Tolkien's scripts
Tolkien's scripts are the writing systems invented by the philologist and fantasy author J. R. R. Tolkien. The best-known are Cirth, Sarati, and Tengwar.
Context
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: to be used in his personal diary, and one especially for English, the New English Alphabet.[1]
Tolkien's scripts were Sarati or the Tengwar of Rúmil; the Gondolinic Runes; the Valmaric script; Andyoqenya; Qenyatic; the New English Alphabet; the "Goblin alphabet" (in The Father Christmas Letters); the Tengwar of Fëanor; and the Cirth of Daeron.[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 also adapted, in its oldest and simplest form, by various races including Men and even Orcs..[3]
Sarati
The Sarati was Tolkien's first script for the Elves. It eventually developed into the Tengwar, supposedly created by Fëanor.[4] Known as the first writing system of Arda, Sarati was invented by the Ñoldorin chronicler Rúmil of Valinor in the Valian Year of 1179. It was he "who first achieved fitting signs for the recording of speech and song"[5] The writing system is officially called Sarati as each letter of the script represents a "sarat". However, Tolkien sometimes called the writing system "The Tengwar of Rúmil", tengwar meaning "letters" in the Elvish language Quenya. "Sarati" is the Quenya name for Rúmil's script.[4]
When writing Quenya, the sign for "a" is usually omitted, as it is the most common vowel in Quenya. This makes Sarati an abugida with an inherent vowel of "a".[6]
Tengwar
References
- ^ Hammond, Wayne G., Scull, Christina, J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator, p. 190.
- ^ Smith, Arden. "Writing Systems". The Tolkien Estate. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
- ^ Tolkien, J. R. R. (1955). The Return of the King. London: George Allen & Unwin. Appendix E.
- ^ a b Smith, Ross Inside Language, p. 107
- ^ 'The Silmarillion' by J. R. R. Tolkien (63)
- ^ Björkman, Måns. "Les Sarati - Forme Phonétique". Ambar-eldaron.com. Archived from the original on 17 January 2018. Retrieved 26 January 2021.