Letter to Leila Keene and Pat Kirke
From Tolkien Gateway
Leila Keene and Pat Kirke 3 August 1943 is a letter from J.R.R. Tolkien to the girls Leila Keene and Pat Kirke, written on August 3, 1943.
- Contents: Tolkien discusses the Common Speech and the adoption by the Dwarves of Erebor of the language of the Men of Dale.[1]
- Authenticity: Very high
- Publication: The letter was first reproduced in an auction catalogue from Sotheby's in 1995. Christopher Tolkien included a description and excerpts from the letter in The Peoples of Middle-earth.[1]
Excerpt
"... It was a sort of lingua-franca, made up of all sorts of languages, but the Elvish language (of the North West) for the most part. It was called the Western language or Common Speech; and in Bilbo's time had already passed eastward over the Misty Mountains and reached Lake Town, and Beorn, and even Smaug (dragons were ready linguists in all ages). ..."
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Peoples of Middle-earth, "II. The Appendix on Languages", pp. 72-73
