Ardalambion

Ardalambion is a website devoted to sharing information about Tolkien's invented languages. The site was created and managed by Helge Kåre Fauskanger in the 90s and remained active until 2022. Helge's biography on the site states that he holds a Master's degree in Nordic languages with a focus on Norwegian Biblical translations.Ardalambion: Helge Kåre Fauskanger (Who Am I?). (Wayback capture 5 December 2022.)
== Reasons for Starting the Site ==
Similar to Tolkien, Helge identifies an interest in languages, particularly when used as part of a secondary world:
Helge defines his purpose for creating Ardalambion as twofold. First, is an appreciation for Tolkien's invented languages as a key component of his fictional universe and an artistic achievement in their own right:
He also hoped to fill a need for accurate and accessible resources related to Tolkien's languages, a topic popular with fans:
Indeed, within the Tolkien fandom, Ardalambion was regarded as one of the (if not the) most valuable linguistic resources for Tolkien's languages.
== Closure of Ardalambion ==
In 2022, the University of Bergen, which hosted the site, announced that the server on which Ardalambion was located would be shut down on 30 December 2022:
Reasons for shutting down the server include desire for consistency across university websites, consolidation of content onto the main university site, and the "outdated" appearance and features of sites on the server. As of this writing, the author of Ardalambion had not posted any intention to move the site (despite having updated the site less than a month earlier). Some Tolkien fan groups (e.g., the Silmarillion Writers' Guild) have acted to preserve the site and its resources in anticipation of its closure.
On 28 December 2022, Ardalambion went offline, two days earlier than the closure date provided by the University of Bergen.Tolkien Fandom History: Ardalambion Is Offline, 29 December 2022, accessed 14 January 2023. Fan reactions on the Tolkien Fandom History blog on Tumblr shows the importance of the site to the Tolkien fandom:
On 29 December 2022, in a comment on one of his posts in the Facebook group Quenya Chat, Helge stated that he was aware the site was down and was "looking for a solution."Quenya Chat, comment on 29 December 2022, accessed 14 January 2023.
In early 2023, the site reopened at a new domain name, ardalambion.net. As of mid-February 2023, however, the folk.uib.no site is also back online. [This is something to keep an eye on. The root site continues to display the warning that the site will go offline in December 2022.]
==Articles/Resources==
The following articles and resources were listed on the index page of Ardalambion, with the author's notes/descriptions preserved.
===Introduction===
Why I made the site
And who am I anyway?
Tolkien's Not-So-Secret Vice
How many languages did Tolkien make?
What's New? - for those who drop in occasionally
===The tongues of Arda===
Quenya - the Ancient Tongue (see also Course)
Sindarin - the Noble Tongue (sorry, I have no Sindarin course to go with the Quenya course above!)
Adûnaic - the Vernacular of Númenor
Westron - the Common Speech
Telerin - the Language of the Sea-Elves
Doriathrin - the Mothertongue of Lúthien
Various Mannish Tongues - the Sadness of Mortal Men?
Nandorin - the Green-elven Tongue
Old Sindarin - between Primitive Elvish and Grey-elven
Ilkorin - a "Lost Tongue"?
Avarin - All Six Words
Khuzdul - the Secret Tongue of the Dwarves
Entish - Say Nothing That Isn't Worth Saying
Orkish and the Black Speech - Base Language for Base Purposes
Valarin - Like the Glitter of Swords
Primitive Elvish - Where It All Began
===Invented languages from Tolkien's youth===
Animalic - "crude in the extreme"
Nevbosh - new nonsense
Naffarin - at least we know that "vrú" means ever
===Corpus Texts Analyzed===
Namárië (Quenya)
The Markirya Poem (Quenya)
The Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary (Quenya) - available as an RTF download
Fíriel's Song (late "Qenya")
A Elbereth Gilthoniel (Sindarin)
===The Quest for Standard Sindarin===
This section includes the following author's note:
AE or OE? - Tolkien's Hard Choice
On LH and RH - not to mention HL and HR
The question of ND or NN - about the behaviour of the cluster nd in "Noldorin" vs. Sindarin
To SS or not to SS - a Gollumish problem
===Tolkien's early "Qenya" language===
The Qenya Lexicon Reviewed - comments on Tolkien's earliest Elvish wordlist, as published in Parma Eldalamberon #12
Index to the Qenya Lexicon by English glosses - what vocabulary does the QL really provide?
