is still caught in his plot. Fëanor angrily warns Fingolfin not to spread lies, and threatens to kill him. As punishment, the Valar exile Fëanor to his remote home Formenos for twelve years. Finwë too withdraws to Formenos. The Valar learn that Melkor is manipulating Fëanor, and send one of their number, Tulkas , to capture Melkor, but he has already escaped. Fëanor wisely realises that Melkor's goal
3016-548: Is the essence of the ' fallen world ' in which we live." He adds that Fëanor is central to the whole of Tolkien's legendarium , "the hinge on which the whole great Tale ... turns." Like Shippey, Ellison relates Fëanor's making of the Silmarils to what he supposes was Tolkien's own belief: that it was "a dangerous and impermissible act" that went beyond what the Creator had intended for the Elves. Further, Ellison suggests that while Fëanor does not directly represent Tolkien, there
3132-445: Is to obtain the Silmarils, "and he shut the doors of his house in the face of the mightiest of all the dwellers in Eä ." The Valar invite Fëanor and Fingolfin to Valinor to make peace. Fingolfin offers a hand to his half-brother, recognising Fëanor's place as the eldest. Fëanor accepts, but soon Melkor and Ungoliant destroy The Two Trees, leaving the Silmarils as the only surviving light of
3248-455: Is used in addition to singular and plural. It has been suggested that Tolkien used the dual to give Quenya an "archaic feel" in its role as an ancient language of the Elves. About ten years later, Tolkien changed his mind about the origin of the Elvish proto-language. Instead of learning from the Valar, the Elves had created an original language Quenderin which had become the proto-language of
3364-659: The Dagor Dagorath , the world will be changed and the Valar will recover the Silmarils. Fëanor will be released from the Halls of Mandos and will give Yavanna the Silmarils. Fëanor will break them, and Yavanna will revive the Two Trees. The Pelóri Mountains will be flattened and the light of the Two Trees will fill the world in eternal bliss. [REDACTED] Kings of the Noldor in Valinor [REDACTED] High Kings of
3480-621: The Elves divided , Quenya originated as the speech of two clans of "High Elves" or Eldar, the Noldor and the Vanyar, who left Middle-earth to live in Eldamar ("Elvenhome"), in Valinor , the land of the immortal and God-like Valar . Of these two groups of Elves, most of the Noldor returned to Middle-earth where they met the Sindarin-speaking Grey-elves. The Noldor eventually adopted Sindarin and used Quenya primarily as
3596-518: The Hobbit protagonists of The Lord of the Rings to fulfil their quest. J. R. R. Tolkien describes the history of the Silmarils in The Silmarillion , published after but in fiction long preceding the events of The Lord of the Rings . The Silmarils—"the most renowned of all the works of the Elves"—are created by Fëanor , a prince of the most skilful clan of Elves, the Noldor , from
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3712-635: The Men of Númenor learnt the Quenya tongue. In the Third Age , the time of the setting of The Lord of the Rings , Quenya was learnt as a second language by all Elves of Noldorin origin, and it continued to be used in spoken and written form, but their mother-tongue was the Sindarin of the Grey-elves. As the Noldor remained in Middle-earth, their Noldorin dialect of Quenya also gradually diverged from
3828-774: The Sundering of the Elves is reflected in their respective languages. The Elves at first shared a common language, Primitive Quendian, called Quenderin in Quenya. Among the Eldar , i.e. those Elves who undertook the Great March to Valinor and Eldamar , Primitive Quendian developed into Common Eldarin. Some of the Eldar remained in Beleriand and became the Grey Elves ; their language developed into Sindarin . Most of
3944-461: The Two Trees of Valinor composed by Elemmírë of the Vanyar.) Prenasalised consonants are prominent in Quenya, and include their own tengwar . The following table presents the inventory of classic Noldorin consonants. Grouping of consonants occurs only in the central parts of a word, except for combinations with the semivowels /w/ and /j/ . Quenya orthography (using the Latin script) follows
4060-410: The Two Trees of Valinor with their Tree of life aspect, illuminating the world. The decorated lid became the brilliant Silmarils, which embodied all that was left of the light of the two Trees, thus tying the symbols together. The scholar of mythology and medieval literature Verlyn Flieger writes that the similarities between the Sampo and the Silmarils are "obvious". She states that in both cases,
4176-472: The "Qenyaqetsa". Examples include a different accusative or the abolition of final consonant clusters in later Quenya. Fimi suggests that Qenya as it appears in the "Qenyaqetsa" was supposed to be a mystic language, as the Lexicon contains a number of words with clear Christian religious connotations, such as anatarwesta "crucifixion" and evandilyon "gospel" – these words were not part of late Quenya. In
