QUENYA

'Quenya' is one of the fictional languages spoken by the Elves (the ''Quendi'') "the ones who speak". The first-found children of Ilúvatar, in the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien. It was the language developed by those non-Telerin Elves who reached Valinor (the "High Elves") from an earlier language called Common Eldarin, which also evolved from the original Primitive Quendian. Of the Three Houses of the Elves, the Noldor and the Vanyar spoke slightly different, though mutually intelligible, dialects of Quenya (Quenya [also ''Noldorin Quenya'' and later when they followed Fëanor in Arda ''Exilic Quenya''] and ''Vanyarin Quenya'' [also ''Quendya''], respectively). The language was also adopted by the Valar, who made some new introductions into it from their own original language, though these are more numerous in the Vanyarin dialect than the Noldorin one. This is probably the case because of the enduringly close relationship the Vanyar had with the Valar. The part of the Third House, the Teleri, that succeeded to arrive in Aman and founded the city of Alqualondë, spoke a different, closely related language, (Amanya) Telerin, although this was by some seen as a dialect of Quenya, which is untrue in a historic perspective but plausible in a linguistic one; the languages do not share a common history, but are very much alike, and later grew very close due to contact.
During the Third Age Quenya was no longer a living language in Middle-earth: most Elves spoke Sindarin, and Men mostly spoke Westron. Quenya was mainly used in official names and writings, much like the Latin language was in medieval Europe. Cp. the name ''Elf-Latin'' for Quenya.
In Tolkien's fictional world, Quenya is usually written in Tengwar, although it was earlier written in Sarati. The language can also be written in other alphabets: modes for Cirth exist. In the real world Tengwar is not uncommon, but it is usually written in the Latin alphabet.

Contents

Fictional history

Non-fictional development

Phonology

Vowels

Diphthongs

Consonants

Grammar

Nouns

Noun declension

Verbs

Pronouns

Corpus

References

See also

External links

Fictional history

As told in ''The Silmarillion'' (chapter 3), the Elves devised the language at Cuiviénen, before they encountered the Vala Oromë:
:''"they began to make speech and give names to all things that they perceived. Themselves they named the Quendi, signifying those that speak with voices; for as yet they had met no other living things that spoke or sang."''
Since the stars were the first thing seen by the Elves as they awoke, the word ''el'' "star" was the first invented, originally an exclamation of adoration^[1], and Oromë named the elves ''Eldar'' "people of the stars" in their own language. Similarly, according to the ''Cuivienyarna'',
:''Imin, Tata and Enel awoke before their spouses, and the first thing that they saw was the stars, for they woke in the early twilight before dawn. And the next thing they saw was their destined spouses lying asleep on the green sward beside them. Then they were so enamoured of their beauty that their desire for speech was immediately quickened and they began to ‘think of words' to speak and sing in.'' (HoME 11, p. 421)
Over time, however, the Eldar changed the language, adding to it words of their liking and softening it from its origins in Valarin speech. The Valar adopted this language in order to converse with the Eldar in Valinor.
The Noldor who fled to Middle-earth following the Darkening of Valinor spoke Quenya among themselves. However, when Elu Thingol of Doriath, who was the king of the Sindar (Elves of the Telerin line who remained in Beleriand instead of journeying to Valinor) learned about their slaying of the Teleri, he forbade the use of Quenya in his realm. The Sindar, however, had been slow to learn Quenya, while the Noldor at this time had fully mastered Sindarin. (''The Silmarillion'', chapter 15).
The Quenya used in Middle-earth of the Third Age (the time of the setting of ''The Lord of the Rings'') had come to be a scholarly pursuit — something akin to Latin in our time. (Indeed, Tolkien occasionally refers to Quenya as "Elven-Latin".) Quenya was used as a formal language and for writing; Sindarin was the vernacular of all Elves. However, the Noldor still remembered Quenya and valued it highly, which we can see in the way they treat Frodo's greeting ''elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo'' ("A star shines on the hour of our meeting"). Galadriel is perhaps the only major Elf character in Middle-earth during the events of ''The Lord of the Rings'' who learned Quenya as a cradle-tongue: she was born in Valinor, during the days of the Two Trees. Noldorin (Exilic) Quenya differed somewhat from Valinórean Quenya, because the language continued to evolve after exile and underwent some regularisation as it became a language of lore. There were also a few changes in pronunciation.

