The Lhammas III

It is elsewhere told how Sindo brother of Elwe, lord of the Teleri, strayed from his kindred and was enchanted in Beleriand by Melian and came never to Valinor, and he was after called Thingol and was king in Beleriand of the many Teleri who would not sail with Ulmo for Valinor but remained on the Falasse, and of others that went not because they tarried searching for Thingol in the woods. And these multiplied and were yet at first scattered far and wide between Eredlindon and the sea; for the land of Beleriand is very great, and the world was then still dark. In the course of ages the tongues and dialects of Beleriand became altogether estranged from those of the other Eldar in Valinor, though the learned in such lore may perceive that they were anciently sprung from Telerian. These were the Ilkorin speeches of Beleriand, and they are also different from the tongues of the Lembi, who came never thither.

In after days the chief of the languages of Beleriand was the tongue of Doriath and of the folk of Thingol. Closely akin thereto was the speech of the western havens Brithombar and Eglorest, which is Falassian, and of other scattered companies of the Ilkorindi that wandered in the land, but all these have perished; for in the days of Morgoth only such of the Ilkorindi survived as were gathered under the protection of Melian in Doriath. The speech of Doriath was much used in after days by Noldor and Ilkorindi alike, for Thingol was a great king, and his queen Melian divine [emended to: among the survivors at Sirion's mouth, for Elwing their queen and many of their folk came from Doriath.]

About the year of the Valar 2700, and nearly 300 years of the Valar ere the return of the Gnomes, while the world was still dark, the Green-elves, that were called in their own tongue Danas [written over heavily struck out: Danyar (Qenya Nanyar)], the followers of Dan, came also into eastern Beleriand, and dwelt in that region which is called Ossiriand, the Land of Seven Rivers, beneath the western slopes of Eredlindon. This folk was in the beginning of Noldorin race, but is not counted among the Eldar, nor yet among the Lembi. For they followed Orome at first, yet forsook the host of Finwe ere the great march had gone very far, and turned southwards. But finding the lands dark and barren, for in the eldest days the South was never visited by any of the Valar, and its sky was scanty in stars, this folk turned again north. Their first leader was Dan, whose son was Denethor; and Denethor led many of them at last over the Blue Mountains in the days of Thingol. For though they had turned back, the Green-elves had yet heard the call to the West, and were still drawn thither at times in unquiet and restlessness; and for this reason they are not among the Lembi. Nor was their tongue like the tongues of the Lembi, but was of its own kind, different from the tongues of Valinor and of Doriath and of the Lembi [emended to: different from the tongues of Valinor and of the Lembi, and most like that of Doriath, though not the same.]

But the speech of the Green-elves in Ossiriand became somewhat estranged from that of their own kindred that remained east of Eredlindon, being much affected by the tongue of Thingol's people. Yet they remained apart from the Telerian Ilkorins and remembered their kin beyond the mountains, with whom they had still some intercourse, and named themselves in common with these Danas. But they were called by others Green-elves, Laiqendi, because they loved the green wood, and green lands of fair waters; and the house of Denethor loved green above all colours, and the beech above all trees. They were allied with Thingol but not subject to him, until the return of Morgoth to the North, when after Denethor was slain many sought the protection of Thingol. But many dwelt still in Ossiriand, until the final ruin, and held to their own speech; and they were without a king, until Beren came unto them and they took him for lord. But their speech has now vanished from the earth, as have Beren and Luthien.* Of their kindred that dwelt still east of the mountains few came into the history of Beleriand, and they remained in the Hither Lands after the ruin of the West in the great war, and have faded since or become merged among the Lembi. Yet in the overthrow of Morgoth they were not without part, for they sent many of their warriors to answer the call of Fionwe.

Yet this tongue was recorded in Gondolin, and it is not wholly forgotten, for it was known unto Elwing and Earendel.

Of the tongues of the Lembi nought is known from early days, since these Dark-elves wrote not and preserved little; and now they are faded and minished. And the tongues of those that linger still in the Hither Lands show now little kinship one to another, save that they all differ from Eldarin tongues, whether of Valinor and Kor or of lost Beleriand. But of Lembian tongues are come in divers ways, as is later said, the manifold tongues of Men, save only the eldest Men of the West.

