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Taliska was the primordial tongue of two of the three Houses of the Atanatári.

History[]

With the first raising of the Sun in the West, Men awoke in Hildórien. However, Morgoth acted in order to corrupt Men when they were still in the east of Middle-earth, thus some of them chose to move westward seeking the rumored Great Sea and the Light found there.[1] During the migration these Men separated in two hosts: one moved north and reached the Sea of Rhûn, while the other moved southwest.[2]

Taliska was the language spoken by the first host, while the second host spoke a different language. However, J.R.R. Tolkien never explained if the two language were completely different or if they had a distant common ancestor. While the etymologic origin of Taliska is unknown, contact between the Atanatári, the Elves and the Dwarves before the former's arrival in Beleriand left strong influences on Taliska.[1][3][4] When the first host split again in two groups, the Lesser Folk and the Greater Folk, their languages started to diverge, but they continued to remain in kinship.[5] From Hadorian language descended the languages of Northmen of Rhovanion (like Rohanese and the other Northern tongues).[6][7] The Halethian language was the common ancestor of the languages of the Lossoth of Forochel, the Forest-folk of Minhiriath, and of the so-called Hill-men[6][7] and it was strictly related to Drúadan.[8]

After the crossing of the Blue Mountains, the Edain started to use the Sindarin as common tongue; however, from the mingling of Edain's ancient languages descended the Adûnaic, the language of Númenor.[3]

Conceptual history[]

One of the earliest Mannish language created by Tolkien was Mágol (or Mágo), based on the Hungarian language. However, he later repurposed Mágol into an Orkish language, before completely discarding it from the legendarium.[9] Unlike Khuzdûl and the many Elvish languages, Tolkien based the Taliskan branch of Mannish languages on Germanic languages. In fact, Taliska resembles Gothic, which the young Tolkien had been deeply interested in. He started to develop Taliska in the 1930s,[10] but defined the features of the Edain's languages shortly before the publication of The Lord of the Rings.[11]

The grammar and syntax of Taliska is known to exist in a mostly complete form, but, despite work by Tolkienists, has not yet been published.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XVII: "Of the Coming of Men into the West"
  2. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part Two: Late Writings, chapter X: "Of Dwarves and Men"
  3. 3.0 3.1 The Silmarillion, Quenta Silmarillion, Chapter XII: "Of Men"
  4. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels, Part Two: The Later Quenta Silmarillion, chapter XIII: "Concerning the Dwarves"
  5. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part Two: Last Writings, chapter XII: "The Problem of Ros"
  6. 6.0 6.1 The History of Middle-earth, Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth, Part Two: Late Writings, chapter X: "Of Dwarves and Men", "The Atani and their Languages"
  7. 7.0 7.1 Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Two: The Third Age, Chapter II: "Cirion and Eorl and the Friendship of Gondor and Rohan"
  8. Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth, Part Four, Chapter I: "The Drúedain"
  9. The History of Middle-earth, Vol. IX: Sauron Defeated, Part Two: "The Notion Club Papers"
  10. Eldamo - Taliska
  11. Eldamo - Edain language

External links[]

Translations[]

Foreign Language Translated name
Greek Ταλίσκα
Russian Талиска
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