Non-fictional development

Outside the fiction, the grammar of Quenya was influenced by Finnish, which is an agglutinative language; grammatical inspiration also came from Latin and Greek. The phonology was also based on Finnish and, to a lesser extent, Latin, Italian and Spanish. Some interesting phonological rules are that no consonant cluster can begin or end a syllable (with one exception, the dual dative ending -nt); voiced stops must be preceded by sonorants; and a word may not end in a non-coronal consonant.
The most striking feature of Quenya is that it is a highly agglutinating language, meaning that multiple affixes are often added to words to express grammatical functions. It is possible for one Quenya word to have the same meaning as an entire English sentence. For example, one could say "I have seen it" in Quenya in a single word, namely ''Ecénienyes''.
Tolkien wrote much more material about Quenya and his other languages than he published in his lifetime. In fact, Tolkien, a professional linguist, insisted that he originally invented Middle-earth and its inhabitants as a means of imposing upon his artificial languages a history of war, migration and suffering. The famous novels might be considered incidental to his further and more passionately developed linguistic hobby.
The journals ''Vinyar Tengwar'' and ''Parma Eldalamberon'' are devoted to editing and publishing Tolkien's linguistic papers.
Quenya is one of many constructed languages introduced over the years by science fiction and fantasy writers, some others being Klingon, Newspeak, Nadsat, the Ascian language and Lapine.
In Tolkien's early writings (see: ''The History of Middle-earth''), this language was called 'Qenya' (although pronounced the same as ''Quenya''). It underwent countless revisions in both grammar and vocabulary before it reached the form found in ''The Lord of the Rings'' and again went through changes before the completion of ''The Silmarillion''. The term Qenya is now used to distinguish between old Qenya and the new Quenya. However, the fluid nature of Quenya (or Qenya, for that matter) makes such a distinction a highly disputed one.
Quenya used by fans for post-Tolkien composition of poems and texts, phrases and names, is usually nicknamed neo-Quenya, or Quenya Vinyacarmë (Q. for "neologism") by scholars. Since Tolkien's own ideas were rather fluid, any attempt to actually use the language must involve a number of "editing decisions" by the post-Tolkien author. See Neo-Eldarin.
Quenya was made more popular in 2001 when the first installment of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was released in theaters.

Phonology

Vowels

Quenya has 10 basic vowels arranged in pairs of short and long.

★ a :

★ á :

★ e :

★ é :

★ i :

★ í :

★ o :

★ ó :

★ u :

★ ú :
Tolkien cited that long /é, ó/, when correctly pronounced, were "tenser and 'closer' " than their short counterparts, thus approaching [i, u]. However, Eldarin was known to have lacked [ɔ], though Valarin and early stages of Sindarin were cited to have possessed it.

Diphthongs

★ ai :

★ oi :

★ ui :

★ au :

★ eu :

★ iu :
All of the diphthongs were originally falling diphthongs, but by the Third Age /iu/ had become a rising diphthong [i̯u] similar to the beginning of English ''yule'' [juːɫ].

Consonants

Most of the consonants are fairly straightforward, except :

★ h : , ,

★ r :

★ qu :

★ nw :

★ ng or ñ :

★ ngw or ñw :

★ hy :

★ hw :

★ ty :

★ ly :

★ ny :
/h/ was originally [x] in all positions, but later softened to [h] initially. It retains the pronunciation [x] , as in ''aha'' [axa] "rage," and between the back vowels /a, o, u/ and /t/, as in ''ohtar'' [oxtar] "warrior." Between the front vowels /e, i/ and /t/, /h/ is palatalized to /ç/, as in ''nehta'' [neçta] "spearhead."
The pronunciation of /hy/, originally written as a single letter, weakened to [h] by the Third Age, and so the sequence /h/ + following /y/ was then used to express [ç].
Tolkien vacillated between /ng/ and /ñ/ in writing Quenya's velar nasal, but is said to have favored the latter in late writings up until his death. By the Third Age, initial [ŋ]'s pronunciation had weakened to [n].

