6. He was able to invent so many languages because he was an expert philologist
One of the many strings to Tolkien’s bow as a specialist in medieval literature was his expertise in philology. Philology is the study of the history of languages, and involves years of research into the very meanings of individual words. He knew 13 existing languages, and a bewildering number of extinct dialects such as Old English, Latin, Old Norse, and Medieval Welsh. Before becoming a professor, he produced A Middle English Vocabulary, an essential reference guide for people learning the language. In fact, he was so good at languages, that he made them up for fun in his free time.
Tolkien invented his first language cipher, Nevbosh, when he was just 13, and first language, Naffarin, shortly thereafter. This hobby, which he called glossopoeia, proved to be unexpectedly useful in later life. Tolkien developed a way of writing coded letters to Edith from the muddy trenches of Belgium to stop them being censored, and when he came to write his fiction, his ability to invent languages for the characters of Middle Earth made the stories irresistibly immersive. About a dozen are included in The Lord of the Rings, two of which are complete. Tolkien also invented 9 scripts for writing.
