-llo

ablative adverbial suffix

-llo (1) "ablative adverbial suffix" (PE17:72) implying "from" or "out of", as in sindanóriello "out of a grey land", Rómello "from the East" (Nam), Mardello "from Earth" (FS), ulcullo "from evil" (VT43:12), sillumello "from this hour" (VT44:35), yello "from whom" (VT47:21), Manwello *"from Manwë" (VT49:24), Melcorello / Melkorello "from Melkor" (VT49:7, 24). Pl. -llon (so in Plotz) or -llor (in illon, elenillor, raxellor, elendellor, q.v.); dual -lto (Plotz). A shorter form of the ablative ending, -lo, apparently occurs in the words silo "hence" and talo "from there", q.v. In the Etymologies, Tolkien cited the Quenya ablative ending as -ello, evidently including the connecting vowel -e- that may be inserted when the ending is added to a word ending in a consonant (VT45:28), compare Melcorello. See also ló, lo #2.

-llo

suffix. (movement) from; ablative suffix, (movement) from, [ᴱQ.] out of; [Q.] ablative suffix

The Quenya ablative suffix indicating motion away; see that entry for discussion.

Conceptual Development: This suffix had the form ᴱQ. -llo dating all the way back to the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/46, 78).

ló

preposition. (away) from; by agent [of], (away) from; by agent [of]; [ᴹQ.] ablative element

A rarely used prepositional equivalent of -llo (VT49/24; EtyAC/LŌ). In one note from 1969 Tolkien said “lō̆ as independent word was used only with person; thus not Manwello but lo Manwe, and usually in sense ‘by agent’ (VT49/24)”. As an example Tolkien gave the phrase nahtana lō Turin, apparently meaning “slain from [by agency of] Turin”. I interpret this to mean ló can only be used with animate beings, and no longer means “away from” by rather “by agency of”.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s lō was given as a derivative of the “ablative element” ᴹ√LŌ (EtyAC/LŌ).

nec-

verb. to divide, separate, part; [with ablative] quit, give up, part with, separate oneself from, break up with

A neologism for “divide, separate, part"” coined by Luinyelle posted on 2026-03-31 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) based on √NEK of the same meaning. She further suggested it may mean “quit, give up, part with, separate oneself from, break up with” in combination with reflexive immo “self” with the thing separated/given up in the ablative: nencen immo melindonyallo “I broke up with [(lit.) separated self from] my lover”, nences immo hyero-yuliello “he/she gave up/quit [(lit.) separated self from] wine drinking”.

The neologism ᴺQ. cilta- “to divide, separate” appeared in ABNW (ABNW) from the early 2000s based on ᴹ√KIL “divide”, but that use for this root seems to have been supplanted by √KIL “choose” published in 2015.

i eru i or ilyë mahalmar ëa

(the one/they) who; (that) which

i (2) relative pronoun "(the one/they) who; (that) which" (both article and relative pronoun in CO: i Eru i or ilyë mahalmar ëa: the One who is above all thrones", i hárar "(they) who are sitting"); cf. also the phrase i hamil mára "(that) which you deem good" (VT42:33). Notice that before a verb, i means "the one who", or, in the case of a plural verb, "those who"; e.g. i carir quettar ómainen "those who form words with voices" (WJ:391). According to VT47:21, i as a relative pronoun is the personal plural form (corresponding to the personal sg. ye and the impersonal sg. ya). This agrees with the example i carir..., but as is evident from the other examples listed above, Tolkien in certain texts also used i as a singular relative pronoun, both personal (Eru i...) and impersonal (i hamil). In the sense of a plural personal relative pronoun, i is also attested in the genitive (ion) and ablative (illon) cases, demonstrating that unlike the indeclinable article i, the relative pronoun i can receive case endings. Both are translated "from whom": ion / illon camnelyes "from whom you received it" (referring to several persons) (VT47:21).

ló

from

ló, lo (2) prep. "from", also used = "by" introducing the agent after a passive construction: nahtana ló Turin *"slain by Túrin" (VT49:24). A similar and possibly identical form is mentioned in the Etymologies as being somehow related to the ablative ending -llo, but is not there clearly defined (VT45:28). At one point, Tolkien suggested that lo rather than the ending -llo was used with proper names (lo Manwë rather than Manwello for "from Manwë"), but this seems to have been a short-lived idea (VT49:24).

o

preposition. from

A preposition for “from”, especially in the genitival sense “originating from”. For “from” in a positional sense, it is far more common to use the ablative suffix -llo.

