Parma Eldalamberon 20: The Qenya Alphabet:

by J. R. R. Tolkien, Arden R. Smith (Editor)

Overview

"The Qenya Alphabet" is an edition of J. R. R. Tolkien's charts and notes from circa 1931 dealing with the earliest version of the script essentially of the conceptual type he would later call "Fëanorian Tengwar" and eventually include in "The Lord of the Rings." This issue of "Parma Eldalamberon" contains 40 documents in which Tolkien's examples of the scripts are reproduced in facsimile.

The documents include different versions of a detailed explanation of the use of the script for representing English, both phonetically (as it was designed to be used) and also according to English spelling. These have charts of the theoretical values of the sounds represented by the letters, and various English words and texts written in the scripts.

There are also various specimen texts written by Tolkien in the Qenya Alphabet. These exemplify some conceptual changes in the mode or assignment of phonetic values to particular letters. There is also a great variety of different styles of writing, ranging from formal "book-hand" to rapidly written cursive.

Most of these examples are in English, but there are also texts in Latin, Old English and Old High German. Transcriptions of the examples and editorial commentary on the dating and historical background are provided by Arden R. Smith.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798341896208
Publisher:	Barnes & Noble Press
Publication date:	02/13/2025
Pages:	162
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.35(d)

About the Author

J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973) was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor who is best known as the author of the classic high-fantasy books The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series (The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers, and The Return of the King). After his death, his son Christopher Tolkien published books based on Tolkien's notes and unpublished manuscripts, including The Silmarillion.

Date of Birth:

January 3, 1892

Date of Death:

September 2, 1973

Place of Birth:

Bloemfontein, Orange Free State (South Africa)

Place of Death:

Oxford, England

Education:

B.A., Exeter College, Oxford University, 1915; M.A., 1919