The language of knowledge The influence of Latin on J. R. R. Tolkien’s Quenya

Latin is one of the three languages from which Tolkien indicated that he was inspired to construct Quenya. This article examines the points of convergence between the two languages in order to evaluate this inspiration on the phonetic, grammatical and syntactical levels. It also studies the more strictly literary aspects of this choice, as well as the reasons that may have pushed Tolkien to take inspiration in part from Latin to forge one of his main artistic languages.