About the Quenya Language - Part 1

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“Internal” History

Quenya is the original language of Tolkien's Elves.   A second language, Sindarin, broke off from Quenya and evolved separately.   Meanwhile, Quenya remained in use from the time of the Awakening of the Elves until at least the end of the Third Age.   That means it was in use on three continents (Middle Earth, the Blessed Lands, and Númenor) for thousands of years.   In the Blessed Lands it was the ordinary spoken language.   But in Middle Earth and Númenor it was mainly a scholarly language, which helped slow the changes to the language.

Quenya and Sindarin

Quenya and Sindarin are the two major languages of the Elves of Middle Earth.

Originally, all the Elves spoke Quenya or something very similar.

Tolkien's “High Elves” (“Eldar”) are the Elves who, in the very early years, accepted the Valar's invitation to move to the Blessed Lands of the Far West.  Those were the Vanyar, Noldor, and Teleri clans, and Quenya was their native language.   Of those, some (from the Noldor clan) returned to Middle-Earth at the beginning of the First Age and were a driving force in the history of Middle-Earth.

The Elves in the Blessed Lands continued to speak Quenya.   We don't really know how much that Quenya has changed by the Third or Fourth Age, because Tolkien didn't say much about the history of the Elves in the Blessed Lands.

Some Elves, like Legolas' clan (“Green Elves”), never went on the journey to the Blessed Lands.   Some, like Elwë and the Grey Elves (“Sindar”) of Doriath, started but got sidetracked.

At some point, the language of the Elves in Middle Earth changed from Quenya to daughter languages – Sindarin and related languages. The vocabulary of Sindarin resembles Quenya, but the grammar is very different.  

(Does it make sense that the language in Middle Earth changed radically, while the language in the Blessed Lands changed very little?   Maybe not, but that is the way Tolkien tells the story.)

When Fëanor and the Noldor returned to Middle Earth (speaking Quenya), King Elwë of Doriath for political reasons prohibited the speaking of Quenya in his realm.  The Noldor began speaking Sindarin for their everyday language.   However, the noble families of the Noldor continued using Quenya, privately, as a language of “lore,” history, song, and poetry.  Tolkien consciously equated this use of Quenya with Latin.  (For many centuries all “educated” Europeans learned Latin in addition to their native language, and Latin became an international language for science, medicine, and law.)

By the Third Age, there are very few “High Elves” left in Middle Earth.   Elves of Middle Earth generally speak Sindarin for everyday use.

So, who speaks which language?

  •  All Elves in Aman, the Blessed Lands, at all times in history speak Quenya.   This includes Fellowship of the Fourth Age Alqualondë.

  •  From the middle of the First Age on, all Elves in Middle Earth speak Sindarin (or related local languages such as Nandorin/Silvan) as their everyday language.   (If this were a class on Sindarin, we would pay more attention to the variations in Sindarin-like languages.)

  •  Descendants and friends of noble families of Noldor (Galadriel, Elrond) also know Quenya, and use it for matters of history and song.

  •  In Third/Fourth Age, well-educated Human descendants of Númenoreans (Aragorn, and nobles of Gondor) would have learned both Quenya and Sindarin, though they would use Westron (“Common”) as their everyday language.

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