Quenya

Quenya
Created by	J. R. R. Tolkien
Date	c. 1910–1973
Setting and usage	The fictional world of Middle-earth
Purpose	constructed languages artistic languages fictional languages Quenya
Writing system	Latin; Elvish writing systems: Tengwar (mainly), Cirth, and Sarati
Language codes
ISO 639-3	qya
Linguist List	qya
Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind, long years numberless as the wings of trees! The beginning of the Quenya poem Namárië written in tengwar and in Latin script

Quenya (pronounced [ˈkʷwɛnja]) is a fictional language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien, and used in his Secondary world, often called Middle-earth.

Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi in Quenya. The tongue actually called Quenya was in origin the speech of two clans of Elves living in Eldamar ("Elvenhome"), the Noldor and the Vanyar. Quenya translates as simply "language", or in contrast to other tongues that the Elves met later in their long history "elf-language". In the Second Age the Wise of Númenor learned the Quenya tongue. In the Third Age, (the time of the setting of The Lord of the Rings) Quenya was no longer a living language for the Noldor of Middle-earth. Exilic Quenya was learned at an early age by all Elves of Noldorin origin, and it continued to be used in spoken and written form, but their mother-tongue was another Elven-tongue, Sindarin.

Tolkien began with devising the language at around 1910 and re-structured the grammar four times until Quenya reached its final state. The vocabulary however remained relatively stable throughout the creation process. Also the name of the language itself was repeatedly changed by Tolkien from Elfin and Qenya to the eventual Quenya. The Finnish language has been a major source of inspiration but Tolkien also knew about Latin, Greek and ancient Germanic languages when he began constructing Quenya. Another notable feature of Tolkien's Elvish language was his development of a complex internal history of characters to speak that language in their own fictional universe since he felt an aesthetic need to provide a historical background for the language itself.

Although Tolkien never published enough vocabularies to make Quenya a conversational language, fans have been writing poetry and prose in Quenya since the 1960s. This involved conjecture and the need to devise new words.

External history

J. R. R. Tolkien began to construct his first Elven tongue c. 1910–1911 while he was at the King Edward's School, Birmingham. He later called it Qenya (c. 1915), and even later wrote it Quenya. Tolkien was then already familiar with Latin, Greek, Spanish, and several ancient Germanic languages, Gothic, Old Norse and Old English. He had invented several cryptographic codes (one called Animalic), and two or three constructed languages (as Naffarin). But then he discovered Finnish, and was filled with joy. Tolkien wrote, many years later: "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." He had started his study of the Finnish language to be able to read the Kalevala epic.

The ingredients in Quenya are various, but worked out into 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 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 with his Quenya pursued a double aesthetic goal: "classical and inflected". This urge, in fact, was the motivation for his creation of a 'mythology'. While the language developed, he needed speakers, history for the speakers and all real dynamics, like war and migration: "It was primarily linguistic in inspiration and was begun in order to provide the necessary background of ‘history’ for Elvish tongues".

Quenya underwent about four major revisions in its grammar, mostly in conjugation and the pronominal system. The vocabulary was not subject to sudden or extreme change; except during the first conceptual stage, early Quenya c.1910-c.1920, the language was then called in English Elfin and in Qenya Eldarissa. Tolkien sometimes changed the meaning of a word, but he almost never disregarded it once invented, and he kept on refining its meaning, and countlessly forged new synonyms. Moreover Elven etymology was in a constant flux. Tolkien delighted in inventing new etymons for his Quenya vocabulary. But after the publication of "The Lord of the Rings" (1954–1955), the grammar rules of Quenya went through very few changes (this is late Quenya 1954–1973).

"Qenya" is used sometimes to distinguish between "early Quenya" and "late Quenya". However, early Quenya was also called Eldarissa by Tolkien. It differs fundamentally from late Quenya, having a different internal history, vocabulary and grammar rules described in the "Qenyaqetsa".

From 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 in inventing for each daughter languages the many mechanisms of sound change needed.

I find the construction and the interrelation of the languages an aesthetic pleasure in itself, quite apart from The Lord of the Rings, of which it was/is in fact independent.

In the early 30s Tolkien decided that the proto-language of the Elves was Valarin, the tongue of the gods or Valar : "The language of the Elves derived in the beginning from the Valar, but they change it even in the learning, and moreover modified and enriched it constantly at all times by their own invention." In his Comparative Tables Tolkien describes the mechanisms of sound change in the following daughter languages: Qenya, Lindarin (a dialect of Qenya), Telerin, Old Noldorin (or Feanorian), Noldorin (or Gondolinian), Ilkorin (esp. of Doriath), Danian of Ossiriand, East Danian, Taliska, West Lemberin, North Lemberin, and East Lemberin.

In devising the protolanguage of the Elves, Tolkien appears to have borrowed the five-part plosive system of Proto-Indo-European, the ancestor of Latin, Greek, Sanskrit, and others; namely, one labial, one coronal, and three velar plosives (palatal, plain, and labial). Below are some of the "Primary Initial Combinations" from the Comparative Tables:

Valarin	Qenya	Lindarin	Telerin
mb	m, umb	m, umb	m, emb
nd	n, and	n, and	n, end
ŋgj	ny, indy, iny	ñ, ind	g, ang
ŋg	ŋ > n, ing	n, ing	ŋg, eng
ŋgw	ŋw > nw, ungw	m, ungw	m, emb

About ten years later, Tolkien changed his mind about the origin of the proto-language of the Elves. He wrote in his Lambion Ontale: Descent of Tongues: "The Elves began to make in the beginning of their being [a language] and it is one with their being, since it was of their nature and the first of all their gift to devise names and words". Quenderin had become the proto-language of the Elven language family, but he kept intact the many roots he had invented for Valarin in the '30s, which became "Quenderin roots". The Eldarin family comprises Quenya, Telerin, Sindarin and Nandorin. The evolution in Quenya and Telerin of the nasalized 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:

1. mb- > m, as in *mbar- > Q. már 'habitation'.
2. nd- > n, as in *ndōrē > Q. nóre 'country'.
3. ñg- > ñ, as in *ñgolodō > Q. Ñoldo 'Noldo, Gnome'.
4. ñgy > ny, as in *ñgyar- > Q. nyare 'recites'.
5. ñgw > ñw, as in *ñgwar- > Q. ñware (pronounced [ˈŋʷwärɛ]) 'frets, wears away'.

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 took probably the idea of the diglossia of Quenya with its highly codified variety: the Parmaquesta, only used in certain situations such as literature. The phonology of Quenya does not follow Finnish phonological rules, or even those of Latin or Greek. The Elvish languages are not a posteriori languages; many features for Quenya were invented according to Tolkien's taste. The phonology of Quenya ended up somewhat resembling that of Finnish and Italian, but not exactly fitting either of those, or any other language.