Grammar

Nouns

Nouns are declined for (up to) ten cases (some of which are short variants of uncertain significance). These include the four primary cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and instrumental; the three adverbial cases: allative (of which the dative is a shortened form), locative (also with a shortened form, of uncertain significance), and ablative; and an adjectival case.
Primary cases:

★ The nominative is used mainly to mark the subject of a verb. In Spoken Quenya it also functions as the accusative (see below). It is also used with some prepositions.

★ The accusative marks the direct object of a verb. It is not used in Spoken Quenya, having merged with the nominative, but appears as a distinct case in "Classical" or Book Quenya.

★ The genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e.g. ''the best painters'' of ''France''). Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative, sometimes the adjectival/possessive.

★ The instrumental marks a noun as a means or instrument.
Adverbial cases:

★ The allative expresses motion towards the noun.

★ The dative marks the indirect object of a verb.

★ The locative expresses location or position at the noun.

★ The ablative expresses motion away from the noun.
Adjectival case:

★ The adjectival case describes qualities. It is also used to indicate possession or ownership by the noun. This usage sometimes overlaps with the genitive.
There are four numbers: the singular, general plural, partitive plural, and dual.

Noun declension

The declension of the noun in Late Quenya is found in the so-called "Plotz Declension" that Tolkien provided in a letter to Dick Plotz in 1967.^[2] This gives the "Classical" or Book Quenya declension of (only) the two vocalic-stem nouns ''cirya'' 'ship' and ''lassë'' 'leaf', in four numbers: singular, pl. 1, pl. 2, and dual. The forms of pl. 1 appear to correspond to the general plural, and those of pl. 2 to the partitive plural of Late Quenya. The declension has eight chief cases in three groups that Tolkien labeled 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 of Late Quenya. 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 c. 1960 essay "Quendi and Eldar".
The declension of nouns as given below has been modified from the form given in the Plotz Declension to reflect the forms of Spoken Quenya (in accordance with Tolkien's own description of the differences between "Classical" or Book Quenya and Spoken Quenya that accompanies the Plotz Declension). The declensions of ''meldo'' 'friend', ''elen'' 'star', and ''nat'' 'thing' given here are conjectural examples of the declension of other stem types.

'Singular'	'cirya'	'lassë'	'meldo'	'elen'	'nat'
'Nominative'	cirya	lassë	meldo	elen	nat
'Accusative'	cirya	lassë	meldo	elen	nat
'Genitive'	ciryo	lassëo	meldo	eleno	nato
'Instrumental'	ciryanen	lassenen	meldonen	elennen	natenen
'Allative'	ciryanna	lassenna	meldonna	elenenna	natenna
'Dative'	ciryan	lassen	meldon	elenen	naten
'Locative'	ciryassë	lassessë	meldossë	elenessë	natessë
'Short Locative'	ciryas	lasses	meldos	elenes	nates
'Ablative'	ciryallo	lassello	meldollo	elenello	natello
'Adjectival'	ciryava	lasseva	meldova	elenwa	nateva

'Plural'	'cirya'	'lassë'	'meldo'	'elen'	'nat'
'Nominative'	ciryar	lassi	meldor	eleni	nati
'Accusative'	ciryar	lassi	meldor	eleni	nati
'Genitive'	ciryaron	lassion	meldoron	elenion	nation
'Instrumental'	ciryainen	lassínen	meldoinen	eleninen	natinen
'Allative'	ciryannar	lassennar	meldonnar	eleninnar	natinnar
'Dative'	ciryain	lassin	meldoin	elenin	natin
'Locative'	ciryassen	lassessen	meldossen	elenissen	natissen
'Short Locative'	ciryais	lassis	meldois	elenis	natis
'Ablative'	ciryallon	lassellon	meldollon	elenillon	natillon

'Partitive plural '	'cirya'	'lassë'	'meldo'	'elen'	'nat'
'Nominative'	ciryali	lasseli	meldoli	eleneli	nateli
'Accusative'	ciryali	lasseli	meldoli	eleneli	nateli
'Genitive'	ciryalion	lasselion	meldolion	elenelion	natelion
'Instrumental'	ciryalínen	lasselínen	meldolínen	elenelínen	natelínen
'Allative'	ciryalinna(r)	lasselinna(r)	meldolinna(r)	elenelinna(r)	natelinna(r)
'Dative'	ciryalin	lasselin	meldolin	elenelin	natelin
'Locative'	ciryalisse(n)	lasselisse(n)	meldolisse(n)	elenelisse(n)	natelisse(n)
'Short Locative'	ciryalis	lasselis	meldolis	elenelis	natelis
'Ablative'	ciryalillo(n)	lasselillo(n)	meldolillo	elenelillo	natelillo
'Adjectival'	ciryalíva	lasselíva	meldolíva	elenelíva	natelíva

