190-450: The Silmarillion ( Quenya : [silmaˈrilːiɔn] ) is a book consisting of a collection of myths and stories in varying styles by the English writer J. R. R. Tolkien . It was edited, partly written, and published posthumously by his son Christopher Tolkien in 1977, assisted by Guy Gavriel Kay , who became a fantasy author. It tells of Eä , a fictional universe that includes
380-454: 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
570-402: 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
760-510: A Man. Elros became the first king of Númenor , and lived to be 500 years old. Akallabêth ("The Downfallen") comprises about 30 pages, and recounts the rise and fall of the island kingdom of Númenor, inhabited by the Dúnedain . After the defeat of Melkor, the Valar gave the island to the three loyal houses of Men who had aided the Elves in the war against him. Through the favour of the Valar,
950-893: A brief overview of the events leading up to and taking place in The Lord of the Rings , including the waning of Gondor, the re-emergence of Sauron, the White Council , Saruman 's treachery, and Sauron's final destruction along with the One Ring, which ends the Third Age. The inside title page contains an English inscription written in Tengwar script. It reads "The tales of the First Age when Morgoth dwelt in Middle-earth and
1140-468: 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 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
1330-436: A descendant of Elros, and his sons Isildur and Anárion, who had saved a seedling from Númenor's white tree, the ancestor of that of Gondor. They founded two kingdoms: Arnor in the north and Gondor in the south. Elendil reigned as High King of both kingdoms, but committed the rule of Gondor jointly to Isildur and Anárion. The power of the kingdoms in exile was greatly diminished from that of Númenor, "yet very great it seemed to
1520-644: A great army of Elves, Dwarves , and Men. But Melkor had secretly corrupted some of the Men, and the Elvish host was utterly defeated in the Fifth Battle. Húrin and Huor were brothers; Huor died in battle, but Melkor captured Húrin and cursed him to watch the downfall of his kin. Húrin's son, Túrin Turambar , was sent to Doriath, leaving his mother and unborn sister behind in his father's kingdom of Dor-lómin (which
1710-477: A hidden vale surrounded by mountains, and chose that to build the city of Gondolin. Maeglin, grandson of Fingolfin and son of the dark elf Eöl, had a hopeless love for his first cousin Idril , whom he could not marry. He moved to Gondolin and became close to Turgon. Because of the secrecy of the Elvish cities of Beleriand, they were more secure from Melkor's armies. Turgon took great care to keep Gondolin secret, and it
1900-408: A letter. Another major theme is sensitively analysed by Flieger in her 2002 book Splintered Light , which Nagy notes was the first full monograph on The Silmarillion . Flieger shows that a central theme of Tolkien's writing is the progressive fragmentation of the light from the moment of the creation; light symbolises both the divine creation and the author's subcreation . Key symbols including
2090-520: A literary event of any magnitude". He suggested that the main reason for its "enormous sales" was the "Tolkien cult" created by the popularity of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , and predicted that more people would buy The Silmarillion than would ever read it. The School Library Journal called it "only a stillborn postscript" to Tolkien's earlier works. Peter Conrad of the New Statesman stated that "Tolkien can't actually write" and
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#17327800351282280-420: A mariner named Eriol (in later versions, an Anglo-Saxon named Ælfwine ) who finds the island of Tol Eressëa, where the Elves live, and the Elves tell him their history. In "The Cottage of Lost Play", Tol Eressëa, corresponding to England, or in early versions Kortirion, corresponding to Warwick , linked the tales to England's lost mythology . Tolkien never completed The Book of Lost Tales ; he left it to compose
2470-469: 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
2660-476: A parody of the book, The Sellamillion . In a 2019 article, Le Monde called The Silmarillion a "cornerstone of Tolkien's imagination" and "the book by J. R. R. Tolkien that rules them all". Academic criticism of Christopher Tolkien's 1977 text concentrated on his father's intention to complete the work: Since he did not do so, his plans for the overall narrative, out of the large collection of draft texts, were not clearly discernible. That in turn meant, argued
2850-644: 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
3040-535: 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
3230-534: A prisoner to Númenor. There he quickly enthralled the king, Ar-Pharazôn, urging him to seek the immortality that the Valar had apparently denied him, fanning the envy that many of the Númenóreans had begun to hold against the Elves of the West and the Valar. The people of Númenor strove to avoid death, but this only weakened them and sped the gradual diminishing of their lifespans. Sauron urged them to wage war against
