Saturday, January 5, 2013

Quenya - Useful Reference Material and Links

 « About the Quenya Lanugage - Part 2   «          Course Index  

The original sources for Tolkien's languages are The Return of the King, Appendix E and The Silmarillion, Index and Appendix.  

Parma Eldalamberon XVII (http://www.eldalamberon.com/parma17.html) has compiled all the fragments they could find relating to Middle Earth languages, from Professor Tolkien's scattered notes and letters.

My favorite website for all Tolkien languages is Ardalambion:  http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/quenya.htm .
They have their own Quenya course there:  http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/qcourse.htm .   That one is presented for serious language students, taking the material straight through in a very businesslike, textbook order.

You will want to download at least one dictionary:  http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/wordlists.htm .

Download a complete list of all the forms of all the Quenya verbs:
http://www.ambar-eldaron.com/english/verbs_chart.html
The pdf download is partway down the page.
This saves you from memorizing all the rules for forming verb tenses.

added February 5, 2013:
dictionary and verb chart in French:
Online versions are about halfway down the page.

Here is a collection of “new” Quenya words, formed following the rules of authentic Quenya.   It still doesn't cover every useful word you might want, but it does help:
http://www.elvish.org/elm/newwords.html
added March 15, 2013:
an updated version:  http://www.elvish.org/gwaith/ppq.htm
Spanish version:  http://lambenor.free.fr/docencia/neologismos.htm

Elvish Phrases — Accurate or Inaccurate?

When you find a website of "Elvish phrases", how do you know whether you are looking at genuine Quenya, genuine Sindarin, or something else?  

RealElvish has compiled a wonderful list of accurate Quenya phrases:
updated link March 6, 2017:

RealElvish has also compiled lists of


Extra Material If You Are Interested:

A quick test to weed out common inaccurate translations:

If a site translates “I love you” as “Amin mela lle", you are not looking at a Tolkien language.   This is “Grey Elvish”, a language invented for D&D-style gamers.   It is a made-up language which includes some Tolkien words, Quenya and Sindarin mixed together.   Many Second Life elvish groups use that source.   Of course, there is nothing wrong with a group using a made-up language.   You, as a student of Quenya, will want to be aware of what is and what is not Tolkien's language.

Using “Vedui” or "Vendui" as a greeting comes from the same hybrid source.   ("Vedui" is a word that appears in Lord of the Rings; it is Sindarin, and it doesn't mean anything like “hello”.)


Extra Material If You Are Interested:

Where can you hear Quenya spoken?

I think this is from the recording made in August 1952.   That is Professor Tolkien himself speaking.


 « About the Quenya Lanugage - Part 2   «          Course Index  

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