ar

conjunction. and, and; [ᴱQ., ᴹQ.] but

The word ar was the Quenya word for “and” for much of Tolkien’s life. It was related to (and originally identical with) Q. ar(a) “beside” (PE17/70). The word ar was always used between sentences, but in sets of items sometimes yo and ta were used instead.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s ᴱQ. ar(a) was glossed “but” under the early root ᴱ√ƷARA “spread, extend sideways” (QL/32). In this earliest period the word for “and” was ᴱQ. ya(n) (QL/104). By the end of the 1920s when Tolkien composed the Nieninqe and Earendil poems, he consistently translated ar as “and” (MC/216; PE16/100). The translation “but” reappeared in a few phrases from the 1940s (PE22/124; PE23/74), but it is not clear if these were genuine shifts in meaning or loose translations.

By the time Tolkien wrote The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ar “and” was derived from the root ᴹ√AR “beside, outside” (Ety/AR²). This seems to have remained the case up through most of the 1950s, with the possible exception of a couple phrases in the 1930s where Tolkien used a “and” instead (LR/61, 72). In this period the usual Noldorin/Sindarin word for “and” was also ar.

At some point while writing drafts of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien decided that the Sindarin word for “and” should a in the famous phrase pedo mellon a minno “speak, friend, and enter”. His motivations for this change are unclear, but he noticed the problem in notes written between the first and second edition of The Lord of the Rings, saying “a·Berhael. ‘And’ cannot therefore be [derived from] arĭ!” (PE17/102). From this point forward, Tolkien considered two possible roots serving as the basis for “and”: √AD(A) and √AS, both meaning “beside” (PE17/145; VT48/25). In his later writings, Tolkien seems to favor √AS which appeared in a few different notes from 1968 (VT47/31; VT48/25), though ada reappeared in notes from 1969 (VT49/25).

Assimilations: In the notes written between both the 1st and 2nd edition of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien considered what kind of assimilations ar might have before consonants if it were derived from √AS or √AD (PE17/41). For √AS it became a before the consonants f, h, hw, hy, became as before t, k, p, q, s, and became al before l. For √AD it became a before the consonants n, m, became as before s, and became al before l. In notes from around 1964 Tolkien said:

> It is not necessary here to specify all the assimilations that could have occurred at these different stages, since in fact few have left traces in the forms of “and” ... Later after development to ar, only as survived as an occasional form before t, and as the usual form before s (of any origin); while al appeared before l. But in written Quenya ar was usually written in all cases, though the pronunciation of ar-s, ar-l as as-s, al-l remained usual (PE17/71).

In this particular discussion, ar as derived from √AD. However, the system Tolkien described was that all the older assimilations were abandoned, and the only ones that survived were based on later assimilations involved r of any origin: rs > ss and rl > ll. These sound shifts only affected pronunciation, not spelling. Thus the same arguments would be apply if ar was derived from √AS.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would write ar “and” in all cases, and would assume it was derived from derived from √AS, but would further assume that the Tarquesta pronunciations before s and l were as-s, al-l.

ar

day

ar (2) noun "day" (PE17:148), apparently short for árë, occurring in the names of the Valinorean week listed below. Tolkien indicated that ar in these names could also be arë when the following element begins in a consonant (VT45:27). Usually the word for "day" in LotR-style Quenya is rather aurë (or ré), q.v.

ar

and

ar (1) conj. "and" (AR2, SA, FS, Nam, RGEO:67, CO, LR:47, 56, MC:216, VT43:31, VT44:10, 34; see VT47:31 for etymology, cf. also VT49:25, 40). The older form of the conjunction was az (PE17:41). Ar is often assimilated to al, as before l, s (PE17:41, 71), but "in written Quenya ar was usually written in all cases" (PE17:71). In one case, Tolkien altered the phrase ar larmar "and raiments" to al larmar; the former may then be seen as representing the spelling, whereas the latter represents the pronunciation(PE17:175). More complex schemes of assimilation are suggested to have existed in "Old Quenya", the conjunction varying between ar, a and as depending on the following consonant (PE17:41, 71). An alternative longer form of the conjunction, arë, is said to occur "occasionally in Tolkien's later writings" (VT43:31, cf. VT48:14). In the Etymologies, the word for "and" was first written as ar(a) (VT45:6). In one source, Tolkien notes that Quenya used ar "as preposition beside, next, or as adverb = and" (PE17:145); compare ara.

