The War of the Jewels by J. R. R. Tolkien Read Free Book Online

and Noldorin in Beleriand took much from Beleriandic especially of Doriath. Most of the names and places in that land were given in Doriathrin form. Noldorin returned, after the overthrow of Morgoth, into the West, and lives still in Tol-eressea, where it changes now little; and this tongue is derived mainly from the tongue of Gondolin, whence came Earendel; but it has much of Beleriandic, for Elwing his wife was daughter of Dior, Thingol's heir; and it has somewhat of Ossiriand, for Dior was son of Beren who lived long in Ossiriand.

    There was also the book-tongue, 'Elf-Latin', Quenya, concerning which the Lammasethen gives a different account from that in the other versions (see V.195). The 'Elf-Latin', it is said (V.172), was brought to Middle-earth by the Noldor, it came to be used by all the Ilkorindi, 'and all Elves know it, even such as linger still in the Hither Lands'.
    Thus in the Lhammas account we are concerned essentially with three tongues in Beleriand after the Return of the Noldor: Quenya, the high language and book-tongue, brought from Valinor by the Noldor;
    Noldorin, the language of the Noldor in Kor, greatly changed in Beleriand and much influenced by the Ilkorin speech especially that of Doriath. (It is said in the Lhammas, V.174, that the Noldorin tongue of Kor, Korolambe or Kornoldorin, was itself much changed from ancient times through the peculiar inventiveness of the Noldor.)
    Beleriandic, the Ilkorin tongue of Beleriand, which had become in long ages very different from the tongues of Valinor.
    The Noldorin speech of Gondolin was the language that survived in Tol Eressea after the end of the Elder Days, though influenced by other speech, especially the Ilkorin of Doriath during the sojourn at Sirion's Mouths (see V.177 - 8).

    In GA 1 we have still the conception that the language of the Noldor in Valinor was changed by Noldorin inventiveness, though it is em-phasized that it had altered little 'from the ancient tongue of the Eldar upon the.march'; and the profound difference between the Noldorin of the new-come Exiles out of Valinor and the ancient Telerian tongue of Beleriand (now called Sindarin) likewise remains - indeed it is the remark that at first communication between Noldor and Sindar was not easy that leads to this excursus. But in GA 1 it is said that, while the Sindarin tongue was 'enriched by words and devices from Noldorin', Sindarin nevertheless became the language of all the Eldar of Middle-earth and was the language of Tol Eressea after the Return; while Noldorin of Valinor became a 'learned' tongue - equivalent in status to the 'Elf-Latin' or Quenya of the Lhammas, but learned by few among the Sindar; and indeed the 'Ancient Noldorin' is equated with Quenya (p. 22, at the end of the text). Among the reasons given for this development is that spoken Noldorin in Beleriand and Sindarin 'grew towards' each other, and it is made clear in the last paragraph of the text that there was at the end of the Elder Days a profound difference between the spoken Noldorin of Beleriand, where it survived, and 'Ancient Noldorin' or Quenya.
    The statement that Fingolfin as 'overlord' of the Exiles 'acknowledged the high-kingship of Thingol and Menegroth', being 'greatly in awe of that king', is notable (cf. QS $121: 'and mighty though the Kings of the Noldor were in those days ... the name of Thingol was held in awe among them'). This is indeed one of the reasons given for the adoption of Sindarin by the Noldor in Beleriand - for in Thingol's domain only Sindarin might be used; but it is clear that as yet the idea of an actual ban on the use of the Noldorin speech among the Sindar had not arisen.
    At the end of this linguistic passage in GA 1 my father wrote in rapid pencil:
    Alter this. Let Sindar and Noldor speak much the same tongue owing (a) to changelessness in Valinor (b) to slow change in Middle-earth (c) to long memories of the Elves. But there were of course differences - new words in