Currently being updated (it will probably take me a couple of days to finish it!) I am now adding item numbers to make these easier to refer to. You can jump down to some new items, but many updates have been added throughout the file.
New items added in May 2002
New items added in August 2002
This list is intended to give people an idea of how much additional information is still unpublished about Tolkien's invented languages, such as Sindarin and Quenya, and the alphabets. In addition, some material has been published in such obscure or out of print journals that it is not widely known, so I have included descriptions of that material so that those who are interested may make arrangements to order copies. This is meant especially for the assistance of the international community of Elvish linguists. You are assumed to know something about Elvish linguistics if you are on this site, and therefore you are expected to be familiar with the commercially published texts by or about Tolkien, especially those edited by Christopher Tolkien. However, here is a Linguistic Bibliography of Tolkien's Works including notes on the particular relevance of each work to scholarship in the field of Elvish linguistics and alphabets. (Note: The spelling Qenya (with no -u-) is used for the early form of the Quenya language.)
This list is based on the one in Tyalie Tyelellieva No. 12, published in April 1998. It has been updated, but is still nowhere near complete for two reasons. One is that the Elfconners refuse to provide a list of the material they have, but since they have often shown the material to various people, we can describe some of it. The second reason is that a great deal of material is known from Marquette University but much of this has been published in the History of Middle-Earth (HoMe) series, though not all.
The current status of these materials is given at the end of the entry: "published" gives the name of the publication; "privately circulated" means that many people have copies of it, but it is not yet published. If no disposition is given then it is unavailable at this time. The publications are identified using abbreviations: PE means Parma Eldalamberon; TT means Tyalie Tyelellieva and VT means Vinyar Tengwar. There is a list of these and other publications with contact information at the end of this file.
This survey is part of an ongoing study to catalogue Tolkien's texts on his languages and alphabets. In the future, I hope to publish a catalogue of Tolkien's material in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. A detailed catalogue of Tolkien's texts at Marquette University is being published in installments in Tyalie Tyelellieva (and will be put up on the internet when it is finished).
§1. Etymology of the word athelas, reported on the usenets by William Cloud Hicklin based on information sent to him in a letter from Christopher Tolkien. One of these messages was reprinted in Tyalie Tyelellieva, No. 15:31. Both messages are archived on Google and can be accessed through the Google Usenet Archive search engine, or directly through this link and this link.
§2. Merin Sentence. This sentence in Quenya has appeared several places both in print and electronic media. It was published with analysis in TT 14:32-35. It also appears on the TolkLang list at Message 34.99, a review by Helge Fauskanger, Message 35.02, and there is a report on it at Ales Bican's website E.L.M..
§3. A note on sound changes in Quenya and Sindarin, rejected from LotR Appendix E. Most of this was published by Bill Welden on the Internet, as Message 14.56 on the TolkLang list. It is probably from Marquette, but I have never seen the original source.
§4. Etymologies was published in the Lost Road, however certain parts are missing, such as the words associated with the root KHAM-. In addition there appear to be numerous spelling errors (no doubt due to the difficulty of the text, written in at least 8 different languages). An incomplete list of these doubtful spellings is available on Helge Fauskanger's site at Ardalambion, Errors in Etymologies. Etymologies is apparently being privately circulated since there are reports of independent readings of some pages, however, I do not have a copy of it.
§5. Qenyaqetsa, or the [Complete] Qenya Lexicon, is a huge, very early vocabulary of Quenya-English words (described by Christopher Tolkien in Lost Tales I, p. 246 and partly published in the Appendices to Lost Tales, books I and II). This was published as Parma Eldalamberon No. 12, edited by Chris Gilson, and in addition this issue of PE includes the complete Poetical and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (see §32 below), as well as an incomplete study of an early phonology. The vocabulary of this form of Qenya may be too early to interest some people, but I think it's fabulous, displaying Tolkien's early interest in magic and fantasy. By the way, there was a small illustration of an heraldic shield on the cover of this manuscript which Carl showed me. It is unfortunate that it was not included in publication, though I am very glad for what they did publish. A little drawing of the shield (drawn from memory) was published in TT17. This issue of Parma Eldalamberon is out of print, and one of the Elfconners, Bill Welden, has said (Message 10246 on Elfling) that there are no plans to reprint it, so if you want to obtain a copy, you might want to check with Marquette University which archives it and can provide you with a copy for the cost of printing and posting, I believe.