3420-590: 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
3610-420: 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
3800-420: 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
3990-415: Is and how (within the imagined world) it came to be. This I now think to have been an error. In October 1996, Christopher Tolkien commissioned the illustrator Ted Nasmith to create full-page full-colour artwork for the first illustrated edition of The Silmarillion . It was published in 1998, and followed in 2004 by a second edition featuring corrections and additional artwork by Nasmith. The Silmarillion
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#17327800351284180-444: Is however in his view "immensely problematic" as it is not a "work" as usually understood: "The Silmarillion" (in roman ) is the enormous corpus of documents and drafts that J. R. R. Tolkien built up throughout his creative life, while " The Silmarillion " (in italics ) is the 1977 book that Christopher Tolkien edited. The corpus is now published in the twelve volumes of Christopher Tolkien's The History of Middle-earth . The corpus
4370-483: Is not a single work but many versions of many works, while the book "is often regarded as not an authentic 'Tolkien text'". Tolkien did not authorise the 1977 text; he did not even write all of it; and he did not define the frame in which it was to be presented. Nagy notes that in 2009, Douglas Charles Kane published a "hugely important resource", his Arda Reconstructed , which defines "exactly from what sources, variants, and with what methods" Christopher Tolkien constructed
4560-416: 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
4750-416: 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
4940-579: 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
5130-524: 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
5320-466: 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/ . Quenya Quenya ( pronounced [ˈkʷwɛɲja] ) is a constructed language , one of those devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for
5510-533: Is the poem " Namárië "; other published texts are no longer than a few sentences. At his death, Tolkien left behind 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
5700-402: 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
5890-402: 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
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6080-457: 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 a major source of inspiration , but Tolkien
6270-532: The Elves made war upon him for the recovery of the Silmarils to which are appended the downfall of Númenor and the history of the Rings of Power and the Third Age in which these tales come to their end." Inside the back cover is a fold-out map of part of Middle-earth , Beleriand in the First Age . While the writings are Tolkien's, they were published posthumously by his son, Christopher. Christopher selected
6460-728: 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
6650-637: The Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel in 1978. The Silmarillion was criticised for being too serious, lacking the light-hearted moments that were found in The Lord of the Rings and especially The Hobbit . Time magazine lamented that there was "no single, unifying quest and, above all, no band of brothers for the reader to identify with". Other criticisms included difficult-to-read archaic language and many difficult and hard-to-remember names. Robert M. Adams of The New York Review of Books called The Silmarillion "an empty and pompous bore" and "not
6840-635: 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
7030-774: 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
7220-441: 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
7410-681: The Teleri , including those who became the Sindar , ruled by Thingol and Melian . All the Vanyar and Noldor, and later many of the Teleri, reached Aman. In Aman, Melkor, who had been held captive by the Valar, was released after feigning repentance. Fëanor , son of Finwë , King of the Noldor, created the Silmarils, jewels that glowed with the captured light of the Two Trees. Melkor deceived Fëanor into believing that his younger half-brother Fingolfin
7600-521: The Two Trees , Telperion and Laurelin, which illuminated Valinor, leaving Middle-earth to darkness and Melkor's wrath. Aulë, the smith of the Valar, created the Dwarves; Ilúvatar gave them life and free will. Aulë's spouse, Yavanna, was afraid the Dwarves would harm her plants, but Manwë said that spirits would awaken to protect them. Soon, stars created by Varda began to shine, causing the awakening of
7790-461: 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
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7980-409: 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
8170-788: The Two Trees of Valinor , the Silmarils themselves, the transformation of Eärendil the Mariner and his ship Vingilot into the Morning Star , and the White Tree of Númenor all embody the light. The Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey writes that The Silmarillion is most obviously a calque on the Book of Genesis in the Bible (whereas the Shire is a calque upon England ). Shippey quotes Tolkien's friend C. S. Lewis , who stated that even Satan
