Quenya

Quenya is a constructed language devised by J. R. R. Tolkien for his Middle-earth legendarium. It is one of the major Elvish languages and is often described as the High-elven tongue. In Tolkien’s legendarium, Quenya evolved from an earlier tongue called Qenya; it became the scholarly and ceremonial language of the Elves in Aman and, later, a model for Elvish literature across the surrounding realms. Quenya functioned as a prestige language, used in poetry, lore, and ritual, while another Elvish language, Sindarin, served as the common speech of many peoples in Middle-earth.

Linguistically, Quenya is highly inflected, with a system of noun declensions and verb conjugations that express number, case, tense, and mood. Its vocabulary and grammar show influences Tolkien drew from Finnish, Latin, and other languages, incorporated into a distinctive Elvish phonology. Quenya's writing has been associated with a variety of scripts, most famously Tengwar, though earlier and alternate forms also appear in the legendarium's manuscripts. In-world, its pronunciation and morphology give it an archaic, ceremonial character.

Today, Quenya survives in Tolkien scholarship and fan communities as a fully described fictional language. Tolkien's published works and his own notes provide grammar, lexicon, and sample texts. Subsequent editors and enthusiasts have expanded dictionaries and course materials, enabling learners to study historical texts and compose original verses in Quenya. While not spoken as a community language in the modern world, Quenya remains a prominent example of a constructed language designed to add depth and realism to a fictional universe.