Quenya

Quenya (IPA: [ˈkʷwɛnja]) was the language spoken by the non-Telerin Elves who reached Valinor. Sindarin however, almost like Quenya's simplified form, lasted many ages longer being spoken by Elves - and it is Sindarin, not Quenya, that is referred to by the modern term "Elvish".thumb|Quenya words written in Tengwar lettering (Fëanorian characters)
The written script alphabet of the Elven languages is typically Tengwar, known also as the Fëanorian characters. An older script alphabet, the Sarati was used also.
== History ==
Quenya descended directly from Ancient Quenya,Eldamo - Ancient Quenya which developed from an earlier language called Common Eldarin. Of the Three Houses of Elves, the Ñoldor and the Vanyar spoke slightly different, though mutually intelligible, dialects of Quenya (Ñoldorin Quenya and Vanyarin Quenya, respectively). The Vanyarin dialect was also called Quendya; IPA: ). The language was also adopted by the Valar who also made some new introductions into it from their own original language, though these are more numerous in the Vanyarin dialect than the Ñoldorin one. This is probably the case because of the enduringly close relationship the Vanyar had with the Valar. The Third House, the Teleri, spoke a different, closely related language, Telerin. Quenya and Telerin are so much alike that many thought the latter a dialect of the former, but while linguistically plausible this is historically untrue though, as the languages do not share a common history.
The Ñoldor who fled to Middle-earth following the Darkening of Valinor spoke Quenya among themselves. However, when Elu Thingol of Doriath, who was the king of the Sindar (Elves of the Telerin line who remained in Beleriand instead of journeying to Valinor) learned about their slaying of the Teleri, he forbade the use of Quenya in all his realm. The Sindar, however, had been slow to learn Quenya, while the Ñoldor at this time had fully mastered Sindarin.
The Númenóreans used Quenya for record keeping, for the names of members of the royal House of Elros and Lords of Andúnië. It was not much used in their daily life. After the Downfall, the Kings of Gondor and High Kings of Arnor were given Quenya names, as were the early Stewards of Gondor. However, the Kings of Arthedain, Chieftains of the Dúnedain, and later Stewards switched to Sindarin. The tradition of Quenya names was eventually restored by King Elessar.
The Quenya used in Middle-earth in the Third Age (the time of the setting of ) had come to be a scholarly pursuit — something akin to Latin in the real world. (Indeed, Tolkien referred to Quenya as "Elf-Latin".) Quenya was used as a formal language and for writing and record keeping; Sindarin was the vernacular of all Elves. However, the Ñoldor still remembered Quenya and valued it highly, which can be seen in how they treat Frodo's greeting elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo. ("A star shines on the hour of our meeting.") Galadriel is perhaps the only major Elf character in The Lord of the Rings that had learned Quenya as a cradle-tongue: she was born in Valinor in the days of the Two Trees. Ñoldorin (Exilic) Quenya differed somewhat from Valinórean Quenya, because the language continued to evolve after exile, and it underwent some regularisation as it became a language of lore. There were also a few changes in pronunciation.
The poem Namárië is the longest piece of Quenya found in . It is also known as "Galadriel's Lament".
== Conceptual history ==
According to "The Lhammas", the Vala Oromë taught to the Elves the language of the Valar, and for this reason their language family was collectively called Oromëan. The Valar themselves had speech from the beginning. Over time, however, the Eldar changed the language, adding words of their liking and softening its speech from its original manner. The Valar soon adopted this language in order to converse with the Eldar of Valinor. Later, this theory was rejected by Tolkien.
In earlier versions of J.R.R. Tolkien's legendarium, Teleri first and then Lindar were the names of the first tribe of the Elves. In the earliest stage of development, the Finnish-like language of the the first tribe of the Elves was generally spelled Qenya (pronounced the same as "Quenya" and also known as Eldarissa or Eldar) and is conventionally classified as Early Quenya, while the Gnomes, or Noldoli, spoke a Welsh-like language called Gnomish, or Noldorin.Eldamo - Early Quenya A form of Qenya known as Arktik was used by Tolkien in Letters From Father Christmas. The term "Qenya" is now used to distinguish between the stages of the High Elvish language before and after the publication of the . However, the fluid nature of Tolkien's languages makes such a distinction a highly disputed one.
