Gandalf in the Library of Minas Tirith
Copyright ©1990 Patrick Wynne
Used with permission
“It had begun with a leaf
caught in the wind, and it
became a tree; and the
tree grew, sending out
innumerable branches,
and thrusting out the
most fantastic roots.”
E.L.F. Home
The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship 
A Special Interest Group of the Mythopoeic Society
The Elvish Linguistic Fellowship (E.L.F.) is an international organization devoted to the scholarly study of the invented languages of J.R.R. Tolkien .
The primary activity of the E.L.F. is carried out in the pages of its two print journals, Vinyar Tengwar (available by subscription ) and Parma Eldalamberon, and in its online journal, Tengwestië. The E.L.F. also sponsors the Lambengolmor mailing list.
Join the E.L.F.
Become a member of the E.L.F. by subscribing to the journal Vinyar Tengwar . Click here for details.
Announcements
Announcing Parma Eldalamberon 17
See the full announcement and details on the contents here.
The Collected Vinyar Tengwar Vol. 5b now available
Volume 5b of The Collected Vinyar Tengwar collects issues 41–49, and is available for order on the E.L.F. Storefront at Lulu.com and from the Vinyar Tengwar Web Shop. Note that the volume is offered in two different bindings: Perfect (i.e. as a typical softcover book) and Coil (which allows the issue to open and lie flat, for ease of reference).
Nota Bene: This is a provisional volume. When issue 50 is published, it will be added to the volume to form the completed Vol. 5, which will collect issues 41–50.
This 60-page issue features the third and final part of Patrick Wynne’s presentation of “Eldarin Hands, Fingers & Numerals and Related Writings”, which concludes with an analysis of the seven versions of a Quenya text concerning Elvish ambidexterity, and features an appendix presenting Tolkien’s late writings on the verb nā ‘to be’, several forms of which appear in these texts. This issue also features a presentation of five late Quenya volitive inscriptions in nai, ranging from 1964 to 1969, one of which arose on the same sheet as the Ambidexters Sentence (AS). Presented as appendices to this are two late sets of notes on Quenya pronominal inflections and related forms—dating from 1964 and c. 1968, respectively—which shed further light on the pronominal endings encountered in the inscriptions, and in the AS.
Vinyar Tengwar format, subscription, and back-issue changes
Due to the vastly increased demands of time required for subscription and back-issue-order fulfillment as readership has grown past 500; and to the reality of irregular publication dictated by its changed focus on publishing new primary material; and in order to remove format constraints on the size and scope of its contents, Vinyar Tengwar will undergo a format change and a switch to per-issue ordering after the publication of issue 50. New subscriptions will be accepted only through issue 50. Those whose subscriptions currently extend past issue 50 will be refunded the pro-rated balance for all issues past 50. Starting with issue 51, VT will be produced and published through the print-on-demand services of Lulu.com. In addition, effective immediately, back-issue orders will no longer be accepted or filled by the editor. Instead, back-issue collections will be published and available for order as a series of softcover volumes through Lulu.com (in both pefect- and spiral-bound formats), as The Collected Vinyar Tengwar.
Vinyar Tengwar Index
Diego Segui has very kindly provided his index of Vinyar Tengwar for publication here, in both English and (the original) Spanish versions. Diego writes: "This index lists in alphabetical order all words, roots, affixes, etc. belonging to languages invented by J.R.R. Tolkien which appear attested, discussed or mentioned in the journal Vinyar Tengwar (VT). Its purpose is to provide the researcher with quick access to a reference, or to allow focusing on a particular form by checking it against other locations where information can be found."
Errata Page for E.L.F. Publications
Per Lindberg has graciously volunteered to compile and maintain a web site listing known, corroborated errata to the two print publications of the E.L.F., Parma Eldalamberon and Vinyar Tengwar, at http://www.elvish.org/errata/. I encourage everyone who spots a potential erratum to either of these publications to report it at errata@elvish.org. If the erratum is confirmed, it will be added to the page and reported to the Lambengolmor list.
Announcing Tengwestië — the online journal of the E.L.F.
Read the welcome message and the first article, “The Past-Tense Verb in the Noldorin of the Etymologies: A Formal Classification” by Carl F. Hostetter, here.
E.L.F. and Vinyar Tengwar Swag
Members and non-members alike can now help support the E.L.F. and the production and publication of Vinyar Tengwar by purchasing from a nifty selection of E.L.F.- and VT-related swag, courtesy of CafePress.com.
