Common Speech
| Westron | |
|---|---|
| Adûni | |
| Created by | J.R.R. Tolkien |
| Setting and usage | Fantasy world of Middle-earth |
| Purpose | |
| Sources | a priori language, but relative to other languages of Arda |
| Language codes | |
| ISO 639-3 |
None (mis) |
| Glottolog | None |
Westron, or the Common Speech, is a fictional language in the fantasy works of J. R. R. Tolkien.
Westron is the closest thing to a lingua franca in Middle-earth, at least at the time during which The Lord of the Rings is set. "Westron" is an invented English word, derived from West. It is not a word from the language itself.
The Westron speech is derived from contact between the Adûnaic tongue of Númenor, and the languages of the western coastlands of the continent of Middle-earth, when the Númenóreans began to establish trade outposts and forts there.
When the Edain, forefathers of the Númenóreans (the Dúnedain), first entered Beleriand in the First Age, they spoke two different languages, of which Taliska was the predecessor of Adûnaic. Of the Three Houses of the Edain, the House of Haleth spoke Haladin, while the House of Bëor and House of Hador both spoke Taliska. The Bëorian dialect of Taliska was slightly different from the Hadorian dialect (though not an outright separate language), but in any case, the House of Bëor was practically destroyed after the Dagor Bragollach, about a century and a half before the end of the First Age. The few surviving women and children of the House of Bëor subsequently merged into the other Houses and ceased to function as an independent entity. Taliska itself appears to have been a creole of several Avarin (Dark Elf) languages, with some influence from Dwarvish Khuzdul, due to trade contact with Dark Elves and Dwarves as the Edain migrated from the east to Beleriand. The Haladin language had a somewhat similar origin but had branched off so that it became mutually unintelligible with Taliska and ultimately a separate language. Following the end of the First Age, this division between the two major branches of "Northern Mannish" languages (descended from Taliska), and "Southern Mannish" languages (descended from Haladin) would persist throughout most of the Men living in the known regions of north-west Middle-earth (the languages of the Easterlings and Southrons are of entirely different origins). Due to contact with the Grey Elves while dwelling in Beleriand, Taliska was influenced by Elvish (Sindarin) and ultimately evolved into Adûnaic, which became the common language spoken on Númenór itself.
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