§6. I-Lam na-Ngoldathon, or the [Complete] Gnomish Lexicon, is a huge, very early vocabulary of Gnomish-English words (described by Christopher Tolkien in Lost Tales I, p. 247, and partly published in the Appendices to the Lost Tales, books I and II). Gnomish is a very early form of a language related to Sindarin, but it is actually much closer to the Ilkorin dialects, and is so different from Sindarin that it can hardly be related to the later Sindarin of the Lord of the Rings. It probably wouldn't be of interest to most language aficionados, except the truly fannish (like me). Published, along with a "Gnomish Grammar" (actually just the noun and definite article declensions) as Parma Eldalamberon No. 11, edited by Chris Gilson; and most definitely not in print at this time.
§7, Taliska; §8, Mørk; and §9, Hvendi are three Germanic-type languages invented by Tolkien on the basis of Gothic, Old English (Mercian dialect) and Old Norse, respectively (see the Biography, p. 37 where it is reported that Tolkien "began to invent `extra' Gothic words"). Each language is described in a collection of papers about an inch thick. A more complete description of them, including references was published in TT 6:28-29, in 1995. These are the languages which were spoken by mortals in Middle-earth until Tolkien changed his mind and invented a Semitic-type language (i.e. Adunaic) for them to speak. Complete grammars and dictionaries of these languages are mentioned by Christopher Tolkien; Carl Hostetter has prepared an Historical Grammar of Taliska and a Taliska Dictionary which were presented at the 1993 Elfcon but the languages have not otherwise been published, and were not made available, as promised, to those who had participated in earlier Elfcons.
What's an Elfcon you may ask? It's a Con(vention) of E(lvish) L(inguistic) F(ellows) who were at one time invited to participate in a group project to analyse and publish grammars, dictionaries, paleographical studies and the like of Tolkien's invented languages and alphabets. Participants were invited to provide their research in exchange for copies of the researches of others (and pay for the privilege). However, most of the people who participated never received copies of the publications, and the "cabal" that ran it became very secretive and accusatory. Current Elfcon members are Chris Gilson, Carl Hostetter, Arden Smith, Bill Welden and Pat Wynne (which is why they are referred to as Elfconners, a name coined by Pat Wynne). Other participants at various times included me (Lisa Star), Nancy Martsch, Leonid Korablev, Corwyn Benedikt, Paul Nolan Hyde, Tom Loback, Jorge Quinonez, and possibly others, but we have all dropped out.
§10, Lord's Prayer and §11, Hail Mary in Quenya and two other texts§12, §13, constituting one page of Tolkien's own compositions in Quenya, shown to me by Carl Hostetter in approximately June of 1994, as described in TT 6 and TT 12 (which don't include the text, however). The Lord's Prayer and Hail Mary texts have been published in Tyalie Tyelellieva No. 18, as of December 2001. Update: Some additional prayers have been published, see the new items near the end of this file.
Material which Carl Hostetter showed to David Salo, (described in TolkLang message 21.05) includes:
Other material described in message 21.05 includes a large brown accordion folder (one of ten or more such folders) marked Quenya F, with a several inches-thick sheaf of papers, which consisted of a number of short pieces, five to twenty pages in length. Among them are:
§21. Excluded part of Quendi and Eldar, App. D. This was described in WJ:359, when it was left out of the HoMe series by Christopher Tolkien. The report that Christopher Tolkien had sent this to Carl Hostetter for publication came within two weeks of when TT No. 12, reporting interest in these texts, was mailed to Christopher Tolkien (April 1998). It was actually published in VT 39, July 1998, so I guess they can move fairly quickly when Christopher Tolkien tells them to.
§22. Ósanwe-kenta, or Communication of Thought, mentioned by Christopher Tolkien in MR:415, published, amazingly enough in VT 39, July 1998, again by request apparently.
Additional material published in Vinyar Tengwar since 1998 includes:
§23. Noldorin words on language, text by JRRT, published in VT 39, July 1998
§24. Etymological notes on Ósanwe-kenta, text by JRRT, published in VT 41, July 2000.
§25. from the Shibboleth of Feanor, text by JRRT, published in VT 41, July 2000.
§26. Notes on Ore, text by JRRT, published in VT 41, July 2000.
§27. Etymology of Eriador, quotations from text by JRRT, published in VT 42, July 2001.
§28. Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor, text by JRRT, published in VT 42, July 2001.
According to Carl Hostetter, the Elfconners copied some 300 pages of linguistic material at the Bodleian Library in 1992 or so. It is impossible to know exactly what this is because they refuse to tell. However things found in the Bodley include:
§29. Bodleian noun declension, for Quenya, published in VT 28, March 1993.
