The Encyclopedia of Arda - an interactive guide to the world of J.R.R. Tolkien
Dates
Emerged in the Silvan lands, founded at the time of the Great Journey; overtaken by Sindarin during the Second Age, and effectively extinct by the end of the Third Age
Location
Associated with the Silvan lands of Lórien and the Woodland Realm
Origins
A development of the speech of the Nandor with Sindarin influences
Species
Division
Cultures
Meaning
Silvan denotes 'woodland'

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 26 April 2021
  • This entry is complete

Silvan Elvish

The lost tongue of the Silvan realms

Sindarin
Nandorin
Various
Silvan
dialects

On the Great Journey of the Elves into the West, a part of the Elf-kin known as the Teleri broke away, and settled in the wooded lands east of the Misty Mountains. The language they spoke was an early form of Elvish, from which developed dialects known as Silvan Elvish, used both in Lórien and the Woodland Realm of Mirkwood.

The cousins of these Silvan Elves were the Sindar, also of Telerin origin, who settled far to the west in Beleriand, and whose speech evolved into Sindarin, which would become the main Elf-tongue of Middle-earth. After the First Age, the surviving Elves of Beleriand carried their speech back into the east. Sindarin-speakers settled in both the main Silvan realms, and in Lórien, at least, Sindarin quickly overtook Silvan Elvish in common use. The history of the tongue in Mirkwood is more difficult to determine - some sources suggest that it, too, was quickly overtaken by Sindarin, but other sources dispute this.

Whatever the historical situation in Mirkwood, Silvan Elvish was eventually overcome by the Sindarin speech, so that by the end of the Third Age, its only remnants were a few names, like Caras Galadhon or Amroth, that betray the influences of Silvan words. Those names aside, Silvan Elvish seems to have fallen completely out of use.


See also...

Elvish, Silvan Elves

Indexes:

About this entry:

  • Updated 26 April 2021
  • This entry is complete

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