8360-472: 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
8550-417: 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
8740-518: The "Sketch", Tolkien developed a fuller narrative version of The Silmarillion called Quenta Noldorinwa (also included in Volume IV). The Quenta Noldorinwa was the last version of The Silmarillion that Tolkien completed. In 1937, encouraged by the success of The Hobbit , Tolkien submitted to his publisher George Allen & Unwin an incomplete but more fully developed version of The Silmarillion called Quenta Silmarillion , but they rejected
8930-579: 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
9120-470: 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
9310-571: The "remarkable set of legends conceived with imaginative might and told in beautiful language". John Calvin Batchelor , in The Village Voice , lauded the book as a "difficult but incontestable masterwork of fantasy" and praised the characterisation of Melkor, describing him as "a stunning bad guy" whose "chief weapon against goodness is his ability to corrupt men by offering them trappings for their vanity". In 2004, Adam Roberts wrote
9500-406: 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
9690-406: 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
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#17327800351289880-669: 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
10070-610: 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
10260-442: The 1977 book. The Silmarillion is thematically complex. One key theme is its nature as a mythology, with multiple interrelated texts in differing styles; David Bratman has named these as "Annalistic", "Antique" and "Appendical". All of these are far from the approachable novelistic styles of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings , lacking a single narrative thread, and without the benefit of Hobbits as guides, as Tolkien noted in
10450-630: The Ainur the opportunity to enter into Arda and govern the new world. Many Ainur accepted, taking physical form and becoming bound to that world. The greater Ainur became the Valar , while the lesser Ainur became the Maiar . The Valar attempted to prepare the world for the coming inhabitants (Elves and Men ), while Melkor, who wanted Arda for himself, repeatedly destroyed their work; this went on for thousands of years and, through waves of destruction and creation,
10640-501: The Blessed Realm of Valinor , the ill-fated region of Beleriand , the island of Númenor , and the continent of Middle-earth , where Tolkien's most popular works— The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings —are set. After the success of The Hobbit , Tolkien's publisher, Stanley Unwin , requested a sequel, and Tolkien offered a draft of the writings that would later become The Silmarillion . Unwin rejected this proposal, calling
10830-612: The Dúnedain were granted wisdom and power and longer life, beyond that of other Men. Indeed, the isle of Númenor lay closer to Aman than to Middle-earth. The fall of Númenor came about through the influence of the corrupted Maia Sauron , the chief servant of Melkor, who arose during the Second Age and tried to conquer Middle-earth. The Númenóreans moved against Sauron. They were so powerful that Sauron perceived that he could not defeat them by force. He surrendered himself to be taken as
11020-503: The Elves . Knowing the danger the Elves were in, the Valar decided to fight Melkor to keep the Elves safe. After defeating and capturing Melkor, they invited the Elves to live in Aman. This led to the sundering of the Elves ; those who accepted and then remained in Aman were the Vanyar ; those who went to Aman and later (mostly) returned to Middle-earth were the Noldor ; those who refused were
11210-527: 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 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
11400-531: 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,
11590-531: 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,
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#173278003512811780-621: 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
11970-443: 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
12160-532: 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
12350-477: 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
12540-522: The First Age that narrate the tragic saga of the three forged jewels, the Silmarils . The Valar attempted to fashion the world for Elves and Men, but Melkor continually destroyed their handiwork. After he destroyed the two lamps, Illuin and Ormal, that illuminated the world, the Valar moved to Aman , a continent to the west of Middle-earth, where they established their home, Valinor . Yavanna created
12730-581: 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
12920-532: 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