§30. Noldorin phonology, described by Carl Hostetter and possibly the same as that described on page TI:456, still not published.
§31. Quenya verb information, in MS Tolkien Drawing 91, 41v, described in VT 32:7, dated 1993 where they said it would be published in an "upcoming" issue. Carl Hostetter quoted from it when he explained how he had used this unpublished information in the production of his and Pat Wynne's own translation of the Lord's Prayer into Quenya. He gave one example of a verb form and provided this information which is quoted from VT32:7:
§32. Poetical and Mythological Words of Eldarissa, text in Lost Tales materials at the Bodleian, MS. Tolkien S1(xii) fol. 2r. according to VT 28:31-32 and VT 30:21. Published as part of the Qenyaqetsa, in Parma Eldalamberon No. 12. This list is nearly identical to the list of words in the QQ but has some interesting variations.
§33. Name-list to the Fall of Gondolin, described and quoted from in Lost Tales, but only part of it was quoted in publication.
§34. Valar Name-list, described and quoted from in Lost Tales I p. 93, but only part of it was quoted in publications.
§35. Leeds Grammar, an early grammar of Quenya (or Qenya), mentioned in the introduction to the Qenyaqetsa, p. xvii. This is said to be a typescript of some 15 pages, according to Carl Hostetter in private email.
§36. Bodleian Phonologies (several sets) specifically these are lists of relationships between the sounds of several Eldarin languages, privately circulated.
§37. Bodleian Pronoun Declension for Quenya, privately circulated.
§38. Alphabet of Rúmil--This was actually used by Tolkien for many years in his private diaries which are in the Bodleian. An analysis of the alphabet, as it was used for writing English was published by Arden Smith, as the "Turin Prose Fragment" in VT 37, Dec. 1995, two years after it was presented at an Elfcon. (Some examples of the Rúmilian alphabet appear in the artwork at the top of this webpage.) Also, there is an analysis of it on the Amanya Tenceli page on Mans Bjorkman's Site (click on Sarati) which gives most of the information that you would want anyway, plus a software font called Tirion Sarati. (New information about the Alphabet of Rúmil has been published in Parma Eldalamberon 13, for which there is a brief description near the end of this file.)
§39. Doriathrin Sound Changes, mentioned by Taum Santoski in an article in PE 10:3. These are described as a "manuscript leaf bearing vowel changes for Doriathrin though several historical periods" in the Bodleian Library. After Taum Santoski died, his papers are said to have been given to Chris Gilson (hence the subsequent publication of the wordlists of the Ilkorin dialects in PE 10 in 1994). This has not been published.
§40. Narqelion versions (the poem Narqelion first appears in four lines badly transcribed by Humphrey Carpenter in his biography of Tolkien, p. 76.) This very early poem is written in the Qenya of the Lexicons.
§43. Noldorin Text of "Five feet high the door" from Thror's map was first published in PE 6 in a letter by Rhona Beare, who had the wit to copy it off a map on display at the Bodleian. This was reprinted (text only) in VT 7:7. It has also been discussed on the TolkLang list, and it was also published in Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator.
§44. Runes of Gondolin: These are the runes in which the swords of Gandalf and Thorin would have been inscribed. I believe this material was given to Paul Nolan Hyde by Christopher Tolkien and might be at the Bodleian. Published in Mythlore Issue 69, in the summer of 1992, with an analysis by Paul Nolan Hyde. There is also a very brief analysis of them with a chart, on this website, see the Runes of Gondolin.
The material at the Bodleian seems to be growing as Christopher Tolkien deposits materials there after he has finished publishing all that he wishes to publish of them. In addition, part of a collection of material that was once at the University of Liege has been moved to the Bodleian, including many private letters. Warning: The Bodleian Library is reported to have confirmed permission for scholars to study Tolkien's papers at the library, only to abruptly withdraw permission upon their arrival, wasting their time and travel expenses. For what it's worth, here is their website.
The Marquette Notes constitute any substantial collection of material that has been copied from the archives at Marquette University Library in Milwaukee where there is a collection of Tolkien's original papers. There are three collections of such "Marquette Notes" circulating. The material may be divided into "earlier material" which has been available since Tolkien sold his manuscripts to Marquette beginning in 1957. This "earlier material" has been privately circulated for years in two forms, a collection provided by Jim Allan, known as the "Report from Marquette" §45; and a collection provided by Carl Hostetter, §46. There seems to be some overlap between these two sets. The material was published by Paul Nolan Hyde, but enquiries have gone unanswered.
