What was the linguistic situation in the Land of the Star? On the map of Númenor in Unfinished Tales the names are in Quenya, but the same book tells us that Quenya was not a spoken language in Númenor. All places had "official" High-Elven names that were used in state documents, but in daily speech Sindarin or Adûnaic names, generally of the same meaning, were used instead. Most people knew Sindarin - the Númenorean nobles even used it as their daily speech. But the language spoken by common people was and ever remained Adûnaic, a Mannish language derived from the tongues of the Men who had sided with the Elves in the war against Morgoth.