Quenya is the fictional language created by J.R.R. Tolkien for the Elves of Valinor.
Tolkien based much of Quenya’s sound and structure on Finnish, while also drawing on his wider knowledge of historical languages. In his mythology, Quenya was associated particularly with the High Elves, including the Noldor and Vanyar, and was connected with the ancient western realm of Valinor.
Quenya is not the same as Sindarin. Sindarin was another Elvish language and became the more commonly spoken Elven language in much of Middle-earth during the later histories. Tolkien developed both languages with substantial vocabularies, grammatical systems, and historical relationships rather than treating them as collections of decorative words.
Readers sometimes use “Elvish” as though it meant one language, but Tolkien’s legendarium contains several Elven tongues. Quenya’s ceremonial and ancient associations are why it appears in formal names, poetry, songs, and elevated speech.