13110-608: The Maia Olórin (Gandalf) as an "Odinic wanderer". The influence of the Bible is seen in the conflict between Melkor and Eru Ilúvatar, a parallel of Lucifer 's with God. Further, the creation and fall of the Elves parallels the Genesis creation narrative and the Book of Genesis ' fall of Man. As with all of Tolkien's works, The Silmarillion allows room for later Christian history, and one draft even has Finrod speculating on
13300-535: The Nauglamír and the Silmaril. Further fighting amongst the elves causes the ruin of Doriath. Huor's son, Tuor , became involved in the fate of the hidden kingdom of Gondolin. He married Idril, daughter of Turgon, Lord of Gondolin (the second union between Elves and Men). When Gondolin fell, betrayed by the king's nephew Maeglin, Tuor saved many of its inhabitants. All the Elvish kingdoms in Beleriand fell, and
13490-530: 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
13680-413: 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
13870-466: 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
14060-411: 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
14250-495: The Rings for publication. Tolkien wished to make the mythology more believable by bringing it into line with the Round World version of the creation story. He was persuaded not to do this in 1946; later attempts conflicted with the already published texts of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . In the late 1950s, Tolkien returned to The Silmarillion , working mostly with the theological and philosophical underpinnings of
14440-488: The Rings works where possible, ultimately reaching as far back as the 1917 Book of Lost Tales to fill in portions of the narrative that his father had planned to write but never addressed. In one later chapter of Quenta Silmarillion , "Of the Ruin of Doriath", untouched since the early 1930s, he had to construct a narrative practically from scratch. Christopher Tolkien commented that, had he taken more time and had access to all
14630-676: The Rings ) as possible, given the many conflicting drafts. He enlisted the help of the Canadian Guy Gavriel Kay , now the author of a fantasy trilogy inspired by Arthurian legend (the Matter of Britain ); Kay, chosen due to family connections, spent a year with him in Oxford editing the materials in secret. As explained in The History of Middle-earth , Christopher Tolkien drew upon numerous sources, relying on post- Lord of
14820-407: 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
15010-407: 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
15200-510: 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
15390-458: 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
15580-430: The Silmarils burnt their hands. In anguish, Maedhros killed himself by leaping into a fiery chasm with his Silmaril, while Maglor threw his jewel into the sea and spent the rest of his days wandering along the shores of the world, singing his grief. Eärendil and Elwing had two children: Elrond and Elros. As descendants of immortal elves and mortal men, they had the choice of lineage: Elrond chose to be an Elf, his brother
15770-459: The Silmarils from him, even the Valar, and made his seven sons do the same. He persuaded most of the Noldor to pursue Melkor, whom Fëanor renamed Morgoth , to Middle-earth. Fëanor's sons seized ships from the Teleri, killing many of them, and betrayed others of the Noldor, leaving them to make a perilous passage on foot across the dangerous ice of the Helcaraxë. The elves who did not go to Valinor,
15960-619: The Sindar, settled in Beleriand and traded with the dwarves. The Maia Melian set a magical protection, the Girdle of Melian, around the realm of Doriath. Upon arriving in Middle-earth, the Noldor defeated Melkor's army, though Fëanor was killed by Balrogs. After a period of peace, Melkor attacked the Noldor but was placed in a tight siege, which held for nearly 400 years. The Noldor built up kingdoms throughout Beleriand. Fëanor's firstborn Maedhros wisely chose to move himself and his brothers to
16150-403: The Tolkien scholar Charles Noad , that Silmarillion criticism ought first to "evolve approaches to this textual complex as it [was], including Christopher Tolkien's 1977 Silmarillion ". Gergely Nagy writes that The Silmarillion is long both in Middle-earth time and in years of Tolkien's life; and it provides the impression of depth for both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings . It
16340-425: The Two Trees with the help of Ungoliant , a dark spider spirit. Melkor escaped to Formenos, killed Finwë, stole the Silmarils, and fled to Middle-earth. He attacked the Elvish kingdom of Doriath , ruled by Thingol and Melian. Melkor was defeated in the first of five battles of Beleriand and barricaded himself in his northern fortress of Angband. Fëanor swore an oath of vengeance against Melkor and anyone who withheld
16530-524: The Valar are also influenced by Norse mythology , with characteristics resembling various of the Æsir , the gods of Asgard . Thor , for example, physically the strongest of the gods, can be seen both in Oromë , who fights the monsters of Melkor, and in Tulkas , the physically strongest of the Valar. Manwë , the head of the Valar, exhibits some similarities to Odin, the "Allfather". Tolkien also said that he saw
