FAQ for Elvish Linguistics

This is a FAQ (or list of Frequently Answered Questions with the answers) which I am writing on the subject of Elvish Linguistics. Much of this FAQ will just point you to the pages that I have already written on this website because many of these pages were originally written to provide answers to frequently questions about Elvish Linguistics on various email lists.

Q 1: What is Elvish Linguistics?
It is the study of Tolkien's invented languages. J. R. R.Tolkien wrote a book called the Lord of the Rings (now made into a major motion picture known as the Movie). In that book he had some examples of the languages of the Elves, as well as examples of the language of the Dwarves, of the Hobbits and some others, all spoken in Middle-earth. He also invented alphabets for these languages. The study of all these matters is referred to as "Elvish Linguistics".

Q 2: What about the Movie?
The Movie, which came out in three parts beginning in December of 2001, was directed by Peter Jackson and actually contains some examples of the languages and alphabets which Tolkien invented. This was done quite accurately and it greatly increases the sense of authenticity of the Movie. Although some people have objected to the Movie on various philosophical grounds, most Tolkien fans think it's fabulous. Most of the language that appears in the movie is in the Elvish language Sindarin; a little bit is in the Elvish language Quenya. You will also hear some Dwarvish and some Orkish spoken.

Q 3: There are books? What books?
The main books are The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien and The Hobbit, also by J. R. R. Tolkien. These books include examples of the languages and alphabets which he invented and which were used by the Elves, Dwarves, Hobbits and others, within the fictional world. Two other important books are the Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales. A complete list of books written by J.R.R.Tolkien and/or edited by his son Christopher Tolkien is at the Linguistic Bibliography page.

Q 4: What are the Elvish languages?
Tolkien invented several languages which he says were spoken by the Elves, within his fictional world. He also invented special languages to be spoken by the Dwarves, by Hobbits and by various other people. When we say "Elvish languages" or "Elvish linguistics" we usually include the languages of these other folks, too. There is a complete List of Tolkien's Invented Languages here.

Q 5: Where can I find more information about the languages, such as grammars and dictionaries?
There is a site with links to the best Information about Tolkien's Invented Languages here.

Q 6: How real are the languages?
Some are more real than others. Tolkien was a language genius who taught ancient languages (Old Norse and Anglo-Saxon) at Oxford University. He invented the Elvish languages as a hobby. Quenya and Sindarin were completely formed out by Tolkien and we are able to understand their grammar well enough to speak them. They both have a vast amount of vocabulary which he created for them, in the range of around 10,000 words for each. The vocabulary doesn't include many words for modern things like cars and computers, but these words have been coined by linguists in accordance with Tolkien's own methods of language formation. All languages have to coin or borrow new words for new things, from time to time.

Dwarvish, one of our favorite languages, is unfortunately not so well-known. The grammar has not been published and the vocabulary only includes about 30 words. The language of the Hobbits (also called Westron or Common Speech) is better understood. The grammar was published in Tyalie Tyelellieva No. 17. The vocabulary was quite limited, but due to recent publications, it looks like it should now be possible to form any words needed in this language, using Tolkien's own methods of word formation.

Q 7: What is that inscription on the ring? How can I learn to write like that?
The ring inscription is written in the tengwar alphabet

in the language of Sauron, a special language mainly used by orcs in Middle-earth. The text in the original orkish language reads:
Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul
ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul!
and an English translation reads:
One ring to rule them all, one ring to find them
One ring to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them
all given from the first volume of the book The Lord of the Rings. I believe the Ring itself speaks the words in the Movie, especially at the Council of Elrond. Anyway, by using the tengwar chart in the Appendix of the third volume, you should be able to figure out how to write like that.

Q 8: What's tengwar?
It's an alphabet which was used to write the Ring Inscription. It can also be used to write the Quenya language, the Sindarin language and the English language, or any language you like. Many people have figured out how to write various other languages in tengwar, such as Spanish, French and Czech.

Q 9: What are runes and did Tolkien invent them??
Runes are actually any alphabet which is angular in shape and Tolkien did not invent them. Runes are suitable for scratching roughly into a hard surface, especially wood. The Germanic runes were invented by Germanic-speaking people in about 100 AD (as a phonetic alphabet) and were used by them for simple inscriptions. These types of runes include the Old Futhark used in western Europe from about 100 AD to about 700 AD; the Anglo-Saxon runes, used by people in England from about 500 AD to around 1200;

Anglo-Saxon Runes

and the Younger Futhork used by Scandinavian people (Vikings) from around 800 AD through the 1500's. There are also Kok Turki runes, used by an Indo-European speaking people in central Asia, back in the dark of time.

Kok Turki Runes

These types of runes were not invented by Tolkien, but he studied them and knew them very well. Tolkien used the Anglo-Saxon runes in the book The Hobbit.

However, Tolkien invented a new type of runes for the Lord of the Rings which we usually call cirth (pronounced "kurth") or angerthas or Dwarvish Runes. These look like the other runes, but they don't read the same way. They may be used to write Dwarvish, Sindarin or English, or most any other language you like.

Q 10: Where can I find out more about the alphabets?
Tolkien invented five major alphabets with many variations. There is a page listing them and giving samples of Tolkien's invented alphabets here. The best information about the alphabets can be learned from the Appendix on Writing in the third volume of the Lord of the Rings. In addition to this, I am providing an explanation of how the alphabets were used to write various languages.

Q 11: What is a font and which ones are available and where can I get them?
There are a bunch of fonts available for the tengwar and cirth alphabets. There is also a font for the Sarati of Rumil. There is a TEX font for the Goblin alphabet. As far as I know, there is not yet any font available for the Runes of Gondolin, but if you hear of one, please let me know.

