This class is intended for those wishing to develop a good working knowledge of Sindarin. It is a conversational course and will not delve into the hardcore linguistics studies that many brilliant Tolkien scholars have done substantial research in. Hopefully, by the time you're through here, you'll be able to greet your friends with a hearty Mae Govannen and part ways with a heartfelt Navaer!

Let me first acknowledge that I am not an elvish expert-- I am a linguist with a strong background in Romance and Celtic languages, but do not profess to know more about Elvish than what I am presenting here. For this reason I am not available to do translations, and I have placed within the lessons plenty of links to those with far more knowledge than myself. Two sources I will rely on heavily are Ardalambion and The Council of Elrond.

That said, let me welcome all who would study here. Please feel free to ask me any questions you may have. It's my hope that all of us involved in Sindarin study can get to be better friends through this!

External History

Tolkien created languages from his youth; from a fun nonsense tongue called animalic to the highly evolved Sindarin and Quenya languages, his interest in linguistics remains one of the most intriguing aspects of his work. Sindarin is the end result of years of experimentation and mutation. Richard Derdzinski believes it was created partly to explain the non Quenya-sounding place names in Beleriand, although its existence is also in harmony with the fact that language is a constantly changing thing. None of the languages Tolkien devised for Middle-Earth were without a credible history that legitimized their existence. For him, there was no such thing as creating a tongue ex nihilo.

By 1915, Tolkien had created a Qenya Lexicon (it would be spelled Quenya later on) and in 1917 he invented a cognate language based on Celtic that he called Gnomish or I Lam na Ngoldathon ("Tongue of the Gnomes"). This would later become Sindarin, but not yet. After a few decades and heavy influence by Welsh phonology and Finnish grammar, Gnomish was known as Noldorin. So at this time, the language was originally intended for the Noldor, and the elves of Beleriand spoke a language called Ilkorin. However, he revised all of this, and the result works much better for assembling a believable history, both linguistically and culturally. The Noldor were given a dialect of Quenya, which made more sense because they lived among Quenya speakers until the exile, and Noldorin was given to the elves of Beleriand and re-named Sindarin. Ilkorin then disappeared. But it's possible that Ilkorin wasn't entirely scrapped; a few names from Ilkorin word lists that don't sound the least bit Sindarin pop up in The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. So it is likely that, while Ilkorin was displaced, it possibly remained in the background as a lesser-known northern tongue in Beleriand, with a few words surviving in Classical Sindarin.

The brief version:
Gnomish (not known for whom it was intended) -> Noldorin (Intended for the Noldor) -> Sindarin (For the Elves of Beleriand).

Internal History

When the elves first awoke at Cuiviénen, they were the first speaking creatures in Middle-Earth. The name they gave themselves "Quendi" means "speakers." All elves at this time spoke a language that is now generally referred to as Primitive Quendian. On beginning the Great March across Beleriand, the elves divided themselves into three tribes; the Noldor, the Vanyar, and the Teleri. Those that remained behind, the Avari ("unwilling") were lost, and nothing is known of what language they had. The Quenya spoken among the Noldor, Vanyar and Teleri varied by tribe, but remained mutually intelligible for some time. The major divergence in elvish language comes when part of the Teleri chose to remain in Beleriand, and the rest of the elves went to Valinor. The Calaquendi ("Elves of the Light") that went to Valinor continued with three languages: Noldorin Quenya, Vanyarin Quenya, and the Valinor dialect of Telerin. The Teleri of Beleriand or Moriquendi ("Elves of the Darkness") evolved their own Beleriand-dialect of Telerin which Tolkien referred to as Archaic Sindarin.

As the Moriquendi spread, those elves who traveled northward (called the Mithrim because of the gray mists of the north) developed three dialects of true Sindarin-- North Sindarin, spoken in the forests of the very northernmost world, Western Sindarin, spoken by the Mithrim who lived near the sea, and Doriath Sindarin, spoken by Thingol and his people.

