Quenya is the Elvish language created by J.R.R. Tolkien and associated especially with the Eldar.
Tolkien developed Quenya as part of a family of invented languages for the peoples of Middle-earth. It is based partly on the sound and structure of Finnish, and its vocabulary and grammar were shaped over decades of Tolkien’s linguistic work. In the fictional history, Quenya is an ancient High-elven language.
Quenya appears in names, poems, ceremonies, and formal speech across Tolkien’s writings. The greeting “Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo” is one of its best-known phrases, although Tolkien revised linguistic details during his lifetime.
Quenya is often confused with Sindarin. Both are Elvish languages, but Sindarin is the commonly spoken Elven language in much of Third-Age Middle-earth. Khuzdul belongs to the Dwarves, while the Black Speech was devised for Mordor.