About, sources and terms of use
What is this site?
Elvish Academy is a volunteer, non-commercial educational environment that aims to teach the Elvish languages invented by J.R.R. Tolkien — Quenya (High-elven) and Sindarin (Grey-elven) — as well as the Tengwar and Cirth scripts, in 50 languages.
This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Tolkien Estate, the Tolkien Trust, HarperCollins, Middle-earth Enterprises, Warner Bros. or Amazon. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings and related names are trademarks of their respective owners.
An honest warning: what we call Elvish
Tolkien never finished these languages: he changed them constantly from the 1910s until 1973, and he himself wrote that the vocabulary and idioms were incomplete. Anyone who builds a new sentence in Elvish today fills the gaps on the basis of Tolkien's rules. This is called Neo-Elvish (Neo-Quenya, Neo-Sindarin).
That is why every word and phrase on this site is labelled:
Tolkien A form attested in Tolkien's writings.
Derived A form derived or reconstructed from Tolkien's rules and roots.
Neo A form not by Tolkien: a fan invention, from a film or TV series, or a course choice.
Disputed Low-confidence form: one Tolkien was unsure of, or that is not recommended.
In the grammar explanations, too, disputed points are marked as community opinion; we do not claim a single, definitive correct Elvish.
Copyright and content policy
- The lesson texts, explanations and exercises were written originally for this site and adapted to each language.
- Only short quotations from Tolkien's works (a sentence or a few lines) are used, for educational purposes and with the source given. Poems and texts are never published in full.
- The dictionary data is largely based on the information in Eldamo (Paul Strack, CC BY 4.0) and has been translated for this site.
- No film stills, Tolkien drawings or Tolkien calligraphy are used.
- Tengwar font: Alcarin Tengwar © Toshi Omagari, SIL Open Font License 1.1 — hosted locally on the site. The Cirth letters are SVGs drawn for the site.
- Every removal request from rights holders is reviewed promptly: choose the Copyright / removal request type in the form below.
Privacy
This app sends no data outside: no e-mail, push notifications, ads, analytics, external fonts or CDNs are used. The e-mail address you give when registering is stored only to identify your account and is shared with no one. The Tengwar transcriber, the tools and the Elvish name generator run entirely in your browser.
Main sources
Links are deliberately given as plain text; this app never sends requests to any external site.
Tolkien's works (primary sources and abbreviations)
| Abbreviation | Work | What for? |
|---|---|---|
| LotR | The Lord of the Rings (Appendices D, E, F) | Namárië, A Elbereth, the Moria Gate, pronunciation and writing rules |
| RGEO | The Road Goes Ever On (1967) | Tolkien's own word-by-word translations, stress marks |
| Letters | The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien | Philosophy of language, explanations of names |
| Silm / UT | The Silmarillion, Unfinished Tales | Name roots, the Oath of Cirion |
| Ety | The Etymologies (The Lost Road) | Middle-period root dictionary (Noldorin, not Sindarin) |
| WJ / PM | The War of the Jewels, The Peoples of Middle-earth | Names of peoples, the Shibboleth of Fëanor, the calendar |
| VT / PE | Vinyar Tengwar, Parma Eldalamberon (Elvish Linguistic Fellowship) | Tolkien's published linguistic papers |
| NM | The Nature of Middle-earth (2021) | Late-period new words |
Reference works and courses
- Eldamo — Paul Strack, Elvish Data Model, Introductory Quenya (eldamo.org) — CC BY 4.0
- Ardalambion — Helge K. Fauskanger (ardalambion.org)
- Pedin Edhellen — Thorsten Renk (sindarin.de)
- David Salo, A Gateway to Sindarin (University of Utah Press, 2004)
- Fiona Jallings, A Fan's Guide to Neo-Sindarin (2017)
- Carl F. Hostetter, "Elvish as She Is Spoke" (2006); Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (elvish.org)
- Måns Björkman, Amanye Tenceli; Arno Gourdol, Tecendil — Tengwar
- Tolkien Gateway (tolkiengateway.net)
Turkish-language resources
- Yüzüklerin Efendisi, çev. Çiğdem Erkal İpek, Bülent Somay (Metis, 1996–98)
- Silmarillion, çev. Serap Erincin & Hakan Aytutucu (Altıkırkbeş, 2001); çev. Berna Akkıyal (İthaki)
- Zafer Güleç, Tolkien Dilleri Sözlüğü (2021)