In Tolkein’s Middle Earth people of different cultures converse in the Common Speech for ease of communication. It would make sense for the Common Speech to be the language of the particular culture that is the most powerful in intercultural commerce and political relations- much the same way that people from around the globe today see it to be to their benefit to learn English if they set goals that are to be accomplished in an international forum.
It also makes for easier storytelling to have a common language for all of the characters to communicate in.
However, in LOTR the Elves are described as having their own language,
The Dwarves are described as having their own language,
The people of Gondor are described as having their own language,
The Rohorrim are described as having their own language,
The Dunedain are described as having their own language,
There’s the Black Speech of Mordor,
And even the Orc’s have several languages of their own- such that Orcs of different tribes can only communicate with each other in the Common Speech.
So where did the Common Speech come from? What culture was so influential as to have its language adopted as a second tonge by all of the peoples of Middle Earth? Or was the Common Speech a more successful attempt at Esperanto?
It seems that Wizards and Hobbits are the only ones who speak the Common Speech as their first language. It seems unlikely that the reclusive Hobbits would have had their language adopted by so many (and as much as they prefer not to have anything to do with the outside world, it seems strange that they would so embrace an outside language).
At a guess I would say that the common speech of Middle Earth is the language of the Kingdom of Gondor and Arnor.
The Hobbits speak it because they where once part of that kingdom, from memory the hobbits mayor draws his authority from that kingdom even though it no longer exists in the north.
The Gondorian language is pretty much the same thing, more a dialect or even accent rather than a language.
Been a decade ore more since I read this stuff though
[nitpick]
When Gandalf and Pippin first arrive at the gates of Minas Tirith the guards question them in the language of Gondor. Gandalf criticizes the guards saying that it used to be the custom of Minas Tirith to greet visitors in the Common Speech.
[/nitpick]
The Common Speech (aka ‘Westron’) began as the language of Numenor (aka ‘Adunaic’), which in turn derived from the ancient language of men during the First Age. When the Numenoreans began returning to Middle Earth in the Second Age, Adunaic was spoken around their settlements in what became Gondor, and spread throughout Middle Earth. This language picked up other words as well, mostly Elvish, as it morphed into Westron/The Common Speech (much as modern English is an amalgamation of numerous languages). As Numenor and later Arnon/Gondor were the most powerful kindoms in Middle Earth during the 2nd & 3rd ages, their culture and language had the most influence. bienville, I believe you are referring to when they arive at Edoras in Rohan, and not at Minas Tirith. Later, when Gandalf and Pippen arive at Gondor, the guards use the Common Speech.
The Hobbits once had their own language, which was apparently related to the language of the Rohirrim. The Hobbits retained some of their own words for things, like ‘mathom,’ for instance, as well as their personal names. When the Hobbits moved across the Misty Mountains from their ancestral homes and into the realm of men, they adopted their speach as well. The Hobbits were at first a wandering people, and it wasn’t till after they had settled the Shire (about 1400 years before the events of ‘Lord of the Rings’) before they became more reclusive and dealt little with men.
Westron is a descendant of Adunaic, the language of the Men of Numenor, with an admixture of Sindarin Elvish and the tongues of “lesser” men (the Dunlendings, the men of the Vales of Anduin).
Can you provide a quote from the scene you’re describing, bienville? I don’t own a set at the moment and I was pretty sure Westron was Gondor’s official language.
Don’t have the book in front of me right now, but as, I think about it, Triton is probably right: I’m Probably mixing up the arrival at Minas Tirith with the arrival at Edoras.
Think latin. In the middle ages, the roman empire might have been gone for centuries, but everyone (well, everyone educated) could still speak latin, whatever the local language.
Correct. Remember we’re seeing a mythology set in a time more or less parallel to the Middle Ages. The average Gondorian (Beregond and Bergil, for example) spoke Westron; the upper classes spoke Westron as everyday speech, and Sindarin (Grey Elven) as their “court language” much as German/French and Latin were used in the European Middle Ages.
The Rohirrim spoke an archaic Westron modeled on Anglo-Saxon (and often translated as such).
We have only a handful of authentic Westron words; mostly it was rendered as English in the stories.
Elves, Dwarves, etc., spoke their own “ethnic” languages among themselves and knew Westron as a “trade language” – a lingua franca for dealings between peoples and with men.
The other reason why the Westron speech became so widespread:
humans were always the most numerous of the three kindreds (elves, men, dwarves), so whatever they spoke (and, in ME, their speech was dictated by the Numenoreans who schooled/ruled them) had a huge influence
elves are quicker studies when it comes to learning languages than are men, so they’d have an easier time picking up Westron than men would picking up Quenya or Sindarin
the dwarves are terribly secretive, and don’t want any outsiders to know their own speech–so they gladly adopted the speech of whoever they traded with
In fact, no non-dwarf (except possibly Gandalf, but he’s too diplomatic to make a point of it) knows Dwarvish. The longest excerpt of Dwarvish known to anyone else is the warcry “Baruk Khazad! Khazad ai-menu!”, which translates to “Axes of the Dwarves! The Dwarves are upon you!”. For practical purposes, the dwarves also learn the language of whatever people they live among, and the names they use among outsiders and any writings which may fall into non-Dwarvish hands are in such languages.
