Quenya
From Langmaker
| Conlang | Quenya |
| Author | J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Year Began | 1917 |
| Language Type | professional fictional diachronic language |
| Lexicon Size | 2241 |
| Etymologies | Yes |
| Grammar | Yes |
| Sample Texts | Yes |
| Primer | Yes |
Quenya is a professional fictional diachronic language created by J.R.R. Tolkien in 1917.
Description
Quenya is the chief of the elvish languages in Tolkien's legendarium, used mainly in The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.
It has been used for a translation of the Babel Text.
Uniqueness
Quenya, like Sindarin, is descended from Primitive Elvish.
It shares a writing system, known as Tengwar with Tolkien's other elvish languages.
Quenya is considered one of the most beautiful-sounding constructed languages in the world, as Tolkien opted for beauty in words.
Unfortunately, it was never a primary goal of Tolkien's to finish the design of Quenya, and his death left the vocabulary and grammar incomplete. This incompleteness has dampened the fires of enthusiasm for many who would have liked to have learned the language. At present there exists no single authoritative reference to the meta-history (the history of the creation of the fictional history) of Quenya. This gap is being filled as those such as Helge Kåre Fauskanger rise to the challenge of analyzing the editorial efforts of Tolkien's son, Christopher, who has prepared a series of volumes relating the history of Tolkien's invention of Middle Earth.
Language sources
Phonology inspired by Finnish. Grammar inspired by Greek. Borrowed words from Finnish and Greek. Orthography inspired by Latin.
Interest of others
The beauty of Quenya has inspired many to take up the hobby of constructed languages.
The Lord of the Rings movies, with their extensive Sindarin dialogue, have inspired fresh interest in Quenya as well.
External links
| Site | Broken Link | Author | Site Languages |
| http://www.uib.no/People/hnohf/quenya.htm | No | Helge Kåre Fauskanger; Harold Ensle | English |
| http://home.ix.netcom.com/~heensle/lang/elvish/elvish.html | No | NA | English |
| http://groups.yahoo.com/group/quenya/ | No | NA | English |
| http://www.langmaker.com/db/bbl_quenya.htm | No | NA | English |
Here's a separate site where you can find common names in Quenya.
