Language guides, word-lists or name-lists in Tolkien's published works:

 

The Hobbit. The (Old English) runes on the map can be matched to the English words in the translation. (The only one missing is P. Anyone interested in these runes should look for a book on Old English or Old Norse runes.) These runes are not the same as the Elf/Dwarf runes (Cirth) in The Lord of the Rings.

The Lord of the Rings: Appendix E and Appendix F, The Return of the King (The Lord of the Rings Vol 3). Includes the table and explanation of the Tengwar (elvish writing) and Cirth (Elf/Dwarf runes). Pronunciation guide. Meanings of the letter-names given.

The Lord of the Rings: The Shadow of the Past (Volume 1, Book 1, Ch. II) The Ring Rhyme (first two lines only). The Black Speech in elvish lettering. Catch: the lettering is very italic and the print is not 100% clear. A transcription of the Black Speech into English lettering is given in The Council of Elrond (The Lord of the Rings, Volume 1, Book 2, Ch. II), when Gandalf speaks it aloud (much to the annoyance of Elrond). The English translation is given a few lines later. (This does not annoy Elrond so much.)

The Lord of the Rings: Three is Company (Volume 1, Book 1, Ch. III). The most famous elvish statement, Frodo's greeting to Gildor, Sindarin in English lettering followed by an English transation. There is an elvish transcript somewhere but I can't remember where right at the moment.

(On the JRR Tolkien: The Life and Legend video, and some other videos, Tolkien can be seen lettering this phrase and accidentally missing out one of the words. Elves apparently use the same editorial marks as the rest of us. Tolkien used the same version of the phrase that appears in the books, although another version (also by Tolkien) is sometimes quoted by linguists.

The Lord of the Rings: Flight to the Ford (Volume 1, Book 1, Ch. XII) Glorfindel's command to his steed. One line, elvish in English lettering, no translation.

(It means: "Run/roll/ride [delete as applicable] swift(ly), run/roll/ride [delete as applicable] swift(ly), Asfaloth!" Fortunately, Asfaloth understood.)

The Lord of the Rings (most editions) the title pages, footers. Elvish (tengwar) lettering rendering English speech. The flying vowels (tehtar) sit over the letters which FOLLOW them in this rendering, or else on carrier stems.

Roughly: "Of [long F] westmarch be john ronald reuel tolkien: herein iz set forth the history of-the [long F-TH] ring and [n-d-silent-e] the [long TH] return history of-the [long F-TH] king az seen bi [I on short carrier][?] the [long TH] hobb[b with underscore]its [s hook]".

The rendering of English into Elvish lettering here is partly phonetic and partly (mostly) letter for letter.

The Runes on the header of these pages are Cirth. See Appendix E.

The Lord of the Rings: Many Meetings (Volume 1, Book 1, Ch. I) An Elvish (Sindarin) verse of the hymn Elbereth Gilthoniel, in English lettering with no translation. See The Road Goes Ever On.

The Lord of the Rings: A Journey in the Dark (Volume 1, Book 2, Ch. IV) Illustration: the Western Door of Moria. Elvish inscription in the Mode of Beleriand (no flying vowels) plus a transcription into English letltering. Catch: the print tends to be smudgy. The English translation of the words is spoken by Gandalf in italics when the Door is revealed (typically the previous page).

The Lord of the Rings: A Journey in the Dark (Volume 1, Book 2, Ch. IV): Gandalf's attempted door spell. Elvish words in English transcription. The translation is not given here. I'll reference it when I remember where it is.

The Lord of the Rings: Farewell to Lorien (Volume 2, Book 1, Ch. VIII). The Elvish (Quenya) text of Galadriel's Lament (Namarie) in English lettering, followed by an English translation. No grammar breakdown. See The Road Goes Ever On.

The Lord of the Rings: The Steward and the King (Volume 3, Book 2, Ch. V). Aragorn recites the declaration of Elendil. Elvish (possibly Quenya) in English lettering. Translation in the following paragraph. No breakdown. The Lord of the Rings: The linnod of Gilrain (the Mother's Lament).

The Return of the King (Vol 3) Appendix A, item (V) A Part of the Tale of Aragorn and Arwen. One line. Elvish in English lettering with an English translation in the footnote.

The Road Goes Ever On. 1962. Tolkien/Swann. Music book. Final section includes fully written versions of the poems Namarie and Elbereth Gilthoniel in tengwar, with translation and full grammatrical breakdown of the words. Also an additional guide to the structure and pronunciation of elvish. Now back in print as part of a music package.

The Silmarillion. (1977) Appendix: Elements in Quenya and Sindarin Names. As described. Very informative.

The Histories of Middle-earth (all volumes) title pages, header and footer. Elvish (tengwar) lettering rendering modern English, slight variants. Not all exactly as described in Appendix E of The Return of the King. Took me a while to work out what "skond" meant. A fun exercise for anyone who wants to transliterate into English. Slightly spoiled by being cut off at the ends on some (rather a lot of) editions.

History of Middle-earth Vol. I: The Book of Lost Tales Volume I. Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales - Part I. Informative name list. History of Middle-earth Vol. II

History of Middle-earth Vol. II: The Book of Lost Tales Volume II. Appendix: Names in the Lost Tales - Part II. Another informative name list.

History of Middle-earth Vol. V: The Lost Road, 1987. Part 3: The Etymologies. A detailed list of roots and words in the earlier development of the main elvish languages, much of which is still current in the time of The Lord of the Rings. Also contains The Lhammas, an essay on the development of the elvish tongues in Middle-earth, which helps to understand the basis on which the languages were devised (by Tolkien as well as by the elves).

History of Middle-earth Vol. VII: The Treason of Isengard (The History of The Lord of the Rings Part Two) 1989. Appendix on Runes. History of development of the runes (Cirth) and also gives a form for handwriting.

History of Middle-earth Vol. IX: Sauron Defeated. At the end of Part 2 (The Notion Club Papers) and Part Three (The Drowning of Anadune) are facsimiles in elvish lettering and some grammar of a non-elvish but related language, Adunaic (the language of Númenor).

History of Middle-earth Vol. XI: The War of the Jewels Part Four: Quendi and Eldar. Long discussion of the elvish languages including details on some word-elements.

History of Middle-earth Vol. XII: The Peoples of Middle-earth Part 1 (II) The Appendix on Languages. Earlier version of Appendix E and F. Interesting background only.

There are MANY other linguistic references in Tolkien's works, from translation of whole phrases to single names or words. We don't have time to look them up. If you are interested, keep a notebook and write them down as you find them.

There is a limited selection of links on our Links Page to language source sites. One tends to lead to another. Dan Smith's Tengwar Site is the clearest guide to the tengwar, includes the numbers (originally only published in pamphlet form) and also Tengwar and Cirth fonts.