Beyond Elvish: Every Other Language Tolkien Invented for Middle-earth
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Quick Answer: Tolkien invented more than 20 languages, and only two of them — Quenya and Sindarin — are Elvish. The rest cover every other people of Middle-earth: Khuzdul for the Dwarves, Black Speech for Sauron's Orcs, Adûnaic for the Númenóreans, Valarin for the Valar, Entish for the Ents, plus Westron, Rohirric, and a handful of childhood inventions that predate Middle-earth entirely.
Most people know Tolkien invented Elvish. Far fewer know that Elvish accounts for only two of the more than twenty languages he built over his lifetime — this guide is about the other eighteen or so. Tolkien was not a fantasy writer who sprinkled in some made-up words for flavor — he was a professional Oxford linguist who built entire language families for Dwarves, Men, Orcs, Ents, and even the gods themselves, each with its own sound, grammar, and place in Middle-earth's history.
This is the complete guide to every language Tolkien created.
Why Tolkien Created So Many Languages
Tolkien began creating languages as a child — long before any thought of novels or world-building. He invented Nevbosh ("New Nonsense") with his cousin around age 13, then created Naffarin as a teenager. By the time he was at Oxford, he had moved on to more serious linguistic invention.
His day job as Professor of Anglo-Saxon meant he spent his career studying exactly how languages evolve: how Latin became Spanish and Italian, how Proto-Germanic became English and German and Gothic, how sound shifts propagate through a language family over centuries. He applied all of that professional knowledge to his invented languages.
The result was not a collection of isolated vocabulary lists but genuine language families with reconstructable ancestral forms, the way a real linguist would approach Indo-European or Semitic. The languages came first; the stories were, in his own words, "simply an effort to create a world in which a form of language I had invented might seem real."
The Elvish Languages, Briefly
"Mae govannen" — want to actually speak Elvish?
Try It Free →Elvish itself is a family of at least six languages — Quenya, Sindarin, Telerin, Nandorin, Avarin, and the reconstructed ancestor Common Eldarin, all descending from Primitive Quendian, spoken by the first Elves at their Awakening beside Cuiviénen. Only Quenya (modeled on Finnish) and Sindarin (modeled on Welsh, with its famous consonant mutations) are documented well enough to actually learn; the rest range from partial to fragmentary. This guide focuses on everything Tolkien built beyond the Elvish family — for the full breakdown of all six Elvish branches, their family tree, and which ones you can realistically study, see Tolkien's Elvish Languages: The Complete Guide to All Six.
The Languages of Men
Adûnaic
Status: Substantially developed — grammar and significant vocabulary Speakers: The Númenóreans (Men of the West) Famous phrase: Anadûnê — "Westernesse" (Númenor itself)
Adûnaic is the language of the great island civilization of Númenor, which was destroyed in the Second Age. Tolkien developed it extensively in the unfinished text The Notion Club Papers. It is a Semitic-influenced language — consonant-root based, like Arabic or Hebrew — which makes it feel structurally different from any of the Elvish languages.
Westron (Common Speech)
Status: Sketched — vocabulary documented, grammar implied Speakers: Most inhabitants of Middle-earth in the Third Age — Men, Hobbits, and many others Notes: In a famous narrative conceit, Tolkien "translated" all the Common Speech dialogue into English, so readers essentially never hear Westron directly. Hobbit names, however, are given in their Westron forms.
Rohirric
Status: Fragmentary Speakers: The Rohirrim (Riders of Rohan) Modeled on: Old English Notes: Tolkien represented Rohirric as Old English in the text, on the conceit that it was an ancient form of Westron — the way Anglo-Saxon is ancestral to modern English.
The Languages of Dwarves and Dark Powers
Khuzdul
Status: Significantly developed in private notes; limited attested vocabulary Speakers: Dwarves (the Khazâd) Modeled on: Semitic languages (particularly Hebrew and Arabic in structure) Famous phrase: Baruk Khazâd! Khazâd ai-mênu! — "Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!" (Gimli's cry at Helm's Deep, TT III.7)
Khuzdul is deeply secretive within the stories — Dwarves regarded it as a private tongue, never taught to outsiders. Tolkien reflected this by keeping much of his Khuzdul development private even in publication. What we have includes the battle cry above, the name Khazad-dûm (Moria), and a handful of other terms. The language has a Semitic consonant-root structure: the root KHZ-D underlies Khazâd (Dwarves), Khazad-dûm (Dwarf-mansion), and other words.
Black Speech
Status: Fragmentary — one complete sentence attested Speakers: Orcs and servants of Sauron; created artificially by Sauron Famous phrase: Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul — "One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them"
The Black Speech was invented by Sauron in the Second Age as a unifying language for all his servants. Tolkien noted that it had a "foul" sound quality by design. The One Ring inscription is the only complete, connected Black Speech text we have. Individual Black Speech words appear in Orc names (Gorbag, Shagrat, Uglúk) and the word uruk (great Orc).
The Languages of Other Peoples
Valarin
Status: Fragmentary — about 30 words attested Speakers: The Valar (the angelic powers who shaped the world) Character: Extremely long words, unusual sounds, described as overwhelming and difficult for Elvish tongues Notes: Tolkien described Valarin as utterly unlike Elvish — the Elves found it beautiful but nearly unpronounceable, and mostly borrowed individual words rather than learning it. Máhanaxar (the Ring of Doom), Ezellohar (the Green Mound), and Araw (Oromë's Valarin name) are attested examples.
