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tolkiens legendarium - Is the Numenorean language Adunaic supposed to be English?


Early Numenoreans spoke Quenya as per learning it from Elves of Beleriand and then later on in the Second Age Numenoreans created their own language: Adunaic which differs from Elvish.


Is Adunaic supposed to be what is later known as Common tongue or was it a different dialect?



Answer



I need to establish one thing first:


The Common Tongue is not English


The Common Tongue is another of Tolkien's constructed languages, more properly called Westron. From Appendix F:




The language represented in this history by English was the Westron or 'Common Speech' of the West-lands of Middle-earth in the Third Age


Return of the King Appendix F I "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age"



Adûnaic is an ancestor of Westron, but they are distinct languages


Again from Appendix F:



In the years of their power the Númenoreans had maintained many forts and havens upon the western coasts of Middle-earth for the help of their ships; and one of the chief of these was at Pelargir near the Mouths of Anduin. There Adûnaic was spoken, and mingled with many words of the languages of lesser men it became a Common Speech that spread thence along the coasts among all that had dealings with Westernesse.


Return of the King Appendix F I "The Languages and Peoples of the Third Age"




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