Index to the Qenya Lexicon by Elvish words - the corresponding Qenya-based guide
A Qenya Botany - compiled by David Salo
===Other Resources===
Quenya Course - downloadable lessons with exercises
The Evolution from Primitive Elvish to Quenya - A Comprehensive Survey. (This treatise, available as a PDF file, attempts to list the sound-changes that occurred as High-Elven was evolving from the earliest forms of Elvish. This is a revised, updated and expanded version, edited by Vicente Velasco and incorporating his extensive annotation on my original treatise (still available as an RTF file).
Index to the Etymologies by English glosses - where do you find the word you so desperately need
* Explanation
* Index
* Index in One File: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y
Index to the Etymologies by Elvish words - where do you find the word you can't understand?
* Explanation
* All Languages Together: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, 3, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V,
W, Y
* Language by Language
** Quenya: A, C, D, E, F, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, Y
** Sindarin ("Noldorin"): A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, T, U , W, Y
** The "small" languages:
*** Archaic/Asterisked
*** Danian (Nandorin)
*** Doriathrin
*** Ilkorin
*** Old Sindarin ("Old Noldorin")
*** Telerin
*** Miscellaneous
Probable Errors in the Etymologies - where Tolkien's handwriting proved too tough!
The Quenya Corpus - the central texts
Quenya Wordlists - English-Quenya and Quenya-English
Parviphith Edhellen - English-Sindarin wordlist
Suggested Conjugation of all known or inferred Sindarin verbs
Reconstructing the Sindarin Verb System - the reasoning underlying the Suggested Conjugation
A Taste of Elvish - selected Quenya and Sindarin vocabulary
Quenya Affixes - derivational elements in High-Elven. (Pityon Lastalon Mithrendir has made a PDF version of this article.)
Do you have trouble reading or printing some of the articles on this page?
The link above offered black-and-white versions of some of the articles: Khuzdul, Valarin, Doriathrin, Mannish languages, Orkish and the Black Speech, Primitive Elvish
===Post-Tolkien Quenya Compositions===
The New Testament in Neo-Quenya - the whole thing, completed in its first version on June 12, 2015
The Old Testament in Neo-Quenya - in progress
Ríanna - Quenya poem by Vicente Velasco
Hríweressë - Quenya poem by Vicente Velasco
Roccalassen - Quenya poem by Ales Bican
I Yessessë - Quenya translation of the first chapter of the Bible; by Helge Fauskanger
Genesis 2 - Quenya translation of the second chapter of the Bible, still by H.F.
Tengwar Version of the two Genesis chapters above, available as a PDF file (thanks to Javier Rojas for this one!)
===Miscellaneous===
Satanist (?) Uses the Black Speech - Sauron's Esperanto* isn't quite dead yet!
Now We Have All Got Elvish Names - or at least the readers of Tyalie Tyelelliéva do!
Artificial Languages - an essay by Robert Isenberg, focusing on Klingon and Quenya. Thanks to Robert for this one!
A Second Opinion on the Black Speech - an analysis by Craig Daniel. Thanks to Craig for letting me use it here!
A Commentary on Tolkien's Tengwar Translitteration of Namárië - by Vicente Velasco (again, thanks for letting me use it!) Available as a PDF file.
BLASPHEMY - "Auld Elvish" from Bored of the Rings!
==Recursive Sites==
*Ardalambion.fr (French translation)
*Ardalambion (Spanish translation)
*Ardalambion (Polish translation)
==References==
Category:Tolkien Websites
Category:1990s Websites
Category:2000s Websites
Category:2010s Websites
Category:2020s Websites
Category:Tolkien Language Resources