What is the name of the fictional language Tolkien created for the elves and called Quenya?

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The fictional language Tolkien created for the elves and called Quenya is Quenya.

Quenya is one of Tolkien’s best-developed Elvish languages. He based aspects of its sound and structure especially on Finnish, while also drawing on his wider expertise in historical languages. Within Tolkien’s mythology, Quenya is associated particularly with the High Elves and with the ancient cultures of Valinor.

Sindarin is the main language of many Elves in Middle-earth during The Lord of the Rings, so the two languages are often confused. They are related in Tolkien’s fictional history but are not alternative names for the same language. Westron is the Common Speech, while the Black Speech was created for Mordor.

Tolkien treated language creation as a central part of world-building. Names, poetry, sound patterns, and imagined language histories helped him construct the cultures and migrations behind his stories.

Source: Wikipedia · fact-checked Oct. 2026

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