16720-400: The Valar to seize the immortality denied them. Ar-Pharazôn raised the mightiest army and fleet Númenor had ever seen, and sailed against Aman. The Valar and Elves of Aman, stricken with grief over their betrayal, called on Ilúvatar for help. When Ar-Pharazôn landed, Ilúvatar destroyed his forces and sent a great wave to submerge Númenor, killing all but those Númenóreans who had remained loyal to
16910-493: The Valar. The world was remade, and Aman was removed beyond the Uttermost West so that Men could not sail there to threaten it. Sauron's physical manifestation was destroyed in the ruin of Númenor. As a Maia, his spirit returned to Middle-earth, though he was no longer able to take the fair form he had once had. The loyal Númenóreans reached the shores of Middle-earth. Among these survivors were Elendil , their leader and
17100-485: 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 ,
17290-425: 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 ,
17480-473: 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
17670-473: 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
17860-480: 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
18050-416: 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
18240-502: 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
18430-428: 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⟩
18620-428: 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⟩
18810-537: 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
19000-407: 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
19190-454: The War of Wrath. The first edition was brought out in hardback by Allen & Unwin in 1977. HarperCollins published a paperback edition in 1999, and an illustrated edition with colour plates by Ted Nasmith in 2008. It has sold over a million copies, far fewer than The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings which have each sold over 100 million copies. Its sales were sufficient for it to reach
19380-601: The War of the Last Alliance, in which Elves led by Gil-galad and the remaining Númenóreans led by Elendil united to defeat Sauron, bringing the Second Age to an end. The Third Age began with the claiming of the One Ring by Isildur after Sauron's overthrow. Isildur was ambushed by orcs and killed at the Gladden Fields shortly afterwards, and the One Ring was lost in the River Anduin . The section gives
19570-470: 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
19760-402: 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
19950-479: The birds, led by the Eagle Thorondor, defeated Melkor's dragons, who were led by Ancalagon The Black . Most of Beleriand sank into the sea; the Valar expelled Melkor from Arda. This ended the First Age of Middle-earth. The last two Silmarils were seized by Fëanor's sons, Maedhros and Maglor. However, because of the evil way the brothers had gained the Silmarils, they were no longer worthy to receive them, and
20140-613: The book is a construction, not authorised by Tolkien himself, from the large corpus of documents and drafts also called "The Silmarillion". Scholars have noted that Tolkien intended the work to be a mythology , penned by many hands, and redacted by a fictional editor , whether Ælfwine or Bilbo Baggins . As such, Gergely Nagy considers that the fact that the work has indeed been edited actually realises Tolkien's intention. The events described in The Silmarillion , as in J. R. R. Tolkien 's extensive Middle-earth writings which
20330-509: The book summarises, were meant to have taken place at some time in Earth's past. In keeping with this idea, The Silmarillion was supposedly translated from Bilbo 's three-volume Translations from the Elvish , which he wrote while at Rivendell . The book covers the history of the world, Arda, up to the Third Age, in its five sections: Ainulindalë ( Quenya : "The Music of the Ainur ") takes
20520-455: The bulk of the collection, chronicles the history of the events before and during the First Age , including the wars over three jewels, the Silmarils , that gave the book its title. The fourth part, Akallabêth , relates the history of the Downfall of Númenor and its people, which takes place in the Second Age . The final part, Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age , tells the history of
20710-524: 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
20900-405: 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
21090-458: 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
21280-403: 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
21470-959: 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
21660-780: 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
21850-438: The curse of Babel ". Quenya Quenya ( pronounced [ˈkʷwɛɲja] ) 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
22040-689: The divine harmony—more familiar to us today in the notion of the " music of the spheres "—served as bases for this telling of creation. Celtic influences were of several kinds. Dimitra Fimi has documented the influence of Celtic mythology in the exile of the Noldorin Elves, borrowing elements from the story of Irish legends of the Tuatha Dé Danann . Welsh influence is seen in the Elvish language Sindarin ; Tolkien wrote that he gave it "a linguistic character very like (though not identical with) British-Welsh ... because it seems to fit
