Old Norse and Tolkien's Middle Earth

[Coffeehouse]

Originally Posted by Galin

Finnish is in there yes. To add to that, Tolkien generally commented on his major Primary World influences:

Quenya: 'Actually it might be said to be composed on a Latin basis with two other (main) ingredients that happen to give me 'phonaesthetic' pleasure: Finnish and Greek. It is however less consonantal than any of the three.' Sindarin: 'linguistic character very like (though not identical with) British-Welsh' & 'The Sindarin, a Grey-elven language, is in fact constructed deliberately to resemble Welsh phonologically and to have a relation to High-elven similar to that existing between British (properly so-called, sc. the Celtic languages spoken in this island at the time of the Roman invasion) and Latin.'

These quotes are from Letters.

Anyway, with respect to a Northern connection: in the interesting paper A Mythology For England (by Carl Hostetter and Arden Smith, Proceedings of the Tolkien Centenary Conference 1992) the connection to Yngvi-Freyr of the Vanir is well made: in brief here, Yngvi being Lord of the Ljós-alfar 'Light-Elves' who dwell in Alfheim 'Elf-home' -- to be seen as a memory of Ingwe of the Vanyar, Lord of the Calaquendi 'Light-elves', who dwells in Eldamar 'Elven-home'.

Yep, Lysalver og mørkalver, light-elves and dark-elves! In some Norwegian dialects they still say 'ljos' for light. The place I have my summer cabin there have been stories told for hundreds of years about light-elves and dark-elves roaming around at night, some making mischief and some giving fortune. These elves are shorter and lighter than in Tolkien's world.