aiya interjection "hail", as greeting (LotR2:IV ch. 9, see Letters:385 for translation), or a call "for help and attention" (PE17:89), "only addressed to great or holy persons as the Valar, or to Earendil" (PE17:149). Variant aia (VT43:28)
Quenya
aiya
interjection. hail; behold, lo
aiya
hail
aia
hail
aia interjection "hail", variant of aiya (VT43:28)
aia
interjection. hail
aiya eldalië ar atanatári, utúlie’n aurë
Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!
aiya eärendil elenion ancalima
hail Eärendil, brightest of stars
aia maría quanta eruanno
Hail Mary, full of grace
The first line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first word Aia is a variant of aiya “hail”, followed by a Quenyarized form of “Mary”: María. The third word quanta is attested elsewhere with the meaning “full, filled” (PE17/68). The last word Eruanno is a compound of Eru “God” and anna “gift”, in the genitive, so that quanta Eruanno literally means “✱full of God’s gift”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> Aia María quanta Eru-ann(a)-o = “✱Hail Mary full God-gift-of”
Conceptual Development: This phrase was quite similar in earlier versions of this prayer, but the earlier versions used erulissenen instead of Eruanno. This word is a compound of Eru “God” and lissë “grace”, in the instrumental, so that quanta erulissenen literally means “✱filled by God’s grace”.
| I |II|III|IV| |Aiya|Aia| |María| |quanta|erulissenen|quanta| |erulissenen|quanta|Eruanno|
alla!
hail, blessed be (thou)
[alla! (also alar! or ala) interjection "hail, blessed be (thou)". (VT45:5, 14)] PE17:146 cites alla "hail, welcome" as a variant (occurring within the imaginary world) of aiya.
ala
hail, blessed be (thou)
[ala (6) (also alar! or alla!) interjection "hail, blessed be (thou)". (VT45:5,14)]
alar!
hail, blessed be (thou)
[alar! (also ala and alla!) interjection "hail, blessed be (thou)". (VT45:5,14, 26)]
alassë
hail
[alassë (2) interjection "hail" or "bless", evidently a synonym of the greeting alar!, q.v. (VT45:26)]
helexë
noun. hail
The best known Quenya greeting, appearing in the phrase aiya Eärendil elenion ancalima “hail Eärendil, brightest of stars” from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/720, 915).
Conceptual Development: The earliest appearance of this interjection is ᴱQ. áye “hail!, o!” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it was derived from the early root ᴱ√AYA “honour, revere” (QL/34). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, Tolkien derived its later form aiya “hail” from √AYA “blessed” or “revere” (PE17/146, 149). In these same notes, Tolkien said it was “only addressed to great or holy persons as the Valar, or to Earendil” (PE17/149).
At times, however, Tolkien used aiya as a more general interjection. In Words, Phrases and Passages in the Lord of the Rings from the later 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien said it was “a cry, to call for help or attention” (PE17/89). It was used as a call for attention “behold!, lo!” in The Silmarillion and its drafts in the phrase aiya Eldalië ar Atanatári, utúlie’n aurë “Behold [or Lo!], people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!” (S/190; WJ/166).
At times Tolkien gave this interjection in a reduced form aia, most notably in the phrase Aia María quanta Eruanno “Hail Mary, full of grace” from Quenya prayers from the 1950s (VT43/27-28). This variant is comparable to the Maiya vs. Maia variation in spelling for the servants of the Valar, with māja becoming maija, sometimes spelled maia (PE19/62). The interjection aiya is more common in Tolkien’s writings, however.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I treat aiya as a more formal greeting, in keeping with the notion that it was “only addressed to great or holy persons” (PE17/149). For a more casual greeting, see alla “hail, welcome”.