# Languages of Gondor



## Adrian Atandil (Oct 21, 2004)

I'm rereading TTT and ROTK as we speak (where my FOTR is I have no idea) and I came among this passage in the chapter "Minas Tirith"

"Many used some other tongue than the Commom Speech, but it was not long before he learned what was meant by _Ernil i Pheriannath_ and knew that his title had gone down before him into the City."

I assume at least some of the people of Gondor would still learn Sindarin when they were children, but could this speech not also be Adunaic? Or did that language die with Numenor? Any and all help would be greatly appreciated.


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## Valandil (Oct 27, 2004)

I don't have the most perfect understanding of Tolkien languages, but I THINK that Adunaic ~ Common Speech ~ Westron. That term used for Pippin has always sounded Elvish to me... and I assume Sindarin because that seemed more commonly in use at this time.

Hopefully, someone else can give you a more definitive answer.

It makes me think of a related question though. In the lists of Kings of Arnor and Gondor, we're told that in Arnor; only the High Kings (through Earendur) were named in Quenya and that those after him have Sindarin names. We're not told one way or the other about those in Gondor... but the earliest names appear to me to be Quenya... and they always seem to stay so. Even the names of the Stewards (some of whom are named for First Age heroes - Elven and Human) seem like they might be Sindarin.

So... those who ruled Gondor: Did they all have Quenya names, was there a point where the names shifted to Sindarin there as well, or was it all sort of a 'mixed bag'?


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## Flame of Udûn (Oct 27, 2004)

Ernil i Pheriannath is Sindarin. Westron is evolved Adûnaic.


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## Húrin Thalion (Oct 29, 2004)

Eärnil I Pheriannath is Sindarin, meaning Prince of the halflings.

Adunaic was the old language of Numenore, charaterized by rather rough sound, lots of A's, R's and K's. It had had some influence at Westron (the common language) but they were not the same thing.

Húrin Thalion


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## Valandil (Oct 29, 2004)

Húrin Thalion said:


> Adunaic was ... It had had some influence at Westron (the common language) but they were not the same thing.



That's why I used '~' instead of '='... and I tried copiously to place them in their proper chronological order.


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## Cian (Nov 1, 2004)

Húrin Thalion said:


> Eärnil I Pheriannath is Sindarin, meaning Prince of the halflings.



I'm sure you must mean _Ernil_ there ...

Anyway Adrian, the Sindarin plural _Periannath_ 'Halflings' can be found in Appendix B for example. The form _Pheriannath_ is due to a mutation found in Sindarin, this mutation triggered in the example you cited (note also Appendix E under the entry for PH, for another example).

Appendix F in full is best for Westron and whatnot, but here's a part ...

_'(...) In the days of the Númenorean kings this ennobled Westron speech spread far and wide, even among their enemies; and it became used more and more by the Dúnedain themselves, so that at the time of the War of the Ring the Elven-tongue was known to only a small part of the peoples of Gondor, and spoken daily by fewer. These dwelt mostly in Minas Tirith and the townlands adjacent, and in the land of the tributary princes of Dol Amroth. Yet the names of nearly all places and persons in the realm of Gondor were of Elvish form and meaning. A few were of forgotten origin, and descended doubtless from the days before the ships of the Númenoreans sailed the Sea; among these were ...'_ ~Appendix F 'Of Men'

¤


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## Halasían (Dec 10, 2004)

Backing up a bit on the language.. I read somewhere that Adûniac was based on a mixture of languages men were exposed to as they came west... a mixture of dwarvish and elvish? Wish I could find my reference here.... *off to search*


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## Inderjit S (Dec 12, 2004)

> As the long years passed the situation changed. The ancient Adûnaic of Númenor became worn down by time - and by neglect. For owing to the disastrous history of Númenor it was no longer held in honour by the 'Faithful' who controlled all the Shorelands from Lune to Pelargir. For the Elvish tongues were proscribed by the rebel Kings, and Adûnaic alone was permitted to be used, and many of the ancient books in Quenya or in Sindarin were destroyed. The Faithful, therefore, used Sindarin, and in that tongue devised all names of places that they gave anew in Middle-earth. Adûnaic was abandoned to unheeded change and corruption as the language of daily life, and the only tongue of the unlettered. All men of high lineage and all those who were taught to read and write used Sindarin, even as a daily tongue among themselves. In some families, it is said, Sindarin became the native tongue, and the vulgar tongue of Adûnaic origin was only learned casually as it was needed. The Sindarin was not however taught to aliens, both because it was held a mark of Númenórean descent and because it proved difficult to acquire - far more so than the 'vulgar tongue'. Thus it came about that as the Númenórean settlements increased in power and extent and made contact with Men of Middle-earth (many of whom came under Númenórean rule and swelled their population) the 'vulgar tongue' began to spread far and wide as a lingua franca among peoples of many different kinds. This process began in the end of the Second Age, but became of general importance mainly after the Downfall and the establishment of the 'Realms in Exile' in Arnor and Gondor. These kingdoms penetrated far into Middle-earth, and their kings were recognized beyond their borders as overlords. Thus in the North and West all the lands between the Ered Luin and the Greyflood and Hoarwell, became regions of Númenórean influence in which the 'vulgar tongue' became widely current. In the South and East Mordor remained impenetrable; but though the extent of Gondor was thus impeded it was more populous and powerful than Arnor. The bounds of the ancient kingdom contained all those lands marked in maps of the end of the Third Age as Gondor, Anórien, Ithilien, South Ithilien, and Rohan (formerly called Calenardhon) west of the Entwash. On its extension at the height of its power, between the reigns of Hyarmendacil I and Rómendacil II (Third Age 1015 to 1366) see The Lord of the Rings Appendix A p.325. The wide lands between Anduin and the Sea of Rhûn were however never effectively settled or occupied, and the only true north boundary of the Kingdom east of Anduin was formed by the Emyn Muil and the marshes south and east of them. Númenórean influence however went far beyond even these extended bounds, passing up the Vales of Anduin to its sources, and reaching the lands east of the Forest, between the River Celon(Running) and the River Carnen (Redwater).
> Within the original bounds of the Kingdoms the 'vulgar speech' soon became the current speech, and eventually the native language of nearly all the inhabitants of whatever origin, and incomers who were allowed to settle within the bounds adopted it. Its speakers generally called it Westron (actually Adúni, and in Sindarin Annúnaid). But it spread far beyond the bounds of the Kingdoms - at first in dealings with 'the peoples of the Kingdoms', and later as a 'Common Speech' convenient for intercourse between peoples who retained numerous tongues of their own. Thus Elves and Dwarves used it in dealings with one another and with Men



'Of Dwarves and Men' HoME 12


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