Now we speak again of the Noldor; for these came back again from Valinor and dwelt in Beleriand for four hundred years of the Sun. In all about 500 years of our time passed from the darkening of Valinor and the rape of the Silmarils until the rescue of the remnant of the exiled Gnomes, and the overthrow of Morgoth by the sons of the Gods. For nigh 10 Valian years (which is 100 of our time) passed during the flight of the Noldor, five ere the burning of the ships and the landing of Feanor, and five more until the reunion of Fingolfin and the sons of Feanor; and thereafter wellnigh 400 years of warfare with Morgoth followed. And after the rising of the Sun and Moon and the coming into the Hither Lands of measured time, which had before lain under the moveless stars without night or day, growth and change were swift for all living things, most swift outside Valinor, and most swift of all in the first years of the Sun. The daily tongue of the Noldor changed therefore much in Beleriand, for there was death and destruction, woe and confusion and mingling of peoples; and the speech of the Gnomes was influenced also much by that of the Ilkorins of Beleriand, and somewhat by tongues of the eldest Men, and a little even by the speech of Angband and of the Orcs.

Though they were never far estranged, there came thus also to be differences in speech among the Noldor themselves, and the kinds are accounted five: the speech of Mithrim and of Fingolfin's folk; and the speech of Gondolin and the people of Turgon; the speech of Nargothrond and the house and folk of Felagund and his brothers; and the speech of Himring and the sons of Feanor; and the corrupted speech of the thrall-Gnomes, spoken by the Noldor that were held captive in Angband, or compelled to the service of Morgoth and the Orcs. Most of these perished in the wars of the North, and ere the end was left only mulanoldorin [> molanoldorin], or the language of the thralls, and the language of Gondolin, where the ancient tongue was kept most pure. But the folk of Maidros son of Feanor remained, though but as a remnant, almost until the end; and their speech was mingled with that of all the others, and of Ossiriand, and of Men.

The Noldorin that lives yet is come in the most part from the speech of Gondolin. There the ancient tongue was preserved, for it was a space of 250 years from the founding of that fortress until its fall in the year of the Sun 307, and during most of that time its people held little converse with Men or Elves, and they dwelt in peace. Even after its ruin something was preserved of its books and traditions, and has survived unto this day, and in its most ancient form this is called Gondolic (Condolindeb [> Gondolindren]) or Old [> Middle] Noldorin. But this tongue was the speech of the survivors of Gondolin at Sirion's mouth, and it became the speech of all the remnants of the free Elves in Beleriand, and of such as joined with the avenging hosts of Fionwe. But it suffered thus, after the fall of Gondolin, admixture from Falassian, and from Doriathrin most (for Elwing was there with the fugitives of Menegroth), and somewhat from Ossiriand, for Dior, father of Elwing, was the last lord of the Danas of Ossiriand.

Noldorin is therefore now the speech of the survivors of the wars of Beleriand that returned again to the West with Fionwe, and were given Tol-eressea to dwell in. But still in the Hither Lands of the West there linger the fading remnants of the Noldor and the Teleri, and hold in secret to their own tongues; for there were some of those folk that would not leave the Middle-earth or the companionship of Men, but accepted the doom of Mandos that they should fade even as the younger Children of Iluvatar waxed, and remained in the world, and are now, as are all those of Quendian race, but faint and few.

Of other tongues than the Oromian speeches, which have yet some relationship therewith, little will here be said. Orquin, or Orquian, the language of the Orcs, the soldiers and creatures of Morgoth, was partly itself of Valian origin, for it was derived from the Vala Morgoth. But the speech which he taught he perverted wilfully to evil, as he did all things, and the language of the Orcs was hideous and foul and utterly unlike the languages of the Qendi. But Morgoth himself spoke all tongues with power and beauty, when so he wished.

