Who was JRR Tolkien?
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa in 1892 but his family moved to the midlands of England following his fathers death when JRR was 4. He lived his whole life in England and had a particular fondness for its languages and those of northwestern Europe. As a child and young man he learned almost a dozen languages, not only the classical but also many European languages and had a hobby of inventing languages. It was to create a backdrop for these languages, an historical and cultural context, that he wrote The Lord Of The Rings. These books mention some of his 15 invented languages including: Sindarin (everyday elvish, inspired by his fascination with Welsh) and Quenya (high-Elven, a kind of Elvin Latin, inspired by the Finnish language.) Less developed, but present nonetheless are Entish, Khudzul (Dwarvish) and the Black Speech (the language of Mordor, e.g. the Ring inscription) as well as Adunaic, the language of Nmenor. As a philologist (lover of words), Tolkien was pri
