Quenya is the invented language associated especially with the Elves of Valinor in J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium. Tolkien based much of its sound and structure on Finnish, while also developing it as part of a broader family of Elvish languages.
In Tolkien’s internal history, Quenya was spoken by the High Elves, including the Ñoldor and Vanyar, in the Blessed Realm. It later became a language of lore and ceremony in Middle-earth rather than the everyday speech of most Elves there.
Sindarin is the other major Elvish language encountered frequently in The Lord of the Rings. It became the common Elvish language of many communities in Middle-earth, so readers sometimes confuse it with Quenya. Tolkien’s linguistic world contains several related languages, each with its own history and social setting.
Quenya appears in names, poems, inscriptions, and formal expressions. Its careful construction demonstrates that Tolkien’s languages were not random collections of fantasy words but systems connected to imagined peoples and historical change.