About Omentielva

We use Omentielva, followed by the appropriate Quenya ordinal, as the short name for each International Conference on J.R.R. Tolkien’s Invented Languages, part of a series of biennial conferences at changing locations.

Omentie was the Quenya word Tolkien used for ‘meeting’ in the familiar Elen síla lúmenn’ omentielvo!  in The Fellowship of the Ring. Later he refined its meaning to ‘meeting between two parties’. Here it can in this sense refer to, say, the meeting between those who arrange and those who join. Or each participant may view himself as one party vis-à-vis the rest of the conference. In any case, at this conference scholars from many countries will meet, every two years, and discuss for several days.

Everyone with a serious interest in Tolkien’s invented languages is invited to participate, and encouraged to prepare, bring, and deliver a paper on any aspect of Tolkien’s languages. The programme consists of listening to and discussing the papers; as well as meeting each other, breaking bread together, and generally enjoying each other’s company. You do not need to deliver a paper to attend, nor do you need to attend to deliver a paper (you can present it via digital connection, or send it to be read).

Under the Past conferences tab you will find information about the ten first conferences, starting with Omentielva Minya in Stockholm in 2005.

The proceedings of these conferences are published in a special series, Arda Philology.