ELVISH LANGUAGE AND ENGLISH

I really have no idea, though I think it unlikely.

Googling for fun, I found this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvish_language

It does not appear that Tolkien was influenced by Greek, although he may have been. Runes existed prior to Tolkien, and he borrowed heavily from pre-Christian western and northern European languages. Tolkien was a linguist. with a specialty in Anglo-Saxon literature, and he first made his name in the field with a new analysis and translation the Anglo-Saxon account of the battle at Malden Ford. Later, he wrote a play in the style of the middle ages based on the Battle of Malden. He also wrote on literatary criticism of Beowulf and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.

Tolkien's own comments in the forwards to some editions of The Lord of the Rings show that he was primarily interested, personally, in the languages he was creating. He wrote The Hobbit long before he wrote The Lord of the Rings, and the internal consistency of mythic references in both books would suggest that he had an overarching idea of the mythic world he was creating even if he had never commented on the subject.

The Sylmarillion was Tolkien's book which retrospectively published the mythic saga of middle earth from the creation of the world. I highly recommend it, as it provides the source material to all the mythic events and characters referenced in The Lord of the Rings. It is rather obvious that Tolkien leaned heavily on not just Anglo-Saxon sources, but on Nordic sources as well. For example, if you read Snorri Sturleson, who is the principle source for Norse mythology, you will find many familiar names in the list of dwarves given there, including Gandalf. The name Rohan, given to the realm of the horse warriors, is originally of Sanskrit origin, but was likely adopted by him from the Irish--it is a linguistic cousin of the common noun and given name Rowan. There are many other examples of place and given names in Tolkien which are referrential to ancient western and northern European mythologies and sagas--i just can't remember them all off the top of my head.

Just say 'a-haha' and thankyouverymuch' alot.

The Sylmarillion looks exciting Setanta. Thx

And Mac I knew abt the wikipedia help u referred, but it is, u know, a bit complicated to an average English speaker like me. :wink:

Elvish hash leff the building.


Vinsan, what Indian dialect do you speak? As Isaid on the other thread, Ive been exposed to the dialects of the Sidarjhis and Ive been taught some very rude phrases in Malayalum.

Thank goodness somone got my joke!

Vinsan, i misspelled Silmarillion.

This is a creation myth, and as such, is a powerful tribute to Tolkien's imagination and intelligence. The deity creates beings, whom we might think of as angels, called the Ainur. To accomplish the creation of the Cosmos, he has imbued the Ainur with particular qualities and talents, and he bids them sing a great polytonal hymn. One of the Ainur (forget the name) sings antiphonally, this would be the equivalent of Lucifer, "the fallen angel." The diety is not dismayed by this, and being the omnipotent and omniscient deity, has foreseen it. The cosmos created by the "holy singing" is Eä, in which Middle Earth will reside.

The hymn finally completed, he then reveals to the Ainur the world their singing has created, Middle Earth. He then sends a dozen of the most prominent and powerful of the Ainur to Middle Earth to complete the creation. The "fallen angel" goes along, as well, even though he was not officially on the original passenger manifest. In Middle Earth, the chosen Ainur become the Valar. They each have powers appropriate to all the tasks to create the world and its inhabitants. To assist them, they are allowed to create powerful beings known as the Maiar, which will shortly be siginifcant.

The elves are intended to be the first sentient being, which is why they are referred to in the books as the "First Born." However, in fact, one of the Valar, he who is responsible for mountains, metals, gem stones and all of the deep places, has gone off by himself, and eagar to have others to share his love of these things, creates beings in the form which is intended for the elves. He is rather ham-handed, and he creates stunted and imperfect versions of the template planned for the elves, and these are the dwarves. He is found out, and chastised, and the dwarves are put to sleep, not to awaken until the elves have filled the world.

This is the first age of Middle Earth, and the story details how the moon is created, and how the First Born are created and awaken under the moon. The sun is created (kind of complex, with a few initial failed attempts) to reveal the warped creations of the fallen angel. One of the Maiar is seduced by the fallen angel, and becomes the Dark Lord--in The Lord of the Rings, he is known as Sauron. Among the Frist Born, some who are chosen by their curiosity and their desire to know more of the world than just the delight in life under the moonlight are sent to the "Blessed Isle" where the Valar dwell. Among these is one who creates the silmarils, powerful and beautiful gem stones. The fallen angel takes one of his twisted creations, a huge spider, to the island, and attacks the sacred trees of the Valar, which are the source of all creation and life in Middle Earth. Hard times for Valar and elves. With this diversion by the spider, the silmarils are stolen. The rest of the story is the story of the attempts by the elves, some of whom are now obsessed with recovering the silmarils, to track down and recover the stones.

