Within Tolkien's legendarium, Quenya is one of the many Elvish languages spoken by the immortal Elves, called Quendi ('speakers') in Quenya. Quenya translates as simply language or, in contrast to other tongues that the Elves met later in their long history, elf-language. After the Elves divided, Quenya originated as the speech of two clans of High Elves or Eldar, the Noldor and the Vanyar, who left Middle-earth to live in Eldamar (Elvenhome), in Valinor, the land of the immortal and God-like Valar. Of these two groups of Elves, most of the Noldor returned to Middle-earth where they met the Sindarin-speaking Grey-elves. The Noldor eventually adopted Sindarin and used Quenya primarily as a ritual or poetic language, whereas the Vanyar who stayed behind in Eldamar retained the use of Quenya.