From the 1930s, Tolkien introduced in the development of the Qenya a diachronic approach. In fact, he stated that from Primitive Elvish evolved a language conventionally called Middle Ancient Quenya,Eldamo - Middle Ancient Quenya which in turn evolved in Qenya, at this stage conventionally identified as Middle Quenya.Eldamo - Middle Quenya In particular, in this period the first tribe of the Elves spoke a dialect known as Lindarin.Eldamo - Lindarin Shortly before the publication of Tolkien defined the features of the late version of Quenya, which was conceived as the language of both Vanyar and Ñoldor.
== Grammar ==
Quenya is, like many European languages, a nominative-accusative language, which means that the subject of a transitive verb is marked the same as the subject of an intransitive verb.
=== Nouns ===
Nouns are declined into ten cases: the nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, instrumental, possessive, locative, allative, ablative, and a tenth "mystery" case sometimes called the "respective".
*The nominative is used mainly to mark the subject of a verb. In spoken Quenya it also functions as the accusative (see below). It is also used with prepositions.
*The accusative marks the direct object of a verb. It is not used in spoken Quenya, after Elves left Aman as it was replaced by the nominative, but appears in writing.
*The genitive is mainly used to mark origin (e. g. the best painters of France). Its usage sometimes overlaps the ablative.
*The dative marks the indirect object of a verb (to).
*The instrumental marks a noun which is used as a tool or instrument.
*The possessive marks possession or ownership (e. g. his rope, Galadriel's hair). This usage sometimes overlaps with the genitive.
*The locative expresses location or position (at).
*The allative expresses motion towards (towards).
*The ablative expresses motion away from (from).
*The "mystery" or respective case may be a figurative equivalent of the locative case (e.g. "about wolves" or "regarding wolves").
There are four numbers: the singular, dual, plural, and partitive plural.
==== Vocalic declension ====
 	a-, i-, i.e.-, o-, and u-stems	a-, i-, i.e.-, o-, and u-stems	a-, i-, i.e.-, o-, and u-stems	a-, i-, i.e.-, o-, and u-stems	e-stems 	e-stems 	e-stems 	e-stems
 	Singular 	Dual 	Plural 	Part. Plural 	Singular	Dual 	Plural 	Part. Plural
Nominative 	yulma 	yulmat 	yulmar 	yulmali 	lasse 	lasset 	lassi 	lasseli
Accusative 	yulmā 	yulmat? 	yulmë 	yulmalā 	lassē 	lasset? 	lassi 	lasselī
Genitive 	yulmo 	yulmato 	yulmaron 	yulmalion 	lasseo 	lasseto 	lassion 	lasselion
Dative 	yulman 	yulmant 	yulmain 	yulmalin 	lassen 	lassent 	lassin 	lasselin
Instrumental	yulmanen 	yulmanten 	yulmainen 	yulmalínen 	lassenen	lassenten	lassinen 	lasslínen
Possessive 	yulmava 	yulmatwa 	yulmaiva 	yulmalíva 	lasseva 	lassetwa 	lassiva 	lasselíva
Locative 	yulmasse 	yulmatse 	yulmassen 	yulmalisse 	lassesse	lassetse 	lassessen	lasselisse
Allative 	yulmanna 	yulmanta 	yulmannar 	yulmalinna 	lassenna	lassenta 	lassennar	lasselinna
Ablative 	yulmallo 	yulmalto 	yulmallon 	yulmalillo 	lassello	lasselto 	lassellon	lasselillo
Respective 	yulmas 	yulmates 	yulmais 	yulmalis 	lasses 	lassetes 	lassis 	lasselis
==== Consonantal declension ====
 	Singular	Dual 	Plural 	Part. Plural
Nominative 	nat 	natu 	nati 	nateli
Accusative 	nat 	natu 	nati 	nateli
Genitive 	nato 	natuo 	nation 	natelion
Dative 	naten 	natuen 	natin 	natelin
Instrumental	natenen 	natunen	natinen 	natelínen
Possessive 	natwa 	natuva 	nativa 	natelíva
Locative 	natesse 	natusse	natissen	natelisse
Allative 	natenna 	natenta	natinnar	natelinna
Ablative 	natello 	natelto	natillon	natelillo
Respective 	nates 	natus 	natis 	natelis
=== Verbs ===
There are two main types of verbs: basic verbs, those which are formed from the basic verbal base, such as tire (tiri-) "watch" from *TIR, and derivative verbs, which are formed either by putting verbal suffixes to a base like tulta- "summon", from *TUL "come", or derived from non-verbal bases like kúna- "bend", originally an adjective "bent".
