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{{quote|Man kiluva lómi sangane, telume lungane tollalinta ruste, vea qalume, mandu yáme, aira móre ala tinwi lante no lanta-mindon?|Early version of ''[[Oilima Markirya]]''}}
'''Qenya''' (pronounced [KWEN-ya])<ref>[[John D. Rateliff]], [[Jason Fisher]], [[Patrick H. Wynne]], et al. (mailing list discussion), "a quick question" (#[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/message/24071 24071] and related messages; dated 29 January 2013), [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/ Mytsoc mailing list] (accessed 30 January 2012)</ref> was the original name of the High-Elven tongue which gradually would change into [[Quenya]] of the ''[[The Lord of the Rings|Lord of the Rings]]''.

In the earliest versions of the [[legendarium]], Qenya (as every [[Elvish]] language) belonged to the [[Oromëan|Oromean]] phylum, derived from the language [[Oromë|Orome]] taught the [[Quendi]]. It was the language of the First Tribe of the [[Elves]], the [[Lindar]] ([[Vanyar]] in the later legendarium) and for this it was also called '''Lindarin'''.<ref>{{LR|Lhammas}}</ref>
==History==
Qenya goes back to at least [[1915]] when Tolkien compiled the "[[Qenya Lexicon]]". Qenya thus predates the [[Legendarium]], although the Lexicon was used in parallel to ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'' a couple of years later.<ref>{{LT1|Appendix}}</ref> According to Tolkien, his [[secondary world]] was created primarily for the need to make his constructed languages usable.<ref name=External>{{webcite|author=[[Helge Fauskanger]]|website=Arda|articleurl=http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/quenya.htm#Heading4|articlename=External history of Quenya}}</ref>

Qenya was started by Tolkien who wished to emulate the phonoesthetics of the Finnish language. Early Qenya has been reported to have much more Finnish influences, compared to the later stages.<ref>{{webcite|author=Harri Perala|articleurl=http://www.sci.fi/~alboin/finn_que.htm#external|articlename=History of Quenya From Our Point of View|website=Are High Elves Finno-Ugric?}}</ref>

During that time, Tolkien used to write the sound {{IPA|[kʷ]}} simply as a single ''q''. Therefore both spellings Qenya and Quenya are always supposed to be pronounced the same ({{IPA|[ˈkʷeɲa]}}). While writing the ''Lord of the Rings'', Tolkien decided to adopt the romanized spelling ''qu'' and replace ''k'' with ''c''. These changes were mainly aesthetic in order to accentuate the role of Quenya as an "[[Elf-latin]]". This does not alter the pronunciation.

==Difference between Qenya and Quenya==
Although widely consistent in phonology, the early stage of Qenya displayed some differences, with words such as ''ektar'' (''kt'' is not allowed in later Quenya) and words ending in consonant clusters, such as ''nelt, imbilink, mandl, koisimatl'' etc. The later phonology rules of Quenya would not allow such words.<ref>{{webcite|author=[[David Salo]]|articleurl=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elfling/message/36590|articlename=Quenya and Qenya phonology compared|dated=2 August 2013|website=[[Elfling]]}}</ref>

Since the High-Elven language changed throughout Tolkien's lifetime from its conception until late in his life, some [[Tolkienist]]s and linguists deliberately use the spelling "Qenya" (without "u") to differentiate the early version of this language from the later.

Such Tolkien linguists note "''a dramatic change''" after which the language somehow stabilized after [[1940]]. One of such changes was that later Quenya does not display the "''number of borrowings and obvious influences of real-world languages''" that Qenya did.<ref>{{webcite|author=[[David Salo]]|articleurl=http://groups.yahoo.com/group/elfling/message/36298|articlename=Re: Bringlast and mustard (Message #36298)|dated=16 July 2012|website=[[Elfling]]|accessed=16 July 2012}}</ref>

[[Helge Fauskanger]] used to refer to the early stage(s) of Quenya as "immature Qenya".<ref group=note>The term "early Q(u)enya" was also used, but it was ambiguous as the words "early" and "later" are also used in respect to the fictional timeline of Arda. The above phrase would be understood either as the early version of the language (from Tolkien's youth), or an archaic form of [[Valinorean]] Quenya of the [[First Age]] (vs. the later, [[Exilic Quenya]] of the [[Third Age]]). To resolve the ambiguity, the words "immature" and "mature" were used, from the point of view of Tolkien's lifetime (from youth to maturity).</ref>

The differentiation between Qenya and Quenya has been criticized as artificial, since it neglects the continuity and gradual evolution of the language; although Tolkien replaced old ideas with newer ones, there is no indication that he divided his conception into stages, and no definite point which separates Qenya from Quenya can be traced. Also, the term "immature" was considered controversial and derogatory.<ref>[[Patrick Wynne]], [http://www.elvish.org/Tengwestie/editorials/20040404.phtml Are Goldogrin and Qenya "primitive"?]</ref>

==See also==
*[[:Category:Qenya words|Category: Qenya words]]
*[[Goldogrin]]/[[Noldorin]]
*[[The Tree of Tongues]]

==External links==
*[[Thorsten Renk]], [http://www.phy.duke.edu/~trenk/elvish/eqg.html Early Qenya grammar] (includes comparisons with later Quenya elements)
*[http://www.jrrvf.com/~glaemscrafu/english/qenya.html Qenya sound samples] at [[Glǽmscrafu]]
{{references|n}}

[[Category:Quenya]]

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Editing Qenya

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 '''Qenya''' (pronounced [KWEN-ya])<ref>[[John D. Rateliff]], [[Jason Fisher]], [[Patrick H. Wynne]], et al. (mailing list discussion), "a quick question" (#[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/message/24071 24071] and related messages; dated 29 January 2013), [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mythsoc/ Mytsoc mailing list] (accessed 30 January 2012)</ref> was the original name of the High-Elven tongue which gradually would change into [[Quenya]] of the ''[[The Lord of the Rings|Lord of the Rings]]''.
-In the earliest versions of the [[legendarium]], Qenya (as every [[Elvish]] language) belonged to the [[Oromëan|Oromean]] phylum, derived from the language [[Oromë|Orome]] taught the [[Quendi]]. It was the language of the First Tribe of the [[Elves]], the [[Lindar]] ([[Vanyar]] in the later legendarium) and for this it was also called '''Lindarin'''.<ref>{{LR|Lhammas}}</ref> In Gnomish the name of the language was '''Cweneglin''' or '''Cwedhrin'''.<ref>{{webcite|author=[[Helge Fauskanger]]|website=Arda|articleurl=http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/quenya.htm|articlename=Quenya}}</ref>
+In the earliest versions of the [[legendarium]], Qenya (as every [[Elvish]] language) belonged to the [[Oromëan|Oromean]] phylum, derived from the language [[Oromë|Orome]] taught the [[Quendi]]. It was the language of the First Tribe of the [[Elves]], the [[Lindar]] ([[Vanyar]] in the later legendarium) and for this it was also called '''Lindarin'''.<ref>{{LR|Lhammas}}</ref>
 ==History==
 Qenya goes back to at least [[1915]] when Tolkien compiled the "[[Qenya Lexicon]]". Qenya thus predates the [[Legendarium]], although the Lexicon was used in parallel to ''[[The Book of Lost Tales]]'' a couple of years later.<ref>{{LT1|Appendix}}</ref> According to Tolkien, his [[secondary world]] was created primarily for the need to make his constructed languages usable.<ref name=External>{{webcite|author=[[Helge Fauskanger]]|website=Arda|articleurl=http://folk.uib.no/hnohf/quenya.htm#Heading4|articlename=External history of Quenya}}</ref>