Posted: August 19, 1999 at 23:58:02: by Michael Martinez
: I think this person might've been talking about "The Languages
: of Tolkien's Middle Earth" (or perhaps a simliar book). In
: "LoTME" it says that Quenya is based on Finnish, various other
: languages based on Old English, Anglo-Saxon, and Scandinavian.
: I think it even says that Rohiric is all Old English.
: I'd like to know where the author (Ruth S. Noel) got this
: information from...because I'm thinking she might've pulled a
: David Day on this one. I know that many dwarf names come
: straight out of the Prose-Edda, and that Rohiric is *based* on
: Anglo-Saxon but I don't know about the rest of these claims.
: Anyone out there have the answer?Not being a linguist, I cannot give you a truly knowledgeable answer, but I can say that Ruth Noel has been savaged by the linguists almost as much as we savage David Day. Her book is highly discredited. That said, there is supposed to be a connection between Quenya and Finnish and a connection between Sindarin and Welsh, but I couldn't begin to explain them to you. Best to look up what the linguistic sites have to say about it, and you can find links to those (including the highly popular Ardalambion) on my TALK ABOUT J.R.R. TOLKIEN AND MIDDLE-EARTH directory (link provided below).
------------------
Talk About J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth: A Guide to Tolkien Discussion on the Web
|