Tolkien almost never borrowed words directly from real languages into Quenya, the major exception is Earendel/Earendil. Yet the Finnish influence extended sometimes to vocabulary. A few Quenya words, such as tul- "come" and anta- "give", have clearly a Finnish origin. Other forms that appear to have been borrowed are actually coincidence, such as Finnish kirja 'book', and Quenya cirya 'ship'. Tolkien invented the Valarin/Quenderin root KIR- from which sprang his Quenya word cirya. Latin aure, "dawn" and Quenya aure "moment of special meaning, special day, festival day" are unrelated. Quenya aure comes from the Valarin/Quenderin root UR-. And Germanic influence can be seen more in grammar (the -r nominative plural ending is reminiscent of the Scandinavian languages) or phonology, than in words: Arda, the Quenya name for "region" (it has other meanings), just happened to resemble Germanic Erde, "earth". It comes from the Valarin/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 said so.

The most striking feature of Quenya for the English speaking readers is that it is an agglutinative language, meaning that multiple affixes are added to words to express grammatical functions. For example, the late Quenya equivalent of Eureka ("I have found (it)") is utúvienyes: utúvie "have found" + -nye subjective "I" + -s objective "it".

In his lifetime J.R.R. Tolkien never ceased to experiment on his constructed languages, and they were subjected to many revisions. Quenya had many grammars with substantial differences between different stages of development. Yet, the Elfin tongue of the 1920s illustrated by his poem "Narqelion" is not easily distinguished from late Quenya poem "Namárië" of the Lord of the Rings.

Important grammatical texts, alluded to by C. Tolkien in his History of Middle-earth series and described as almost unreadable or quite incomprehensible, have been published in Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon. The Early Qenya Grammar, written by J.R.R. Tolkien c. 1925, was successfully edited and published in Parma Eldalamberon 14.

Tolkien never intended Quenya, or any of his constructed languages, to be used in everyday life as an international auxiliary language.

A precise account, with drawings and other aids, of Dwarvish smith-practices, Hobbit-pottery, Numerorean medicine and philosophy, and so on would interfere with the narrative [of the Lord of the Rings], or swell the Appendices. So too, would complete grammars and lexical collection of the languages. Any attempt at bogus 'completeness' would reduce the thing to a 'model', a kind of imaginary dolls house of pseudo-history. Much hidden and unexhibited work is needed to give the nomenclature a 'feel' of verisimilitude. But this story [The Lord of the Rings] is not the place for technical phonology and grammatical history. I hope to leave these things firmly sketched and recorded [emphasis added].

The Quenya language was not a fragile construction, tossed from one side to another in the ever changing mind of Pr. Tolkien. He wrote many fine pieces in Quenya, like the poem Namárië. Tolkien struggled to give to his Elvish languages the feel and taste of natural languages. He wanted to infuse in them a kind of life, while modeling them after a very personal aesthetic taste. He wanted to build languages primarily to satisfy his personal urge and not because he had some universal design in mind.

Publication of linguistic papers

Two journals Vinyar Tengwar, from issue 39 (July 1998), and Parma Eldalamberon, from issue 11 (1995), are today exclusively devoted to the editing and publishing of J.R.R. Tolkien's mass of unpublished linguistic papers. The editors have not published a comprehensive catalogue of the unpublished linguistic papers they are working on and these papers were not published by Christopher Tolkien in the volumes of his History of Middle-earth. New Tolkienian linguistic material continues to emerge, although the pace of publication is irregular.

Use of Quenya

Attempts by fans to write in Quenya began in the 1960s, when the total corpus of published Elvish was only a few hundred words. Since then, usage of Elvish has flourished in poems and texts, phrases and names, and tattoos. But Tolkien himself never made his languages complete enough for conversation; as a result, newly invented Elvish texts, such as dialogue written by David Salo for the movies directed by Peter Jackson, require conjecture and sometimes coinage of new words.

Use of Quenya has expanded over the years as new words have been created. For example, the computer game Minecraft by Mojang AB has been translated into Quenya (along with other fictional languages like Klingon).

Internal history

The Elvish languages are a family (or phylum) of several related languages and dialects. The following is a brief overview of the fictional internal history of Quenya as conceived by Tolkien ca. 1965.

Ancient Quenya

Quenya developed in the great city of Eldamar, Tirion. Its older form, first recorded in the sarati of Rúmil is called Old or Ancient Quenya (Yára-Quenya in Quenya). It had evolved from Common Eldarin, the tongue of the Eldar before their divisions, e.g. those Elves who decided to follow the Vala Oromë and undertook the Great March to Valinor and Eldamar. Before that, the Eldar Elves spoke the original speech of all Elves, Primitive Quendian, called Quenderin in Quenya.

Quenya was also used by the gods or Valar. The Elves even derived some loanwords from Valar's language, which was called Valarin in Quenya, although these were more numerous in the Vanyarin dialect than in Noldorin, probably because of the enduringly close relationship the Vanyarin Elves had with the Valar.

Parmaquesta and Tarquesta

Tolkien imagined a diglossic Elven society with a vernacular language for every-day use, Tarquesta, and a more educated language for use in ceremonies and lore, Parmaquesta. 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 the Noldorin Elves followed their leader Prince Fëanor into exile from Eldamar and back to Middle-earth, where the immortal Elves first awoke.

Vanyarin Quenya

The Tarquesta vernacular dialect spoken by the Vanyar is called Vanyarin. The Quenya as used by the Vanyar incorporated several words from Valarin which 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", written by Ælfwine,Quendya was the usual Vanyarin name given to the Quenya language, since in Vanyarin ndy and ny remained quite distinct. In Noldorin ndy 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 the case. The word is Quenya in Vanyarin, and always so in Parmaquesta."

Telerin

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 the Vanyar left the city of Túna, Telerin and Noldorin Quenya drew closer. Originally, when living in Beleriand, the Vanyar, the Noldor and the Teleri all spoke one tongue: late Common Eldarin.

Exilic Quenya

Exilic Quenya refers to the form of Quenya that arose among the Noldor in Beleriand, after they had adopted the Sindarin language as their native speech. It differed somewhat from Amanian Quenya, mostly in vocabulary (having some loanwords from Sindarin). It differs also in pronunciation, representing 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 s) to r was the latest in Noldorin, belonging to early Exilic Quenya. In grammar, the changes were small since the features of their "old language" were carefully taught.

The rebellious Noldor who followed their leader Fëanor to Middle-earth, spoke only Quenya. 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 (The Silmarillion, chapter 15). The Noldor at this time had fully mastered Sindarin, while the Sindar were slow to learn Quenya.

Use of Quenya by other peoples

Quenya was used ceremonially by the Men of Númenór and their descendants in Gondor and Arnor for the official names of kings and queens (as Aragorn did by adopting the name Elessar Telcontar) and writings. 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.

The Noldor in Exile valued highly the use of Quenya by others, as can be seen in the way they treat Frodo Baggins after he greeted them in Quenya: elen síla lumenn' omentielvo.

