A Very Brief History of Sindarin and Quenya's Development
J.R.R. Tolkien was a philologist by trade with a great love of all language. As a child, his mother taught him Latin, French, and German at home. Later in life, he learned Welsh, Finnish, and Old Norse. In his spare time he liked to create languages. In fact, Middle Earth and it's stories were created as a vessel specifically for his invented languages, the most well known of which being Entish, Dwarvish, Black Speech (the speech of Mordor), and Elvish.
There are two main variants of Elvish, Quenya [kwenja] and Sindarin [sindarin]. Quenya is known as "High Elvish" and was heavily inspired by Finnish, which Tolkien taught to himself in order to read the Kalveda, which is a compilation of old Finnish songs and stories arranged into a linear epic poem by Elias Lönnrot. Tolkien was so fascinated by the language as a whole that he evolved the earlier forms of Quenya's phonology in order to become more like Finnish phonology. Sindarin, known as "Grey Elvish," is heavily influenced by Welsh.
In the fictional history of Middle Earth, Quenya and Sindarin derive from the same root language, Primative Quendian. Though due to several divisions among the elves and a few migrations across Middle Earth, the language evolved into multiple dialects, some of which, over time, became their own distinct languages. Sindarin is a result of this history and cannot be understood by speakers of Quenya who do not speak also Sindarin. The same is true of Quenya and speakers of Sindarin who do not also speak Quenya.
There are two main variants of Elvish, Quenya [kwenja] and Sindarin [sindarin]. Quenya is known as "High Elvish" and was heavily inspired by Finnish, which Tolkien taught to himself in order to read the Kalveda, which is a compilation of old Finnish songs and stories arranged into a linear epic poem by Elias Lönnrot. Tolkien was so fascinated by the language as a whole that he evolved the earlier forms of Quenya's phonology in order to become more like Finnish phonology. Sindarin, known as "Grey Elvish," is heavily influenced by Welsh.
In the fictional history of Middle Earth, Quenya and Sindarin derive from the same root language, Primative Quendian. Though due to several divisions among the elves and a few migrations across Middle Earth, the language evolved into multiple dialects, some of which, over time, became their own distinct languages. Sindarin is a result of this history and cannot be understood by speakers of Quenya who do not speak also Sindarin. The same is true of Quenya and speakers of Sindarin who do not also speak Quenya.