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~Mirimë~
Elf Maiden of Loríen
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Post ìslensku (Old Norse) & Elvish
on: May 03, 2005 11:58
Hello,
I am Icelandic-American, and was wondering which of Tolkien's Elvish languages is closest to Icelandic (which has changed very little from the Old Norse that the Icelandic sagas where written in). Icelandic is very different from Finnish.

I know that Toliken's view on Elves is very similar to our mythology and so I am assuming that at least one of the languages would be as well, athough they may not bear any significant similarities at all.

Takk

~Mirimë~

[Edited on 4/5/2005 by ~Mirimë~]
SwissBoy
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Post RE: ìslensku (Old Norse) & Elvish
on: May 03, 2005 12:30
This is a tough question really. Islandic I believe is like Finnish, and Hungarian in that it is just there...in other words, it has no real true relative in language. The major grouping of languages for Europe are Germanic (English, Dutch, German Danish, Swedish and so forth), Romantic (French, Italian, Romanian...ect.), and Slavic (Russian, Polish Czech...ect.). Outside of these groups exists Greek, Finnish, and Hungarian, and Celtic.

I'd say though that Islandic is closer to the Germanic languages if that helps any. I'd say that Finnish would be closer to Islandic than celtic, and as such Quenya would be the answer to your question. I say that because Finnish definitally has no Celtic influence in how it evolved (as opposed to Germanic from which it had plenty)...and as Islandic comes from Norse, it is closer to Germanic languages. Hope this helps...I think I have been too long winded (I for one like Sindarin the most but that is just a personal preference)
Uialdil_i_degilbor
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Post RE: ìslensku (Old Norse) & Elvish
on: May 03, 2005 07:00
Icelandic is a Scandinavian language, a member of the Germanic language group of the Indo-European family. Icelandic is closely related to Danish, Swedish, Norwegian and Faeroese. Sindarin was based on Welsh, which is also a Celtic language. The Celtic languages are also Indo-European.

Quenya is based on Finnish, which is not an Indo-European, but is a member of the Finno-Ugric family of languages. It is not related to the Scandinavian languages at all, though it does have some Swedish loanwords.

Since Welsh and Icelandic are at least distantly related, I would say that Sindarin is closer to Icelandic. As far as phonology goes, the sounds of Sindarin shouldn't present much trouble to a speaker of Icelandic. In fact, the Icelandic letters þ and ð are the sounds of Sindarin th and dh, sounds that aren't very common in most European languages.
Naneth
Elvish 101 Moderator
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Post RE: ìslensku (Old Norse) & Elvish
on: May 03, 2005 07:46
In Letters 7, when applying for the Professorship of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford, Tolkien wrote: "After taking Classical Moderations in 1913 (in which I specialized in Greek philology), I graduated with first class honours in English in 1915, my special subject being Old Icelandic."

In Letters 15, when discussing The Hobbit, he wrote: "Old English and Icelandic literature are no more remote from human concerns, or difficult to acquire cheaply, than commercial Spanish (say). I have tried both. In any case – except for the runes (Anglo-Saxon) and the dwarf-names (Icelandic), neither used with antiquarian accuracy, and both regretfully substituted to avoid abstruseness for the genuine alphabets and names of the mythology into which Mr Baggins intrudes – I am afraid my professional knowledge is not directly used."

So maybe the Dwarves are most related to you !!

There's a nice article about the mythological roots of Middle-earth here:
http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:zAGZNlQZhV4J:www.amscan.org/tolkien.html+elvish+language+icelandic&hl=en

[Edited on 4/5/2005 by Naneth]
~Mirimë~
Elf Maiden of Loríen
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Post RE: ìslensku (Old Norse) & Elvish
on: May 03, 2005 10:20
Thanks, your advice (and the article) have been very helpful
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