Registers

Quenya has a variety of language registers:

• Parmaquesta ("Book-language"): the literary style in which the Elven-scriptures, the "Ainulindalë", and other classical Elvish works were written.
• Tarquesta ("high-language"): the vernacular speech with two dialects: Vanyarin Quenya and Noldorin Quenya.
• Exilic Quenya or "Low Quenya": the spoken style of the Exiled Noldor in Middle-earth.

Phonology

The pronunciation of the Elvish languages by Elves, Men and Hobbits has been described in a variety of sources by J.R.R. Tolkien. The documentation about late Quenya phonology is contained in the Appendix E of the Lord of the Rings and the "Outline of Phonology", a text written by J.R.R. Tolkien and published in Parma Eldalemberon 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 is not always on the first syllable of a word. A few phonological rules are based on Finnish, such as those for consonant clusters, or final vowels and consonants. The combination of a Latin basis with Finnish phonological rules results in a product that resembles Italian in many respects, which was Tolkien's favorite modern Romance language.

The tables below list the consonants (Q. ólamar) and vowels of late colloquial Noldorin Quenya, i.e. as Quenya was spoken among the Exiled Noldor in Middle-earth. They are written using the International Phonetic Alphabet, unless otherwise noted.

Consonants

		Labial Parmatéma	Dental Tincotéma	Palatal Tyelpetéma	Velar		Glottal
					plain Calmatéma	labial Quessetéma
Occlusive	voiced	b	d		ɡ	ɡʷ
	voiceless	p	t	c	k	kʷ
Fricative	voiced	v	(z)
	voiceless	f	s, θ	ç	x	(ʍ)	h
Nasal		m	n		ŋ
Rhotic			r
Approximant			l	j		w, ʍ

According to the Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, there were five major phonetic changes in the Quenya as spoken by the Noldor, reflected in the "full names" of the tengwar:

• the tengwa called harma was renamed aha. ⟨h⟩ was used originally for [x] in all positions (except in hr, hl, and a few words like halla). Later [x] turned to [h] in initial position but retained the pronunciation [x] intervocalically, as in aha [äxä] 'rage'. Only between the front vowels /e, i/ and /t/, /x/ was always (even in Old Quenya) palatalized to [ç], as in nehta- [neçtä] 'to dispossess, to deprive'.
• tengwa þúle (thúle) was later pronounced and sometimes even spelled as súle (cf. seseo in Spanish). The change of the sound [θ] (written by Tolkien th and þ) to [s] was never general among the Noldor. Fëanor’s supporters never used it, for their Prince hated it, and the sound [θ] was much used in Exilic Quenya again, just as [ŋ], because [θ] (written th) was a normal and much needed sound in Sindarin.
• áze was later pronounced áre in Exilic Quenya, which lost [z], changing it to a trilled [r], written ⟨r⟩ (this is called rhotacism). When Parmaquesta ⟨z⟩ was used in some antique name, like Ezellohar, it was usually pronounced reading [s], and esp. by those Noldor who used in Middle-earth [θ] in their Tarquesta (cf. Castilian Spanish). This mode of speech was called the "Lisp of the Loremasters" in Low Quenya. The Vanyarin dialect retained [z].
• wilya was later pronounced and even written vilya. This change goes back to late Old Quenya, and was often written ⟨v⟩, even in Parmaquesta.
• ñoldo and ñwalme were later pronounced as noldo and nwalme, but their spelling in tengwar stayed the same. Tolkien used ⟨ng⟩, ⟨ŋ⟩, and ⟨ñ⟩ to write the velar nasal: e.g. Ngoldo, Ŋoldo, Ñoldo. The change of initial [ŋ] to [n] started among the Elves of the First Clan, the Vanyar, who disliked the sound [ŋ]. Only a few of the Noldor adopted the change to [n]. The influence of Sindarin, which possessed an independent [ŋ] as in ang "iron", helped to preserve initial [ŋ] in Exilic Quenya.

Only the following consonants have phonemic geminated forms: pp, tt, cc (kk); mm, nn; ss, ll, rr. These occur only medially. The geminated occlusives are aspirated.

The pronunciation of ⟨hy⟩ is [ç] in Noldorin Quenya, a "strong voiceless y, similar but more frictional than the initial sound in English huge". In Vanyarin Quenya ⟨hy⟩ is pronounced [ʃ].

⟨hw⟩ stands for the sound [ʍ], a "spirantal voiceless w. It has more tense with closer lip-aperture and more friction than the voiceless wh of English".

The letter q or qu stands for a group of two phonemes, not one single sound (one phoneme). It is according to Tolkien: "a slightly rounded 'k' followed by a distinct w."

According to Tolkien : "ty is a very fronted 'k', or a palatalised 't' followed by a fairly distinct 'y'-glide,"

Tolkien stated that ⟨ny⟩ is pronounced as in English "new" (presumably British English [njuː], as opposed to American English [nuː], see reference 1).

In the Vanyarin dialect, ⟨ty⟩, ⟨dy⟩, ⟨hy⟩ were depalatalised to [tʃ], [dʒ], and [ʃ] respectively, similar to Italian. About ⟨py⟩ Tolkien wrote: "In Vanyarin Quenya and among some Ñoldor ⟨py⟩ was sounded with voiceless y, sc. as [pç], which later in Vanyarin became [pʃ]" (cf. Hungarian lopj [lopç] 'steal').

In the late Ancient Quenya period, when vowels were lost in long compound words, the consonants or groups so created were as a rule changed or reduced:

• -m > -n;
• any stops > -t;
• -d > -r;
• -th > -t;
• -nd > -n;
• -mb, -ng > -n;
• -ñ > -n;
• any combination with s (as -ts, -st, -ss) > -s;
• any combination with -ht > -t.

Vowels

Vowels

Noldorin Quenya has 10 vowels (ómar), each of them short and long: a, e, i, o, u and á, é, í, ó, ú. The sound quality of the vowels however is disputed: while Pesch states that the short and long forms of a, i and u would be of the same quality, similar to German language, Fauskanger compares the sound of the vowels to a Spanish or Italian pronunciation. This may be combined to a total of seven possible vowel sounds in Quenya:

	Front	Back
Close	i(ː)	u(ː)
Close-mid	eː	oː
Open-mid	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a(ː)

According to Tolkien é, and ó, when correctly pronounced by Elves, were just a little "tenser and 'closer' " than their short counterparts: "neither very tense and close, nor very slack and open".

Diphthongs

Late Noldorin Quenya has 6 diphthongs (ohloni).

	Offglide
	Front	Back
i		ju
e		ew
a	aj	aw
o	oj
u	uj

In Old Quenya all of the diphthongs were falling diphthongs. "It is probable that before the Exile Vanyarin and Noldorin [Quenya] in common shifted iu, ui to rising diphthongs", but only /iu/ is reported as a rising diphthong [ju] similar to the beginning of English yule [juːɫ]. On the other hand, ui remained in Exilic Quenya a falling diphthong as reported".

Syllables and stress

In Quenya, just as in Latin, the distinction between heavy and light syllables determines where the main stress of a word falls, and is the key element in Quenya versification. Quenya has also a secondary accent.