There are also some little software packages which allow you to more easily use the fonts. But you have to know how to write in tengwar or cirth to be able to transcribe your texts into these fonts, because the keymapping is not usually very direct, and the use of the fonts varies by language.

Q 12: How do you say my name in Quenya or Sindarin?
Please look it up first at the following two sites: Lapseparma webpage or try Helge Fauskangers's article "Now We Have All Got Elvish Names". Then if you still don't know, please look up your name in an etymological dictionary in your own language. There are sets of etymological dictionaries in most languages (except Arabic, apparently), at university or other large libraries. The librarians will help you. They like doing that! Then if you can tell us what your name means in English, we can probably figure out how to say it in Quenya or Sindarin. But please try to do it yourself first.

Q 13: Would you translate my tattoo?
No. I've gotten about a thousand requests for these and I'm not taking anymore. I won't even respond to requests with creepy elements like nazism, barbed wire and control freak behaviour. If you want to bring them all and in the darkness bind them, do it some place far far away from me. If you want to have your translation checked by others, you can send it up to the list (see the Elvish Linguistics email list), but you should do a little work yourself first, and if it's totally weird, I'll just delete your message.

Q 14: Why do people sometimes spell Quenya with a "Qu" and sometimes just Qenya with a Q, without the "u"?
The earliest form of Quenya which Tolkien invented is spelled Qenya because that's the way Tolkien spelled it, and it serves to distinguish the early forms of the language from later forms (as appear in the Lord of the Rings), which are really rather different. The pronunciation of the words is the same however, and either spelling of words with q(u) in Quenya is correct. Some texts also use "k" where others use "c" and those two letters are also interchangeable. Other spelling conventions that you might want to know about are the use of double vowels for the vowels marked with either an accent (á é í ó ú) or those marked with a circumflex (â ê î ô û), since these letters occur in Tolkien's invented languages but sometimes cannot be produced on email lists or, if they are used, they are sometimes mangled in transition (just like this sentence!). Tolkien also used ë (e with diaresis) but we usually leave it out on email lists. And finally, it is gently requested that people not use too many clever word abbreviations (like "ne" for "any") on the email lists because many participants don't speak English as a native language and it may be really difficult for them to understand you.

Q 15: Which books should I buy to learn the languages?
None, really. Most of the best stuff concerning the languages is available for free on the internet. But see Linguistic Bibliography and the Information about Languages pages for what is available and where to get it.

In addition, see the List of Unpublished and Slightly Published Manuscripts. This includes all the other information about the languages and alphabets which has been published in small journals, independent books, and even those bits of information that can be gleaned only from the internet. It also includes information on how to contact these people or order the publications, if you are interested.

Q 16: What about copyright? Am I in trouble for speaking Elvish or writing in the tengwar? Do I need permission?
No. I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice, but I have a 15 page Legal Opinion on my website that addresses these issues. The short version is that American copyright law excludes systems from copyright and both languages and alphabets are systems. You can copyright your own software font, but then it is copyright to you (the maker of it). Of course, the situation may or may not be the same in other countries.

In general it is asked that people use good scholarship standards. That means crediting the people who helped you (it is polite and will cover you if they made mistakes), provide your references (it saves a lot of time for others), and publish your work so that everyone can have the benefit of it without having to reinvent the wheel. On the other hand, if you offer other people's work as your own, you will lose respect and if I see you cutting somebody else out of their little financial bit, I'll contact your ISP.

Q 17: Who are you?
My name is Lisa Star, and yes, that's the name my parents gave me. I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in English language and literature and I studied mostly dead Germanic languages. I also learned to read Germanic runes and I studied the life, languages and mythologies of the Indo-European peoples, and I'm really glad that I learned these things.

I began working in about 1992 to help the Elvish languages become better understood and better known. To that end, I have: 1) published journal articles in Vinyar Tengwar, Quettar and Parma Eldalamberon as well as in my own journal, Tyalie Tyelellieva. 2) I began publishing Tyalie Tyelellieva in 1994 when it became obvious that there was no other place to publish articles and analysis of Elvish. 3) I have provided a clearinghouse service to put people in touch with each other, and provide copies of documents to people who couldn't obtain them otherwise. 4) I instituted the Elvish Language Poetry Prize in 1994 to encourage people not only to write poetry but to publish it, so that everyone could contribute to the advance of the languages, through study and enthusiasm. 5) I set up these webpages, beginning in 1994 to provide a contact point and basic information (including answers to frequently asked questions). 6) I have organized several conferences on Elvish linguistics and 7) I have worked to set up several Elvish Linguistics email lists to provide a forum for the discussion of languages.

I worked for 10 years as a commercial artist, mainly doing calligraphy, but I first learned calligraphy (the art of beautiful lettering) when I learned to write the tengwar at age 12. My favorite thing to do is to produce Elvish manuscripts and all of the artwork which you see at the tops of these webpages was done by me. And I'm telling you all this about myself, because this is one the frequently asked questions (at least, that I get).

Q 18: Why do people study Elvish Linguistics?
Because the languages and alphabets are so beautiful. Some people are interested in the languages for their use in games such as role-playing (see Other Hands (really slow to download lately) and the Guild Companion) while still others enjoy the intellectual challenge of linguistic study as a hobby or as an adjunct to work or university related research. Other people enjoy participating because most of the people who like Tolkien are very nice and its fun to hang out with them. And finally, many people feel that the Elvish languages are the only languages in which they can express their feelings of love, honour and duty, the beauty of moonlight on water, or the deep sorrow that they feel at the loss of friends, forests and homelands. But that last perspective might really shock people if it gets out, so we should probably just keep it a secret.

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