The third set of Marquette Notes (§47), is based on the "later material" which has been provided to the University in installments by Christopher Tolkien as he finished those volumes of the HoMe Series which related to the Lord of the Rings. Much of this material has been published in the HoMe series, but much of it was passed over, and remains available only through private circulation or through obscure journals. The "later material" is being privately circulated or otherwise made available to interested scholars. I list some of the highlights of all three collections here:
§48. The poem Namárie in variant versions, some published in TT 12:9-27 in an analysis of the development of the poem by David Salo. There is a survey of the variant versions of Namárie in TT 12:28-30 listing some 15 forms, including one published in the Bodleian Catalogue.
§49. Heru i Million `Lord of the Rings' phrase was published in TT 1:13-14. The artwork (Tolkien's original tengwar inscription) can be seen in a small catalogue of the holdings, which is available from the Marquette Library Archives for $2.
§50. Asea aranaite `kingsfoil, athelas,' phrase published in TT 5:25.
§51. Numenian or Westron Mode, alphabet of Feanor, giving the names of the tengwar (apparently for a Germanic language), privately circulated. This is in the original Report from Marquette provided by Jim Allan and widely circulated.
§52. Long Entu Declension, (a declension of relative or demonstrative pronouns in Q) published in VT 36:cover and pages 7-29, July 1994, also privately circulated. This is probably part of the Marquette Grammar, see below (§57-60).
§53. The Koivienéni Sentence, also known from Marquette, published in VT 14:5-20, Nov 1990.
§54. Orc Curses. There is one curse with three different translations. One translation of the orc curse was published in VT 26:17. There are two others, one known from Marquette. I think these have both been published now, in the HoMe series.
§55. The Two Trees Sentence and additional phonological notes, published in VT 27:7, Jan. 1993, also known from Marquette. (On the verso, Legolas speaks to the horses in a rejected bit from the chapter White Rider--this was also published in VT 27.)
§56. The King's Letter, a substantial text in Sindarin and English, artwork in tengwar, in three versions. I think these have all now been published several places: such as Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator (for the artwork) and VT 29, May 1993, and VT 31, September 1993 for both text and artwork, as well as the HoMe series for the texts. These were privately circulated for years; they are on display in glass cases at Marquette. There is also the beginning of the King's Letter in a translation into Quenya, see §X.
Marquette Grammar, (in pieces, in early Quenya, this should probably also include §52) giving:
§61. Marquette Phonology, a chart of the relationships of various sounds in Quenya, Telerin, Noldorin, Ilkorin and Danian, privately circulated.
§62. Sóval Pháre, a substantial amount of information (some 15 pages) related to the "true" language of men and hobbits, especially the grammar and phonology, privately circulated. There is actually quite a collection of miscellaneous scribblings, including words in Rohanese and the language of Dale, but I group together here all the material related to the language Sóval Pháre under this one item number for convenience sake. A grammar, produced from the analysis of this material, was published in Tyalië Tyelelliéva No. 17.
§63. Essay on Lindarin, giving the root of various words for `dream' or `cleave' (not `deam' as it appears in some transcriptions), privately circulated.
§64. Boffin and §65. Bolger Family Trees, privately circulated for years, but published in Peoples of Middle-earth. (Curiously enough, the counting story of the waking of the elves was also privately circulated for years before it was published.)
§66. Planet Names, known from an article by Jorge Quinonez and Ned Ragget published in VT 12:5-15. This information is from material at Marquette, however there is an additional set of planet names §67, where it appears that Mars may have been called Kelmdor, which I interpret as "land of canals" though I'm not sure what language it would be in (possibly Telerin--some of the other constellation names fit with Telerin phonology).
Additional small but fascinating snippets of calligraphy relating to alphabets and numerals, as well as other phrases, names and materials are known from Marquette but not yet published. As noted above, a survey of material at Marquette is being published as a series of articles in Tyalie Tyelellieva (see TT 15:34-38, TT 16:29-31, TT 17:33-35 and continuing in TT 19). The current focus is on the fourth installment of material sent by Christopher Tolkien because it is mostly related to the publication of the Peoples of Middle-earth, which has a strong emphasis on linguistic matters.
Note about access to Marquette: Interested scholars are said to be permitted to visit the Archives at Marquette University Library in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Access may be granted to microfilm material or photocopies, while the originals themselves may be reserved to protect them from damage by handling. I found the staff there very helpful and professional. Here is a link to Marquette Library.
