Re: Tolkien language(s) question

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Cowan" <cowan@...>
To: <CONLANG@...>
Sent: Wednesday, September 03, 2003 9:35 PM
Subject: Re: Tolkien language(s) question


> Mark J. Reed scripsit:
>
> > Sindarin:Quenya :: Italian:Latin.  Which is why Frodo got a laugh when
> > he greeted the Elves in Quenya, like the modern tourist who tries to use
> > Latin in Rome ("Been a while since your last visit, has it?").
>
> I think it was his accent (ei and ou for ee and oo).  He was talking to
> High-Elves, who were originally Quenya-speakers, though they shifted
> to Sindarin as their usual language thousands of years before.  However,
> it is quite likely that some of the Elves Frodo is talking to still
> remember speaking Quenya.  Sound-change in Elvish languages is not
> generational, but a deliberate act of individuals.
>
> As someone else has pointed out, Sindarin is the much-changed descendant
> of Telerin, a sibling of Quenya.  The best analogue I think is
> French to Classical Latin, since French is the much-changed descendant
> of a sibling to Classical Latin, namely Vulgar Latin.
Quenya is the language of the Noldor, right?  At least, the Noldor who came
into Middle-Earth spoke it.  I think whoever said Old Church
Slavonic:Russian was the closest.

> --
> If you understand,                      John Cowan
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>