22230-419: The draft obscure and "too Celtic", so Tolkien began working on a new story that eventually became The Lord of the Rings . The Silmarillion has five parts. The first, Ainulindalë , tells in mythic style of the creation of Eä, the "world that is ." The second part, Valaquenta , gives a description of the Valar and Maiar , supernatural powers of Eä. The next section, Quenta Silmarillion , which forms
22420-425: 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
22610-425: 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
22800-522: The east, away from the rest of their kin, knowing that they would easily be provoked into war if they lived too close to their kinsmen. Fingolfin and his eldest son Fingon lived in the northwest. Fingolfin's second son Turgon and Turgon's cousin Finrod built hidden kingdoms, after receiving visions from the Vala Ulmo. Finrod hewed cave dwellings which became the realm of Nargothrond, while Turgon discovered
22990-457: 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
23180-404: 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
23370-430: The enchantment. Nienor took her own life, and Túrin threw himself upon his sword. Húrin, a broken man, is finally set free. He hears his wife Morwen crying in a dream, and arrives to find her dead; he buries her. At Nargothrond, he kills the dwarf Mîm and takes the Nauglamír necklace from the dragon Glaurung 's hoard. He takes it to Doriath. Húrin leaves, and drowns himself. Fighting between elves and dwarves breaks out over
23560-408: 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 ,
23750-408: 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 ,
23940-427: 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
24130-427: 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
24320-464: The form of a primary creation narrative. Eru ("The One"), also called Ilúvatar ("Father of All"), first created the Ainur, a group of eternal spirits or demiurges , called "the offspring of his thought". Ilúvatar brought the Ainur together and showed them a theme, from which he bade them make a great music . Melkor —whom Ilúvatar had given the "greatest power and knowledge" of all the Ainur—broke from
24510-456: 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
24700-456: 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
24890-415: 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
25080-415: 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
25270-400: The harmony of the music to develop his own song. Some Ainur joined him, while others continued to follow Ilúvatar, causing discord in the music. This happened three times, with Eru Ilúvatar successfully overpowering his rebellious subordinate with a new theme each time. Ilúvatar then stopped the music and showed them a vision of Arda and its peoples. The vision disappeared, and Ilúvatar offered
25460-446: 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
25650-485: 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
25840-485: 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
26030-410: 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 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
26220-400: 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 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
26410-402: 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
26600-402: 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
26790-468: The language's name from Elfin and Qenya to the eventual Quenya . Finnish had been 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
26980-533: 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,
27170-475: 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,
27360-569: The most complete stories and compiled them into a single volume, in line with his father's desire to create a body of work that spanned from the Creation of the World to the destruction of the One Ring. Due to this circumstance, the volume sometimes exhibits inconsistencies with "The Lord of the Rings" or "The Hobbit," with varying styles and featuring fully developed stories like Beren and Lúthien, or more loosely outlined ones, such as those dedicated to
27550-497: The nature and means of Elvish rebirth, the flat world and the story of the Sun and Moon. In any event, with one or two exceptions, he wrought little change to the narratives during the remaining years of his life. For several years after his father's death, Christopher Tolkien worked on a Silmarillion narrative. He tried to use the latest writings of his father's and to keep as much internal consistency (and consistency with The Lord of
27740-404: The necessity of Eru's eventual Incarnation to save mankind. Verlyn Flieger sees the influence of medieval Christian cosmology especially in the account of the creation of the universe as the manifestation of a sort of song sung by God with which the angels harmonise until the fallen angel introduces discord. St. Augustine's writings on music, as well as the extensive medieval tradition of
27930-420: 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