That is at the end of the First Age, and in the Second Age, men are created. They are more substantial and willful than elves, but are mortal--elves are immortal (although they can be killed), and have the option to go to the isle of the Valar to live eternally in bliss (so the story goes). Many are seduced, along with men, into the struggle to recover the silmarils. It is from these struggles that all of the great myths of the elves and of men which appear in the novels arise. For example, Shelob, the great spider in the last volume of TLOTR is a descendant of the spider which attacked the isle of the Valar.

In the second age, men are given great life and wisdom, and live on another isle, Westernesse--they call it Numenor, and they are the Numenorians. Restless, they sail to Middle Earth, and it is from these men that the men of Gondor and of the north are descended. Lured to the north by the fallen Maiar, Sauron, they become embroiled in the wars instigated by the Dark Lord, and by the elves seeking to recover the silmarils. One of their most powerful lords is seduced by Sauron, and becomes the Witch King of Angmar. He is finally destroyed, but it is a phyrric victory which destroys the kingdom of the north, and the character Aragorn in TLOTR is descended from the line of Kings who defeated him.

The Silmarillion was assembled from Tolkien's notes and manuscripts which had been rejected for publication after the First World War. He was in hospital with trench fever when he began to write what he intended to be a mythology of England along the lines of the mythology of the Greeks (to that extent, he was influenced by the Greeks, although i don't know if there were linguistic influences). But publishers rejected it, on the basis that it was "too Celtic" (the Irish were still very unpopular in England). The Hobbit, though, was seen for the great story that it is, and he was encouraged to do more along those lines. It is from that that The Lord of the Rings arises.

The language which he created for the elves, Quenya, and the story of the silmarils, however, remained Tolkien's personal favorite part of the saga, and his greatest interest. Many of the stories of TLOTR he sent to his son Christopher, as he was serving in the Second World War. After Tolkien's death, Christopher worked up the manuscripts to create The Silmarillion, and also created a multi-volume History of Middle Earth, based on Tolkien's manuscripts and published works, both early and late.

I can't remember all of these things off the top of my head, and don't have the book before me, so my thanks to Wikipedia for filling in many of the gaps.

I speak Marathi, that's the language of the west Indian coastal state called Maharashtra. I am a Mumbaite.

About sardarjies, they are Sikh people and belong to the northern Indian state of Punjab. I like their language & food i.e. Punjabi.

Oye Balle Balle. (That's how they greet) :wink:

About Malaylam, I am not very familiar with the language but many of my good friends are Kelralites (belong to the state of Kerala, where Malayalam is spoken)

I am now fascinated with this Elvish language by Master Tolkein (He surely is) and trying to learn it these days. I got some free online Elvish Language tutorial MP3s also.

But problem is that they speak all Elvish in it. ( )

Sentata, I am lucky to have found you. The info is awesome. Moreover its in simple language so much understandable.

Thx once again.

You're welcome, Boss--i've always enjoyed all of Tolkien's work, and i hope that you will, too.

i really don't know much about tolkien or lord of the rings , but i came across this article that seems to claim that tolkien's ' language of elves ' was influenced by the finnish language , and possible by greek .
what do the tolkien fanciers think of this article ? could there be some truth in it or is it mere speculation ... or plain nonsense ?
hbg
...LANGUAGE OF ELVES...

Awesome is Setanta's effort

But, was there some one with the name of Morgoth or something who once bossed Sauron?

Everyone is lucky to have met Setanta. We sit at the feet of the master.

The Golum would put it ..... MMYYYY Prrrrrraacious (post)! :wink:

Oh, Another perspective! .... but now I am confused. This one can be true. Because the elvish liguistic words or verbs has lot of mythical influence. Old Greek also has similar mythical influence. In fact that was my reason to raise the post in first place.

Hamburger, did this link or help appeared in GOOGLE search, coz I remember it didn't when I tried to.

Dont bother. It was a hard, hard read.

Vedui' il'er. Cormamin lindua ele lle. Tula, vasa ar' yulna en i'mereth.

I'narr en gothrim glinuva nuin I'anor

Tenna' ento lye omenta

Yes, and i couldn't recall that name--i believe that may have been the name the Valar gave to the member of the Ainur who rebelled--the "fallen angel."

(EDIT: I don't recall enough to say for sure, that is just my sense of it.)