 	Derivative verbs	Derivative verbs	Basic verbs 	Basic verbs
 	Singular 	Plural 	Singular 	Plural
Infinitive 	tulta 	tulta 	tire (tirita-)	tire (tirita-)
Aorist/Simple present	tulta 	tultar 	tire (tiri-) 	tirir
Present continuative 	tultea 	tultear 	tíra 	tírar
Past 	tultane 	tultaner 	tirne 	tirner
Future 	tultuva 	tultuvar 	tiruva 	tiruvar
Perfect 	utultie 	utultier 	itírie 	itírier
=== Pronouns ===
Pronouns are seen as both independent words and enclitics; however the rules for this are not completely understood, although evidence suggests that independent forms are more emphatic in nature, while enclitics are the forms in use normally. What is known is that for intransitive verbs, the pronoun can appear as either an independent word or an enclitic. The enclitics often come in two different forms, long and short. The following table outlines the different forms attested in Tolkien's material. Hypothetical or reconstructed forms are indicated by either question marks (?) or asterisks. Those forms that cannot be determined are not included and their absence is indicated by an emdash (—).
 	 	Independent	Independent 	Enclitic	Enclitic 	Independent Example	Independent Example 	Enclitic Example	Enclitic Example
 	 	Singular 	Plural 	Singular	Plural 	Singular 	Plural 	Singular 	Plural
First Person 	Inclusive 	ni, inye 	*elve, *elwe	-n, -nye	-lve, -lwe	inye tire 	elve/elwe tirir 	tirinye, tirin 	tirilve, tirilwe
First Person 	Exclusive 	ni, inye 	*elme 	-n, -nye	-lme 	inye tire 	elme tirir 	tirinye, tirin 	tirilme
Second Person	Second Person	le, elye 	le, elle 	-l, -lye	-lle? 	elye tirar 	elle tirir?, elye tirir	tiril, tirilye 	tirille?, tirilye
Third Person 	Third Person 	— 	te 	-s, -rye	-t, -nte 	— 	ente tirir? 	tiris, tirirye 	tirit, tirinte
Aside from inclusive and exclusive modes in the first person plural, there is also a dual mode, denoted by emme, -mme. The pronouns can be declined much like the regular nouns; for instance, the dative form of emme is emmen. This appears to be mostly regular, except for te, "they", which takes the dative form tien.
== Sample phrases ==
=== In The Children of Húrin ===
*Utúlie'n aurë! Aiya Eldalië ar Atanatarni, utúlie'n aurë! - "The day has come! Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!", Narn i Chîn Húrin, The Tale of the Children of Húrin, II: "The Battle of Unnumbered Tears"
*Auta i lóme! - "The night is passing!"
