[-lca ("k") ?"your", apparently an abandoned 2nd person plural possessive (VT49:49). Cf. -cca.]
Quenya
-iel
suffix. -daughter; feminine suffix
Changes
-yel→ -well- ✧ PE17/190iel→ -uell- ✧ PE17/190-yelde→ -wend- ✧ PE17/190Cognates
- S. -iel “daughter; feminine suffix” ✧ PE17/023
Derivations
- ✶-iel “feminine suffix”
Element in
Variations
- iel ✧ PE17/023; PE17/170; PE17/190 (
iel)- -ĕl ✧ PE17/170
- -ielde ✧ PE17/170
- -well- ✧ PE17/190
- -uell- ✧ PE17/190
- -wend- ✧ PE17/190
- -wel ✧ PE17/190
- -yel ✧ PE17/190 (
-yel)- -yelde ✧ PE17/190 (
-yelde)
-lca
your
-lda
your
-lda (1) "your", 2nd person pl. possessive suffix (VT49:16). Onnalda *"your child" (VT49:42). In an earlier manuscript, this ending was used for singular "you" instead, attested in the phrase Arwen vanimalda "Arwen your beauty", sc. "O beautiful Arwen", and in meletyalda "your majesty" (WJ:369) Arwen vanimalda was however changed to Arwen vanimelda in the second edition of LotR, Tolkien reinterpreting the last word (see vanimalda). The ending for singular "your" appears as -lya elsewhere. (LotR1:II ch. 6)
-ser
friend
-ser noun "friend" (SER)
elda
noun. Elf, (lit.) one of the Star-folk
The most common Quenya word for “Elf”. Its literal meaning is “one of the Star-folk” (WJ/374), a name given to them by Oromë (S/49) and derived from the same primitive root √EL as Q. elen “star”. Strictly speaking, this term excludes the Avari who chose not to journey to Valinor, so that the proper term for all of Elvenkind is Q. Quendë “one of the Elven race”. The Elves of the West rarely encountered the Avari, however, so that term Elda was ordinarily broad enough to describe all Elves.
Conceptual Development: This word dates back to the earliest stages of Tolkien’s languages. At its first appearance, ᴱQ. Elda was glossed “a beach-fay” (QL/35), but was soon extended to describe all Elves (LT1/113). In Tolkien’s earliest writings the word was not given a clear etymology. In the Lhammas “Account of Tongues” from the 1930s (LR/168-180), Tolkien gave ᴹQ. Elda the sense of “one who departed” (LR/169), as opposed to the ᴹQ. Lembi “Lingerers” who remained behind (precursors of the Avari). With this sense, Elda was derived from ᴹ√LED “go, fare, travel” (Ety/LED).
Tolkien soon revised the etymology of Elda so that it was derived instead from ᴹ√ELED “star-folk” (Ety/ELED). In some later writings, he considered both etymologies of this word to be valid, so that Elda was blending of both “star-folk” (from √EL) and Q. Eldo “marcher” (from √LED or √DEL), as discussed in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 and elsewhere (WJ/362-3, PE17/139). However, the sense “star-folk” is probably better known.
In some notes from 1957, Tolkien considered deriving this word from a variant root √DEL “fair” so that its meaning would be “the fair” (PE17/151), but this seems to have been a transient idea.