A heavy syllable (sometimes called a "long" syllable) is a syllable that contains either a long vowel, a diphthong, or a cluster of two consonants (ll, ld, mm, ss, etc.). Quenya in this respect is unlike Latin. Quenya clusters are not broken. Certain combinations of consonants, e.g. ny, ry, are regarded as heavy. Medially hy and hw are long consonant in Parmaquesta (not colloquially in Tarquesta) and a vowel before them is held to constitute a metrically long syllable.

In Quenya words of two syllables, the stress is on the first syllable. In words of three or more syllables, the stress is on the penultimate syllable if this is heavy, otherwise on the antepenultimate syllable.

Phonotactics

Tolkien imagined many phonotactical rules for late Quenya:

• As final consonants, only dentals are tolerated (as in Finnish): n, r, l, s, t and nt.

• Quenya tolerates only the following initial consonants: p, t, c (k); f, th (þ), s, h, hy, hw; m, n, ñ; v, l, r, y, w; hl, hr.

• Quenya tolerates only the following initial groups: ps; ty, ny, ly; x (ks), qu (kw), ñw (> N.Q. nw)

• Quenya does not tolerate triconsonantal (or longer) combinations. The exceptions contain c (k), h, g followed by w, or h, t, th (þ), d followed by y. So, Quenya permits the following 9 triconsonantal groups only: nqu [ŋkʷw], lqu, ngw [ŋɡʷw], rhw; nty, lty, hty [çc] in Noldorin Quenya, [ʃt͡ʃ] in Vanyarin Quenya, sty [sc] in Noldorin Quenya, [ʃt͡ʃ] in Vanyarin Quenya (cf. ść vs. szcz in Polish), and lhy. In all other cases y, and w became syllabic i, u after the consonant groups.

• Quenya does not tolerate the combination of two different occlusives. "Where these anciently occurred, as in pt, kt, one of the two, or both, became opened and spirantal."

• In Quenya (as in Sindarin) the combination ft is avoided.

Grammar

Here are presented the grammatical rules of late Quenya known for sure, established from Tolkien's writings c.1954–1973. It is almost impossible to extrapolate the morphological rules of the Quenya tongue from published data because Quenya is a fictional irregular language (heavily influenced by natural languages, like Finnish, and Latin) and not an international auxiliary language with a regular morphology. Tolkien wrote several synchronic grammars of Quenya, only one has been published: The Early Qenya Grammar, and also several diachronic studies of Quenya, three have been published: The Qenyaqetsa (dealing with early Quenya or Eldarissa), Outline of Phonetic Development, and the Outline of Phonology.

Nouns

Numbers

Contrary to many auxiliary languages which have fairly simple systems of grammatical number, Quenya nouns can have up to four numbers: singular, general plural ("plural 1"), particular/partitive plural ("plural 2"), and dual.

Not all Quenya nouns can have the four numbers; some are pluralia tantum having no singular variant for referring to a single object, as armar "goods (things for sale, or the things that you own)"; some other nouns, especially monosyllabic, use only one of the two plurals judged the most aesthetic by Elves (i. e. Tolkien).

In late Quenya Tarquesta, the plural is formed by a suffix to the subjective form of the noun.

• For plural 1 the suffix is -i or -r (depending of the type of the noun). In Parmaquesta the -í is (not always) long (the precise rules have not yet been published).
• For plural 2 the suffix is -li (-lí in Parmaquesta).

Tarquesta:

• lasse "leaf", lassi pl. 1 "leaves", lasseli pl. 2 "some/several/a number of leaves"
• alda "tree", aldar pl. 1 "trees", aldali pl. 2 "some/several/a number of trees"
• Elda "Elf", Eldar pl. 1 "Elves (as a kind)", Eldali pl. 2 "some/a lot of Elves"

Noun declension

Quenya Nouns are declined. Declining is the process of inflecting nouns; a set of declined forms of the same word is called a declension. Parmaquesta Quenya has ten cases (some are short variants). These include the four primary cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and instrumental; three adverbial cases: allative (of which the dative is a shortened form), locative (also with a shortened form), and ablative; and an adjectival case.

Primary cases:

• The nominative is the subject of a verb. It is also used with most prepositions.
• The accusative is the direct object of a verb. It has the same form as the nominative in Tarquesta, but has a distinct case in Old Quenya, and Parmaquesta.
• The genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e.g. the best painters of France). Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative, sometimes the adjectival.
• The instrumental marks a noun as a means or instrument.

Adverbial cases:

• The allative expresses motion towards: elenna, 'toward a star, starward(s)'.
• The dative is the indirect object of a verb.
• The locative expresses location or position: Lóriendesse, 'in Lórien'.
• The ablative expresses motion away from: earello, 'from the sea'.

Adjectival case:

• The adjectival case describes qualities, and makes almost any noun into an adjective. It is also used to indicate possession or ownership. This usage sometimes overlaps, in Tarquesta, with the genitive.

The declension of the noun in Parmaquesta, has been published in the so-called "Plotz Declension" that Tolkien provided in a letter to Dick Plotz in 1967. This gives the "Classical" declension of two vocalic-stem nouns cirya "ship" and lassë "leaf", in four numbers: singular, pl. 1, pl. 2, and dual. The declension has eight chief cases in three groups that Tolkien labelled a, b, and c. Of these cases, Tolkien named only a) the primary cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and instrumental; and b) the adverbial cases: allative, locative, and ablative. The allative and locative in turn have (unnamed) short forms (except in the loc. dual), of which the short allative form appears to correspond to the dative case. The third group, c, has only one member (and only in the sg. and in pl. 2), which appears to correspond to the adjectival case as described in the essay "Quendi and Eldar – Essekenta Eldarinwa" written in c. 1960.

The declension of cirya and lasse given below is taken from the Plotz Declension and reflect the forms of Classical Quenya. The declensions of ondo "stone", nér "man", and cas "head" are taken from an earlier conceptual period of Quenya (c. 1935).

Singular	cirya	lassë	ondo	nér	cas
Nominative	cirya	lassë	ondo	nér	cas
Accusative	ciryá	lassé	ondo	nera	cara
Genitive	ciryó	lassëo	ondo	nero	caro
Instrumental	ciryanen	lassenen	ondoinen	nerinen	carinen
Allative	ciryanna	lassenna	ondonta	nerta	casta
Dative	ciryan	lassen	ondor	neren	caren
Locative	ciryassë	lassessë	ondosse	nerissë	casse
Short Locative	ciryas	lasses	ondos	neris	cas
Ablative	ciryallo	lassello	ondollo	nerullo	callo, carullo
Adjectival	ciryava	lasseva	ondova	nerwa	carwa

Plural 1	cirya	lassë
Nominative	ciryar	lassí
Accusative	ciryar	lassí
Genitive	ciryaron	lassion
Instrumental	ciryainen	lassínen
Allative	ciryannar	lassennar
Dative	ciryain	lassin
Locative	ciryassen	lassessen
Short Locative	ciryais	lassis
Ablative	ciryallon	lassellon

Plural 2	cirya	lassë	ondo	nér	cas
Nominative	ciryalí	lasselí	ondoli	?	cari
Accusative	ciryalí	lasselí	ondoli	?	?
Genitive	ciryalion	lasselion	ondolion	?	?
Instrumental	ciryalínen	lasselínen	ondolínen	?	?
Allative	ciryalinna(r)	lasselinna(r)	ondolinta(n)	?	?
Dative	ciryalin	lasselin	ondolir	?	?
Locative	ciryalisse(n)	lasselisse(n)	ondolissen	?	?
Short Locative	ciryalis	lasselis	?	?	?
Ablative	ciryalillo(n)	lasselillo(n)	ondolillon	?	?
Adjectival	ciryalíva	lasselíva	?	?	?

