# Sindarin or Quenya



## Diabless (Jan 17, 2002)

That about explains it Which is the lanaguage Tolkien fans want to learn. I know Sindarin is the less high. Which is spoken in Rivendell and by the elves of Mirkwood?

In that lanaguage can anyone (maybe Cian) translate for me (with some sort of pronunciation guide please) 

"Greetings"

Or just

"Hello"

and also 

"Farewell"

Or just 

"good bye"
When I have read the Silmalarion I will start to learn one of the Elven tongues.

Once again, which one should I learn?


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## Greymantle (Jan 17, 2002)

I know hardly a word of either.  
However, I think I can safely say that Sindarin is the best to learn. It has by far more material available, and eventually becomes the language of all the Elves of Middle-Earth. It is originally, of course, the language of the Sindar, but the Noldor learn it because of their knack for languages. After the decree of Greymantle p) it becomes the absolute Elvish vernacular.
Quenya is the Elf "Latin." It is the academic lanugage of lore, and is only used in poetry or very formal situations, as far as I know.


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## Cian (Jan 17, 2002)

Some folk use Sindarin _Mae govannen_ glossed "well met" in Tolkien's letters. Some use Quenya _Aiya_ "Hail! behold" as a greeting. _Namárie_ means "farewell" and has been argued to be properly used for a longer, or possibly permanent type, "goodbye" situation.

Here's some Quenya constructions culled from experts Helge Fauskanger and David Salo. The apostrophe represents an "elided" vowel ~ I give the full form in parentheses.

_Almáre' aure_ "Good or blessed day"
_Almáre' arin_ "Good morning" (_almárea_ "blessed")
_Sére_ "Peace" (or "rest")
_Laitaler_ "Blessings"
_Már' aure_ "Good day" (_mára_)

See the RotK Appendices for pronunciation ... hey I don't have all day here 

A lot of folk find Quenya "easier" (though not easy!) because of the Sindarin mutations ~ if you speak Welsh already, jump right in however 

Without going into detail on stuff like possible "Noldorin" dialect, Quenya loan words, Silvan 'accent', the spread of Sindarin into the east and etc ... we can generally say, as has been said, that the Exiles adopted Sindarin for daily use: 
_"... and hence it was the tongue of all those Elves and Elf-lords that appear in this history."_ RotK

The High Elves were quite impressed with Frodo when he greeted Gildor in archaic "High Elven" _Elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo_ "A star shines on the hour of our meeting".


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## BelDain (Jan 17, 2002)

So where does the vocabulary for these languages come from?
Obviously Tolkien didn't come up with a term for every single thing in existence in Quenya or Sindarin.


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## Kit Baggins (Jan 17, 2002)

Is there a website anywhere that tells you how to speak Sindarin?

~Kit


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## Bitternstorm (Jan 18, 2002)

There are a many Kit Baggins try these two,you will need to down load the fonts required for the Sindarin translator to work properly.


Gwaith-i-Pheddaian 


Ardalambion


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## Aldanil (Jan 19, 2002)

*thank you to the One Over Ulm*

Much beholden, Bitternstorm, for your open-link Elvish, unlocking the wondrous word-hoard of Gwaith-i-Pheddaian! I am most looking forward to exploring it at greater length in my leisure, and for that language-rich later bid now warmly my gratitude!


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## Bitternstorm (Jan 19, 2002)

Oh! My pleasure Aldanil i hope it will be useful over Iaradanduin.


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