§68. Kloczko tengwar; a tengwar chart giving an early form of the tengwar with a distinct tyelpetema series of letters, including their names in Quenya. This was provided to Edouard Kloczko by Christopher Tolkien and published on the cover of VT 8.
§69. Plotz (noun) Declension, giving cases of both -r plural and -i plural nouns in Quenya. Sent to Richard Plotz by JRRT in 1967 or so. Published many places including Beyond Bree, the Basic Quenya Language Lessons by Nancy Martsch, Vinyar Tengwar (VT 6:13-14 and again VT 11:7), the 1992 Mythpoeic Society Convention handbook and several other places; also privately circulated.
§70. Book of Mazarbul, in variant forms. This consists of both artwork in runes or tengwar and text in the English language. I'm afraid the textual situation here is a bit of a mess and desperately needs clarifying. There are at least two sets of three pages each, at Marquette and elsewhere. Various versions have been published various places, artwork in Pictures by J.R.R.T and artwork in Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, with transcriptions in LotR and the HoMe series. A more complete transcription of one set of pages I-III was provided by Edouard Kloczko and published in TT 13:27-29.
§71. Collection of poems by Tolkien in variant forms (in English), privately circulated. All of these are known from published sources, though not, perhaps, every variant.
§72. part of a Sindarin Verb Conjugation, previously published and privately circulated.
§73. CB Grammar (of Quenya). The source of this document is unknown, although unreliable sources report this to be from the Bodley; it comes to us from the Elfconners. It may be that this is a collection of individual pages from a variety of times and sources, roughly middle to late Quenya grammar. I give the first (and sometimes second) line of each page, so that if anyone knows the source of these texts, they may be able to identify them.
page 1, essentially the Plotz declension (a noun declension)
first line: CASES
[The Plotz noun declension, though not this exact version, has been published many places, see above §69.]
page 2, disjunctive forms of pronouns
first line: DISJUNCTIVE FORMS
Sg. 1. inya ni nye,
ne I, me
page 3, possessive pronouns and comparison of adjectives and
adverbs
first line: Possessive Pronouns
-(i)nya my
[part of the information about the
comparison of adjectives was published in TT 16:23-28; see also Bill Welden's rather confused article in a recent issue of VT, written in response to this article.]
page 4, continuation of the comparison of adjectives and adverbs
from the previous page
first line: -lda, it is; la,(before) Malda muntar (better than nothing)
page 5, verb tenses
first line: VERB TENSES
Kare (to make)
page 6, aorist and imperfect of TULE and TULA `to come'
first line: TULE (to come) aorist
page 7, a list of verbs giving the present, past and present
perfect of each
first line: QUENTFOA
page 8, continuation of the last page
first line: Pise (to spit)
pitte alaptie, ipíste
page 9, conjunctive pronoun forms
first line: Proclitic Enclitic
Agglutinated
page 10, conjunctive forms (of pronouns) given with the verb
kare
first line: Proclitic
page 11, continuation of the last page
first line: Enclitic
page 12, Agglutination
first line: S. Sub: kare Pl.
Sub. karir Dual Sub: kare or karit
This grammar is being privately circulated except as noted
above.
§74. A Fëanorian Tengwar mode for Gothic and Taliska was edited and presented by Arden Smith at the 1994 Elfcon, according to VT35:7, but nothing further is known of this.
§75. Index Notes for the Lord of the Rings. This has still not been published by Christopher Tolkien, although he has (as I understand it) now finished with the History of Middle-earth series. It is the last likely place that we might expect to find some additional information about Dwarvish, see below. This is probably the same as the "index of names...which by etymological interpretation would provide quite a large Elvish vocabulary" according to JRRT, and which "has been preserved" according to Christopher Tolkien (UT:12).
§76. Dwarvish grammar and phonology. Well, we hope this still exists since Dwarvish is one of the most widely beloved of Tolkien's invented languages. This might be what is referred to as "notes written years later" about Dwarvish on p. 466 RS; see also PM 300 where Tolkien says that Dwarvish is "sketched in some detail of structure".
§77. Tolkien's own invented "tengwar" numerals, published in a "Special Issue" of Quettar, copyrighted 1981. This information was
sent by Christopher Tolkien to Julian Bradfield or some other editor, but other than that, we don't know where it came from. There is also a pdf file A page of PostScript on the TolkLang website, but many people
cannot access that. The numerals have been so widely used that you can probably figure them out since they appear in the Moroma font and in Dan Smith's tengwar fonts, but that does not constitute complete information. Also, there is more information about the use of numerals in Marquette §78, (privately circulated), and this will hopefully be published soon. I have recently added a page giving a very brief explanation of their form and use, here.