4292-579: The "dimininution and spiritual impoverishment" of the Noldorin culture. The Noldor at this time had fully mastered Sindarin, while the Sindar were slow to learn Quenya. Quenya in Middle-earth became known as Exilic Quenya when the Noldor eventually adopted the Sindarin language as their native speech after Thingol's ruling. It differed from Amanian Quenya mostly in vocabulary, having some loanwords from Sindarin. It differed also in pronunciation, representing
4408-406: The 1970s, when the total corpus of published Elvish comprised only a few hundred words. Since then, the use of Elvish has flourished in poems and texts, phrases and names, and even tattoos. But Tolkien himself never made his languages complete enough for conversation. As a result, newly invented Elvish texts require conjecture and sometimes the coinage of new words. The use of Quenya has expanded over
4524-669: The 1970s. This has required conjecture and the need to devise new words, in effect developing a kind of neo-Quenya language. J. R. R. Tolkien began to construct his first Elvish tongue c. 1910–1911 while he was at the King Edward's School, Birmingham . He later called it Qenya (c. 1915), and later changed the spelling to Quenya . He was then already familiar with Latin , Greek , Spanish , and several ancient Germanic languages, such as Gothic , Old Norse , and Old English . He had invented several cryptographic codes , and two or three constructed languages. Tolkien took an interest in
4640-618: The Anglo-Saxons should have had a word with this meaning, and conjectured that it had once meant something else, which he explored in his essay " Sigelwara Land ". He stated that Siġel meant "both sun and jewel ", the former as it was the name of the Sun rune *sowilō (ᛋ), the latter from Latin sigillum , a seal . He decided that Sigelwara ' s second component, Hearwa , was related to Old English heorð , " hearth ", and ultimately to Latin carbō , "soot". He suggested this implied
4756-459: The Children of Ilúvatar, and a bright flame was in him." Finwë remarries and has several children, including Fëanor's half-brothers Fingolfin and Finarfin . Fëanor studies under his father-in-law Mahtan, who was a student of the godlike Vala Aulë . He becomes a craftsman and gem-smith, inventor of the Tengwar script, and the creator of the magical seeing-stones, the palantírs . Fëanor, "in
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4872-498: The Elves and eventually for the Men of Middle-earth. Five major battles are fought in Beleriand , but ultimately the Noldor and all the people who took the oath fail in their attempt to regain the Silmarils from Morgoth. One of the Silmarils is recovered by Beren and Lúthien through great peril and loss, when Lúthien sends Morgoth to sleep with her singing and Beren cuts it from his crown. The werewolf Carcharoth attacks them as they leave Angband and swallows Beren's hand containing
4988-531: The Elvish language family. For this new language, Tolkien kept the many roots he had invented for Valarin in the 1930s, which then became "Quenderin roots". The Eldarin family of languages comprises Quenya, Telerin , Sindarin and Nandorin . The evolution in Quenya and Telerin of the nasalised initial groups of Quenderin is described thus in Tolkien's Outline of Phonology : These groups in Quenya normally became simplified to nasals initially. (In Telerin they became b, d, g .) Thus: In contrast to early Qenya,
5104-621: The Elvish languages by Elves, Men and Hobbits in a variety of sources. The documentation about late Quenya phonology is contained in the Appendix E of the Lord of the Rings and the "Outline of Phonology", one of Tolkien's texts, published in Parma Eldalamberon No. 19. Tolkien based Quenya pronunciation more on Latin than on Finnish . Thus, Quenya lacks the vowel harmony and consonant gradation present in Finnish, and accent
5220-477: The Finnish mythology of the Kalevala , then became acquainted with Finnish , which he found to provide an aesthetically pleasing inspiration for his High-elvish language. Many years later, he wrote: "It was like discovering a complete wine-cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavour never tasted before. It quite intoxicated me." Regarding the inspiration for Quenya, Tolkien wrote that: The ingredients in Quenya are various, but worked out into
5336-705: The Halls of Mandos, and he will give Yavanna the Silmarils. She will break them, and with their light she will revive the Two Trees. The Pelóri Mountains will be flattened, and the light of the Two Trees will fill the world in eternal bliss. The idea of the Silmaril is connected to Tolkien's philological exploration of the Old English word Siġelwara , which was used in the Old English Codex Junius to mean " Aethiopian ". Tolkien wondered why
5452-581: The IPA, but uses ⟨c⟩ as an alternative to ⟨k⟩ , writes [ŋ] not followed by another velar as ⟨ñ⟩ (in early Quenya when this still can occur, as in Ñoldor ; otherwise it is written ⟨n⟩ ), and represents the consonants [ç ʍ] using the digraphs ⟨hy hw⟩ . Similarly, the digraphs ⟨ty ndy⟩ may represent palatal stop allophones of [t ⁿd] , namely [c ⁿɟ] , although they are not independent phonemes. In addition, ⟨h⟩ in
