Tengwar is the Elvish script used for the One Ring inscription in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Tolkien designed the writing system as a general script that could represent several languages.
The Ring inscription is written in Tengwar characters, but the words are in the Black Speech of Mordor. Its opening English translation is “One Ring to rule them all,” followed by lines describing the other Rings and the Dark Lord’s power.
This distinction matters because a script and a language are different things. Tengwar identifies the letter forms, while the inscription’s language is Black Speech. The familiar lettering on many film and merchandise designs is therefore not itself the language of the inscription.
Cirth is another Tolkien writing system, associated especially with Dwarves. Sarati is an earlier script in Tolkien’s invented history, and Angerthas refers to a mode or arrangement of runes.