Tolkien also based elements of his Elvish language Quenya on Finnish. J. R. R. Tolkien constructed many Elvish languages. Tolkien delighted in inventing new etymons for his Elvish vocabulary. She learned to speak the fictitious Elvish language that was created by Tolkien. Tolkien invented two subfamilies (subgroups) of the Elvish languages. About ten years later, Tolkien changed his mind about the origin of the Elvish proto-language. Within this fictional universe, Sindarin was first written using the cirth, an Elvish runic alphabet. Their defeat at elvish hands has spawned an intense racial hatred of all elves. Bilbo had translated material from Elvish lore from the Elder Days. These, like their Sindarin equivalents, derived from Primitive Elvish "sl-" and "sr-". In Gondor it underwent much annotation and correction, particularly regarding Elvish languages. The American interpretation of knockers seemed to be more ghostly than elvish. His name means Faithful in Elvish language. Moreover, Elvish etymology was in constant flux. There is a tradition of philological study of Elvish languages within the fiction.