Letter to David Masson (1955)
From Tolkien Gateway
During 1955, J.R.R. Tolkien drafted a letter to David Masson (librarian at the University of Leeds).[1]
- Subject: Elvish historical philology.[1]
- Description: 8-page draft letter.
- Publication: Extensive quotations from the letter appeared in Parma Eldalamberon, volume 17.[1]
Excerpt
The languages have, of course, changed quite as much as the world and its stories to which they belong, and are now almost an Entish record of my own linguistic-æsthetic history, hardening at last with age. But you are quite right in your perceptions. Quenya still retains the traces of the impact upon me of Finnish. Sindarin was deliberately composed to resemble (with a difference) Welsh, by working similar sound-changes on the simple basic Eldarin structure to those exhibited by Brythonic, especially Welsh.
—[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson), p. 40
