THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE WESTRON TO THE LANGUAGES OF OTHER PEOPLES IN THE LORD OF THE RINGS
The Westron or 'Common Speech' was the native language of many races of the West-lands (save the Elves) in the Third Age. In The Lord of the Rings it is represented by English. Only the languages alien to the Common Speech have been left in their original form; but these appear mainly in the names of persons and places. The whole of the linguistic setting has been translated as far as possible into terms of our times. Translating The Red Book from the Westron Tolkien has made an attempt to represent different variants of pronunciation by variations in the kind of English used. Such persons as Gandalf, Aragorn, Frodo, Gimli do not hold to the same style. For them it was quite natural and even intentional to speak more or less after the manner of those, among whom they found themselves, since they often had to conceal their origin and business.
The Eldar, being above all skilled in words, had the command of many styles, though they spoke most naturally in a manner nearest to their own speech, one even more antique than that of Gondor. The Dwarves too, spoke with skill, readily adapting themselves to their company, though their utterance seemed to some rather harsh and guttural. But Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love for words or things; and their language was actually more degraded and filthy than Tolkien has shown it.
Some Westron names, when translated, are different in meaning: as Mount Doom for Orodruin 'burning mountain' or Mirkwood for Taur e-Ndaelos 'forest of the great fear', or are alterations of Elvish names: as Lune derived from Lhun and Brandywine from Baranduin. Most of Wesrton names have been Englished as the Shire for suza, Rivendell for Karningul (Elvish Imladris), Samwise and for Banazir and Moria for Rhurunarginan. In several cases Tolkien has modernized the forms and spelling of place-names and proper names in Rohan: as in Dunharow, Snowburg, Shadowfax and Wormtongue. Still there are Westron words left in their original form: such as mumakil'elephant',mathom (OE mathm) 'everything that was out of use, but could hardly be thrown away' or smial 'burrow'.
Relationship between peoples in The Lord of the Rings are reflected through their speech. T.A.Shippey comments on the tongues of the Shire and Rohan since the Hobbits had once spoken, as has been noted, a language closely related to that of the Rohirrim. " The relationship of English to the languages of other peoples indicates the peoples' relationship to the hobbits'. Their speech sets up a standard of naturalness. Against this the Riders' is solemn and old-fashioned, often rather straight-forward grammatically, though without losing a certain ceremoniousness. Much of their cultural history is indicated by this duality - they are aristocratic (unlike the Hobbits), but unsophisticated (unlike the men of Gondor). The old words they use serve first to show the difference from the longer-established people of the West, but in any case soon begin to make sense." [12]
It seems to us incredibly interesting to observe the reaction of the characters of the book to the phonation of tongues they do not know. When Aragorn 'began to chant softly in a slow tongue unknown to the Elf and, yet they listened, for there was a strong music in it', Legolas, still not knowing whether he was right or wrong, said, "That I guess, is the language of the Rohirrim, for it' s like this song itself, rich and rolling in pant, and else hard and stern, as the mountains. But I cannot guess what it means." [3]
Here is one more remarkable episode. In Elrond's house Gandalf reads out the inscription on the Ring of Power made in the Black Speech of Mordor."The change in wizard's voice was astounding. Suddenly it became manacing, powerful, harsh as stone. A shadow seemed to pass over the high sun and the porch for a moment grew dark. All trembled, and the Elves stooped their ears." [2] Elrond upbraids Gandalf not because he tried to frighten them by the ominous sense of the inscription but because he read it in that very terrible language.
In contrast Elvish serves as a talisman, a password that opens many doors. It is not by chance that finding himself in a lair of a giant spider Shelob, Sam cries out in a language quite unfamiliar to him, in Eldarian: "A Elbereth Gilthoniel o menel palan-diriel, le hallon si di 'nguruthos! A tiro nin, Fahuilos!" And with that he staggered to his feet and was Samwise, the hobbit, Hamfast's son again." [3]
Sometimes we do not necessarily need to know the language to realize that it has its own history and an individual character, or to know where the words come from to be moved by the effect they produce.
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