28120-420: 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
28310-573: 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
28500-470: 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
28690-578: The poems " The Lay of Leithian " and " The Lay of the Children of Húrin ". The first version of The Silmarillion was the "Sketch of the Mythology" written in 1926 (later published in Volume IV of The History of Middle-earth ). The "Sketch" was a 28-page synopsis written to explain the background of the story of Túrin to R. W. Reynolds, a friend to whom Tolkien had sent several of the stories. From
28880-473: The rather 'Celtic' type of legends and stories told of its speakers". At the time of release, reviews of The Silmarillion were generally negative. The Tolkien scholar Wayne G. Hammond records that the book's publisher, Rayner Unwin , called the reviews "among the most unfair he had ever seen". The book was a commercial success, topping The New York Times Fiction Best Seller list in October 1977 . It won
29070-410: 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
29260-410: 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
29450-473: The refugees fled to a haven by the sea created by Tuor. The son of Tuor and Idril Celebrindal, Eärendil the Half-elven , was betrothed to Elwing , herself descended from Beren and Lúthien. Elwing brought Eärendil Beren's Silmaril; the jewel enabled Eärendil to cross the sea to Aman to seek help from the Valar. They obliged, defeating Melkor and destroying Angband. Eärendil, flying in his ship Vingilot, with
29640-701: The rings during the Second and Third Ages , ending with a summary of the events of The Lord of the Rings . The book shows the influence of many sources, including the Finnish epic Kalevala , Greek mythology in the lost island of Atlantis (as Númenor) and the Olympian gods (in the shape of the Valar, though these also resemble the Norse Æsir ). Because J. R. R. Tolkien died leaving his legendarium unedited, Christopher Tolkien selected and edited materials to tell
29830-406: The story from start to end. In a few cases, this meant that he had to devise completely new material, within the tenor of his father's thought, to resolve gaps and inconsistencies in the narrative, particularly Chapter 22, "Of the Ruin of Doriath". The Silmarillion was commercially successful, but received generally poor reviews on publication. Scholars found the work problematic, not least because
30020-533: The texts, he might have produced a substantially different work. In his foreword to The Book of Lost Tales 1 in 1983, he wrote that by its posthumous publication nearly a quarter of a century later the natural order of presentation of the whole 'Matter of Middle-earth' was inverted; and it is certainly debatable whether it was wise to publish in 1977 a version of the primary 'legendarium' standing on its own and claiming, as it were, to be self-explanatory. The published work has no 'framework', no suggestion of what it
30210-402: 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
30400-402: 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
30590-464: The top of the October 1977 lists. It has since been translated into at least 40 languages. Tolkien began working on the stories that would become The Silmarillion in 1914. He intended them to become an English mythology that would explain the origins of English history and culture. Much of this early work was written while Tolkien, then a British Army officer returned from France during World War I,
30780-438: The wild men of Middle-earth". The concluding section of the book, comprising about 20 pages, describes the events that take place in Middle-earth during the Second and Third Ages . In the Second Age, Sauron re-emerged in Middle-earth. The Rings of Power were forged by Elves led by Celebrimbor , but Sauron secretly forged One Ring to control the others. War broke out between the peoples of Middle-earth and Sauron, culminating in
30970-476: The work as being obscure and "too Celtic ". The publisher instead asked Tolkien to write a sequel to The Hobbit . Tolkien began to revise The Silmarillion , but soon turned to the sequel, which became The Lord of the Rings . He renewed work on The Silmarillion after completing The Lord of the Rings , and he greatly desired to publish the two works together. When it became clear that would not be possible, Tolkien turned his full attention to preparing The Lord of
31160-451: The work rather than with the narratives. By this time, he had doubts about fundamental aspects of the work that went back to the earliest versions of the stories, and it seems that he felt the need to resolve these problems before he could attempt a "final" version. During this time, he wrote extensively on such topics as the nature of evil in Arda, the origin of Orcs , the customs of the Elves,
31350-511: The world took shape. Valaquenta ("Account of the Valar") describes Melkor, each of the fourteen Valar, and a few of the Maiar. It tells how Melkor seduced many Maiar—including those who would eventually become Sauron and the Balrogs —into his service. Quenta Silmarillion (Quenya: "The History of the Silmarils"), the bulk of the book in 24 chapters, is a series of interconnected tales set in
