Tolkien And The Languages He Created

John Ronald Ruel Tolkien (J. R. R. Tolkien) is one of the most influential writers in the field of fiction. Even those who dislike this literary genre have heard of him. The Lord of the Rings is one of the beloved readings of his genre that has inspired many people on Planet Earth and countless artists. How many, however, know that Tolkien had created as many languages as the kinds of beings of the world that he inspired? Reading Tolkien, one can only admire the magical world he created, the detailed maps, and the corresponding languages for each type of fantastic creature that take part in his stories. 

As for languages, Tolkien writes: “Stories were written to support the languages rather than the other way around. To me, the name comes first, and the story follows. I’d rather write in the Elven language. But I left as many languages as I thought readers could digest in the Lord of the Rings. For me, it is largely a study of aesthetic linguistics”.

A scholar and deep connoisseur of several foreign languages, Tolkien developed great diversity. Some of those he created are, for example, the ancient language of the elves Quenya or Tengwar, the Black Word, and the language of Sauron. The languages for Tolkien were his truth, something that he had brought to the surface, so they feature variety in grammar and syntax. There have been published some dictionaries that include them and have also been translated into other languages. 

Tolkien studied philology. From a young age, he had an appeal to speech, reading, and writing. He was fond of fairy tales, Norwegian and Icelandic myths, and traditions and started writing his own stories at seven. He was looking for the common element that was hidden behind the languages, so it was no coincidence that at the University, he excelled in Comparative Literature.

Tolkien knew French, although it was not his favorite language; he studied ancient and medieval English, German, Latin, the Germanic languages of the North, which he especially loved, and ancient Greek, which he learned at the age of eight years old. Tolkien developed into a great speech craftsman who voluntarily combined words and phrases. He has created archaic types of words and has approached the original meaning of his creation, which is why the translation of the writing is difficult. But let’s see in detail where he drew his inspiration and what else Tolkien needed for his linguistic world, which he did not stop expanding and improving until the end of his life (1973).

The Elven tongues

Elves are bright ethereal creatures with supernatural possibilities full of inner and outer beauty while in harmony with nature. Tolkien’s love for elves is shown by the dialects he created for them and their beautiful Alphabet. Those who indulged in his work were confronted with at least 15 Elven languages. Each has its own vocabulary, grammar, syntax, and Phonology.

The language of the dwarfs

The Dwarves, industrious and few-spoken, secretive and proud, like to explore the bowels of the Earth and draw its precious materials. The language that suits them is Khuzdul, which we would only hear from mid-Earth dwarfs. Dwarfs use it to communicate with each other. Tolkien exploited the Semitic language to create Khuzdul as The Dwarves reminded him of the wandering Jews.

The language of the Tolkien people

But let’s see who spoke the languages developed by Tolkien. The Edains in Beleriand spoke Taliska, which was Gothic, just as the Gothic language inspired the language of the Rhovanion people. The people of the North spoke the ancient Nordic. Finally, it is worth mentioning that Tolkien, along with language, also experimented with writing. Known are: Tengwar, Sarati, and Valmaric, but also, starting from medieval European writing, the runes or Cirth of Daeron were created!

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