Cognates
Derivations
- ✶eledā “star-folk, of the stars” ✧ Let/281; PE17/141; SA/êl; WJ/360; WJ/364; WJ/364
- √EL “lo, behold; star, lo, behold; star, [ᴹ√] starry sky” ✧ Let/281
- ✶elenā “connected with or concerning the stars” ✧ PE17/139; PE17/152
- ✶edelā “the fair” ✧ PE17/139; PE17/151
- √DEL “*fair” ✧ PE17/151
- ✶edelō “one who goes, traveller, migrant, marcher” ✧ PE17/152
- √DEL “walk, go, proceed, travel” ✧ WJ/360; WJ/363
Derivatives
Element in
- Q. Amaneldi “*Elves of Aman”
- Q. ar súlë Manwëo etsurinyë ar Eldaron indor turyaner “*and the spirit of Manwe went out and the hearts of the Eldar were comforted / or obeyed” ✧ NM/239
- Q. Eldacar “Elfhelm”
- ᴺQ. eldafindë “maidenhair fern, (lit.) elf tress”
- Q. Elda-lambë “Language of the Eldar” ✧ WJ/369
- Q. Eldalië “People of the Elves, Elven-folk, People of the Eldar, Elven-folk, [ᴹQ.] Elf-folk” ✧ WJ/374
- Q. Eldalondë “Haven of the Eldar”
- Q. Eldalótë “Elven-flower” ✧ PM/346
- Q. Eldamar “Elvenhome”
- Q. Eldameldor “Elf-friends, Elf-lovers”
- Q. Eldandil “Elf-friend”
- Q. Eldanna “*Elf-wards” ✧ UTI/Eldanna
- Q. Eldanor “Elvenland”
- Q. Eldanyárë “History of the Elves”
- Q. eldar ataformaiti “the Elves were ambidexters” ✧ VT49/08
- Q. Eldarin “of the Eldar; Elvish (language)”
- Q. Eldarion “*Son of the Eldar”
- Q. Eldar oronter “the Elves arose” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Eldar Sindar “Grey Elves” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Eldar sindaron “Grey Elves’” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Eldavehtë “a habitation, haunt or place occupied by Eldar” ✧ PE17/189
- Q. Elendil “Elf-friend, Star-lover”
- Q. Hecel “Elf who stayed in Beleriand”
- Q. i arani Eldaive “The kings of the Eldar” ✧ WJ/369
- Q. i arani Eldaron “The kings of the Eldar” ✧ WJ/369
- Q. lambe Eldaiva “the language of the Eldar” ✧ WJ/369
- Q. lambe Eldaron “the language of the Eldar” ✧ WJ/368
- Q. mana i coimas Eldaron? “What is the ‘coimas’ of the Eldar?” ✧ PM/395
- Q. mana i·coimas in·Eldaron? “What is the ‘coimas’ of the Eldar?” ✧ PM/403
- Q. Oärel “Elf who left Middle-earth for Aman”
- Q. Pereldar “Half-elven”
- Q. Sinda Eldō “a Grey Elf’s” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindar Eldar “Grey Elves” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindar Eldaron “Grey Elves’” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindar i Eldar Malariando “Grey are the Elves of Beleriand” ✧ PE21/77
- Q. Sindel “Grey-elf”
- Q. Tareldar “High-elves” ✧ SI/Eldar
- Q. tas cennen nótimë eldali “I saw a few elves there” ✧ PE22/155
- Q. vanimelda “beautiful and beloved, elven-fair” ✧ PE17/056; PE17/057
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶eledā/elenā > Elda [eledā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ Let/281 ✶elenā > Elda [elenā] > [elnā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ PE17/139 ✶edelā > Elda [edelā] > [edlā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ PE17/139 ✶eledā > elda [eledā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ PE17/141 ✶edelā > elda [edelā] > [edlā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ PE17/151 ✶elenā > elda [elenā] > [elnā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ PE17/152 ✶edelā > eledā > elda [edelā] > [eledā] > [eldā] > [elda] ✧ PE17/152 ✶elda > Elda [elda] ✧ SA/êl ✶eldā > Elda [eldā] > [elda] ✧ WJ/360 Variations
- elda ✧ PE17/045; PE17/056; PE17/057; PE17/141; PE17/141; PE17/151; PE17/152; PE17/152
-ndil
friend
-ndil (also -dil) ending occurring in many names, like Amandil, Eärendil; it implies devotion or disinterested love and may be translated "friend" (SA:(noun)dil); this ending is "describing the attitude of one to a person, thing, course or occupation to which one is devoted for its own sake" (Letters:386). Compare -ndur. It is unclear whether the names derived with the ending -ndil are necessarily masculine, though we have no certain example of a woman's name in -ndil; the name Vardilmë (q.v.) may suggest that the corresponding feminine ending is -(n)dilmë.
