Quenya is the fictional language Tolkien created for the High Elves of Valinor, with sound patterns influenced strongly by Finnish. Tolkien developed it as part of a larger family of Elvish languages rather than as a collection of isolated words.
In Middle-earth’s history, Quenya is associated with the Noldor and other Elves who came from the West. It functions as a formal, ancient language, while Sindarin became more widely spoken among Elves in much of Middle-earth.
Tolkien studied philology and treated language construction as a creative art. He designed grammar, vocabulary and historical sound changes, giving Quenya the feel of a language that had evolved over time.
Quenya appears in names, poems and ceremonial speech throughout Tolkien’s writings. The greeting “Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo” is one of its best-known phrases, though Tolkien’s linguistic notes continued to evolve after publication.