Dual	cirya	lassë	ondo	nér	cas
Nominative	ciryat	lasset	ondos	nerut	carut
Accusative	ciryat	lasset	ondos	nerut	carut
Genitive	ciryato	lasseto	ondu	neru	caru
Instrumental	ciryanten	lassenten	ondoinent	?	?
Allative	ciryanta	lassenta	ondontas	?	?
Dative	ciryant	lassent	ondur	nerur	carur
Locative	ciryatsë	lassetsë	ondoset	?	?
Ablative	ciryalto	lasselto	ondollut	?	?

Adjectives

According to Tolkien adjectives appear only in -a, -e, -o (rare), and -n (stem nearly always -nd) ; melin "dear", pl. melindi.

Quenya adjectives may be freely used as nouns.

Comparison

The comparative forms of adjectives are in late Quenya normally expressed by the use of the preposition lá, much as in French plus:

• A (ná) calima lá B.
• A is brighter than B.
• A est plus brillant que B. (French)

Note : the use of the copula ná, when in the present tense, is optional.

Some adjectives are irregular. Here are set the comparative and superlative forms of the adjective mára "good":

Positive	Comparative	Superlative
(good)	(better)	(best)
mára	arya	i arya + gen. case

• A (ná) arya B.
• A is better than B.

Verbs

Tolkien wrote: "The inflections of [Qenya] verbs are always pretty regular". According to Tolkien's own terminology, Quenya verbs are either in a personal form or an impersonal form. Usually in linguistics, an impersonal verb is a verb that cannot take a true subject, because it does not represent an action, occurrence, or state-of-being of any specific person, place, or thing. This is not how Tolkien intended the use of "impersonal". An impersonal verb form is a verb to which no pronoun has been attached, as care or carir ; carin "I do" is a personal form (-n).

The impersonal conjugations provided below were written by J.R.R. Tolkien in the late 1960s, but only in singular forms. There are apparently two main types of verbs in late Quenya: weak transitive verbs, which are usually 'root' verbs, such as car- "make ; do" from the Elvish base or root KAR-, and derivative intransivite verbs with a strong conjugation, whose stems end mainly in -ta, -na, -ya, formed by putting a verbal suffix to a base or root, like henta- "to eye", from the Elvish base KHEN- "eye".

	Derivative verb (strong)		'Root'verb (weak)
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Stem	henta-		car-
Aorist	henta	hentar	care (cari-)	carir
Present (continuative)	hentëa	hentëar	cára	cárar
(Aorist) Past	hentanë	hentaner	carnë	carner
Future	hentuva	hentuvar	caruva	caruvar
Perfect	ehentië	ehentier	acárië	acárier

Irregular verbs

Some Quenya verbs have an irregular conjugation. The verb auta- comes from the root AWA-, it means in Quenya "depart, go away, disappear, be lost, pass away". This verb is used in a sentence in The Silmarillion: "Auta i lómë!" The night is passing! (Chapter: Of the Fith Battle).

	Mixed conjugation
	Singular	Plural
Stems	auta-, av-, va- (< wa-)
Aorist	ava	avar
Present (continuative)	avëa, auta	avëar, autar
(Aorist) Past	vánë (< wánë), avantë	váner (< wáner), avanter
Future	auva, autuva	auvar, autuvar
Perfect	(a)vánië	(a)vánier

Negation of verbs

As explained by J.R.R. Tolkien, verbs in Quenya are negated by using a "negative verb" ua- in front of the of the verb in the impersonal tense form:

Negation of verb car-
Quenya	English		Quenya	English
carin	'I make'	→	uan care	'I do not make'
cáran	'I am making'	→	uan cára	'I am not making'
carnen	'I made'	→	uan carnë	'I did not make'
caruvan	'I shall make'	→	uan caruva	'I shall not make'
cárië	'I have made'	→	uan cárië	'I have not made'

Note that the pronoun is added on the negative verb, not on the main verb, and that the endings are regular. The negative verb concept was apparently borrowed from Finnish.

In Parmaquesta (and in verse) the verb ua- could be completely conjugated.

Moods

In late Quenya moods (other than the indicative) are expressed by particles, a short function word that does not belong to any of the inflected grammatical word classes:

• a and á for the imperative mood: A laita të! "Bless them!", Á hyamë rámen! "Pray for us!".

The Present Impertive of the verb auta-, cited above, is á va usually written áva as in Áva márië! "Go (away) happily!".

The prohibitive mood negates the imperative mood. The two moods have in late Quenya distinct verbal morphology. In late Quenya prohibition is expressed by the particle áva.

• Áva carë! Don’t do it! Don't make it!
• Á carë! Do it!

Used alone the particle is avá (sometimes ává, with two long a) and means: "Don't!" (I forbid you to do as you intend).

• nai for the optative mood: nai tiruvantes.

Other particles (like cë, cé) are used in the Corpus of published Quenya texts, but their precise functions are not known (e.g. not yet explained by any of Tolkien's published linguistic papers).

Agreement

The plurial forms (suffix -r in late Quenya) are relatively straightforward, and are used only with a detached plurial subject. "When the emphatic pronoun is used separately the verb has no inflexion (save for number)".

• Finwë carë. 'Finwë is making'.

• Quendi carir. 'The Elves are making'.

• Carinyë. 'I am making'.

• Carimmë. 'We are making'.

• Elyë carë. 'He/She is (really) making'.

• Emmë carir. 'We are (really) making'.

Late Quenya verbs have also a dual agreement morpheme -t: Nai siluvat elen atta. "May two stars shine".

In the imperative mood plurality and duality are not expressed. There is no agreement. The verb stays singular.

• If a plural verb is used as in Á carir it means "Let them do it" referring to persons not present or at any rate not addressed directly.

Copula

The copula in late Quenya is the verb na-. Tolkien stated that it was used only in joining adjectives, nouns, and pronouns in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have certain quality, or to be same as another, and also that the copula was not used when the meaning was clear.

Eldar ataformaiti, can be translated in English either "Elves are ambidexters", or "Elves were ambidexters".

A mára. "A is good." "A was good."

