Elvish languages

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title: "Elvish languages" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["elves-in-popular-culture", "fictional-languages"] description: "Constructed languages used in fantasies" topic_path: "linguistics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvish_languages" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Constructed languages used in fantasies ::

Elvish languages are constructed languages used by Elves in a fantasy setting. The philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien created the first of these languages, including Quenya and Sindarin.

Tolkien's Elvish languages

Main article: Elvish languages (Middle-earth)

The philologist and high fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien created many languages for his Elves, leading him to create the mythology of his Middle-earth books, complete with multiple divisions of the Elves, to speak the languages he had constructed. The languages have quickly spread in modern-day use. His interest was primarily philological, and he stated that his stories grew out of his languages. The languages were the first thing Tolkien created for his mythos, starting with what he originally called "Qenya", the first primitive form of Elvish. This was later called Quenya (High-elven) and is one of the two most complete of Tolkien's languages (the other being Sindarin, or Grey-elven). The phonology and grammar of Quenya are influenced by Finnish, while Sindarin is influenced by Welsh.

::data[format=table]

Internal history of Tolkien's Elvish languages
Primitive Quendian
the tongue of all Elves at Cuiviénen
Common Eldarin
the tongue of the Elves during the March
Quenya
the language of the Ñoldor and the Vanyar
Quendya
also Vanyarin Quenya, daily tongue of the Vanyar
::

Tolkien conceived a family tree of Elvish languages, all descending from a common ancestor called Primitive Quendian. He worked extensively on how the languages diverged from Primitive Quendian over time, in phonology and grammar, in imitation of the development of real language families. In addition to Quenya and Sindarin, he sketched several other Elvish languages in far less detail, such as Telerin, Nandorin, and Avarin.

In addition to Tolkien's original lexicon, many fans have contributed words and phrases, attempting to create a language that can be fully used in reality.

Other Elvish languages

Since Tolkien, others have invented Elvish languages in their own fiction. Some have borrowed sounds, forms, and whole words from Tolkien's Elvish languages.

::data[format=table title="Elvish languages"]

Language	Creator	Setting	Based on	Notes
Elven		RuneScape	Welsh unable to find WP:RS for this --
The Ancient Language	Christopher Paolini	The Inheritance Cycle	Old Norse, Tolkien	Used by elves and by the riders and other magic users to cast spells. It was the language of the now extinct Grey Folk. One cannot lie in the Ancient Language and one is bound by what one says in it.
Ellylon and Hen Llinge (Elder Speech)	Andrzej Sapkowski	The Witcher saga	Welsh, Irish, French and English
Eltharin		Warhammer Fantasy		Has its own font. Includes Fan-Eltharin, the language of the Wood Elves; Tar-Eltharin, the language of the Sea Elves and High Elves; Druhir, the language of the Dark Elves
Elvish	Gael Baudino	Strands series	Romance languages
Elvish		Warcraft universe	Superficially resembles Tolkien's Elvish	Darnassian, Nazja, and Thalassian are considered the modern elvish tongues spoken by the modern Kaldorei, the Naga, and the highborne (respectively), while Elvish itself is an ancient tongue no longer used as a primary language. It is assumed that Elvish is the language from which Darnassian evolved; Darnassian then branched into Nazja, spoken underwater by the Kaldorei that followed Queen Azshara after the sundering, and later on, Thalassian, spoken by the highborne and Blood Elves.
Gnommish		Artemis Fowl series	Letter-substitution cipher for English	Sometimes read in a spiral.
Ehlnofex		The Elder Scrolls		The Elves, or Mer, use languages derived from ancient Ehlnofex, including Dunmeris, Pyandonean, Orcish (Orsimeris) and Bosmeris.
Shiväisith	David J. Peterson	Thor: The Dark World	Finno-Ugric	The language of the Dark Elves. Written in Todjydheenil runes, based on Nordic runes.
Övüsi	David J. Peterson	Bright
Hen Llinge (Elder Speech)	David J. Peterson	Netflix's The Witcher
::

References

References

1. (1981). "The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien". George Allen & Unwin.
2. From a letter to W. R. Matthews, dated 13–15 June 1964, published in ''[[Parma Eldalamberon]]'' (17), p. 135.
3. [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], "Tengwesta Qenderinwa", ''[[Parma Eldalamberon]]'' 18, p. 72
4. {{ME-ref. Solopova. "Invented Languages"
5. (20 January 2004). "More of the 'Rings' magic". [[USA Today]].
6. Ruszkowski, Marek. (2004). "Wielojęzyczność w perspektywie stylistyki i poetyki". Wydawnictwo Akademii Swiętokrzyskiej.
7. "Projekt słownika Starszej Mowy".
8. "Fantasy Fonts: Eltharin".
9. Barret, David V.. (December 1994). "Music and Magic: Interview with Gael Baudino". [[Interzone (magazine).
10. "Can You Speak Different Languages In Wow? [World of Warcraft]".
11. {{AF Cite Book
12. "Translation Dictionary".
13. "Counting in Shiväisith".
14. "Övüsi Pronunciation Guide".
15. Wahlgren, Yens. (2021). "The Universal Translator: Everything you need to know about 139 languages that don't really exist". The History Press.

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