Quenya is probably the first Elvish language Tolkien worked on, and he worked on it throughout his life. Understanding how Tolkien’s ideas on Quenya evolved is critical to understanding the language itself. Students of Tolkien’s languages often distinguish the “Internal History” of the language (how the language evolved within Middle
Paul Strack
Quenya Grammar P2: Historical Development
Like all Elvish languages, the primitive precursors of Quenya appeared soon after the awakening of the Elves in Cuivienén, a period when all Elves spoke the same language. Tolkien referred to this period as Primitive Quendian or Common Quenderin [CQ]; most of the literature on Elvish uses CQ to avoid
Quenya Grammar P1: Introduction
Quenya was the native language of the first and second tribes of the Elves, the Vanyar and the Noldor. This language was widely spoken in Valinor and was brought to Middle Earth by the Noldor. As Tolkien described it in the The Lord of the Rings Appendix F: Of the
New Series: Quenya Grammar
NOTE: This series of posts are first drafts, for purposes of getting feedback. The finished versions will eventually appear here: https://eldamo.org/content/grammar-indexes/grammars-q.html. I’m starting a new series on Quenya Grammar, cross-posted both here and on Aglardh. This is something I’ve wanted to work on for a long time, but there is
Eldamo 0.7.4
Version 0.7.4 of Eldamo is released. It incorporates all my recent work on Quenya phonetics. https://eldamo.org/
Interview of Paul Strack by Jared of Longwinded One
Episode 64: Talking Quenya with Paul Strack This is part of their short series on Tolkien’s languages, where both Paul and I were interviewed. My interview comes up on the 25th. Enjoy!
Eldamo 0.7.3
I’ve released v.0.7.3 of Eldamo. https://eldamo.org This release doesn’t have much new content, just a bunch of minor corrections as I work on analyzing Quenya phonetics. Downloads are here: https://github.com/pfstrack/eldamo/releases For those of you that don’t know Eldamo is a lexicon of Elvish words, extensively cross referenced. Fiona graciously allows
Eldamo 0.7.2
I’ve released v.0.7.2 of Eldamo. https://eldamo.org This release finishes up my analysis of Sindarin phonetics. I’m moving on to Quenya phonetics next. Downloads are here: https://github.com/pfstrack/eldamo/releases For those of you that don’t know Eldamo is a lexicon of Elvish words, extensively cross referenced. I’m publicizing the updated in several difference
Elvish Roots – Before and After
This word analysis focuses on two opposing concepts: “before” and “after”. These saw numerous vacillations over Tolkien’s life, making it difficult to incorporate them into a coherent paradigm. In English and many other languages, these relationships can be used both temporally and spatially. Temporally, they refer to a sequence of
Elvish Roots – Approaches to Neo-Elvish
I’ve discussed in other posts how Neo-Elvish reconstructions (Neo-Quenya and Neo-Sindarin) are useful tools for learning and using Tolkien’s languages. Many such reconstruction are widely accepted and not especially controversial. For example, we know there is a Quenya verb har- “to sit, stay” (PE17/162; UT/305). We don’t know its past