Tengwar facts for kids
Tengwar is a special way of writing, like an alphabet, created by J. R. R. Tolkien. He made it for his fantasy world called Middle-earth. You can see it in his famous books, like The Lord of the Rings.
In the Quenya language, tengwar means "letters". The word tengwa is singular, meaning "letter".
Tolkien used Tengwar to write some of his made-up languages. These include the elven languages Quenya and Sindarin. But Tolkien also used Tengwar a lot for writing English. Since Tengwar is an alphabet, you can use it to write almost any language.
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How Tengwar Started
In the late 1910s, J. R. R. Tolkien created a writing system called Sarati. This system was a bit like Tengwar already. Tengwar itself was probably developed later, in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
The first time people saw Tengwar writing was in 1937. It appeared in Tolkien's book The Hobbit. This was a special message called The Lonely Mountain Jar Inscription. A full explanation of how Tengwar works came out in 1955. It was in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings.
How Tengwar Works
The Tengwar letters follow a certain order. They are usually shown in a table or chart. They are grouped by how they look and how they sound. Each Tengwa letter stands for a sound, just like letters in an alphabet. The main Tengwar letters are put into four vertical groups called témar. They are also in six horizontal rows called tyeller.
Different Ways to Write
There are different ways to write with Tengwar. These are called "modes". The modes can be a little different or very different from each other. In some modes, a Tengwa letter might stand for a different sound.
In some modes, Tengwar letters are used for both vowels and consonants. In other modes, the Tengwar letters are only for consonants. The vowels are shown by small signs placed above or below the Tengwa. These vowel signs are called tehtar (meaning "signs"). A single sign is called a tehta.
There are different modes for writing the various Middle-earth languages. People have also created new modes. These new modes let you write English and other modern languages using Tengwar. The Tengwar table shows how the letters sound. For example, sounds made at the front of the mouth are in one row. Each column is for sounds that come from the nose, throat, or lips.
How Tengwar Is Used
Tolkien used Tengwar to write texts for his fictional world, Middle-earth. He wrote in the languages he invented, like Quenya and Sindarin. But he also used Tengwar to write in English.
After Tolkien's Middle-earth books became popular, people became interested in his languages and writing systems. Now, fans use Tengwar to write new things. They also use it to rewrite existing texts in Tengwar.
Related pages
Images for kids
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Tehtar
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See also
In Spanish: Tengwar para niños
