Moriquendi - Internal History

Internal History

There existed two old elvish compounds in the Quenderin language, or Primitive Quendian with *kwendī "Elves": *kala-kwendī and *mori-kwendī, meaning the "Light-folk" and the "Dark-folk". These two words go back to the time before the Sundering of the Elves, or rather to the time of the debate among them over the invitation by the Valar to migrate to Valinor. Both words were made by the party favourable to the Vala Oromë, and referred originally to Elves who desired the Light of Valinor versus Elves who did not wish to leave Middle-earth. *Mori-kwendī had from the beginning a negative sense, implying that these Elves willingly tolerated the shadows Melkor had put upon Middle-earth.

The Quenya forms became Calaquendi and Moriquendi (a rare singular is once recorded Moriquen). In Quenya the term Calaquendi applied only to the Elves who actually lived (or had lived) in Eldamar; and the Moriquendi included all other Elves, whether or not they had participated in the March to Valinor. The Moriquendi were regarded as greatly inferior by the Calaquendi, who lived in the Light of the Two Trees, and had also received great knowledge and powers by living with the Valar and Maia.

In Exilic Quenya the Noldor did not make much use of the terms Calaquendi or Moriquendi, which were rather offensive to the Sindar of Beleriand. A new politically correct name was coined to replace the obsolescent term Moriquendi: Úmanyar, "those not of Aman".

"Those Elves the Calaquendi call the Úmanyar, since they came never to the land of Aman and the Blessed Realm; but the Úmanyar and the Avari alike they call the Moriquendi, Elves of the Darkness, for they never beheld the Light that was before the Sun and Moon." —The Silmarillion, Chapter 3, "Of the Coming of the Elves and the Captivity of Melkor"