Elves

Elves are a fictional race that has attracted conlangers ever since the days of J. R. R. Tolkien. However, there are about as many different ideas of Elves as there are people writing about them.

The origin of the concept lies in Germanic mythology, where Elves are a kind of middling race between humans and gods. Similar beings (called Tuatha Dé Danann or Daoine Sidhe in Irish) also occur in Celtic mythology. The elves survived Christianization in folktales, but only in increasingly diminished form. In Victorian fairy-tales, they are tiny (from mouse-sized to insect-sized), luminous, playful and often winged; another popular modern idea is that of the elves being a race of midgets making toys for Santa Claus and living with him at the North Pole.

Elves in modern fantasy fiction

It is the merit of J. R. R. Tolkien to reinstate the Elves into their old nobility. Tolkien's Elves are similar to humans but wiser, stronger, more beautiful etc. and immortal (or rather, extremely long-lived; Elves can be killed, and may die of grief). Gone were defacing traits such as the minute size and the gossamer wings. Tolkien also invented languages spoken by the Elves, most notably Quenya and Sindarin - he liked to say that he rather invented the Elves to have speakers for his languages.

Tolkien's Elves have been the main model for Elves in modern fantasy fiction, and Tolkien's example popularized the idea that these beings speak languages of their own. Since then, numerous authors have developed their own ideas of and stories about Elves, and many conlangers have made up their own Elvish languages.

Examples of contemporary Elvish conlangs

Andreas Johansson is the inventor of Meghean, a language spoken by Elves in a fantasy world of his own devising. Andreas's Elves are a separate species, not interfertile with humans.

Danny Wier has been working on and off for years on an Elvish language named Tech. Little is known about Tech, except that it is a very complex language with a huge phoneme inventory, based on the hypothetical Nostratic language family. Danny tries to avoid Tolkienian clichés, and his Elves are actually incarnate djinn.

Elliott Lash has developed Silindion, a highly developed language of Elf-like beings in his own fantasy world.

The Grey Company, a guild of Ultima Online players, use Grey Company Elvish, a language with a vocabulary partly taken from Tolkien's languages, and a simple grammar.

Herman Miller has invented several languages for Elves from another planet, in a con-universe where most sapient beings are cute and furry.

Jashan A'al has developed the High Drow language, based on a less sophisticated conlang published by TSR, Inc., spoken by Elves in the Forgotten Realms who were exiled for worshipping an evil deity.

Jörg Rhiemeier developed, or rather is still developing, the Albic languages, a family of languages spoken by the British Elves in the League of Lost Languages. These Elves are entirely human.

Toms Deimonds Barvidis has developed the Elvish language Longrimol.

External links

• Wikipedia:Elf
• Ardalambion - web site dedicated to Tolkien's languages