Of the language of the Dwarves little is known to us, save that its origin is as dark as is the origin of the Dwarvish race itself; and their tongues are not akin to other tongues, but wholly alien, and they are harsh and intricate, and few have essayed to learn them. (Thus saith Rumil in his writings concerning the speeches of the earth of old, but I, Pengolod, have heard it said by some that Aule first made the Dwarves, longing for the coming of Elves and Men, and desiring those to whom he could teach his crafts and wisdom. And he thought in his heart that he could forestall Iluvatar. But the Dwarves have no spirit indwelling, as have Elves and Men, the Children of Iluvatar, and this the Valar cannot give. Therefore the Dwarves have skill and craft, but no art, and they make no poetry. Aule devised a speech for them afresh, for his delight [is] in invention, and it has therefore no kinship with others; and they have made this harsh in use. Their tongues are, therefore, Aulian; and survive yet in a few places with the Dwarves in Middle-earth, and besides that the languages of Men are derived in part from them.)

But the Dwarves in the West and in Beleriand used, as far as they could learn it, an Elf-tongue in their dealings with the Elves, especially that of Ossiriand, which was nearest to their mountain homes; for the Elves would not learn Dwarvish speech.

The languages of Men were from their beginning diverse and various; yet they were for the most part derived remotely from the language of the Valar. For the Dark-elves, various folk of the Lembi, befriended wandering Men in sundry times and places in the most ancient days, and taught them such things as they knew. But other Men learned also wholly or in part of the Orcs and of the Dwarves; while in the West ere they came into Beleriand the fair houses of the eldest Men learned of the Danas, or Green-elves. But nought is preserved of the most ancient speeches of Men, save of the tongue of the folk of Beor and Haleth and Hador. Now the language of these folk was greatly influenced by the Green-elves, and it was of old named Taliska, and this tongue was known still to Tuor, son of Huor, son of Gumlin, son of Hador, and it was in part recorded by the wise men of Gondolin, where Tuor for a while abode. Yet Tuor himself used this tongue no longer, for already even in Gumlin's day Men in Beleriand forsook the daily use of their own tongue and spoke and gave even names unto their children in the language of the Gnomes. Yet other Men there were, it seems, that remained east of Eredlindon, who held to their speech, and from this, closely akin to Taliska, are come after many ages of change languages that live still in the North of the earth. But the swarthy folk of Bor, and of Uldor the accursed, were not of this race, and were different in speech, but that speech is lost without record other than the names of these men.

From the great war and the overthrow of Morgoth by Fionwe and the ruin of Beleriand, which is computed to have happened about the year 397 of the Sun, are now very many ages passed; and the tongues of the waning Elves in different lands have changed beyond recognition of their kinship one to another, or to the languages of Valinor, save in so far as the wise among them use still Qenya, the Elf-latin, which remains in knowledge among them, and by means of which they yet at whiles hold converse with emissaries from the West. For many thousands of years have passed since the fall of Gondolin. Yet in Tol-eressea, by the power of the Valar and their mercy, the old is preserved from fading, and there yet is Noldorin spoken, and the language of Doriath and of Ossiriand is held in mind; and in Valinor there flower yet the fair tongues of the Lindar and the Teleri; but the Noldor that returned and went not to war and suffering in the world are no longer separate and speak as do the Lindar. And in Kor and in Tol-eressea may still be heard and read the accounts and histories of things that befell in the days of the Trees, and of the Silmarils, ere these were lost.

[The following passage was added to the manuscript:]

The names of the Gnomes in the Quenta are given in the Noldorin form as that tongue became in Beleriand, for all those after Finwe father of the Noldor, whose name remains in ancient form. Likewise all the names of Beleriand and the regions adjacent (many of which were first devised by the Gnomes) dealt with in the histories are given in Noldorin form. Though many are not Noldorin in origin and only adjusted to their tongue, but come from Beleriandic, or from Ossiriandic or the tongues of Men. Thus from Beleriandic is the name Balar, and Beleriand, and the names Brithombar, Eglorest, Doriath, and most of the names of lakes and rivers.