A critical event that cemented Sindarin as the lingua franca of Middle-Earth was Thingol's learning of the kinslaying at Valinor. A very thorough account is found in the Silmarillion, but for our purposes we'll just say that the Noldor behaved very badly, slaughtered a lot of Teleri, stole their boats, and came back to Middle-Earth. Because of this treachery, Thingol prohibited the use of Quenya in his realm and forbade any Noldorin elf to enter. The isolation of Thingol's people, aided by the Girdle of Melian, combined with this decree, definitely aided in the development of Sindarin as a markedly different language. By the time the Sindar and Noldor were on speaking terms again, they couldn't understand each other. Thus Quenya became the high-elven tongue of lore and legend, a sort of elvish Latin if you will, and Sindarin became the language that everybody actually used to communicate.

After the ruin of Beleriand, Sindarin speakers aggregated and by the fourth century of the First Age, the language known as Classical Sindarin had been established. This language continued, and was still in use in the Third Age, during the time of the War of the Ring. Whether there were differences in dialect by that time is unknown. It is very likely that Legolas' Sindarin of the Mirkwood is a different dialect from that spoken by Elrond at Rivendell or Galadriel at Lothlórien, but as it is never mentioned the differences would have to be slight, if noticeable at all. Most of the elvish found in LOTR is Sindarin, with a few songs and incantations in Quenya.

So, the brief version:
Primitive Quendian -> Telerin Quenya -> Telerin of Beleriand -> Archaic Sindarin -> Various Sindarin dialects -> Sindarin of the Third Age.

Sources
Language development chart
Wikipedia
Ardalambion

Pronunciation

As in any language, there are two kinds of sounds, voiced and voiceless. You already know the difference between the two- pronounce the letter p and then b. There is nothing different between the way the letters are formed- it's just that you involve your vocal cords in the b and you use only breath for the p.

It may seem strange that I pointed this out right away, but it will make more sense in a moment. Pronunciation in Elvish is very important, as euphony (beauty of sound) was one of Tolkien's main goals in devising a language for the Elves. About two-thirds of Elvish letters are in voiced and unvoiced pairs. Tolkien wanted us to notice this, because if you will look at the Elvish alphabet, these pairs are coupled even in writing. If you really want to get into this, a basic knowledge of phonetics is going to be necessary, but I'll try to keep it simple.

The important thing to remember is that when speaking Elvish, the point is to sound great. Sounds should always be softened and never brusque. Elves should not sound like they are coughing up loogies when they speak.

We arrived at the theater at 11 p.m., eagerly lining up with the other freaks and geeks. A few showed up in capes with tinfoil swords (I assume actual swords are not allowed in movie theaters, or they just didn't have the money to fork out for an actual replica of Sting), and one young man was very attractively dressed as an ent using what appeared to be trimmings from his Christmas Tree.

You could practically smell the tension and drama in the room. Or perhaps that was just the scent of 500 people so excited and tensed up for this cathartic moment that they just all simultaneously broke into sweat.

In hindsight, I must have broken my boyfriend's hand a few times, I was squeezing it so tight, but hopefully he'll recover. I must say having him next to me made the experience perfect. Enjoying something you love with someone you love dearly makes the experience all the sweeter.

In fairness, I will post no spoilers, in the unlikely event that someone stumbles across this and reads it before seeing the film. But know that, since you missed the 12:01 a.m. showing, you may have missed out on a movie experience that gives you all of the tension, anguish, joy and agony that only a trip to the movies with the die hard fans can yield.

Ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen,
Ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind,
yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron!
long years numberless as the wings of trees!
Yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier
The long years have passed like swift draughts
mi oromardi lissë-miruvóreva
of the sweet mead in lofty halls
Andúnë pella, Vardo tellumar
beyond the West, beneath the blue vaults of Varda
nu luini yassen tintilar i eleni
wherein the stars tremble
ómaryo airetári-lírinen.
in the voice of her song, holy and queenly.

Sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?
Who now shall refill the cup for me?