Tancave!

That's Quenya for "yes."

Quenya is just one of the dozens of languages Tolkien dreamed up for the inhabitants①of Middle Earth.Technically, it's part of the Elvish language family, which has over 15 different languages and dialects②within it.

For Tolkien, the languages came first. He created the 15 different Elvish dialects, along with languages for the Ents, the Orcs, the Dwarves, the men and the Hobbits and more. He thought of everything: The Dwarves even had a

separate③sign language, because the forges they worked were too loud.

If Tolkien had gotten his way, the books wouldn't have even been in English at all. "I should have preferred to write in Elvish," Tolkien said.

Of all the languages Tolkien created, two have enough words and grammar to be considered functional④.These languages are both Elvish in origin⑤: Quenya and Sindarin.

When he died, Tolkien left behind a large number of unpublished works, many of which are still being studied.Curious folk who want to converse⑥in Elvish themselves are in good company. The Internet abounds with language worksheets and pronunciation videos to kick start your studies.

Quel marth!

Tancave!

這在昆雅語中意為“是的”。

昆雅語只是托爾金為中土世界居民虛構(gòu)的眾多語言之一。嚴格說來，它屬于精靈語系，該語系有超過15種不同的語言和方言。

對托爾金而言，語言最重要。他創(chuàng)造了15種不同的精靈方言，還為樹人、半獸人、矮人、人類和霍比特人等生物創(chuàng)造了各種語言。他把一切都想到了：矮人甚至還有一種單獨的手勢語，因為他們工作的鍛造環(huán)境噪聲太大。

如果由著托爾金自己，他甚至根本都不會用英文來寫這些書。“我更想用精靈語來寫?！蓖袪柦鹫f。

在托爾金創(chuàng)造的所有語言中，有兩種語言擁有足量的詞匯和語法，被認為具有功能性。昆雅語和辛達林語都起源于精靈語。

托爾金去世后，留下大量尚未出版的著作，其中許多仍在研究之中。想用精靈語交流的好奇者們可以成為好朋友。互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上有很多語言活頁練習(xí)和發(fā)音視頻可供展開研究。

Quel marth! （祝你好運?。?/p>

① inhabitant 英 [?n'h?b?t(?)nt] 美 [?n'h?b?t?nt]n. 居民；居住者

② dialect 英 ['da??lekt] 美 ['da??'l?kt]n. 方言，土話 adj. 方言的

③ separate 英 [sepr?t] vt. 使分離；使分開；使分居vi. 分開；隔開；分居 adj. 單獨的；

④ functional 英 ['f??(k)?(?)n(?)l] 美 ['f??k??nl] adj. 功能的

⑤ in origin 起源于，從本源

⑥ converse 英 [k?n'v??s；?k?n-] 美 [k?n'v??s]vi. 交談，談話；認識 n. 逆行