'Dual'	'cirya'	'lassë'	'meldo'	'elen'	'nat'
'Nominative'	ciryat	lasset	meldu	elenet	natu
'Accusative'	ciryat	lasset	meldu	elenet	natu
'Genitive'	ciryato	lasseto	melduo	eleneto	natuo
'Instrumental'	ciryanten	lassenten	meldunen	elenenten	natunen
'Allative'	ciryanta	lassenta	meldunna	elenenta	natunna
'Dative'	ciryant	lassent	meldun	elenent	natun
'Locative'	ciryatsë	lassetsë	meldussë	elenetsë	natussë
'Ablative'	ciryalto	lasselto	meldullo	elenelto	natullo

Verbs

There are two main types of verbs: basic (or primary) verbs, those which are formed from the basic verbal base, such as ''tirë'' (''tiri''-) "to watch" from stem ''tir-'', and derivative (or A-stem) verbs, whose stems end in ''-a'' and are formed either by putting verbal suffixes to a base like ''tulta''- "summon", from
★ TUL "come", or derived from non-verbal bases like ''kúna''- "bend", originally an adjective "bent".
These conjugations were not written by Tolkien, but represent one possible reconstruction using information derived and inferred from a number of sources of various periods. These forms will be relatively uncontroversial among researchers:

	'Derivative verbs'		'Basic verbs'
	'Singular'	'Plural'	'Singular'	'Plural'
'Infinitive'	tulta		tirë
'Aorist/Simple present'	tulta	tultar	tirë (tiri-)	tirir
'Present continuative'	tultëa	tultëar	tíra	tírar
'Past'	tultanë	tultaner	tirnë	tirner
'Future'	tultuva	tultuvar	tiruva	tiruvar
'Perfect'	utultië	utultiër	itírië	itíriër

Pronouns

Pronouns are seen as both independent words, and enclitics which resemble synthetic verb endings. The rules for this are not completely understood, although evidence suggests that independent forms are more emphatic in nature, while enclitics are the forms in use normally. The effect of having both pseudo-synthetic (with enclitics) and analytic (with independent pronoun) verbs gives Quenya a system strongly resembling that of Irish Gaelic (see Irish verbs). What is known is that for intransitive verbs, the pronoun can appear as either an independent word or an enclitic, with the enclitic form often coming in two different forms, long and short. In the third person, the short form is used for direct objects rather than subjects.
As with all parts of Quenya grammar, the pronominal system was subject to constant revision throughout Tolkien's life. The following table is adapted primarily from two sources of c. 1968-9, ^[3] and does not reflect the pronominal system as it stood before that time. Unattested forms are omitted, but ''
★ -inca'' and ''
★ -inqua'' are plausible possessive forms of ''-ince'' and ''-inque'', respectively.

'Form'	'Long form'	'Short Form'	'Independent'	'Possessive'
'1st pers. sg.'	''-nye''	''-n''	''ní''	''-(i)nya''
'2nd pers. sg. intimate/familiar'	''-tye''	''--''	''tyé''	''-tya''
'2nd pers. sg. formal/polite'	''-lye''	''-l''	''lyé''	''-lya''
'3rd pers. sg.'	''-se'' (rarely)	''-s''	''sé/sá'' (neuter)	''-rya''
'Impers. sg.'	''--''	''--''	''--''	''-ya''
'1st pers. pl. incl.'	''-lve/-lwe''	--	''vé'' (< ''wé'')	''-lva/-lwa''
'1st pers. pl. excl.'	''-lme''	--	''mé''	''-lma''
'2nd pers. pl.'	''-lde''	--	''lé''	''-lda''
'3rd pers. pl.'	''-lte/-nte''	--	''té''	''-lta/-ntya''
'Impers. pl.'	''-r''	''--''	''--''	''-rya''
'1st pers. dual incl.'	''-ngwe/-ince/-inque''	--	''wet''	''-ngwa''
'1st pers. dual excl.'	''-mme''	--	''met''	''-mma''
'2nd pers. dual'	''-ste''	--	''tyet/let''	''-sta''
'3rd pers. dual'	''-ste/-tte''	''-t''	''tú'' (pers. and neuter)	''-sta''
'Impers. dual'	''-t''	''--''	''--''	''-twa''

