Tolkien - Languages

Disclaimer: All of the following are either direct quotes or paraphrasing of excerpts
from A Guide to Middle Earth by Robert Foster.

Hash-marked^# names are characters present/mentioned in the Hobbit movies.
*Asterisked names are characters present/mentioned in the LotR movies.

Languages

*Black Speech^#:

A very harsh language devised by Sauron in the Second Age, possibly based to some extent on Quenya. With Sauron's defeat at the end of the Second Age, the Black Speech died out, but was re-introduced by Sauron during his return to power in the Third Age.

Dwarvish (Khuzdul)^#:

Language of the Dwarves. It was a secret tongue of lore and few who were not Dwarves ever learned it. Khuzdul seems to have been a rather harsh language, but it no doubt assumed some grace when properly spoken. Some examples of Khudzul include a few place-names, the Dwarves' battle-cry, and the inscription on Balin's tomb in Moria.

*Entish:

Language of the Ents. A slow, sonorous, repetitive language with very fine distinction of tone and length, Entish was exceedingly difficult and completely unrelated to all other languages of Middle-earth. No one except the Ents themselves ever managed to learn Entish.

Quenya:

First recorded language of the Eldar. Because it was a language of an undying race (the Elves), it did not change much through the ages. Quenya was a soft, flowing, rhythmic, beautiful, inflected language. By the Third Age, it had become a language of ceremony and was not used in everyday conversation.

*Sindarin^#:

Elven language evolved from Quenya, less noble but still beautiful and gentle. Sindarin words were prominent in Westron and Entish.

*Tengwar:

A phoenetic writing system of 36 symbols, written with brush or pen. Developed by the Elves in Eldamar, it spread to large portions of the Elvish and Westron areas of Middle-earth. The consonantal letters were arranged into grades representing modes of articulation and series representing points of articulation.

Westron^#:

Native language of Men and Hobbits at the time of the War of the Rings, with the exception of the Woses, Dunlendings, and the Rohirrim. Westron was also the common tongue of inter-lingual meetings, so most everybody knew at least a small amount of the language. Hobbitish was partly a rustic form of Westron. Most Westron names have been translated into English forms in The Lord of the Rings.

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