*A Túrin Turambar turún' ambartanen. - "O Túrin master of doom by doom mastered.", Narn i Chîn Húrin, The Tale of the Children of Húrin, XVI: "The Death of Glaurung"
=== In The History of Middle-earth ===
*Valar valuvar. - "The will of the Valar will be done.", Vol. XI: , Part Four: Quendi and Eldar, Appendix D
*Manen lambë Quendion ahyanë? - "How did the language of Elves change?", Vol. XII: , chapter XIV: "Dangweth Pengoloð" 
== Sample elements ==
*aina - holy
*áirë - sunlight
*alqua - swan
*anar - Sun
*anga - iron
*eär - sea
*el - star (same as Sindarin)
*fëa - spirit
*laurë - gold
*-ndil - friend (a common suffix)
*nelya - third
*tar - king, lord
*tindómë - twilight of dawn
== Background ==
Quenya was influenced specifically by Welsh, which was used as an agglutination; grammatical inspiration also comes from Latin and Greek. The phonology is also based on Finnish, and to a lesser extent Latin, Italian and Spanish. Some interesting phonological rules are that no consonant cluster can begin or end a syllable (with one exception, the dual dative ending -nt), voiced stops must be preceded by sonorants, and a word may not end in a non-coronal consonant.
The most striking feature of Quenya is that it is a highly agglutinating language, meaning that multiple affixes are often added to words to express grammatical function. It is possible for one Quenya word to have the same meaning as an entire English sentence. For example, one could say "They have seen it." in Quenya in a single word, namely Ecénientes.
Tolkien wrote much more material about Quenya and his other languages than he published in his lifetime. The famous novels might be considered incidental to his further and more passionately developed linguistic hobby. The journals Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon are devoted to editing and publishing Tolkien's linguistic papers.
Quenya is one of many constructed languages introduced over the years by science fiction and fantasy writers, some others being Klingon, Newspeak, Nadsat, and Lapine.
== See also ==
* Elvish
* Neo-Quenya
*Parma Eldalamberon, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien"
*The Silmarillion, Appendix: "Elements in Quenya Sindarin names"
== Translations ==
Foreign Language 	Translated name
Amharic 	ቅኡአኛ ?
Arabic 	كينيا
Armenian 	Քուենյա
Belarusian Cyrillic	Квэнья
Bengali 	কুইন্যা
Bosnian 	Kvenija
Bulgarian Cyrillic 	Куеня
Cambodian 	ឃ្វីនយ៉ា
Chinese (Hong Kong)	昆雅語
Croatian 	Quenia
Czech 	Quenijština
Georgian 	ქუენია
Greek 	Κουένυα
Gujarati 	ક્વેન્યા
Hebrew 	קווניה
Hindi 	क्वेन्या
Hungarian 	Quenya nyelv
Indonesian 	Bahasa Quenya
Japanese 	クウェンヤ
Kannada 	ಕ್ವೆನ್ಯಾ
Kazakh 	Құенйа (Cyrillic) Quenya (Latin)
Komi 	Квенья
Korean 	꿰냐
Macedonian Cyrillic	Квења
Malayalam 	ക്യൂനിയ
Marathi 	क्वेन्या
Nepalese 	क्वेन्या
Pashto 	کوینیا
Persian 	کوئنیایی
Russian 	Квенья
Sanskrit 	क़ुएन्य
Serbian 	Квенија (Cyrillic) Kvenija (Latin)
Sinhalese 	ක්වෙන්යා
Slovak 	Quenijčina
Slovenian 	Kvenja
Tajik Cyrillic 	Қуенyа
Tamil 	குவென்யா
Telugu 	క్యూన్య
Thai 	ภาษาเควนยา
Ukrainian Cyrillic 	Квенья
Urdu 	قوانیا
Uzbek 	Қуеня (Cyrillic) Quenya (Latin)
Yiddish 	קוועניאַ
== References ==
== External links ==
* Ardalambion: The Tongues of Arda, Lessons, etc.
**Quenya Course
* "Quenya" in Enciclopedia Libre en Español
* Vinyar Tengwar
* Parma Eldalamberon
* Are High Elves Finno-Ugric?
* Quenya's relation to Finnish
* Generator for Quenya typographical filler text
* Neo-Quenya Wiki
* Aulas de Quenya (Brasil)
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