Quenya is the Tolkien language associated especially with the High Elves of Valinor. Tolkien modeled aspects of its sound and structure on Finnish, while also drawing on other languages for its development.
In Tolkien’s linguistic history, Quenya was brought to Middle-earth by the Noldor and other Elves who had lived in the Blessed Realm. It remained a language of lore, ceremony, poetry, and formal names rather than the everyday speech of most Elves in the later history of Middle-earth.
Sindarin became the more widely spoken Elvish language in much of Beleriand and later Middle-earth. The two languages are related within Tolkien’s fictional history, but they are not interchangeable. Names such as Galadriel’s Quenya name, Alatáriel, reflect this linguistic background.
Tolkien was a professional philologist, and his invented languages were central to his creative method. He often developed peoples, histories, and legends around the languages he created rather than adding invented words only after writing the stories.