# Lore # People # The second division *The Division of Tongues* acts as an introduction to the grammatical treaty of elvish languages, *Tengwesta Quenderinwa*, laying foundation to their relation to each other. Its final version showed a layer of revisions, intended to incorporate the conceptual shift from *Noldorin* to *Sindarin*, but that work was left incomplete. The second of listed divisions is concerned with *Nandor* that underwent a back-and-forth in terms of their identity on multiple occasions. In the original version **TQ1** they are presented as belonging to the **second** clan: > \[…\] the followers of *Nano* (or *Dan*) forsook the main host of the **Noldor** upon the march \[…\] These are the *Pereldar*, or 'Half-eldians', or the Danian Elves, \[…\] Who were also in Ossiriand called the *Laiquendi* or Green Elves. But in the **TQ2** that was changed to the **third** clan: > the followers of that lord that is named *Nano* or *Dân* forsook the hosts of the **Teleri** upon the long march \[…\] These are the *Nandor*, or Danian Elves \[…\] Who were also in Ossiriand called the *Laiqendi *or Green Elves. This idea stays around for a decade, as told also in the *Quendi and Eldar*, where it became a critical point in the etymology of *Lindon*: > this people still called themselves by the old clan-name \**Lindai* \[…\] The country in which most of them eventually settled, as a small independent folk, they called *Lindon*. But another decade later Noldorin roots of Nandor reappeared again in the *Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals*: > the Nandor were in origin a detachment of the **Noldor** that went astray and did not come into Beleriand until shortly before the Exilic period. That was however brief, as soon after in *The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor* he reverts in full to the early 50's paradigm: > There, especially near the Hithaeglir (on either side), they found scattered settlements of the Nandor, Telerin Elves who had in the First Age never completed the journey to the shores of the Sea. This narrative did not stick around, and with a twist. In *Silvan Elves and Silvan Elvish* he writes: > For the most part these secessions were made by groups of the Lindar \[…\] The Eldar of Ossiriand, the Green Elves, \[…\] were probably in origin of Noldorin kinship. The Wood-elves of the time of the War of the Ring appear to have been those of Teleri and their descendants who were dismayed by the Hithaeglir. This time Green Elves and Silvan Elves became separate people, at least explicitly so. In fact, the second division itself is described now not as a singular decision, but as multiple small groups abandoning the host before crossing the Misty Mountains. That allowed for those elves to come from various origins. In fact, we can see this concept emerging already in *Quendi and Eldar*, where the elves of the Vale of Anduin are described as a mixed folk of Teleri clan, including those of Lindarin Avari.
DateSourceNandor originSilvan elves origin
1937Tengwesta QuenderinwaNoldor= Nandor
1951Tengwesta QuenderinwaTeleri= Nandor
1959Quendi and EldarTeleriAvari
1968Eldarin Hands, Fingers and NumeralsNoldor*not mentioned*
1969The Rivers and Beacon-hills of GondorTeleri= Nandor
1969Silvan Elves and Silvan ElvishNoldorTeleri
# Cosmology