31540-485: 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
31730-485: 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
31920-565: 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
32110-416: 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
32300-407: 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
32490-407: 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
32680-453: 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
32870-514: Was created good; Tolkien has the character Elrond in The Lord of the Rings say "For nothing is evil in the beginning. Even [the Dark Lord] Sauron was not so." Shippey concludes that the reader is free to assume "that the exploit of Morgoth of which the Eldar [Elves] never learnt was the traditional seduction of Adam and Eve by the [Satanic] serpent ", while the Men in the story are Adam's descendants "flying from Eden and subject to
33060-404: Was deficient in imagination. A few reviewers praised the scope of Tolkien's creation. The New York Times Book Review acknowledged that "what is finally most moving is ... the eccentric heroism of Tolkien's attempt". Time described The Silmarillion as "majestic, a work held so long and so powerfully in the writer's imagination that it overwhelms the reader". The Horn Book Magazine lauded
33250-527: 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
33440-527: 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
33630-481: 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
33820-428: 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
34010-418: Was in hospital and on sick leave. He completed the first story, " The Fall of Gondolin ", in late 1916. The Ainulindalë followed in 1917. He called his collection of nascent stories The Book of Lost Tales . This became the name for the first two volumes of The History of Middle-earth , a book series by Christopher Tolkien which include these early texts. The stories employ the narrative framing device of
34200-493: Was influenced by many sources. A major influence was the Finnish epic Kalevala , especially the tale of Kullervo . Influence from Greek mythology is also apparent in the way that the island of Númenor recalls Atlantis , and the Valar borrow many attributes from the Olympian gods . The Valar, like the Olympians, live in the world, but on a high mountain, separated from mortals. The correspondences are only approximate;
34390-584: Was one of the last Elven strongholds to fall. After the destruction of the Trees and the theft of the Silmarils, the Valar created the moon and the sun; they were carried across the sky in ships. At the same time, Men awoke; some later arrived in Beleriand and allied themselves to the Elves. Beren , a Man who had survived the latest battle, wandered into Doriath, where he fell in love with the Elf maiden Lúthien , daughter of Thingol and Melian. Thingol believed no mere Man
34580-400: Was overrun by the enemy). Túrin achieved many great deeds of valour, the greatest being the defeat of the dragon Glaurung. Despite his heroism, however, Túrin fell under the curse of Melkor, which led him to unwittingly murder his friend Beleg and marry and impregnate his sister Nienor Níniel, who had lost her memory through Glaurung's enchantment. Before their child was born, the dragon lifted
34770-488: Was soon mortally wounded and Lúthien died of grief. Though the fates of Man and Elf after death would sunder them forever, she persuaded the Vala Mandos to make an exception for them. He gave Beren back his life and allowed Lúthien to renounce her immortality and live as a mortal in Middle-earth. Thus, after they died, they would share the same fate. The Noldor, emboldened by the couple's feat, attacked Melkor again, with
34960-468: Was the Sindarin of the Grey-elves. As the Noldor remained in Middle-earth, their Noldorin dialect of Quenya also gradually diverged from 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
35150-432: 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
35340-432: 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
35530-417: Was trying to turn Finwë against him. Fëanor drew his sword and threatened Fingolfin; this led the Valar to banish Fëanor from the city of Tirion, whereupon he created the fortress Formenos, further to the north. Finwë moved there to live with his favourite son. After many years, Fëanor returned at the command of the Valar to attend a festival, where he made peace of a sort with Fingolfin. Meanwhile, Melkor killed
35720-453: 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
35910-401: 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
36100-446: Was worthy of his daughter, and set a seemingly impossible price for her hand: one of the Silmarils. Undaunted, Beren set out, and Lúthien joined him, though he tried to dissuade her. Sauron , a powerful servant of Melkor, imprisoned Beren, but with Lúthien's help, he escaped. Together, they entered Melkor's fortress and stole a Silmaril from his crown. Amazed, Thingol accepted Beren, and the first union of Man and Elf occurred, though Beren
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