-re

suffix. gerund

-ro

suffix. -reason

-nie

suffix. female

A feminizing suffix for pronominal forms in Quenya Personal Pronouns (QPP1) from the late 1940s (PE23/102), so that for example mane “who (neutral)” could become manie “who (female)” and ane “someone” could become anie “someone (female)”. It is probably based on the contemporaneous feminine primitive suffix ✶-eye. The suffix -nie replaced a rejected variant -re (PE23/102 note #37).

inya

adjective. female

An adjective for “female” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from the root ᴹ√INI “female” (Ety/INI).

Conceptual Development: In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, Tolkien gave a similar form ᴱQ. qinya “female”, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. qin “woman” (PE16/135).

In drafts for the first version of Quenya Personal Pronouns (QPP1) from the late 1940s, Tolkien had various adjectival forms based on the root ᴹ√(G)ERE/(G)RÉ “bear, produce” such as ᴹQ. rea “female”, réna, or ᴹQ. ríte “female [of any kind]” (PE23/87), but the relevant sections were rejected and there are no signs of the root ᴹ√RÉ in the revised text.

vesta-

verb. to wed, to wed, *marry

Tolkien used a variety of similar verbs for “to marry” throughout his life. The earliest of these was ᴱQ. vesta- “to wed” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√VEŘE [VEÐE] (QL/101). This verb reappeared in the English-Qenya Dictionary with the gloss “join (others) in marriage”, where Tolkien said it could be used reflexively to mean “get married”, and reflexively with the ᴱQ. va preposition to mean “get married with ...” (PE15/75). The verb ᴹQ. vesta- “to wed” reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root {ᴹ√BED >>} ᴹ√BES of the same meaning (Ety/BES).

Up until this stage, all the primitive “marry” roots produce vesta- in combination with the verbal suffix -ta: all of VEÐ+tā, BED+tā, BES+tā > vesta-. At some point in the late 1960s, Tolkien decided the root for “marriage” words was √BER, and he coined a new pair of “marry” verbs based on this root: transitive Q. verta- “to give in marriage (a) to (b), or to take as husband or wife to oneself” and intransitive Q. verya- “to marry (of husband and wife), be joined to” (VT49/45). The form verta- rather than ᴱQ./ᴹQ. vesta- is a consequence of this new version of the root.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to retain the 1930s form of the root ᴹ√BES in order to keep attested Sindarin/Noldorin forms. As such I would use the 1930s verb form ᴹQ. vesta- for “to wed, marry”. Note that while late 1960s intransitive Q. verya- is compatible with ᴹ√BES, it clashes with 1930s ᴹQ. verya- “to dare” (< ᴹ√BER “valiant”). Therefore I would use vesta- both transitively and intransitively for “to marry”, though in the intransitive past I’d treat it as a half-strong verb: verenten “I got married” vs. vestanen verunya “I married my husband”.

-(á)re

suffix. general action verbal suffix

-ie

suffix. abstract noun

-le

suffix. abstract noun

-me

suffix. abstract noun

-nde

suffix. general action verbal suffix

-sse

suffix. abstract noun

-ste

suffix. general action verbal suffix

-voite

suffix. adjective suffix

-ya

suffix. adjective suffix

ala

noun. day

are

noun. day

in(an)

conjunction. (relative) at the time mentioned, at the same time

rea

noun/adjective. female

wenda

adjective. female