	Copula		'Exist' (have being)
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Stem	na-		ëa-
Aorist	na	nar	ëa	ëar
Present (continuative)	ná	nár	ëa	ëar
(Aorist) Past	né	ner	engë	enger
Future	nauva	nauvar	euva	euvar
Perfect	anaië	anaier	engië	engier

Prepositions and adverbs

In Quenya there are many similarities in form between prepositions and adverbs. Many Quenya prepositions have adverb-like uses with no complement.

In Common Eldarin prepositions were postpositions, and later became inflectional endings. Case markings combine primarily with nouns, whereas prepositions can combine with phrases of many different categories. This is why most prepositions in Quenya are used with a noun in the nominative case.

• an i falmali = i falmalinna(r) "upon the many waves"

The preposition an is related to the -nna case ending.

Conjugated prepositions

Quenya has conjugated preposition formed from the contraction of a preposition with a personal pronoun.

• ótar "(together) with you (Sir or Mam)", and ótari "(together) with you (Milords or Miladies)".
• rámen "for us".

Pronouns

As with all parts of Quenya grammar, the pronominal system was subject to many revisions throughout Tolkien's life. The following table of late Quenya is taken from two sources of c. 1965–1973, and do not reflect the pronominal system as it stood when Tolkien invented "Qenya" c.1910, early Quenya.

In late Quenya, pronouns have both separate or independent forms, and suffix forms. One source is used for the stressed separate pronouns, the other for the rest of the table.

Early Noldorin Quenya Forms	Long subjective	Short subjective	Separate	Possessive	English
1st person singular	-nyë	-n	ní	-nya	I
2nd pers. imperious/familiar sg.	-tyë	–	tyé	-tya	(thou)
2nd pers. formal/polite sg.	-lyë	–	lyé	-lya	you
3rd animate person singular	-stë	-s	sé	-rya/-ya	he, she
3rd inanimate person singular	-ssa	-s	sá	-rya/-ya	it
Impersonal singular agreement	nil	–	–	nil
1st pers. pl. inclusive	-lmë	–	vé	-lma	we (with you)
1st pers. pl. exclusive	-mmë	–	mé	-mma	we (without you)
2nd person imperious/familiar plural	-ncë	–	(?)	-nca	you lot, you guys, youse, y'all
2nd person formal/polite plural	-ldë/-llë	–	lé	-lda/-lla	you
3rd animate person plural	-ntë	–	té	-nta	they
3rd inanimate person plural	-nta	–	sa1	-nta	they
Impersonal plural agreement	+ -r	–	–	+ -ë/-r
1st pers. dual inclusive	-ngwë/-nquë	–	wet	-nqua	you and I
1st pers. dual exclusive	-mmë/-nwë	–	met	-mma	(s)he and I
2nd person imperious/familiar dual	-xë/-ccë	–	tyet	-xa/-cca	you two
2nd person formal/polite dual	-llë/-stë	–	let	-lla	both of you
3rd person dual	-sto/-ttë	–	tú	-twa	those two
Impersonal dual agreement	+-t	–	–	+-t

1. Printed sa in the source, it is probably a casual error for sá. But të, not té, was used by the Gondorians: cf. a laita të in The Lord of the Rings. Maybe both forms (sa, sá; té, të) were used in Low Quenya.

The separate pronouns have both a short (lyé, sé, mé) and long form (elyë, emmë, essë, elwë). Evidence from the published Corpus suggests that long separate forms (a complete list of which have not been published yet) were intensive pronouns, Tolkien named them "emphatic disjunct pronoun", while short independent pronouns could be use normally in place of enclitic.

I love him (or her) can be expressed in Quenya as Melinyes or Melin sé. I love them would be then Melinyet or Melin té (these two forms are reconstructed). As with regular nouns, Quenya lacks a distinction between nominative and accusative case, so the same direct case is used for both; melin is the first person singular form of the verb, making it clear that té is the object and not the subject.

The verbal inflexions are subjective but an -s (singular) and a -t (plural and dual) may be added to the long subjective pronouns as objectives of the 3rd person:

utúvie-lye-s, "You have found it/him/her".

utúvie-lye-t, "You have found them".

Noldorin dialect

The second person familiar was abandoned in colloquial Noldorin Quenya (before the Exile), similar to English, Dutch, and Portuguese (see T-V distinction). The following forms became obsolete:

• -tyë, -ncë, -xë, -ccë
• -tya, -nca, -xa, -cca
• tyé, tyet

The ancient polite forms became used in ordinary contexts; and so a new honorific form was made in Late Noldorin Quenya (maybe when Fëanor was banished from Tirion) by adding tar, the Quenya word for sir (and madam).

• You do, sir. Carilyë tar, became Carlitar.

Possessive determiners

The possessive determiners (analogous to English my, his, etc.) are used to indicate the possessor of the noun they determine. They mark the person and number of the possessor, and are inflected to agree with the noun they are attached in number and case. While English distinguishes between masculine and feminine singular possessors (his vs. her), late Quenya does not. As in English, possessive determiners do not necessarily express true possession.

Their forms in Early colloquial Noldorin Quenya are as follows:

			possessed
			one	two	three or more
possessor	first person	singular	-(i)nya1	-(i)nyat	-(i)nyar
		dual	-(e)nqua, -(e)mma	-(e)nquat, -(e)mmat	-(e)nquar, -(e)mmar
		plural	-(e)lma, -(e)mma2	-(e)lmat, -(e)mmat	-(e)lmar, -(e)mmar
	second person	singular	-tya, -lya	-tyat, -lyat	-tyar, -lyar
		dual	-xa, -cca, -lla	-xat, -ccat, -llat	-xar, -ccar, -llar
		plural	-nca, -lda, -lla	-ncat, -ldat, -llat	-ncar, -ldar, -llar
	third person	singular	-rya, -ya	-ryat, -yat	-ryar, -yar
		dual	-twa	-twat	-twar
		plural	-nta	-ntat	-ntar

1. The i forms, -inya, are used with consonantal nouns: atar, atarinya 'my father'.
2. The e forms, -emma, are used with consonantal nouns: atar, ataremma 'our father'.

"Since by Quenya idiom in describing the parts of body of several persons the number proper to each individual is used, the plural of parts existing in pairs (as hands, eyes, ears, feet) is seldom required. Thus mánta "their hand" would be used, (they raised) their hands (one each), mántat, (they raised) their hands (each both), and mánte could not occur".

• Ortanentë mánta. They raised their hands.
• Ortaner mánta. They raised their hands.

Varda ortanë máryat. Varda has uplifted her (two) hands.

So far, according to our published corpus of Quenya texts, mántë is our sole possessive determiner with a plural ending in -ë (< -ai). The usual plural ending is -r, hildinyar, "my heirs". This was probably an older device (Parmaquesta).

Syntax

Quenya allows for a very flexible word order because it is an inflectional language, like Latin. Nevertheless, it has word order rules.

The usual structure is subject - verb - object. One can place the adjective before or after the noun that it modifies.

