Backyard Professor
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- Joined
- Nov 22, 2025
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- 210
Iāve been reading and enjoying thinking about Christopher Gilsonās comments on the Discord Vinye Lambengolmor group of Tolkien scholars on the elvish languages. He wrote a series of posts he called āTolkienās Phonaesthetics ā the āotherā point of viewā for several little posts, and honestly, what I like most about it isnāt that Gilson proves anything new, but he instructs us how to understand Tolkien better.
First, just in case some donāt know who weāre listening to here: Christopher Gilson isnāt some random fan tossing out ideas. Heās been one of the main editors of Parma Eldalamberon for years and a major contributor to Vinyar Tengwar. In other words, heās spent a huge amount of time working directly with Tolkienās linguistic papers, especially the early Quenya material. When he talks about how Tolkien thought about sound and meaning, heās doing it from very close contact with the source material.
What I really appreciate about Gilsonās discussion is how it highlights something Tolkien himself openly cared about: sound. Tolkien didnāt just invent words to label meanings, he cared deeply about how they felt when spoken or heard. Sometimes the sound seems to come first, and the explanation comes later. Christopher Tolkien even said that in some cases the word was āalready thereā before the etymology was fully worked out, and Gilsonās examples make that feel very real.
The LI / LIN / LIM examples are a great case of this. Gilson doesnāt appear to me to be saying these words all come from one neat root or that Tolkien consciously planned them as a system from day one. What heās pointing out is more human than that. Tolkien kept circling back to similar sounds when thinking about things like flowing, softness, thread, music, clarity, or joining things together. Over time, those words start to echo each other. This isnāt because Tolkien followed some kind of strict formula, but because his ear kept pulling him in that direction.
āWord-form in itself, and word-form in relation to meaningā was what Tolkien was after. Gilsonās analysis feels like it takes that statement seriously. Heās not trying to turn Tolkien into a modern linguistics textbook. Heās showing us a craftsman listening carefully to his own creations.
I also like how careful Gilson is about not overclaiming things. He doesnāt say Tolkien was secretly copying English, Latin, or Greek. He doesnāt say these sound connections are proof of hidden etymologies. Instead, he frames them as something Tolkien thought might be shared by humans more generally so that certain sounds just feel right for certain kinds of ideas. Thatās straight out of Tolkienās own thinking, not something added later by fans.
For me, the value of this kind of work isnāt that it gives us rules for making new words. It doesnāt. What it does is train us to listen the way Tolkien listened. It helps explain why Quenya feels so internally coherent even when its early history is messy. The words arenāt random, theyāre pulling on each other through sound as much as through meaning.
Another cool thing about Gilsonās take on this is that it doesnāt require every Elvish language to work the same way. Quenya was Tolkienās main playground for this kind of exploration, so we see it most clearly there. Other languages had different roles and different feels, and thatās fine. Gilson isnāt flattening everything into one system, because he canāt, and he knows it. Heās just helping us see how Tolkienās ear guided him while he worked.
So for me, this is less about agreeing or disagreeing with a theory and more about appreciation. Gilson gives us a peek into Tolkienās workshop. Once you see that, itās hard not to hear the words a little differently and not see them just as data points, but as sounds Tolkien genuinely enjoyed shaping.
Thatās why I think his perspective is enjoyable reading and great to learn with. This is my public way of simply saying thank you to him for his efforts. It makes Tolkienās Legendarium all the more wealthy for our minds to absorb, read, and enjoy.
First, just in case some donāt know who weāre listening to here: Christopher Gilson isnāt some random fan tossing out ideas. Heās been one of the main editors of Parma Eldalamberon for years and a major contributor to Vinyar Tengwar. In other words, heās spent a huge amount of time working directly with Tolkienās linguistic papers, especially the early Quenya material. When he talks about how Tolkien thought about sound and meaning, heās doing it from very close contact with the source material.
What I really appreciate about Gilsonās discussion is how it highlights something Tolkien himself openly cared about: sound. Tolkien didnāt just invent words to label meanings, he cared deeply about how they felt when spoken or heard. Sometimes the sound seems to come first, and the explanation comes later. Christopher Tolkien even said that in some cases the word was āalready thereā before the etymology was fully worked out, and Gilsonās examples make that feel very real.
The LI / LIN / LIM examples are a great case of this. Gilson doesnāt appear to me to be saying these words all come from one neat root or that Tolkien consciously planned them as a system from day one. What heās pointing out is more human than that. Tolkien kept circling back to similar sounds when thinking about things like flowing, softness, thread, music, clarity, or joining things together. Over time, those words start to echo each other. This isnāt because Tolkien followed some kind of strict formula, but because his ear kept pulling him in that direction.
āWord-form in itself, and word-form in relation to meaningā was what Tolkien was after. Gilsonās analysis feels like it takes that statement seriously. Heās not trying to turn Tolkien into a modern linguistics textbook. Heās showing us a craftsman listening carefully to his own creations.
I also like how careful Gilson is about not overclaiming things. He doesnāt say Tolkien was secretly copying English, Latin, or Greek. He doesnāt say these sound connections are proof of hidden etymologies. Instead, he frames them as something Tolkien thought might be shared by humans more generally so that certain sounds just feel right for certain kinds of ideas. Thatās straight out of Tolkienās own thinking, not something added later by fans.
For me, the value of this kind of work isnāt that it gives us rules for making new words. It doesnāt. What it does is train us to listen the way Tolkien listened. It helps explain why Quenya feels so internally coherent even when its early history is messy. The words arenāt random, theyāre pulling on each other through sound as much as through meaning.
Another cool thing about Gilsonās take on this is that it doesnāt require every Elvish language to work the same way. Quenya was Tolkienās main playground for this kind of exploration, so we see it most clearly there. Other languages had different roles and different feels, and thatās fine. Gilson isnāt flattening everything into one system, because he canāt, and he knows it. Heās just helping us see how Tolkienās ear guided him while he worked.
So for me, this is less about agreeing or disagreeing with a theory and more about appreciation. Gilson gives us a peek into Tolkienās workshop. Once you see that, itās hard not to hear the words a little differently and not see them just as data points, but as sounds Tolkien genuinely enjoyed shaping.
Thatās why I think his perspective is enjoyable reading and great to learn with. This is my public way of simply saying thank you to him for his efforts. It makes Tolkienās Legendarium all the more wealthy for our minds to absorb, read, and enjoy.
