Quenya

**Quenya** (IPA: [ˈkʷwɛnja]) was one of the languages spoken by the Elves. It was the language that developed among those non-Telerin Elves who reached Valinor (the "High Elves") from an earlier language called Common Eldarin. 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".

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: [ˈkʷeɲɟa]). 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 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.

According to "The Lhammas" it was the Vala Oromë who coming upon the Elves at Cuiviénen, 'The Waters of Awakening', taught them Quenya. Later this theory was rejected by Tolkien. Over time, however, the Eldar changed the language and added to it words of their liking and softened its speech from its origins of Valarin speech. The Valar did adopt this language in order to converse with the Eldar of Valinor. The Valar themselves had speech from the beginning.

## 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 daily life on the island. 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 restored by King Elessar.

The Quenya used in Middle-earth of the Third Age (the time of the setting of *The Lord of the Rings*) had come to be a scholarly pursuit — something akin to Latin in our time. (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 the way 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 Middle-earth during the events of *The Lord of the Rings* that learned Quenya as a cradle-tongue: she was born in Valinor, during 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 *The Lord of the Rings*. It is also known as "Galadriel's Lament".

## 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 for 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.