heldo
friend
[heldo, also helmo, fem. heldë, noun "friend" (VT46:3)]
meldo
friend, lover
meldo noun "friend, lover". _(VT45:34, quoting a deleted entry in the Etymologies, but cf. the pl. #_meldor in Eldameldor "Elf-lovers", WJ:412) **Meldonya *"my friend" (VT49:38, 40). It may be that meldo is the distinctly masculine form, corresponding to feminine #meldë** (q.v.)
meldë
friend
#meldë noun "friend", feminine (meldenya "my friend" in the Elaine inscription [VT49:40], Tolkien referring to Elaine Griffiths). Compare meldo.
-cca
your
[-cca ("k") ?"your", apparently an abandoned 2nd person plural or dual possessive (VT49:49). Compare -lca.]
-sta
your
-sta (1) "your", dual 2nd person possessive pronominal ending: "of you two" (VT49:45, 16), cf. -stë (q.v.) Genitive -sto in veryanwesto "of your wedding" (VT49:45) and tengwiesto "of your reading" (VT49:47), allative -stanna in parmastanna "on your book" (VT49:47). An archaic ending of similar form could also be the third person dual "of the two of them" (but according to VT49:51, the corresponding subject ending was changed to -ttë, and then the ending for "their" would presumably become -tta)
-ndur
friend
-ndur (also -dur), ending in some names, like Eärendur; as noted by Christopher Tolkien in the Silmarillion Appendix it has much the same meaning as -ndil "friend"; yet -ndur properly means "servant of" (SA:(noun)dil), "as one serves a legitimate master: cf. Q. arandil king's friend, royalist, beside arandur 'king's servant, minister'. But these often coincide: e.g. Sam's relation to Frodo can be viewed either as in status -ndur, in spirit -ndil." (Letters:286)
-tya,
your, thy
-tya, pronominal ending, 2nd person sg. intimate/familiar "your, thy" (VT49:16, 38, 48); compare -tyë
ailin
g.sg. ailinen
ailin ("g.sg. ailinen", in Tolkien's later Quenya dat.sg.) "pool, lake" (AY, LIN1, LT2:339). Fem. name Ailinel (likely Ailinell-), perhaps ailin + the feminine ending -el (as in aranel "princess"), hence "Lake-woman" or similar (UT:210).
málo
noun. friend
friend, comrade
málo
friend
málo noun "friend" (MEL, VT49:22)
nildo
friend
nildo noun "friend" (apparently masc.; contrast nildë) (NIL/NDIL)
nildë
friend
nildë noun "friend" (fem.) (NIL/NDIL)
nilmo
friend
nilmo noun "friend" (apparently masc.) (NIL/NDIL)
sermo
friend
sermo noun "friend" (evidently masc., since sermë is stated to be fem.) (SER)
sermë
friend
sermë noun "friend" (fem.) (SER)
seron
friend
seron noun "friend" (SER)
sondo
friend
[sondo noun "friend" (VT46:15)]
The most common Quenya suffix for “daughter of” such as in Elerondiel “✱Daughter of Elrond” (PE17/56) or Uinéniel “Daughter of Uinen” (UT/182).
Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this suffix was ᴱQ. -il mentioned by Tolkien in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as the equivalent of feminine patronymic ᴱQ. -wen (QL/103), but its only use in this period was in the masculine name ᴱQ. Indorildo, a variant of ᴱQ. Indorion and hence probably meaning “son of” (LT2/217). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien mentioned ᴹQ. -iel as a feminine patronymic under the root ᴹ√YEL “daughter” (Ety/YEL¹), but this root was rejected and in that document Tolkien seems to have replaced it with ᴹQ. -ien (EtyAC/YŌ).
In later writings Tolkien considered a bewildering variety of suffixes for the feminine patronymic, including -iel(d), -well, -wend and -ien (PE17/170, 190). In practice, though, only -iel appeared in actual names for “daughter of” (see above), perhaps because it is was the cleanest equivalent of the well-established masculine patronymic -ion “son of”.