Elvish

lesson two : sindarin, quenya and grelvish

Man indach, 'amin' una i beth? (What do you mean, 'amin' isn't a word?)

Sindarin, as has been stated in the previous lesson, is the most widely used of the Elvish languages by the beginning of the Third Age and possibly before. Therefore, unless you have a specific reason for using something else, this is the language most of your characters should be speaking.

Quenya is, for all intents and purposes, a dead language. Think of it like the Latin of Middle-Earth. Tolkien states that even the Blessed Realm abandoned Quenya for Sindarin by the end of The War of Wrath. However, it's difficult to have a truly dead language when you still have people alive who learned it as their primary language. So, it would not be unheard of for Elves from the First and early Second Ages to occasionally use Quenya.

Grevlish is a completely different story and I am only addressing it because it is rampant, like a plague, in the Tolkien fandom. Grelvish is the term for a derived Elvish language by a group known as the Grey Company for use in their role-playing game. It is neither created by Tolkien nor endorsed by the Tolkien estate. In short, don't use it. It makes snobs like me cringe.

Provided below are some common endearments and short sentences in Grelvish that occur often in fanfiction along with, when possible, a Sindarin and Quenya equivalent.

Entries in yellow are not attested forms; they are simply educated guesses on my part. I take no responsibility if you use them and are subsequently pelted by a large fish by a Tolkien purist.

conclusion

• Sindarin is what all Elves in Middle-earth (and post-First Age Aman) speak
• Quenya is the language of the Noldor, and it stopped being spoken by mid-First Age in Middle-earth
• Grelvish sucks. Don't use it.