Tolkien's scripts are the writing systems invented by thephilologist andfantasy authorJ. R. R. Tolkien. The best-known areCirth,Sarati, andTengwar.
Being a skilledcalligrapher, Tolkien invented scripts as well as languages. Some of his scripts were designed for use withhis constructed languages, others for more practical ends.[1] ThePrivata 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]
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 inThe Father Christmas Letters.[2]
The Cirth, meaning "runes" is a semi‑artificial script, based on real‑liferunic 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 calledcirth. In the fictional history of Middle-earth, the originalCerthas was created by theSindar or Grey Elves for their language,Sindarin. Its extension and elaboration was known as theAngerthas Daeron, as it was attributed to the Sinda Daeron, despite the fact that it was most probably arranged by theNoldor to represent the sounds of other languages likeQuenya andTelerin. Although it was later largely replaced by theTengwar, the Cirth was nonetheless adopted by theDwarves to write down both theirKhuzdul language and the languages ofMen. The Cirth was adapted, in its oldest and simplest form, by various races including Men and evenOrcs.[3][4]
The Sarati was Tolkien's first script for theElves. It eventually developed into theTengwar, supposedly created byFëanor.[5] Known as the first writing system ofArda, Sarati was invented by theÑoldorin chronicler Rúmil ofValinor in theValian Year of 1179. It was he "who first achieved fitting signs for the recording of speech and song"[6] 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 languageQuenya. "Sarati" is the Quenya name for Rúmil's script.[5]
Sarati was usually written top-to-bottom, but it could also be (and originally was) written left-to-right, orboustrophedon, going left and right alternately, like an ox pulling a plough back and forth in a field. When writing Quenya, the sign for "a" is usually omitted, as it is the most common vowel in Quenya. This makes Sarati anabugida with an inherent vowel of "a".[7][8]
Within the fictional context ofMiddle-earth, the Tengwar were invented by theElfFëanor, and used first to write the Elven tonguesQuenya andTelerin. Later a great number oflanguages of Middle-earth were written using the Tengwar, includingSindarin. Tolkien used Tengwar to write samples inEnglish.[9]
The inscription on theOne Ring, a couplet in theBlack Speech from theRing Verse, was written in the Elvish Tengwar script, with heavy flourishes, asMordor had no script of its own.[10]
| Classification | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Specific languages by group |
| ||||||||||
| Neography | |||||||||||
| Study | |||||||||||
| Comparisons | |||||||||||
