Valmaric script

From Tolkien Gateway

The Valmaric script is an early script which Tolkien used from about 1922 to 1925 and looks like a midpoint between the Sarati and the Tengwar; Tolkien experimented with several similar scripts but Valmaric is the only one published so far.

He referred to those scripts as "Qenya writing", "Qenyatic" and "Qenyarinwa". He also described his samples as representing three different stages (Old, Middle and Late).

It features many tengwar shapes, the inherent vowel [a] found in some tengwar varieties. Valmaric is an abugida script. The letters represent consonants, while the vowels are represented by signs around the letters (like the later tehtar)

All syllables inherently contain the vowel a, which means that any single consonant is by definition followed by a. That is, unless the sign of a different vowel is attached to the letter. To indicate that a consonant is not followed by a or any other vowel (eg. in consonant clusters, or in words ending in consonants), a dot is placed under the letter.

The tables in the samples V12 and V13 show an arrangement that is very similar to the one of the primary tengwar in the classical Quenya "mode".

Examples of Valmaric are seen in DTS 27 and DTS 61, the "Lunar Landscape" drawing for Roverandom.

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

  • Valmaric font - The documentation includes two tables of all the characters and their sound values.
Languages and scripts in Tolkien's works
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"A Secret Vice" (book) · "The Lhammas" · "The Tree of Tongues" · Sub-creation