Tolkien was a linguistical genius. He could read Beowulf in the original Old English, Chaucer in Middle English and the Edda in Norse, and then go chat with C.S. Lewis over tea. What I love best about him is that he created the world of Middle Earth. Of course, his world was created with different peoples speaking many different languages, each language having a history to it and an evolution of the written and spoken word. Tolkien included many of his own little word play jokes in his history of Middle Earth. Some were subtle, and some as blatant as the goblin king Golfimbul whose head was clubbed off in battle and went down a rabbit hole... "thus the battle was won and the game of Golf invented at the same time."

There have been many writers before and since who have used the classic "quest" theme but none with such depth. His Middle Earth was planned out with a past and a future (that's us today.) Read the Lord of the Rings (if you haven't already) and, if you fall in love with it, attempt the beautiful (but weighty) Silmarillion.