Vocabulary

It is very difficult to know how many Elvish words J.R.R. Tolkien devised, because much of his writing on the subject is still unpublished. As of 2008, about 25,000 Elvish words have been published.

English	Quenya	Sindarin equivalent
earth	ambar, cemen	amar, ceven
sky	menel	menel
water	nén	nen
fire	nár	naur
man (male)	nér	benn
female	nís	bess
eat	mat-	mad-
drink	suc-	sog-
tall, great	alta, halla	beleg, daer
small	pitya, titta	niben, tithen
night	lóme	dû
day	aure, ré	aur

Proper nouns

The lexicon of Quenya is rich in proper nouns.

Estë "Rest"; Indis "Bride"; Nessa "Youth"; Varda "Sublime"; Voronwë "Steadfast one."

Ancalimë "Most Bright Lady"; Curumo "Cunning Man"; Olórin "(?)Dreamer"; Sauron "The Abhorred."

Ainulindalë "Music of the Ainur"; Eldamar "Home of the Eldar"; Helcaraxë "Jaws of Ice"; Ilúvatar "Father of All"; Oron Oiolossë "Ever Snow-white Peak"; Ondolindë "Rock of Song"; Turambar "Master of Doom"; Valinor "land of the Vali", sc. Valar; Vingilot "Foam-flower"; Yavanna "Giver of fruits."

Mar-nu-Falmar "Land under the Waves"; Mindon Eldaliéva "Lofty Tower of the Elvish-people"; Quenta Silmarillion "Tale of the Silmarils."

Some prepositions and adverbs

• ala: [place] beyond; [time] after.
• ama: up(wards).
• an: towards, upon.
• et: forth, out of [with the complement noun in ablative case]
• haila: [static] far beyond.
• haiya: far, far off, far away.
• han: [addition] beyond ; over and above, in addition to.
• ní: [not touching] beneath, under.
• no: 1. under. 2. upon. 3. after (of place), behind.
• nu: under, beneath.
• ono: 1. in front of, ahead, before [in all relation but time]. 2. after [of time only].

Greetings

Elvish greetings can be expressed both by voice and by hand, and often involve a combination of the two. Elvish greetings are often, but not always, used just prior to a conversation. From the Lord of the Rings it appears that Elves do not have a very elaborate greeting ritual.

The word used as a form of polite address to an Elf (male or female) is: Tar. Among the Númenoreans it became "King/Queen" and used as a form of address for a superior, especially a King or a Queen; cf. Tarinya, used by Prince Aldarion to address his father, King Tar-Meneldur.

• Namárië [näˈmäːriɛ] is a reduced form of Quenya á na márië, literally "be well". It is a formula used in Tarquesta for greeting and also for farewell.

• The most usual formula used by the Noldor for greeting each other is (Hara) máriessë! "(Stay) in happiness!".

In The Lord of the Rings, the hobbit Frodo Baggins used another greeting formula: Elen síla lúmenn(a) omentielmo! or Elen síla lúmenn(a) omentielvo! It was a very old traditional formula in an elevated style and used between two people (or two companies of many people) each going on a path that crosses that of the other: "A star shines upon the hour of the meeting of our ways". Other forms of this formula in the aorist tense were: Elen silë omentiemman! Elen silë omentienwan! "A star is shining upon our meeting."

It was also used in Telerin: Él síla lúmena vomentienguo!

• The most usual formula used by the Noldor in farewells is Áva márië! "Go happily!" or Márienna! "To happiness!".

Writing systems

Elvish writing systems

The word quenya written in tengwar of Fëanor using the classical mode.

Tolkien imagined many writing systems for his Elves. The most well-known is the "Tengwar of Fëanor" but the first one he created c. 1919 are the "Tengwar of Rumil", also called the sarati. He decided that, prior to their Exile, the Noldorin Elves used first the sarati of Rúmil to record Ancient Quenya. In Middle-earth, Quenya appears to be rarely written using the "Elvish runes" or cirth, named certar in Quenya. A Runic inscription in Quenya was engraved on the sword of Aragorn (II), Andúril.

Latin alphabet

Tolkien's spelling in Latin letters of Quenya was largely phonemic, with each letter corresponding to a specific phoneme in the language, save for some exceptions. In particular, the vowels varied in pronunciation depending upon their vowel length, the letter "n" represents either a dental nasal or a velar nasal, in nc (nk) and ng, and the letter "u" represents either consonant or vowel depending on context, e.g. qu stands for kw, Orqui is Orkwi. Occasionally, Tolkien wrote Quenya with a "Finnish-style" orthography (rather than the standard Latin-Romance version), in which c is replaced by k, y with j, and long vowels written double.

Most of the time Tolkien wrote his grammars and lexicons of Quenya in English using the Latin script for Quenya. But inside his Secondary World Elves, Men and Hobbits of Middle-earth are supposed to use a different script when writing, the tengwar of Fëanor, seen on the One Ring and the Doors of Durin in The Lord of the Rings.

Corpus

The poem Namárië is the longest piece of Quenya found in The Lord of the Rings; yet the first Quenya sentence is uttered by a Hobbit: Frodo's greeting to the Elves: elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo. Other examples include Elendil's words spoken upon reaching Middle-earth, and repeated by Aragorn at his coronation: Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinomë maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!. Treebeard's greeting to Celeborn and Galadriel is also spoken in Quenya: A vanimar, vanimálion nostari.

Other Quenya poems spoken by J.R.R. Tolkien in public but never published in his lifetime are Oilima Markirya ("The Last Ark"), Nieninqe, and Earendel contained in his lecture A Secret Vice and published for the first time in 1983 in The Monsters and the Critics. A fragment (with mistakes) of the poem Narqelion, written in early Quenya or Elfin, was published by Humphrey Carpenter in his Biography; a facsimile of the entire poem was published in April 1999 in Vinyar Tengwar 40.

Chronology of publications of Elvish texts

In Tolkien's lifetime

The Hobbit (1937) and The Adventures of Tom Bombadil (1962) contain a few Sindarin names (Elrond, Tirith Aear), but no texts or sentences in Quenya.

• 1954–1955: The Lord of the Rings.
• 1968: The Road Goes Ever On.