5568-530: The Noldor Elves followed their leader Fëanor into exile from Eldamar and back to Middle-earth, where the immortal Elves first awoke. Quenya was used by the godlike Valar. The Elves derived some loanwords from the Valar's language, which was called Valarin in Quenya, although these were more numerous in the Vanyarin dialect than in Noldorin. This was probably because of the enduringly close relationship
5684-527: The Noldor in Exile (in Middle-earth) All the characters shown are Elves . Fëanor was originally named Curufinwë ("skilful [son of] Finwë ") in Tolkien's fictional language of Quenya . He is known as Fëanáro , "spirit of fire" in Quenya, from fëa ("spirit") and nár ("flame"). Fëanáro is his "mother-name" or Amilessë , the name given by an Elf's mother at, or some years after, birth and it
5800-466: The Quenya name for "region", just happened to resemble Germanic Erde "earth", while it actually comes from the Valarin and Quenderin root gar- . According to Tom DuBois and Scott Mellor, the name of Quenya itself may have been influenced by the name Kven , a language closely related to Finnish, but Tolkien never mentioned this. Some linguists have argued that Quenya can be understood as an example of
5916-407: The Rings , according to Tolkien, "was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the necessary background of 'history' for Elvish tongues". This process of first inventing a language and then creating a background setting for its fictional speakers has been described as unique. Dimitra Fimi , a Tolkien scholar, argues that Tolkien's invention of Qenya started as a quest for
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#17327659254326032-565: The Rings , of which it was/is in fact independent." In his lifetime, Tolkien experimented ceaselessly with his constructed languages, and they were subjected to many revisions. Quenya had many grammars with substantial differences between the different stages of its development. During the first conceptual stage of early Quenya c. 1910 to c. 1920, the language was called Elfin in English and Eldarissa in Qenya proper. While its development
6148-432: The Sampo, which brings wealth, the Silmarils bring pain, misfortune, and death, in her view contradicting their light-filled nature. Shippey comments that the Silmarils relate to the book's theme in a particular way: the sin of the Elves is not human pride, as in the Biblical fall , but their "desire to make things which will forever reflect or incarnate their own personality". This Elvish form of pride leads Fëanor to forge
6264-576: The Silmaril; this drives Carcharoth mad. He is killed by Huan the Hound, who dies from his wounds, and the Elf-captain Mablung cuts the Silmaril out. It is taken to the Valar in the West by Eärendil , heir of Beren and Lúthien, as a token of repentance for Fëanor's rebellion. The Valar then set this Silmaril as a star in the sky: it is fixed to the mast of Eärendil's ship, forever sailing across
6380-470: The Silmarils as embodying Elvish pride in their own creation, or a Biblical desire for knowledge of good and evil as in the Genesis story of Garden of Eden . Verlyn Flieger analyzes The Silmarillion as a story of splintering of the created light, which in her view Tolkien equates with God. The light is embodied first in two great lamps atop tall pillars to light Middle-earth . When these are destroyed,
6496-444: The Silmarils so that thereafter no mortal flesh, nor hands unclean, nor anything of evil will might touch them, for it would be scorched and withered." Fëanor prizes the Silmarils, and grows suspicious of the Valar and Elves who he believes covet them. The Vala Melkor , recently released from imprisonment and now residing in Valinor , sees an opportunity to sow dissent among the Noldor. Fëanor refuses to communicate with Melkor, but
6612-540: The Silmarils, and, Shippey suggests, led Tolkien to write his fictions: "Tolkien could not help seeing a part of himself in Fëanor and Saruman, sharing their perhaps licit, perhaps illicit desire to 'sub-create'." The critic Jane Chance views the Silmarils as "created things misused by their creators", like indeed the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings ; and like it, they give their name to their book and help "to unify
6728-586: The Tolkien Society 's journal Mallorn , draws a comparison between Fëanor and the Faust legend, in particular Thomas Mann 's version in his 1947 novel Doctor Faustus . In Ellison's view, the life history of both characters is of "genius corrupted finally into insanity; the creative drive turns on its possessor and destroys him, and with him a good part of the fabric of society." He describes as parallel Mann's depiction of his Faust character Leverkühn in