§79. Tolkien's draft for Lowdham's Report with Adunaic was being edited by Pat Wynne for publication, according to Carl Hostetter VT27:3 and VT27:6. Pat Wynne presented a 36 page report on Early Adunaic Texts of J.R.R.Tolkien at the 1993 Elfcon and it should include additional information about the verb forms, but apparently this publication has been suppressed.
§80. Private letter to Richard Jeffries. This was mostly published in Letters, but the privately circulated copy contains some slight additional information on Sindarin verbs and the correct forms of telepe `silver'.
§81. Tolkien's unfinished Morte d'Arthur. The text was described in Carpenter's Biography, p. 168-9. In a letter published in Legolas No. 5, April 1993, Christopher Tolkien said that he planned to publish this but we hear nothing about that now. Update: This appears to be the text that was reported to have been in preparation for publication by Verlyn Flieger until Christopher Tolkien abruptly cancelled the project. The rather bizarre circumstances of this matter are more or less confirmed by Carl Hostetter's comments on Elfling and by the title (but not the subject!) of an article by Verlyn Flieger in Mythlore.
§82. Völsungakvida in nyja "The New Lay of the Volsungs." This is reported to be Tolkien's solution to the problem of the "lacunae" in the Rigsthula in the Elder Edda.
§83. The Ulsterior Motive. This is Tolkien's discursive essay written in response to the posthumous publication of C. S. Lewis' Letters to Malcolm. This appears to be suppressed based on the extreme paranoia on the part of certain parties about Tolkien's religious interests (gasp! he was Catholic. gasp! he sometimes had thoughts!)
§84. The Bovadium Fragments, Tolkien's unpublished satire which is associated with A. D. Godley's poem "motor bus" according to Tolkien Collector 1:4
§85. Lay of Aotrou and Itroun, published in the Welsh Review, Vol. IV, No. 4 Dec. 1945. It is a pity this cannot be republished so that it would be more widely available, since it is very highly regarded by all who have read it.
§86. Songs of the Philologists, Tolkien's own fanzine published in the days of youthful folly includes several poems in dead languages by him and his friends. Four of them were published in Tom Shippey's excellent work The Road to Middle-earth with Shippey's own modern English translations. Otherwise this is known from privately circulated photocopies.
§87. Mythopoiea, is in my opinion the best poem Tolkien ever wrote. As far as I know this was only published in certain editions of Tree and Leaf. Update: It was republished in 1999 in an edition of Tree and Leaf in England (only) I think it ought to be published in every anthology of English poetry in existence, and maybe if the Estate lackeys weren't so intent on trashing everyone who ever showed a literary (as opposed to monetary) interest in Tolkien's work, it would be more widely known and Tolkien would receive the respect he deserves, not only among fans but also among academics, for being the best writer of the twentieth century.
Parma Eldalamberon 13 has been published (as of January 2002, I believe). Pocket Review: This issue has two sections, the first a collection of alternative forms of the alphabet of Rúmil (collectively §88), which is clearly an earlier form of the tengwar alphabet. This material is edited by Arden Smith and is very clearly presented. The second section (which I am grouping together as §89) is a collection of odd fragments of early lexicographic material and some grammatical paradigms edited by three of the other Elfconners, listed as Chris Gilson, Carl Hostetter and Pat Wynne. It consists mostly of material from the early Gnomish or intermediate Noldorin languages but with some words in the vocabulary of other languages, including an early version of Old Noldorin, Telerin and Quenya. This material is probably not of great interest to someone who is most interested in the more refined forms of Tolkien's languages which appear in the Lord of the Rings, however, it is of great interest to those scholars who like the early material. Information on where to order it is at the bottom of this page.
Vinyar Tengwar 43 was published, also in January of 2002. This consists of an edition of several versions of the Lord's Prayer (see §X above) with a sort of analysis of the texts, and several versions of the Hail Mary (see §X above) with a sort of analysis.
§91. A new phrase has been posted by Helge Fauskanger on the Elfling list, which really only includes one new word lyenna `to thee' (being a polite or reverential form). He describes the circumstances and gives the phrase Elfling message 14958.
