Adûnaic
| Adûnaic | |
|---|---|
| Created by | J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Setting and usage | Fantasy world of Middle-earth |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | a priori language, but related to other languages of Arda |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Adûnaic (or Adunaic) ("language of the west") is a fictional language in the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien.
One of the languages of Arda in Tolkien's Middle-earth legendarium, it was spoken by the Men of Númenor during the Second Age.
Adûnaic derived from the closely related Bëorian and Hadorian dialects of Taliska, the language spoken by the first and third houses of the Edain when they first entered Beleriand during the First Age (the language(s) of the second house, the Haladin, seems to have had little or no influence on Adûnaic whatsoever, despite the apparent presence of both the Haladin and the Drúedain in Númenor prior to its downfall). This language seems to have primarily been a creole of the Dwarvish Khuzdul and some Avarin dialects, and it is almost wholly unclear which parts (if any) of its vocabulary and structure were purely "Mannish" in origin, though the answer is probably very little. It is stated that Finrod Felagund was able to quickly master Taliska purely by determining the various changes undergone by its Avarin component from Primitive Quendian, and Faramir stated that all languages of Men are of Elvish descent, suggesting that Taliska and Adûnaic are in fact Quendian/Avarin with some Khuzdul influence (notwithstanding the possibility that Faramir was misinformed, much as how many people mistakenly think English is a Romance language). Once the Edain settled in Beleriand, they eagerly learned Sindarin from its Grey Elven inhabitants, but retained their own tongue, probably whilst borrowing and adapting many Sindarin words to it. By the end of the First Age, Taliska had developed into a language that served as the basis for Adûnaic, the vernacular tongue of the Númenóreans, as well as the languages of the Rohirrim and the Men of Dale.
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