The language of Elves of Beleriand, which spread through western Middle-earth after the fall of that land (LotR/1128). It might be considered the “Common Elvish” language spoken by most western Elves, as opposed to the “High Elvish” language Quenya used only in lore and ritual, though Tolkien himself never used this term. Many of the Elvish names in The Lord of the Rings are Sindarin, and it is the Elvish language most frequently used in Peter Jackson’s Middle-earth movies. Tolkien admitted that the phonology of Sindarin was inspired by the Welsh language (Let/176, PE17/135), and its sounds and some aspects of its grammar have a distinctly Welsh flavor.
This section includes words drawn from multiple periods throughout Tolkien’s life, as well as later inventions by fans (neologisms); Tolkien actually used different names for earlier versions of the Sindarin language: Noldorin (1920-1950) and Gnomish (1910-1920). Since this list of words does not precisely match Tolkien’s conception of these languages at any particular time, this section uses the “Neo-Sindarin” designation, since it is in effect “Post Tolkien”. For information about Sindarin and its precursor languages as Tolkien conceived them at various periods of his life, see:
For more information about how this vocabulary list was assembled, see: