Gorgoroth
Ilkorin - a "lost tongue"?
Originally, Tolkien did not imagine the history of the Elvish tongues in Middle-earth quite like the scenario we know from the published Silmarillion. According to the Silmarillion and other post-LotR sources, the Noldor and the Vanyar went over the sea and developed Quenya in Valinor, while some of the Teleri stayed in Beleriand, where their tongue evolved into Sindarin. But in Tolkien's older conception, Quenya was the language of the Vanyar (long called "Lindar"
only; the Noldor developed the language that the Etymologies calls "Old Noldorin", while the tongue of the Teleri that were left in Beleriand evolved into Ilkorin. The Teleri in Beleriand were not called Sindar or "Grey-elves" in Tolkien's older scenario; they were Ilkorindi, "those not of Kôr" (a central place in Valinor). When the Noldor came from Valinor speaking "Old Noldorin", their language was influenced by the indigenous "Ilkorin" tongue and underwent drastic changes to become "Noldorin". (The last flicker of the idea that "the two tongues grew towards one another", before this concept was finally abandoned, is found in WJ:21, 24 - where the tongues in question are already Quenya and Sindarin.) Tolkien even considered the possibility that the languages became amalgamated. See LR:346.
But further revisions were to follow. Tolkien decided that the "Noldorin" language he had already made was not the language of the Noldor after all. In fact, it turned out to be the language of the Teleri that had remained in Beleriand, who came to be called Sindar (replacing the term Ilkorindi), so Noldorin had to be renamed Sindarin. The Noldor, that were now conceived as speakers of Quenya just like the Vanyar, simply adopted the Sindarin tongue when they came to Middle-earth. There was no complex process of mutual influence and amalgamation. In other words, "Noldorin" > Sindarin usurped the place of Ilkorin as the indigenous Beleriandic tongue. So what happened to the Ilkorin tongue - did it disappear from the mythos altogether? Many words and names that Tolkien originally held to be Ilkorin, such as Esgalduin or the name of Túrin's friend Beleg, survived in the narrative texts - but after the revision they must probably be understood as Sindarin forms instead. Interestingly, the name Esgaroth known from The Hobbit occurs in the Ilkorin wordlist. Elrond was also thought of as an Ilkorin name when Tolkien first made it, but in the context of LotR it can only be Sindarin. The status of Ilkorin in the mature mythos is thus very questionable. Edward Kloczko has argued that Tolkien, rather than scrapping Ilkorin completely, turned parts of it into the obscure "northern dialect" of Sindarin, the tongue of the Mithrim; his original article is reproduced as an Appendix.
Originally, Tolkien did not imagine the history of the Elvish tongues in Middle-earth quite like the scenario we know from the published Silmarillion. According to the Silmarillion and other post-LotR sources, the Noldor and the Vanyar went over the sea and developed Quenya in Valinor, while some of the Teleri stayed in Beleriand, where their tongue evolved into Sindarin. But in Tolkien's older conception, Quenya was the language of the Vanyar (long called "Lindar"
only; the Noldor developed the language that the Etymologies calls "Old Noldorin", while the tongue of the Teleri that were left in Beleriand evolved into Ilkorin. The Teleri in Beleriand were not called Sindar or "Grey-elves" in Tolkien's older scenario; they were Ilkorindi, "those not of Kôr" (a central place in Valinor). When the Noldor came from Valinor speaking "Old Noldorin", their language was influenced by the indigenous "Ilkorin" tongue and underwent drastic changes to become "Noldorin". (The last flicker of the idea that "the two tongues grew towards one another", before this concept was finally abandoned, is found in WJ:21, 24 - where the tongues in question are already Quenya and Sindarin.) Tolkien even considered the possibility that the languages became amalgamated. See LR:346. But further revisions were to follow. Tolkien decided that the "Noldorin" language he had already made was not the language of the Noldor after all. In fact, it turned out to be the language of the Teleri that had remained in Beleriand, who came to be called Sindar (replacing the term Ilkorindi), so Noldorin had to be renamed Sindarin. The Noldor, that were now conceived as speakers of Quenya just like the Vanyar, simply adopted the Sindarin tongue when they came to Middle-earth. There was no complex process of mutual influence and amalgamation. In other words, "Noldorin" > Sindarin usurped the place of Ilkorin as the indigenous Beleriandic tongue. So what happened to the Ilkorin tongue - did it disappear from the mythos altogether? Many words and names that Tolkien originally held to be Ilkorin, such as Esgalduin or the name of Túrin's friend Beleg, survived in the narrative texts - but after the revision they must probably be understood as Sindarin forms instead. Interestingly, the name Esgaroth known from The Hobbit occurs in the Ilkorin wordlist. Elrond was also thought of as an Ilkorin name when Tolkien first made it, but in the context of LotR it can only be Sindarin. The status of Ilkorin in the mature mythos is thus very questionable. Edward Kloczko has argued that Tolkien, rather than scrapping Ilkorin completely, turned parts of it into the obscure "northern dialect" of Sindarin, the tongue of the Mithrim; his original article is reproduced as an Appendix.
Make one big one and ask Storm to merge 