6844-464: The Trees. The Valar ask Fëanor to give them up so that they can restore the Trees. Fëanor replies: "It may be that I can unlock my jewels, but never again shall I make their like; and if I must break them, I shall break my heart." He refuses to give up the Silmarils of his own free will. Messengers from Formenos tell him that Melkor has killed Finwë and stolen the Silmarils. Yavanna is thus unable to heal
6960-558: The Two Trees. For this deed, Fëanor names Melkor "Morgoth", "Black Enemy". Fëanor rails against the Great Enemy, blaming the Valar for Morgoth's deeds. He gives a speech in the Elvish city of Tirion, persuading most of his people to return to Middle-earth to avenge Finwë and free themselves from the Valar. Together with his seven sons, they swear the Oath of Fëanor: They swore an oath which none shall break, and none should take, by
7076-431: The Valar entreat Fëanor to give them up so they can restore the Trees, but he refuses. Then news comes that Melkor has killed Fëanor's father Finwë , the High King of the Noldor , and stolen the Silmarils. After this deed, Melkor flees from Valinor to his fortress Angband in the north of Middle-earth. Thereafter he wears the Silmarils in his Iron Crown. Fëanor is furious at Melkor, whom he names Morgoth , "Dark Enemy of
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#17327659254327192-429: The Valar, and Finarfin rules as High-King of the Noldor in Valinor. The remaining Elves, those who follow Fëanor and Fingolfin , become subject to the Doom of Mandos , that they will come to harm if they continue their rebellion against the Valar. There are not enough ships to carry all the Noldor across the sea, so Fëanor and his sons lead the first group. Upon arriving in the far west of Beleriand , they decide to burn
7308-425: The Valarin and Quenderin root kir- from which sprang his Quenya word cirya . The Latin aurōra "dawn" and Quenya aure "moment of special meaning, special day, festival day" are unrelated. Quenya aurë comes from the Valarin and Quenderin root ur- . Germanic influence can more be seen in grammar (the -r nominative plural ending is reminiscent of the Scandinavian languages ) or phonology, than in words: Arda ,
7424-473: The Vanyar left the city of Túna, Telerin and Noldorin Quenya grew closer. The rebellious Noldor , who followed their leader Fëanor to Middle-earth, spoke only Quenya. But Elu Thingol , King of the Sindar of Beleriand, forbade the use of Quenya in his realm when he learned of the slaying of Telerin Elves by the Noldor. By doing so, he both restricted the possibility of the Sindar to enhance and brighten their language with influences from Quenya and accelerated
7540-416: The Vanyarin Elves had with the Valar. The Quenya as used by the Vanyar also incorporated several words from Valarin that were not found in the Noldorin dialect, such as tulka ("yellow", from Valarin tulukha(n) ), ulban ("blue", presumably from the same root as Valarin ul(l)u meaning "water"), and nasar ("red", original Valarin not given). According to "Quendi and Eldar: Essekenta Eldarinwa", Quendya
7656-447: The Vanyarin dialect spoken in Valinor, undergoing both sound changes and grammatical changes. The Quenya language featured prominently in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings , as well as in his posthumously published history of Middle-earth The Silmarillion . The longest text in Quenya published by Tolkien during his lifetime is the poem " Namárië "; other published texts are no longer than a few sentences. At his death, Tolkien left behind
7772-428: The Vanyarin dialect, ⟨ty⟩ , ⟨dy⟩ , and ⟨hy⟩ were realised as [tʃ] , [dʒ] , and [ʃ] respectively. Tolkien wrote about ⟨py⟩ : "In Vanyarin Quenya and among some Ñoldor the cluster ⟨py⟩ was sounded with voiceless y , sc. as [pç] , which later in Vanyarin became [pʃ] "; cf. Hungarian lopj [lopç] 'steal'. The cluster ⟨hw⟩
7888-407: The Vanyarin varieties, but were gradually replaced with /s/ and /r/ respectively in Noldorin Quenya. Notably, voiced plosives only occur after nasals and liquids , i.e. there is no simple /b, d, ɡ/ but only the clusters /mb, (lb,) nd, ld, rd, ŋɡ/ , and these occur only between vowels. (This may not be true in Vanyarin Quenya, given the word Aldudénië , the name of a lament for the death of
8004-451: The World", and at the Valar's desire to take the gems for their own purposes. Together with his seven sons he swears the Oath of Fëanor , which binds them to fight anyone who withholds the Silmarils from them. This terrible oath results in much future trouble including mass murder and the war of Elf against Elf. Fëanor leads many of the Noldor back to Middle-earth. His flight, during the First Age of Middle-earth, leads to unending grief for
8120-402: The ancestor of Sanskrit , Greek, Latin, and others; namely, one labial, one coronal, and three velar plosives (palatal, plain, and labial). The first table below provides some of the "Primary Initial Combinations" from the Comparative Tables . Another characteristic of Quenya reminiscent of ancient natural languages like Old Greek, Old English or Sanskrit is the dual grammatical number which
