Tolkien specifically wrote of Quenya (Letter 144, 1954):
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'The archaic language of lore is meant to be a kind of 'Elven-latin', and by transcribing it into a spelling closely resembling that of Latin (except that y is only used as a consonant, as y in E. Yes) the similarity to Latin is increased ocularly.'
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However Cirith Ungol, for instance, is not Quenya or the 'Elven-latin', and in draft letter 187 (1956) JRRT explained:
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'It was only in the last stages that (in spite of my son's protests: he still holds that no one will ever pronounce Cirith right, it appears as Kirith in his map, as formerly also in the text) I decided to be 'consistent' and spell Elvish names and words throughout without k. There are no doubt other variations...'
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