J.R.R. Tolkien, wildly popular for his authorship of the fantasy trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings", was actually by profession an unprepossessing Medievalist and historical linguist. His extensive knowledge of world languages both ancient and modern lent itself to his creation of the artificial languages that add so much realistic depth to his fictional writing. This presentation describes the languages Tolkien created for his Middle Earth by revealing their connection with the actual spoken languages he studied during his academic career. Explore the ingenious sound symbolism and etymological connotations employed by this master storyteller - and learn a great many things about the real languages of Eurasia along

the way.