Table of Contents
Quenya
īī±īīµī±(Quenya) is a constructed language created by J.R.R. Tolkien for his Legendarium. It is the language of the High Elves ā the Vanyar and the Noldor. By the Third Age of Middle-Earth, itās only a scholarly language.
It is primarily written using Tengwar,A) but itās also written using the Sarati.
Quenya is also known as the āElvish Latinā or the Latin/Finnish Elven language.
I personally prefer Quenya over Sindarin, despite the latter (apparently) being the more popular language.
Notes
Neo-Quenya
I havenāt quite decided yet, but Iām pretty sure that (unless stated otherwise) when I say Quenya, Iāll be referring to Neo-Quenya. Though, again, I havenāt decided yet.
The reason Iām thinking of doing this is for the simple fact that I want to learn Quenya and then integrate Quenya into this wiki somehow. Whether that be thru the articles on linguistics or just for fun.
And because Tolkien never finished Quenya, that naturally means Iād be using Neo-Quenya.
But the reason Iām thinking about whether I should explicitly call it Neo-Quenya or not is that I donāt want to be misleading. Neo-Quenya isnāt really the language that Tolkien envisioned.
Iām considering just calling it something else entirely too, though Iām not sure what.
Dialects
The Quenya that we know the most about is the one spoken by the Noldor, who arrived in Middle-Earth in the First Age. It was from them that the language became the āelf-latinā that we all know and love. Third Age Quenya is descended from this Noldorin one.
However! There is at least one other dialect that we donāt know much about and which, by now, Iād guess is a separate language entirely.B)
Vanyarin (Quenya)
Vanyarin Quenya is the dialect spoken by the Vanyar. Itās notable (to me) for being just weird enough that it caught my interest.
Now, to be clearā¦weC) donāt know much about it. We know a few things, like some sound changes that did and didnāt occurā¦but thatās about it. I did read this which looks at what we do know.
I may detail a little more about it (and what it may look like) once I learn a little moreā¦and also stop being so lazy.