• Saruman’s name derives from the Anglo-Saxon, or Old English, root “searu-” for “treachery” or “cunning.”
• “Sauron” is linked to the Old Norse or Icelandic stem meaning “filth” or “dung” or “uncleanness.”
• “Mordor” derives from the Old English word “morthor,” which means “murder.”
• “Middle-earth” is related to the name “middan-geard,” which was the name for the Earth itself in Old English poetry and was considered to be the battleground between the forces of good and evil.

Tolkien’s High Elvish language, Quenya, was inspired by Finnish. Tolkien taught himself Finnish in order to read the Kalevala, a 19th-century compilation of old Finnish songs and stories arranged by Elias Lönnrot into a linear epic poem and completed in 1835 and revised in the mid-1800s.

The Kalevala epic parallels the real history of the Finns. It played a key role in preserving the oral legends and songs of the Finns, which linguists think date back to preagricultural Finland. As cultural anthropologist Wade Davis notes, “it goes back to the time of the shaman … when people lived by poetry of an oral tradition. … By definition, the entire language was the vocabulary of the best storyteller.” In 2001 Wade Davis traveled to Finland to meet Jussi Juovinen, one of Finland’s last great rune singers, and to hear him sing the Kalevala. Juovinen began to learn the poems from the elders of his village when he was a child and committed the songs to memory.

The publication of the Kalevala helped protect the ancient Finnish poems and the Finnish language itself, while helping to solidify a sense of national identity among many Finns. Although Finnish is now safeguarded by its status as a national language, it was once in danger of fading, as are many languages today.

Some experts believe as many as 10,000 languages were once spoken around the world. Today around 6,000 languages remain, and that number could be reduced to 3,000 in the next hundred years.

Tolkien created Middle-earth as a home for his invented languages. Just as the artistry, beauty, and essence of the Kalevala is intricately tied to the Finnish language, each invented language in The Lord of the Rings plays a seminal role in the evolution of events and development of the characters in Tolkien’s story.

Examples of Tolkien’s Languages in The Lord of the Rings

• Black Speech: “Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk agh burzum-ishi krimpatul—One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them”

• Quenya: “Elen sila lûmenn’ omentielvo—A star shines on the hour of our meeting”

• Dwarvish: “Khazâd-ai-mênu!—The Dwarves are upon you!”