8236-405: The case. The word is Quenya in Vanyarin, and always so in Parmaquesta." The Elves of the Third Clan, or Teleri , who reached Eldamar later than the Noldor and the Vanyar, spoke a different but closely related tongue, usually called Telerin . It was seen by some Elves to be just another dialect of Quenya. This was not the case with the Teleri for whom their tongue was distinct from Quenya. After
8352-458: The cluster ⟨ht⟩ represents [ç] after ⟨e⟩ or ⟨i⟩ and [x] after other vowels. In some instances ⟨x⟩ was used for the combination /ks/ as in Helcaraxë . Some consonants are realised differently when they occur in clusters with certain other consonants. This particularly concerns clusters that involve the approximants /w, j/ or
8468-959: The computational linguist Paul Strack created the Elvish Data Model (abbreviated to "Eldamo") to provide a lexicon – both a dictionary and an analysis of language development – of all Tolkien's languages (despite the name, not limited to Elvish). Eldamo groups Tolkien's creative work into three real-world periods: up to 1930 ("Early"); from then to 1950 ("Middle"); and from then to 1973 ("Late"). Forms of Quenya occur in each of these periods, as follows: Early Primitive Elvish Early Quenya Middle Primitive Elvish Middle Ancient Quenya Middle Quenya Lindarin Primitive Elvish Ancient Quenya Quenya Vanyarin The linguist Alexander Stainton published an analysis of Quenya's prosodic structure in 2022. Attempts by fans to write in Quenya began in
8584-596: The creation of Eä (the universe) and the beginning of Elves , Dwarves and Men . Tolkien, a philologist , derived the idea of Silmarils, jewels that actually contained light, from the Old English word Siġelwara ; he concluded that Siġel meant both sun and jewel . Scholars have remarked on their similarities to the Sampo in the Kalevala and to the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend. They have described
8700-528: The desire for godlike knowledge as in the Garden of Eden . Others have likened Fëanor to the Anglo-Saxon leader Byrhtnoth whose foolish pride led to defeat and death at the Battle of Maldon . Tom Shippey writes that the pride is specifically a desire to make things that reflect their own personality, and likens this to Tolkien's own desire to sub-create . John Ellison further likens this creative pride to that of
8816-423: The desire for power and godlike being is the same desire for knowledge of good and evil witnessed in the Garden of Eden ." She treats the Silmarils as symbols of that same desire. She identifies Fëanor's wish to be like the Valar in creating "things of his own" as rebellious pride, and that, like Melkor, he "succumbs to a 'greedy love'" of his creations that causes his downfall. She points out that Fëanor's rebellion
8932-493: The early 1930s, Tolkien decided that the proto-language of the Elves was Valarin , the tongue of the gods or Valar as he called them: "The language of the Elves derived in the beginning from the Valar, but they changed it even in the learning, and moreover modified and enriched it constantly at all times by their own invention." In the Comparative Tables the mechanisms of sound change were described by Tolkien for
9048-457: The editing and publishing of Tolkien's mass of unpublished linguistic papers. Important grammatical texts, alluded to in the History of Middle-earth series and described as almost unreadable or quite incomprehensible, have been published in these two journals. The "Early Qenya Grammar", written by Tolkien c. 1925, was edited and published in Parma Eldalamberon No. 14. In 1992, according to
9164-415: The entire mythology". She sees the theme as straightforwardly Biblical, the Silmarils symbolising "the same desire for knowledge of good and evil witnessed in the Garden of Eden ." Flieger states in her book Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien's World that Tolkien equates light with God and the ability to create . In her view, the whole of The Silmarillion can be seen as a working-out of
9280-418: The fates of the objects are "clear but their significance is ill-defined"; in particular, their "medium (light) is not congruent with the message (greed and possessiveness)." She adds that the Silmarils share attributes with the Holy Grail of Arthurian legend , being the "symbolic centre" of their story, having a "mystical dimension", being called "holy", and being the objects of "a life-changing quest". Unlike
9396-408: The following daughter languages: Qenya, Lindarin (a dialect of Qenya), Telerin, Old Noldorin (or Fëanorian ), Noldorin (or Gondolinian ), Ilkorin (especially of Doriath ), Danian of Ossiriand, East Danian, Taliska , West Lemberin, North Lemberin, and East Lemberin . For this proto-language of the Elves, Tolkien appears to have borrowed the five-part plosive system of Proto-Indo-European ,
9512-427: The fondness for the ending -inen, -ainen, -oinen , also in some points of grammar, such as the inflexional endings -sse (rest at or in), -nna (movement to, towards), and -llo (movement from); the personal possessives are also expressed by suffixes; there is no gender. Tolkien never intended Quenya or any of his constructed languages to be used in everyday life as an international auxiliary language , although he
9628-529: The forces of evil for their possession. After the Dark Lord Morgoth steals the Silmarils, Fëanor and his seven sons swear the Oath of Fëanor , vowing to fight anyone and everyone—whether Elf , Man , Maia , or Vala —who withholds the Silmarils. The oath commands Fëanor and his sons to press to Middle-earth , in the process committing atrocities against their fellow Elves, the first Kinslaying, at
9744-521: The glottal fricative /h/ . Clusters where the second consonant was /j/ are realised as palatalised consonants, and clusters where the second consonant was /w/ are realised as labialised. Consonant clusters where the initial consonant is /h/ are realised as preaspirated and devoiced. The pronunciation of the consonant cluster ⟨hy⟩ is [ç] in Noldorin Quenya, which is a "strong voiceless y, similar to, but more frictional than
9860-475: The grammar of Quenya was influenced by Finnish, an agglutinative language , but much more by Latin , a synthetic and fusional language , and also Greek , from which he probably took the idea of the diglossia of Quenya with its highly codified variety: the Parmaquesta, used only in certain situations such as literature. The phonology of Quenya was also inspired by certain aspects of Finnish, but this
9976-589: The greatest of his achievements, captured the light of the Two Trees to make the three Silmarils , also called the Great Jewels, though they were not mere glittering stones, they were alive, imperishable, and sacred." Even the Valar with their godlike powers could not copy them. In fact, Fëanor himself could not copy them, as part of his essence goes into their making. Their worth is close to infinite, as they are unique and irreplaceable. The Vala " Varda hallowed
10092-452: The havens of the Teleri. Fëanor dies soon after his arrival in Middle-earth; his sons unite in the cause of defeating Morgoth and retrieving the Silmarils, but end up causing further harm among the Elves. The Tolkien scholar Jane Chance has seen Fëanor's pride as leading to his downfall, alongside Morgoth's corruption of Elves and Men as reflecting Satan 's temptation of Adam and Eve , and
10208-464: The healing effort of the Valar, one of the trees bears a silver flower, and the other bears a golden fruit, just before they die. These are sent to the sky, and became the Sun and the Moon, to illuminate Middle-earth against Melkor. But neither sphere radiates the original light of the trees, free of Ungoliant's poison. The Silmarils then contain all the remaining unmarred light of the Two Trees. Therefore,
10324-446: The historical languages which he studied professionally—not in a vacuum, but as a result of the migrations and interactions of the peoples who spoke them. Within Tolkien's legendarium, Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi ('speakers') in Quenya. Quenya translates as simply "language" or, in contrast to other tongues that the Elves met later in their long history, "elf-language". After
10440-485: The ideal language, to match the moral and aesthetic objectives that were part of his project of creating "a mythology for England". Fimi argues that Tolkien deliberately used sound symbolism to unify sound and meaning and make the language appear as an ideal language, fit to be spoken in the utopian realm of the Elves and fairies of Valinor. Tolkien considered Quenya to be "the one language which has been designed to give play to my own most normal phonetic taste". From
10556-402: The initial sound in English huge ". In Vanyarin Quenya, ⟨hy⟩ is pronounced [ʃ] . According to Tolkien, the cluster /cj/ ⟨ty⟩ is pronounced as "a 'front explosive' [c], as e.g. Hungarian ty , but it is followed by an appreciable partly unvoiced y-offglide". Tolkien stated that the cluster ⟨ny⟩ is pronounced as in English "new" [njuː] . In
10672-489: The light is held in the Two Trees of Valinor , and Fëanor crafts the Silmarils using their light. When the trees are killed, the last available splinters of the created light in Middle-earth are the Silmarils. When the Silmarils are scattered, to Earth, Sea, and Sky, the skyborne one becomes Eärendil 's Star. The Elf-lady Galadriel collects light from the star and captures a little of it in the Phial of Galadriel , which enables
10788-461: The light of the Two Trees of Valinor . The Silmarils are made of the crystalline substance silima . The Silmarils are hallowed by the Vala Varda , who kindled the first stars, so that they would burn the hands of any evil creature or mortal who touched them without just cause. Together with the evil spider Ungoliant , the rebellious Vala Melkor destroys the Two Trees of Valinor. Later, at
