Tolkien's scripts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tolkien's scripts are the writing systems invented by the philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien. The best-known are the Cirth runic script, based on real-life runic alphabets; Tolkien's first Elvish script, Sarati, supposedly created by Fëanor; and Tengwar, developed from Sarati, and used for languages including Sindarin as well as samples in English.
Being a skilled calligrapher, Tolkien invented scripts as well as languages. Some of his scripts were designed for use with his constructed languages, others for more practical ends.[1] The Privata Kodo Skauta (Private Scout Code) from 1909 was designed to be used in his personal diary; it had both an alphabet and some whole-word ideographs.[2] Late in his life, he created a New English Alphabet structured like Tengwar but written in characters resembling those of Latin and Greek.[1][2]
In chronological order, Tolkien's Middle-earth scripts are:[2]
- Tengwar of Rúmil or Sarati
- Gondolinic runes (Runes used in the city of Gondolin)
- Valmaric script
- Andyoqenya
- Qenyatic
- Tengwar of Fëanor
- The Cirth of Daeron
In addition, there are some pre-Fëanorian variants including Falassin, Noriac, Banyaric, and Sinyatic, and some non-Middle-earth alphabets, in manuscripts from the 1920s, and a Goblin Alphabet used in The Father Christmas Letters.[2]
Cirth
The Cirth, meaning "runes" is a semi‑artificial script, based on real‑life runic alphabets, invented by Tolkien for his constructed languages. Cirth is written with a capital letter when referring to the writing system; the letters themselves can be called cirth. In the fictional history of Middle-earth, the original Certhas was created by the Sindar or Grey Elves for their language, Sindarin. Its extension and elaboration was known as the Angerthas Daeron, as it was attributed to the Sinda Daeron, despite the fact that it was most probably arranged by the Noldor to represent the sounds of other languages like Quenya and Telerin. Although it was later largely replaced by the Tengwar, the Cirth was nonetheless adopted by the Dwarves to write down both their Khuzdul language and the languages of Men. The Cirth was adapted, in its oldest and simplest form, by various races including Men and even Orcs.[3][4]