Corpus

The poem Namárië is the longest piece (80 words) of Quenya found in the ''The Lord of the Rings'', which has several further Quenya fragments, such as Elendil's words upon reaching Middle-earth (''Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien. Sinome maruvan ar Hildinyar tenn' Ambar-metta!'') or Treebeard's greeting to Celeborn and Galadriel (''A vanimar, vanimálion nostari'').
Other Quenya texts published by Tolkien during his lifetime include ''Oilima Markirya'' ("The Last Ark"), ''Nieninque'', and ''Earendel'' contained in the lecture ''A Secret Vice'' (re-published in 1982 in ''). A fragment of the poem ''Narqelion'' was published by Humphrey Carpenter in his ''Biography''. ''Oilima Markirya'' with 90 words is the longest known Quenya text.
Other Quenya texts by Tolkien were edited posthumously:
^[4]

★ Elvish translations of Catholic prayers (ed. Wynne, Smith, Hostetter), composed in the 1950s (Vinyar Tengwar, 2002)
:
★ ''Ataremma versions'' (Quenya ''Pater Noster'') versions I-VI, VT 43, 4–26, TT 18
:
★ ''Aia María'' (''Ave Maria'') versions I–IV, VT 43, 26–36, TT 18
:
★ ''Litany of Loreto'', VT 44, p. 11–20
:
★ ''Ortírielyanna'' (''Sub tuum praesidium'') VT 4, p. 5–11
:
★ ''Alcar i Ataren'' (''Gloria Patri'') VT 43, p. 36–38
:
★ ''Alcar mi tarmenel na Erun'' (''Gloria in Excelsis Deo'') VT 44, p. 31–38

★ The "Oath of Cirion", ''Unfinished Tales'', pp. 305, 317.

★ ''Early Qenya Fragments'', edited Wynne and Gilson, PE 14 (2003)

★ "''Sí Qente Feanor'' and Other Elvish Writings", ed. Smith, Gilson, Wynne, and Welden, PE 15 (2004)

★ The "Koivienéni" sentence, VT 14 (1991)

★ The "Two Trees" sentence, VT 27 (1993).

★ ''Fíriel's Song'', LR p. 72 and "Alboin Errol's Fragments", LR p. 47.

★ Various versions of the "Ambidexters Sentence" composed c. 1968-1969, VT 49 (2007).

References

1. This is in striking parallel to the "Sun Language Theory" of Turkish nationalism, which posits that the first word was ''Aa'' "Sun", coined in the same fashion.
2. First published in ''Beyond Bree'', March 1989, edited by Nancy Martsch.
3. "''Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals'' and Related Writings", edited by Patrick H. Wynne; and "Quenya Pronominal Elements", edited by Carl F. Hostetter; both in Vinyar Tengwar 49 (2007).
4. see also Douglas A. Anderson, ''Carl F. Hostetter: A Checklist'', Tolkien Studies 4 (2007).

See also

★ Calendar of Imladris

★ Languages of Middle-earth

★ The Languages of Tolkien's Middle-earth

★ Sindarin

★ Tengwar

★ Sarati

★ Neo-Eldarin

External links

★ The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship

★ Parma Eldalamberon

★ Vinyar Tengwar

★ Elvish Pronunciation Guide

★ Ardalambion (by Helge Kåre Fauskanger): The Tongues of Arda, Lessons, etc.

★ Parma Tyelpelassiva - The book of silver leaves

★ Gwaith-i-phethdain Fellowship of the Wordsmiths. Quenya info also beyond Tolkien

★ EldarinWiki Wiktionary project for Tolkienian languages

★ very detailed Quenya-English and English-Quenya dictionaries Also provides grammar

★ "The s-case" — Article by Ales Bican examining the evidence for this enigmatic case, the shortened form of the locative (sometimes labeled "respective" or "dedative", though Tolkien did not use those terms)