10904-533: The linguist Helge Fauskanger , the Tolkien scholar Anthony Appleyard made "the first comprehensive attempt ... to systematize Quenya grammar in light of the new information published in The History of Middle-earth , particularly The Etymologies , in his article 'Quenya Grammar Reexamined'." Hostetter commented that Appleyard's work was by 2007 useful mainly for summarising the attitudes to Tolkien's languages at that time. He characterised it as: In 2008,
11020-475: The lovers Beren and Lúthien . They steal a Silmaril from Morgoth, leading to Kinslaying and years of strife among the Elves, until Eärendil carries the Silmaril off into the West. That Silmaril is lost to the Sons of Fëanor, but the other two remain in the crown of Morgoth. They too are stolen, one ending in the earth, one in the sea. According to Mandos' prophecy, following Melkor's final return and defeat in
11136-532: The name even of Ilúvatar, calling the Everlasting Dark upon them if they kept it not... ...vowing to pursue with vengeance and hatred to the ends of the World Vala, Demon, Elf or Man as yet unborn or any creature, great or small, good or evil, that time should bring forth unto the end of days, whoso should hold or take or keep a Silmaril from their possession. To get to Middle-earth, Fëanor goes to
11252-420: The onset, Tolkien used comparative philology and the tree model as his major tools in his constructed languages. He usually started with the phonological system of the proto-language and then proceeded by inventing for each daughter language the necessary sequence of sound changes . "I find the construction and the interrelation of the languages an aesthetic pleasure in itself, quite apart from The Lord of
11368-573: The other Eldar continued to Eldamar ('Elvenhome') in Aman and founded the great city of Tirion, where they developed Quenya. Quenya's older form, first recorded in the sarati of Rúmil, is called Old or Ancient Quenya ( Yára-Quenya in Quenya). In Eldamar, the Noldor and Vanyar spoke two slightly different though mutually intelligible dialects of Tarquesta: Noldorin Quenya and Vanyarin Quenya . Later Noldorin Quenya became Exilic Quenya , when most of
11484-533: The protagonist in Thomas Mann 's 1947 novel Doctor Faustus , noting that both that novel and Tolkien's own legendarium were responses to World War. Fëanor's father is Finwë , the first King of the Noldor ; his mother, Míriel, dies, "consumed in spirit and body", shortly after giving birth to him. Fëanor "was made the mightiest in all parts of body and mind: in valour, in endurance, in beauty, in understanding, in skill, in strength and subtlety alike: of all
11600-410: The recognition of sound-changes which had begun among the Noldor before the exile and had caused Noldorin Quenya to diverge from Vanyarin Quenya. The change of z (< old intervocalic s ) to r was the latest in Noldorin, belonging to early Exilic Quenya. The grammatical changes were only small though since the features of their "old language" were carefully taught. From the Second Age on, Quenya
11716-436: The scale global. Tolkien's goal was to create a mythology through "feigned history". Lönnrot's account of the Sampo is vague, leading scholars to speculate as to its nature. One view is that it was "a world pillar which grinds like a gigantic mill under the 'decorated lid' of the sky." Himes comments that Tolkien wanted something more comprehensible, so he chose to split the Sampo's parts into desirable objects. The pillar became
11832-648: The ships and leave Fingolfin and his people behind. Fingolfin, furious, returns to Beleriand by the long and hard land route, via the northern ice. Morgoth summons his armies from his fortress of Angband and attacks Fëanor's encampment in Mithrim. This battle was called the Battle under the Stars, or Dagor-nuin-Giliath , for the Sun and Moon had not yet been made. The Noldor win the battle. Fëanor presses on toward Angband with his sons. He comes within sight of Angband, but
11948-568: The shores of Aman, and asks the seafaring Teleri for their aid. When they refuse, Fëanor orders the Noldor to steal the ships. The Teleri resist, and many of them are killed. The battle became known as the Kinslaying at Alqualondë, or the first kinslaying. His sons later commit two other acts of warfare against Elves in Middle-earth in his name. In repentance, Finarfin, Finwë's third son, takes his host and turns back. They are accepted by
12064-649: The sky. The other two gems remain in Morgoth's hands, until they are taken from him by a servant of the Vala Manwë at the end of the War of Wrath . However, soon afterwards, they are stolen by Fëanor's two remaining sons, Maedhros and Maglor, as they try to fulfil the oath they had sworn so many years before. But the jewels burn their hands, in denial of their rights of possession, as they had burned Morgoth's hands before. In agony, Maedhros throws himself and his Silmaril into
12180-648: The star's light is captured in Galadriel 's Mirror, the magic fountain that allows her to see past, present, and future; and some of that light is, finally, trapped in the Phial of Galadriel , her parting gift to Frodo , protagonist in The Lord of the Rings , to counterbalance Sauron 's evil and powerful Ring that he also carries. At each stage, the fragmentation increases and the power decreases, echoing Tolkien's theme of decline and fall in Middle-earth . Quenya Quenya ( pronounced [ˈkʷwɛɲja] )
