Naffarin is a language created around autumn 1907[1] by J.R.R. Tolkien. Much of what we know of Naffarin comes from a lecture by Tolkien called A Secret Vice Naffarin incorporated some of the latest stages of Nevbosh. This language was inspired by English, Latin and Spanish. All writing from Tolkien originally created Naffarin has been lost but he writes in 'A Secret Vice' that he can remember it well enough.[2]
The phonetic system was limited, with no phonemes that do not occur in English (but with the deliberate exclusion of w, p, Š, Ź, and c), though Tolkien argues that alien sounding words can still be created with purely English sounds through combinations of phonemes.[2]
Tolkien gives an example Naffarin sentence to illustrate (no translation given),O Naffarínos cutá vu navru cangor luttos ca vúna tiéranar, dana maga tíer ce vru encá vún' farta once ya merúta vúna maxt' amámen. Tolkien states that vrú means ever, this is the only Naffarin word we have a translation for.[3]
Based on the above phrase, Helge Fauskanger noted that Naffarin has several elements in style and structure that might resemble future Elvish (By 1915 Tolkien would start writing the Qenya Lexicon).[4]
External links
References
- ↑ Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond (2006), The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion and Guide: II. Reader's Guide, p. 475
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays, "A Secret Vice"
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays, "A Secret Vice", p. 141
- ↑ Helge Fauskanger, "External history of Quenya", Ardalambion, accessed 31 August 2014