“All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer.”
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Ancient languages and their histories are all together undervalued in the study of the English language today. While our spoken and written language is often viewed as something static and unchanging it is in fact the result of tens of hundreds of years of exchange between cultures and their authors. It is constantly changing and will continue to do so in the future. So if we are to truly understand and master the use of our native tongue then it is essential that we explore the origins of both its mechanics and narratives. I have chosen to examine this field through the extensive works of Oxford Professor J.R.R. Tolkien. By comparing his original (fictional) work with the legends and histories of the cultures that inspired him, I hope to gain a better understanding of our linguistic heritage and how we invoke the poetry of our predecessors with every word we speak. In his 1955 lecture at Oxford titled “English and Welsh” Tolkien quotes Sjéra Tomas Saemundsson saying, “Languages are the chief distinguishing marks of peoples. No people in fact comes into being until it speaks a language of its own; let the languages perish and the peoples perish too, or become different peoples.” (Tolkien 1). While it is true that we may have become a different people we must strive to understand our origins as Tolkien did.
The sources I have drawn upon can generally be divided into three groups: Tolkien’s fictional works, interpretations of those works by scholars of Tolkien, and the original Celtic legends and languages that inspired them. It is from the comparison of these three categories that my research is drawn. I started for the most part with Tolkien’s fiction.
The Silmarillion is without a doubt the cornerstone of Tolkien’ mythology and as such a natural starting place for my research. The connection between this work and Tolkien’s archaic sources is clearly defined. Christopher Snyder quotes him as saying that he wanted his writing (particularly the Silmarillion) to have “the fair elusive quality that some call Celtic…” (Snyder). To accomplish this goal Tolkien draws inspiration from a number of both Celtic and Germanic languages and legends. In a letter to his son Christopher, Tolkien states that Finnish is “...the original germ of the Silmarillion” (Tolkien & Carpenter), and indeed it was the base of his elvish dialect Quenya, or High-Elvish. This interest extended to Norse literature in general, such as The Elder Edda and Volspa from which Tolkien drew a great number of his characters names such as Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield (Tolkien 2). However, Tolkien’s true love (as far as languages go) lay in the ancient tongues of the British Isles.
Tolkien described himself as “...one who has always felt the attraction of the ancient history and pre-history of these islands, and most particularly the attraction of the Welsh language in itself.” (Tolkien 1). In this same lecture Tolkien goes on to describe in depth the impact Welsh had on the language of the Angles and other invaders of the island. Much like Finnish, Tolkien used Welsh to create his elvish dialect Sindarin or “Gray-Elvish”. Tolkien also drew upon Welsh stories to provide the basic structure for some of his original work. His interest in the Welsh language led him to be exposed to early Arthurian-Welsh literature such as the Mabinogi, a four part Welsh legend centered around the theme of youth. Another example of this would be Culhwch ac Olwen, a Welsh story of love and sacrifice that would in time inspire Tolkien’s characters Beren and Luthien as well as Aragorn and Arwen (Snyder). I believe that these narratives in particular offer students with an excellent opportunity for comparative learning: by examining and comparing the literary influences this legend had on Tolkien’s own narrative students can gain a better understanding of these immortal themes. However to truly appreciate their intended meaning students must understand the historical context in which these stories are being told. It is for this reason that in addition to the comparison of Tolkien’s narrative with the original legends, the history of both ancient Britain and Middle-Earth must also be taken into consideration.
Tolkien knew that for his written work to be viewed as anything more than fairy tales and children’s stories it would need to be presented as close to the real history and literature of a Celtic people as possible. For this reason his world is remarkably closely tied to our own, as outlined by the first chapter of Paul Kocher’s Master of Middle-Earth. He states that “...he [Tolkien] manifestly expected that secondary worlds would combine the ordinary with the extraordinary, the fictitious with the actual.”. It is for this reason that Tolkien presents Middle-Earth not as some alien planet but indeed as our own world, “once upon a time”. This can be shown through their shared astronomy, Tolkien makes several references to celestial structures we ourselves are familiar with, he only changes the names. For example: Red Borgil as Mars, Eärendil’s Star as Venus, Menelvagor the Swordsman with his “shining belt” as Orion, and the Sickle of the Valar is identifiable as our own Ursa Major or Big Dipper (Kocher). Elements such as these (in addition to others such as flora and fauna, year length, etc.) provide a foundation in reality to which Tolkien adds magic and poetry. He longed for a ancient mythology of the British isles, free from the influence of her invaders. In a letter to Milton Waldman he states “grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country; it had no stories of its own (bound up with its tongue and soil), not of the quality I sought.” (Snyder). And so, if Tolkien’s intention was to create a mythology bound up in Britain’s tongue and soil, it is necessary that scholars of his work to study both.
