Gnomish

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Template:Noncanon Goldogrin also called I-Lam na-Ngoldathon "The language of the Noldoli" or Gnomish was the language of the Gnomes spoken in the Great Lands.

This language was the first incarnation of the Celtic-like Elvish language invented by Tolkien during the first drafts of his Legendarium during 1917 and later. The language would evolve into the language known as Noldorin around 1930 and finally envisioned as the language of the Sindar during the writing of the Lord of the Rings.

Unlike Sindarin, and like Quenya, Goldogrin was an inflected language with a full case system; For example the genitive plural "of the Gnomes" is Ngoldathon as seen above. The ending -on is also known from later Quenya. It is also seen in later names such as Caras Galadhon (said to be Silvan Elvish) and perhaps Dorthonion.

Goldogrin is notable for being one of the very few languages by Tolkien about which he proceeded into assembling a definite lexicon and grammar notes (published in Parma Eldalamberon 11).

Since Sindarin is a continuous revision of Gnomish, it kept its Celticish phonology, some common grammar elements (like the -in plural ending and Welsh style mutations) and much of the vocabulary (eg. lam "language", mab "hand", gloss "white").

Several Gnomish words seem like they would derive from roots known from the Etymologies or that they would belong to a dialect of Sindarin; for example the word gweg "man" could have been a Sindarin word derived from WEG (see Denweg).

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