12296-478: The theme of Man splintering the original white light of creation, resulting in many conflicts. The light begins in The Silmarillion as a unity, and is divided into more and more fragments as the myth progresses. Middle-earth is peopled by the angelic Valar and lit by two great lamps; when these are destroyed by the fallen Vala Melkor , the world is fragmented, and the Valar retreat to Valinor , which
12412-402: The tongue and the back of the teeth), alveolar (involving the tongue and the alveolar ridge of the jaw), palatal (involving the tongue and the middle part of the roof of the mouth), velar (involving the back of the tongue and the back part of the roof of the mouth), and glottal (involving the vocal folds ). The dental fricative ( /θ/ ) and the voiced alveolar fricative ( /z/ ) occur in
12528-626: The warp (of a weaving)", hence the crosswise weft threads that go against the grain, a dangerous part of the fabric of life; and "skilled", by etymology from Indo-European skel- , "to cut", like the Noldor as a whole tending to cause division among the Elves; and indeed his choices, and the Silmarils, lead to division and war, to the Kinslaying of Elf by Elf, the theft of the Telerin Elves' ships in Aman, and in turn to further disasters across
12644-485: The years as new words have been created, forming a Neo-Quenya language that is based on Tolkien's original Quenya but incorporates many new elements. Quenya and its writing system Tengwar have limited application in hobbyist and public domain works. The Elvish languages are a family of several related languages and dialects. The following is a brief overview of the fictional internal history of late Quenya as conceived by Tolkien. Tolkien imagined an Elvish society with
12760-565: Was Tolkien's favourite modern Romance language. The tables below list the consonants (Q. ólamar ) and vowels of late colloquial Noldorin Quenya, i.e. Quenya as spoken among the Exiled Noldor in Middle-earth. They are written using the International Phonetic Alphabet , unless otherwise noted. The Quenya consonant system has 6 major places of articulation: labial (involving the lips), dental (involving
12876-407: Was a continuous process, Quenya underwent a number of major revisions in its grammar, mostly in conjugation and the pronominal system . The vocabulary, however, was not subject to sudden or extreme change. Tolkien sometimes changed the meaning of a word, but he almost never discarded it once invented, and he kept on refining its meaning, and countlessly forged new synonyms. Moreover, Elvish etymology
12992-527: Was in constant flux. Tolkien delighted in inventing new etymons for his Quenya vocabulary. But after the publication of The Lord of the Rings (finished c. 1949–1950, published in 1954–1955), the grammar rules of Quenya went through very few changes and this version was then defined as late Quenya (c. 1950–1973). The spelling Qenya is sometimes used to distinguish early Quenya from later versions. Qenya differs from late Quenya by having different internal history, vocabulary, and grammar rules as described in
13108-481: Was in favour of the idea of Esperanto as an auxiliary language within Europe. With his Quenya, Tolkien pursued a double aesthetic goal: "classical and inflected". This urge was a major motivation for his creation of a 'mythology' . While the language developed, Tolkien felt that it needed speakers, including their own history and mythology, which he thought would give a language its 'individual flavour'. The Lord of
13224-569: Was one of their true names. Tolkien wrote at least four versions of the Oath of Fëanor itself, as found in The History of Middle-earth . The three earliest versions are found in The Lays of Beleriand : in alliterative verse (circa 1918–1920s), in chapter 2, "Poems Early Abandoned" The Flight of the Noldoli from Valinor . Lines 132–141; in rhyming couplets (circa 1928), in chapter 3, " The Lay of Leithian ". Canto VI, lines 1628–1643; and in
13340-432: Was the usual Vanyarin name given to the Quenya language, since in Vanyarin, the consonant groups ndy and ny remained quite distinct. In Noldorin, ndy eventually became ny . Tolkien explained that "the word Quenya itself has been cited as an exempla (e.g. by Ælfwine), but this is a mistake due to supposition that kwenya was properly kwendya and directly derived from the name Quendi 'Elves'. This appears not to be
13456-510: Was used ceremonially by the Men of Númenor and their descendants in Gondor and Arnor for the official names of kings and queens; this practice was resumed by Aragorn when he took the crown as Elessar Telcontar. Quenya in the Third Age had almost the same status as the Latin language had in medieval Europe, and was called Elven-latin by Tolkien. Tolkien described the pronunciation of
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