Posthumously

• 1981: "Oath of Cirion" is a Quenya text in Unfinished Tales
• 1983: A Secret Vice in The Monsters and the Critics has several poems in Quenya:

Oilima Markirya

Nieninqe

Earendel

• 1985: Fíriel's Song is a Quenya poem published in The Lost Road and Other Writings, p. 72
• 1985: Alboin Errol's Fragments are phrases published in The Lost Road and Other Writings, p. 47.
• 1985: The Etymologies is an etymological dictionnary published in The Lost Road and Other Writings.
• 1989: The Plotz Quenya Declensions is a chart of declension in Quenya of two words (lasse 'leaf' and cirya 'ship') first published in part in the fanzine Beyond Bree, and later in full in Vinyar Tengwar 6, p. 14
• 1991: Koivieneni Sentence in Vinyar Tengwar 14, p. 5–20.
• 1992: New Tengwar Inscription in VT 21, p. 6
• 1992: Liège Tengwar Inscription in VT 23, p. 16
• 1993: Two Trees Sentence in VT 27, p. 7–42
• 1993: Koivieneni Manuscript in VT 27, p. 7–42
• 1993: The Bodleian Declensions, in Vinyar Tengwar 28, pp. 9–34.
• 1994: The Entu Declension in VT 36, p. 8–29
• 1995: Gnomish Lexicon, Parma Eldalamberon 11.
• 1995: Rúmilian Document in Vinyar Tengwar 37, p. 15–23
• 1998: Qenya Lexicon Parma Eldalamberon 12
• 1998: Osanwe-kenta, Enquiry into the communication of thought, Vinyar Tengwar 39
• 1998: From Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D. Vinyar Tengwar 39, pp. 4–20.
• 1999: Narqelion, Vinyar Tengwar 40, p. 5–32
• 2000: Etymological Notes – Osanwe-kenta Vinyar Tengwar 41, p. 5–6
• 2000: From The Shibboleth of Fëanor (written ca. 1968) Vinyar Tengwar 41, p. 7–10 (A part of the Shibboleth of Fëanor was published in The Peoples of Middle-earth, p. 331–366)
• 2000: Notes on Óre Vinyar Tengwar 41, p. 11–19
• 2000: Merin Sentence Tyalie Tyalieva 14, p. 32–35
• 2001: The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor (written 1967–1969) Vinyar Tengwar 42, p. 5–31.
• 2001: Essay on negation in Quenya Vinyar Tengwar 42, p. 33–34
• 2001: Goldogrim Pronominal Prefixes Parma Eldalamberon 13 p. 97
• 2001: Early Noldorin Grammar, Parma Eldalamberon 13, p. 119–132
• 2002: "Words of Joy: Five Catholic Prayers in Quenya (Part One), Vinyar Tengwar 43:

Ataremma (Pater Noster in Quenya) versions I-VI, p. 4–26

Aia María (Ave Maria in Quenya) versions I–IV, p. 26–36

Alcar i Ataren (Gloria Patri in Quenya), p. 36–38

• 2002 "Words of Joy: Five Catholic Prayers in Quenya (Part Two), Vinyar Tengwar 44:

Litany of Loreto in Quenya, p. 11–20

Ortírielyanna (Sub tuum praesidium in Quenya), p. 5–11

Alcar mi tarmenel na Erun (Gloria in Excelsis Deo in Quenya), p. 31–38

Ae Adar Nín (Pater Noster in Sindarin) Vinyar Tengwar 44, p. 21–30

• 2003: Early Qenya Fragments, Parma Eldalamberon 14.
• 2003: Early Qenya Grammar, Parma Eldalamberon 14.
• 2003: "The Valmaric Scripts", Parma Eldalamberon 14.
• 2004: "Sí Qente Feanor and Other Elvish Writings", ed. Smith, Gilson, Wynne, and Welden, Parma Eldalamberon 15
• 2005: "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part One)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 47, pp. 3–43.
• 2005: "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part Two)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 48, pp. 4–34.
• 2006: "Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets", Part 1, ed. Smith, Parma Eldalamberon 16
• 2006: "Early Elvish Poetry: Oilima Markirya, Nieninqe and Earendel", ed. Gilson, Welden, and Hostetter, Parma Eldalamberon 16
• 2006: "Qenya Declensions", "Qenya Conjugations", "Qenya Word-lists", ed. Gilson, Hostetter, Wynne, Parma Eldalamberon 16
• 2007: "Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals (Part Three)." Edited by Patrick H. Wynne. Vinyar Tengwar 49, pp. 3–37.
• 2007: "Five Late Quenya Volitive Inscriptions." Vinyar Tengwar 49, pp. 38–58.
• 2007: "Ambidexters Sentence", Vinyar Tengwar 49
• 2007: "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", edited by Gilson, Parma Eldalemberon 17.
• 2009: J.R.R. Tolkien, "Tengwesta Qenderinwa and Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 2", edited by C. Gilson, R. Smith and P. Wynne, Parma Eldalemberon 18.

Tengwesta Qenderinwa 1

Elements of Quendian Structure

Tengwesta Qenderinwa 2

Pre-Fëanorian Alphabets, Part 2

• 2010: J. R. R. Tolkien, "Quenya Phonology: Comparative Tables, Outline of Phonetic Development, Outline of Phonology", edited by C. Gilson, Parma Eldalemberon 19.

See also Douglas A. Anderson, Carl F. Hostetter: A Checklist, Tolkien Studies 4 (2007).

See also

• Calendar of Imladris
• Languages constructed by J. R. R. Tolkien
• Elvish languages (Middle-earth)
• Sarati
• Sindarin

Further reading

• Appleyard, Anthony (1992). "Quenya Grammar Re-Examined". Quettar 43, pp. 3–21.
• Derzhanski, Ivan A (1997). "E man i yulma oi enquanta men?" Vinyar Tengwar 38, pp. 14–18.
• Foster, Robert and Glen GoodKnight (1971). "Sindarin and Quenya Phonology". Mythcon I: Proceedings, 54–56. Los Angeles: Mythopoeic Society.
• Gilson, Christopher and Carl F. Hostetter (1994). "The entu, ensi, enta Declension: A Preliminary Analysis". Vinyar Tengwar 36, pp. 7–29.
• Gilson, Christopher and Patrick Wynne (1991). "The Elves at Koivienéni: A New Quenya Sentence". Mythlore 17(3), pp. 23–30.
• Hostetter, Carl F (1992). ""Si man i-yulmar n(g)win enquatuva": A Newly-Discovered Tengwar Inscription". Vinyar Tengwar 21, pp. 6–10.
• Hostetter, Carl F (2007). "Qenyaqetsa: The Qenya Phonology and Lexicon". J. R. R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment, pp. 551–52. New York: Routledge.
• Kloczko, Edward (1995). Dictionnaire des langues elfiques, volume 1 (Quenya-Français-Anglais/Quenya-French-English). Toulon: Tamise.
• Rautala, Helena and K. J. Battarbee (1992). "Familiarity and Distance: Quenya's Relation to Finnish". Scholarship and Fantasy, pp. 21–31. Turku: University of Turku.
• Welden, Bill (2001). "Negation in Quenya". Vinyar Tengwar 42, pp. 32–34.
• Wynne, Patrick H. and Christopher Gilson (1993). "Trees of Silver and of Gold: A Guide to the Koiveinéni Manuscript". Vinyar Tengwar 27, pp. 7–42.

External links

• The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship
• Parma Eldalamberon
• Vinyar Tengwar
• Ardalambion A site with Fauskangerian Neo-Quenya.
• Parma Tyelpelassiva – The book of silver leaves
• EldarinWiki Wiktionary project for Tolkienian languages.
• "The s-case" – An old article by Ales Bican examining the evidence for the then enigmatic case, the shortened form of the locative (-s).