More items which have turned up by August 2002
[I'm still working on these, please have patience while I look up the correct references :-)]
§92. T:A&I, inscription on the back of the Doors of Moria. This actually was published some time ago, and appears in digitally enhanced form in TT, but I overlooked it in making this list.
§93. There is the beginning of the King's Letter in a translation into Quenya (which more or less confirms the use of Q. va for `or': the form given actually appears to be ve.).
More prayers in VT. The artwork (Tolkien's calligraphy in the roman alphabet) is printed for some of version(s) of these.
Items at Sotheby's. Check these links (which will disappear soon, so if you need to, save a copy or whatever).
§101. Letters at Christie's
With respect to the issue of making all this material available for scholarly study, there is not much good to report although things have improved a little in the last few years. The Elfconners have indeed been publishing some later material of great interest, and this is a great improvement over their dismal record of many years (during which they had plenty of time to insult and threaten people on the internet). We think this change is in response to the severe criticism they have received for their poor publication record and extremely offensive tactics (which were described to both Christopher Tolkien and Cathleen Blackburn). Their publication rate is still quite poor but at least they are getting something done which makes me very happy.
Another strange problem is that the Elfconners are still recommending various defunct publications, even though they are dead as doornails. Quettar hasn't been published in 6 or 7 years, though Carl Hostetter is still recommending that people send 6 pounds sterling for airmail delivery of a four-issue subscription. Parma Eldalamberon is being published about once every four years, and all issues except the last one are out of print, nevertheless, this is an improvement. Vinyar Tengwar is now published once a year at most--a sad story for a "newsletter" of Elvish Linguistics. Even more amazing Carl Hostetter still recommends Jim Allan's Introduction to Elvish which was published in 1972 and has never been updated, and is not available in the US. He also recommends the concordances of Paul Nolan Hyde which cost $300 and don't even have any Elvish in them. I think it is a shame to waste people's time (much less money) with this sort of thing. Since this webpage was posted, some disclaimers have been offered about the availability of Quettar, etc. but these items are still listed in the most recent issue of VT; and Quettar continues to be listed as if it were still being published which is absurd. They seem to be trying to maintain some sort of pretense that Elvish Linguistics is alive and well, even though they are doing their best to kill it by attacking anyone who makes contributes to the subject--see Carl's recent drivel about Michael Drout, posted to the Usenets. It is alive and well, mainly in spite of their nastiest efforts.
The ridiculous secrecy that surrounds the study of Tolkien's work continues. It remains that the Elfconners have failed to publish the vast amount of what they are known to have in their possession (now given by them as some 3000 pages), they still refuse to describe exactly what they have, and they refuse to explain why they cannot or will not publish it. They are not presently trying to keep it a secret that they have a great deal of material (they cannot resist bragging about it). I see no reason that this material should not be published and I know of no reason to keep the existence of such material and the distribution of it secret. Sadly, it is still true that considerable information is being privately circulated and is still being made available to some people, but cannot be obtained by ordinary or legitimate means by others.
A decade-long campaign of threats and intimidation by the Elfconners (Chris Gilson, Carl Hostetter, Arden Smith, Pat Wynne and now Bill Welden), with the occasional help of assorted short-term hangers on, possibly at the instigation of the Estate (specifically, Cathleen Blackburn, the Estate lawyer) finally
resulted in the production of a legal opinion addressing copyright issues such as the fair use provisions and non-copyrightability of systems (alphabets and languages) in US copyright law. This opinion can be read at http://www.oocities.org/Athens/Parthenon/9902/legalop.html. As mentioned before, it was made available to assist scholars in their work on the Elvish languages. The campaign of attempted suppression was somewhat attenuated in tone after the publication of this legal opinion, and I am certainly proud of that. However Carl Hostetter is now libeling people on archived lists on the internet.
It is to be hoped that the malice that seems to pervade the field of Elvish linguistics will also dissipate some day, so that we can all study the languages we love without threats and verbal abuse, but I won't be holding my breath waiting for that to happen! Carl Hostetter has now achieved official netkook status by being banned from several Elvish Linguistics lists. In true netkook style, he has set up an email list devoted to whining about it at Elfling-d on Yahoo Groups.
Current Status of Availability of these texts
Contact information for Obscure Publications
or as "Wired"
magazine calls them "tiny literary magazines" (you can read their article here.) The information which follows is intended to help you obtain such material as you may find useful and is not an endorsement of the providers. Some publications are out of print but copies may be available from library archives.