Entish
Status: Almost entirely undocumented — described but not recorded Speakers: Ents (the tree-herders) Famous description: Treebeard explains that Entish is "slow, sonorous, agglomerated, repetitive, indeed long-winded" — it takes a very long time to say anything, because the Ents never say anything unless it is worth taking a long time to say. Notes: Tolkien deliberately left Entish undocumented. In the books, the Ents' actual language is described but never reproduced. This is itself a linguistic joke — no human reader could be expected to sit through an Entish sentence.
Complete Language Overview
| Language | Speakers | Development Level | Linguistic Model |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quenya | Vanyar, Noldor | Full | Finnish |
| Sindarin | Sindar, Third Age Elves | Full | Welsh |
| Telerin | Teleri | Partial | Related to Quenya |
| Nandorin | Nandor | Fragmentary | — |
| Avarin | Avari (6 dialects) | Very fragmentary | — |
| Adûnaic | Númenóreans | Substantial | Semitic |
| Westron | Common people | Sketched | (Represented as English) |
| Rohirric | Rohirrim | Fragmentary | Old English |
| Dalish | Men of Dale | Fragmentary | Old Norse |
| Khuzdul | Dwarves | Partial (private) | Semitic |
| Black Speech | Orcs / Sauron's servants | Very fragmentary | Invented (harsh) |
| Valarin | Valar | Fragmentary | — |
| Entish | Ents | Essentially none | — |
| Nevbosh | Tolkien (childhood) | Documented | Personal invention |
| Naffarin | Tolkien (teen) | Documented | Spanish-influenced |
The Linguistic Achievement
Tolkien's constructed languages are widely regarded as the most sophisticated ever created in the context of a fictional work. Linguists study them as serious scholarly objects. Multiple academic journals (Vinyar Tengwar, Parma Eldalamberon) publish ongoing analysis of his unpublished linguistic papers. The languages are internally consistent enough that scholars can reconstruct words Tolkien never wrote, using documented sound change rules — the same techniques real historical linguists use to reconstruct Proto-Indo-European.
No other fiction writer has come close to this level of linguistic depth. It was not world-building in service of story. The languages were the point. The stories were built to give the languages somewhere to live.
People Also Ask
How many languages did Tolkien invent? Tolkien created approximately 20 distinct languages and language families over his lifetime, of which around a dozen are documented in enough detail to be studied. The two most developed are Quenya and Sindarin, but he also sketched Khuzdul, Black Speech, Adûnaic, Valarin, Westron, Rohirric, and several others.
What language is the One Ring inscription written in? The One Ring inscription is written in the Black Speech, the language created by Sauron to unify all his servants. The inscription reads: 'Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul' — One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
Was Tolkien a professional linguist? Yes. J.R.R. Tolkien was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University and later the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. His academic specialties included Old English, Old Norse, Middle English, Gothic, and comparative Germanic philology. He created languages as a hobby starting in childhood, long before he wrote fiction.
Related Reading
- Finnish and Welsh: The Real Languages Behind Tolkien's Elvish
- Tolkien's Elvish Languages: The Complete Guide to All Six
- How Hard Is Elvish to Learn? An Honest Assessment for Beginners
- The Online Conlang Community: Forums, Discord, and Resources — where Tolkien linguists gather online
- A Brief History of Constructed Languages: Esperanto to Elvish
- Tolkien Languages vs Game of Thrones Languages: A Deep Dive
- Westron: The Real Common Speech of Middle-earth
- The Language of Rohan: Rohirric and Old English
- Adûnaic: The Lost Language of Númenor
- Black Speech Words: Every Attested Word of Mordor's Tongue
- Races of Middle-earth: The Complete Guide to Every People and Creature
- Dwarves of Middle-earth: Aulë, Durin's Folk, Moria and Erebor
- Men of Middle-earth: Edain, Númenóreans, Gondor, Rohan and More
- Orcs and Goblins of Middle-earth — Origins, Names and Black Speech
- Trolls of Middle-earth — Stone-trolls, Olog-hai and Their Origin
- Ents and Huorns — Treebeard, the Entwives and the Shepherds of the Trees
- Dragons of Middle-earth — Glaurung, Ancalagon, Smaug and Scatha Explained
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People Also Ask
How many languages did Tolkien invent besides Elvish?
Beyond his two Elvish languages (Quenya and Sindarin), Tolkien sketched roughly 18 more tongues and language families: Khuzdul for the Dwarves, Black Speech for Sauron's Orcs, Adûnaic for the Númenóreans, Valarin for the angelic Valar, Entish for the tree-herding Ents, Rohirric, Westron, and several others of varying completeness.
What language is the One Ring inscription written in?
The One Ring inscription is written in the Black Speech, the language created by Sauron to unify all his servants. The inscription reads: 'Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul' — One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them.
Was Tolkien a professional linguist?
Yes. J.R.R. Tolkien was a Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Oxford University and later the Merton Professor of English Language and Literature. His academic specialties included Old English, Old Norse, Middle English, Gothic, and comparative Germanic philology. He created languages as a hobby starting in childhood, long before he wrote fiction.