Conceptual Development: The preposition ᴱQ. ô was first mentioned in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as the equivalent of G. a(n·) “from” which had an ablative sense (GL/17). In Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants written in 1936, Tolkien mentioned {o >> ho >>} o as a preposition based on primitive ᴹ✶ʒō̆ “away from, from among” (PE21/60 and note #48). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ho “from” appeared under the root ᴹ√ƷŌ̆ “from, away, from among, out of” (Ety/ƷŌ̆). This primitive form ʒō̆ was also the basis of the Quenya genitive suffix ᴹQ. -o.

In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, Tolkien mentioned the preposition Q. o “from” as a reduction of ancient ✶ăwă “away” (PE17/148). In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) written in 1969 Tolkien again mentioned ō < ✶hō “from” with some difficult-to-read qualifications that seem to indicate this was “from” in the genitival sense, as opposed to ✶lō “from” in the positional/ablative sense (PE22/168).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would assume that o is a rarely used preposition, usually replaced by either genitive -o [originating from] or ablative -llo [moving from].

va

preposition/prefix. (away) from, (away) from, [ᴹQ.] away; [ᴱQ.] gone forth; with

A preposition for “[away] from” appearing in some versions of the Átaremma prayer from the 1950s, in phrases like ono va úro aly’ eterúna me “but deliver us from evil” (VT43/9-11). In the final version of the prayer, it was replaced with the ablative suffix -llo (VT43/12). va- “away from” is mentioned in notes associated with the Ambidexters Sentence for the 1960s where it seems to function as a prefix (VT49/24).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. vā “gone forth, away” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√VAHA (QL/99). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, vá “away” was an adverb, interjection and adjective, but this entry was deleted (PE15/70). Elsewhere in the dictionary va was a preposition “with” in combination with ᴱQ. vesta- “marry”, as in vesta va “marry with (someone)”.

In the Early Qenya Grammar also from the 1920s, va was a preposition “from” in the phrase hwa·telpe ie-rautanéma ompa va húyo “his money had all been stolen from him” (PE14/54). In the 1930s and 40s it appeared as a prefix va- “away” in vahaiya or vahāya “far away” in various iterations of the Lament of Atalante (LR/47; SD/247, 310).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume va is a preposition or prefix, serving a similar function to adverb/prefix au “away (from)”, replacing prefixal au- in cases where va- is more euphonic. As a preposition I would assume it is only rarely used, being generally replaced with the ablative suffix -llo, but va can be preferable when the sense “from” is more abstract (stolen from him, delivered from evil) rather than describing actual motion or direction.

-va

from

-va possessive ending, presumably related to the preposition va "from". In Eldaliéva, Ingoldova, miruvóreva, Oroméva, rómeva, Valinóreva (q.v. for references), Follondiéva, Hyallondiéva (see under turmen for references). Following a consonant, the ending instead appears as -wa (andamacilwa "of the long sword", PE17:147, rómenwa *"of the East", PE17:59). Pl. -vë when governing a plural word (from archaic -vai) (WJ:407), but it seems that -va was used throughout in late Exilic Quenya (cf. miruvóreva governing the plural word yuldar in Namárië). Pl. -iva (-ivë*), dual -twa, partitive pl. -líva**.

ho

from

ho prep. "from" (3O); cf. hó-

va

from

va prep. "from" (VT43:20; prefixed in the form var- in var-úra "from evil", VT43:24). In VT49:24, va, au and o are quoted as variants of the stem awa "away from".