Beyond Bree
This is a small, quickly produced group of pages stapled together, i.e. a typical newsletter but it is regularly published (monthly) and includes all the latest information on events and any news about Tolkien goings on. It is not beautiful, but it is very useful for contacting other interested fans all over the world. The Plotz declension was first published in Beyond Bree and it also
appears in the Basic Quenya Language Lessons, both available from:
Snail mail address: Nancy Martsch
P.O. Box 55372
Sherman Oaks, CA 91413 USA
She has a website at Beyond Bree and email
at beyondbree@yahoo.com
Mythlore
Mythlore was a rather fancy 9 by 12 inch multiple page publication
with nice illustrations, but it hasn't published anything new about
Elvish linguistics since Paul Nolan Hyde quit or got fired as
linguistic editor (depending on which version of the story Carl Hostetter is
telling). It has been revamped as a smaller publication and
is strictly scholarly now (i.e. not any fun for fans). However, back issues are available (for about $3.50 each) according to their website at Order form for back issues
Otherwise, you can contact them at:
Contact: (Editor) Dr. Theodore James Sherman
Website: Mythlore
Email: tsherman@mtsu.edu
Snail mail address: Dr. Theodore James Sherman, ed. Mythlore
Box X041, Middle Tennessee State
Univ.
Murfreesboro, Tennessee 37132
USA
Parma Eldalamberon
Parma Eldalamberon used to be a rather fannish publication (i.e. cheap and stapled) but the more recent issues, since Chris Gilson took over have turned it into much nicer looking booklets, of a large format (about 9 by 12 inches and around 70 pages, to give you an idea). Most of the issues are out of print, and have been out of print for many years now. Update: There are no plans to reprint the earlier issues of PE (such as the Qenyaqetsa and i-Lam na-nGoldathon issues. However the most recent issue (No. 13) with information about the alphabet of Rúmil, and some early Gnomish/Noldorin vocabulary may still be available.
Contact: (Editor) Chris Gilson
Website: Eldalamberon Website for a description of the publications (size, number of
pages, etc.)
Email: c/o of Adam Christensen at harpwire@ifn.net
Snail mail address: Chris Gilson
10200 Miller Avenue, No. 426
Cupertino, CA 95014 USA
Quettar
Quettar used to be size A4 folded and stapled newsletter with a variety of articles on different subjects. The editor of Quettar was Julian Bradfield, however it hasn't been published in years and people who ordered back issues are still waiting for them. Every few years Julian announces that the Quenya wordlist is "at the printer's" but nothing ever comes of it. However, Carl is still recommending this journal!
Tyalie Tyelellieva
This is a small journal published about 3 times a year now, from 8
and 1/2 by 11 inch paper folded in half and stapled to make little
booklets. They run to about 50 pages. It has a variety of
technical articles, artwork and poetry, but the emphasis is mainly on
languages and alphabets.
Contact: (Editor) Lisa Star
Website:
a little description of it
Email: LisaStar@earthling.net (and if you send me a message please put "Elvish" or something in the subject line so I don't mistake it for spam).
Snail mail address: Lisa Star
P.O. Box 1001
Eugene, OR 97440 USA
Vinyar Tengwar
There is no love lost between Carl Hostetter and me, but VT is the
source of many items, and each issue is, I believe, still available for
$2 plus postage but check the website.
Website: Carl's website
2509 Ambling Circle
Crofton, MD 21114, USA
Some of this material may be obtained by ordering it from a library. VT is archived at the Library of Congress and Marquette University and Parma Eldalamberon is archived at Marquette (NOTE: According to the latest information, Marquette is refusing to provide copies of back issues of Parma Eldalamberon). You should be able to order copies from these institutions, but I politely request that people not order them from libraries if they are available from the original publisher. Tyalie Tyelellieva is archived at Marquette University and has also been provided to the libraries of many national Tolkien Societies, so if you are in another country, you may be able to see it or borrow it from the headquarters of your Tolkien Society (in Spain, Switzerland, Finland, Poland, etc.)
If you know of any other information about Tolkien's invented languages or alphabets, or have access to unpublished information, I would certainly appreciate hearing about it at LisaStar@earthling.net. Confidences will be respected, although I would like to be able to report on it in the journal Tyalië Tyelelliéva, if possible. Thanks to everyone who helped by providing information for this survey, and for your general encouragement. Thanks also to Didier Willis, Ales Bican, Anders Stenstrom, Vicente Velasco, Julian Bradfield, Helge Fauskanger and others for additional information and corrections.
All of the artwork on these pages was done by me, Lisa Star, unless noted otherwise.
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