Elements of British history can be seen throughout Tolkien’s work, from the time of Picts and Britons, through the Roman and Saxon periods, and all the way up through the middle ages. In particular, The kingdoms of Gondor and Numenor can be readily compared to Roman influence on the southern kingdoms of the Isle. Where as the Anglii (and later the Saxons) came to Britain from the Jutland Peninsula in a series of naval migrations (Malone & Baugh), so too did the Dunedain, survivors of the fall of the Atlantis-like Numenor, settle in Middle-Earth (Tolkien 3). The men of Tolkien’s world are kin to his ancestors, separated only by imagination.
The survey of these sources and many more like them could potentially provide a classroom with enough raw literary material to sustain a full year course. I hope that with my selection, I am able to showcase Tolkien’s intimate relationship with the evolution and history of English on a level that engages both casual and passionate students of the language. With luck I may convince a few of the importance of teaching not only our current (and relatively temporary) mechanics, but of history and poetry as well.
“All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer”
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Bibliography
1.Tolkien, J.R.R. “English and Welsh” O'Donnell Memorial Lecture, Oxford. 1955.
2.Tolkien, J. R. R., and Christopher Tolkien. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.
3. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Print.
4. Snyder, Christopher A. The Making of Middle-earth: A New Look inside the World of J.R.R. Tolkien. New York: Sterling, 2013. Print.
5. Kocher, Paul Harold. Master of Middle-earth; the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. Print.
6. Tolkien, J. R. R., Humphrey Carpenter, and Christopher Tolkien. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Print.
7. Malone, Kemp, and Albert Croll Baugh. The Middle Ages: The Old English Period (to 1100). 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. Print.
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Ancient languages and their histories are all together undervalued in the study of the English language today. While our spoken and written language is often viewed as something static and unchanging it is in fact the result of tens of hundreds of years of exchange between cultures and their authors. It is constantly changing and will continue to do so in the future. So if we are to truly understand and master the use of our native tongue then it is essential that we explore the origins of both its mechanics and narratives. I have chosen to examine this field through the extensive works of Oxford Professor J.R.R. Tolkien. By comparing his original (fictional) work with the legends and histories of the cultures that inspired him, I hope to gain a better understanding of our linguistic heritage and how we invoke the poetry of our predecessors with every word we speak. In his 1955 lecture at Oxford titled “English and Welsh” Tolkien quotes Sjéra Tomas Saemundsson saying, “Languages are the chief distinguishing marks of peoples. No people in fact comes into being until it speaks a language of its own; let the languages perish and the peoples perish too, or become different peoples.” (Tolkien 1). While it is true that we may have become a different people we must strive to understand our origins as Tolkien did.
The sources I have drawn upon can generally be divided into three groups: Tolkien’s fictional works, interpretations of those works by scholars of Tolkien, and the original Celtic legends and languages that inspired them. It is from the comparison of these three categories that my research is drawn. I started for the most part with Tolkien’s fiction.
The Silmarillion is without a doubt the cornerstone of Tolkien’ mythology and as such a natural starting place for my research. The connection between this work and Tolkien’s archaic sources is clearly defined. Christopher Snyder quotes him as saying that he wanted his writing (particularly the Silmarillion) to have “the fair elusive quality that some call Celtic…” (Snyder). To accomplish this goal Tolkien draws inspiration from a number of both Celtic and Germanic languages and legends. In a letter to his son Christopher, Tolkien states that Finnish is “...the original germ of the Silmarillion” (Tolkien & Carpenter), and indeed it was the base of his elvish dialect Quenya, or High-Elvish. This interest extended to Norse literature in general, such as The Elder Edda and Volspa from which Tolkien drew a great number of his characters names such as Gandalf and Thorin Oakenshield (Tolkien 2). However, Tolkien’s true love (as far as languages go) lay in the ancient tongues of the British Isles.
Tolkien described himself as “...one who has always felt the attraction of the ancient history and pre-history of these islands, and most particularly the attraction of the Welsh language in itself.” (Tolkien 1). In this same lecture Tolkien goes on to describe in depth the impact Welsh had on the language of the Angles and other invaders of the island. Much like Finnish, Tolkien used Welsh to create his elvish dialect Sindarin or “Gray-Elvish”. Tolkien also drew upon Welsh stories to provide the basic structure for some of his original work. His interest in the Welsh language led him to be exposed to early Arthurian-Welsh literature such as the Mabinogi, a four part Welsh legend centered around the theme of youth. Another example of this would be Culhwch ac Olwen, a Welsh story of love and sacrifice that would in time inspire Tolkien’s characters Beren and Luthien as well as Aragorn and Arwen (Snyder). I believe that these narratives in particular offer students with an excellent opportunity for comparative learning: by examining and comparing the literary influences this legend had on Tolkien’s own narrative students can gain a better understanding of these immortal themes. However to truly appreciate their intended meaning students must understand the historical context in which these stories are being told. It is for this reason that in addition to the comparison of Tolkien’s narrative with the original legends, the history of both ancient Britain and Middle-Earth must also be taken into consideration.
Tolkien knew that for his written work to be viewed as anything more than fairy tales and children’s stories it would need to be presented as close to the real history and literature of a Celtic people as possible. For this reason his world is remarkably closely tied to our own, as outlined by the first chapter of Paul Kocher’s Master of Middle-Earth. He states that “...he [Tolkien] manifestly expected that secondary worlds would combine the ordinary with the extraordinary, the fictitious with the actual.”. It is for this reason that Tolkien presents Middle-Earth not as some alien planet but indeed as our own world, “once upon a time”. This can be shown through their shared astronomy, Tolkien makes several references to celestial structures we ourselves are familiar with, he only changes the names. For example: Red Borgil as Mars, Eärendil’s Star as Venus, Menelvagor the Swordsman with his “shining belt” as Orion, and the Sickle of the Valar is identifiable as our own Ursa Major or Big Dipper (Kocher). Elements such as these (in addition to others such as flora and fauna, year length, etc.) provide a foundation in reality to which Tolkien adds magic and poetry. He longed for a ancient mythology of the British isles, free from the influence of her invaders. In a letter to Milton Waldman he states “grieved by the poverty of my own beloved country; it had no stories of its own (bound up with its tongue and soil), not of the quality I sought.” (Snyder). And so, if Tolkien’s intention was to create a mythology bound up in Britain’s tongue and soil, it is necessary that scholars of his work to study both.
Elements of British history can be seen throughout Tolkien’s work, from the time of Picts and Britons, through the Roman and Saxon periods, and all the way up through the middle ages. In particular, The kingdoms of Gondor and Numenor can be readily compared to Roman influence on the southern kingdoms of the Isle. Where as the Anglii (and later the Saxons) came to Britain from the Jutland Peninsula in a series of naval migrations (Malone & Baugh), so too did the Dunedain, survivors of the fall of the Atlantis-like Numenor, settle in Middle-Earth (Tolkien 3). The men of Tolkien’s world are kin to his ancestors, separated only by imagination.
The survey of these sources and many more like them could potentially provide a classroom with enough raw literary material to sustain a full year course. I hope that with my selection, I am able to showcase Tolkien’s intimate relationship with the evolution and history of English on a level that engages both casual and passionate students of the language. With luck I may convince a few of the importance of teaching not only our current (and relatively temporary) mechanics, but of history and poetry as well.
“All speech, written or spoken, is a dead language, until it finds a willing and prepared hearer”
- Robert Louis Stevenson
Bibliography
1.Tolkien, J.R.R. “English and Welsh” O'Donnell Memorial Lecture, Oxford. 1955.
2.Tolkien, J. R. R., and Christopher Tolkien. The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.
3. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1977. Print.
4. Snyder, Christopher A. The Making of Middle-earth: A New Look inside the World of J.R.R. Tolkien. New York: Sterling, 2013. Print.
5. Kocher, Paul Harold. Master of Middle-earth; the Fiction of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972. Print.
6. Tolkien, J. R. R., Humphrey Carpenter, and Christopher Tolkien. The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1981. Print.
7. Malone, Kemp, and Albert Croll Baugh. The Middle Ages: The Old English Period (to 1100). 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. Print.