ar

and

o (1) conj. "and", occurring solely in SD:246; all other sources give ar.

ar ámen apsenë úcaremmar

and forgive us our trespasses

The seventh line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word is ar “and”, followed by a combination of the imperative particle á and the (dative) second person plural pronoun men “[for] us”. Next follows apsene, the aorist form of the verb apsen- “forgive”. The final word úcaremmar “our trespasses” is the first person plural exclusive possessive form of úcarë, with the usual plural suffix -r indicating the possessed noun was also plural (“trespasses” as opposed to “trespass”).

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> ar á-me-n apsenë úcare-mma-r = “✱and (imperative)-us-for forgive trespass-our-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: Earlier versions of the prayer used a different verb avatyar- for “forgive”, in what was probably a suffixed imperative form avatyara (I-IIa) or ávatyara (IIb-IV). In version I-IV, this was followed by the ablative form mello “[from] us” of the pronoun me.

Earlier versions of the prayer used a variety of words for “trespass”: lucassë (I), lucië (IIa-IIb), luhta (III-IV deleted) and rohta (III-IV). Most instances used the same possessive suffix -mma “our” as the final verion of the prayer, but version III used an independent pronoun menya, in its plural form menye to agree with the plural noun “trespasses”.

|  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |ar| |avatyara|ávatyara|ámen| |mello|apsene| |lucassemmar|i luciemmar|menye {luhtar >>} rohtar|{luhtammar >>} rohtammar|úcaremmar|

arien

feminine name. Maiden of the Sun

The Maiden of the Sun who guided the solar orb through the heavens after it was created (S/99). Her name is likely a compound of árë “sunlight” and the feminine suffix -ien.

Conceptual Development: When she first appeared, this character’s name was ᴱQ. Urwen(di) “Sun-maiden” (LT1/179, LT1A/Urwen), combining the early name of the Sun, ᴱQ. Ûr, with ᴱQ. wen(di) “maiden”. Her name was later revised to ᴹQ. Úrien (SM/97, SM/170) >> ᴹQ. Árien (SM/99, 168) >> ᴹQ. Arien (LR/243, Ety/AR¹).

In later writings, the name sometimes appeared with the long Á (PE17/148, MR/376) but usually had a short A, and this is the form appearing in the later drafts and published versions of The Silmarillion (MR/136, 198; S/99). In his late notes on the cosmology of Middle-earth, Tolkien consider numerous variant forms for this name: Áren, Ār(i), Ārië, Āzië and even a (rejected) masculine form Auron (MR/376, 380), but none of these variants appeared in the narratives. The early form Úrien also briefly reappeared in some linguistic note from the 1950s (PE21/86).

Ar Fanturion

day of the fanturi (mandos and lorien)

Ar Fanturion noun *"Day of the Fanturi (Mandos and Lorien)" _(LEP/LEPEN/LEPEK). _Also Arë Fanturion (VT45:27).

Ar Manwen

day of manwe

Ar Manwen noun *"Day of Manwe" (LEP/LEPEN/LEPEK; this is "Qenya" with genitive in -n.) Also Arë Manwen (VT45:27).

Ar Ulmon

day of ulmo

Ar Ulmon noun *"Day of Ulmo" (LEP/LEPEN/LEPEK; this is "Qenya" with genitive in -n.)

Ar Veruen

day of the spouses

Ar Veruen noun *"Day of the Spouses" (Aule and Yavanna) (LEP/LEPEN/LEPEK; this is "Qenya" with genitive in -n.) Also Arë Veruen (VT45:27).

Ara-

noble

Ara-, ar- a prefixed form of the stem Ara- "noble" (PM:344). In the masc. names Aracáno "high chieftain", mothername (amilessë, q.v.) of Fingolfin (PM:360, cf. 344), Arafinwë "Finarfin" (MR:230)

Armenelos

royal-heaven-city

Armenelos place-name, City of the Kings in Númenor (ar-menel-os(to) "royal-heaven-city"???) The stem should possibly be *Armenelost- (compare Mandos, Mandost-).

ar-

outside

ar- (1) prefix "outside" (AR2), element meaning "beside" (VT42:17), "by" (PE17:169; in the same source the glosses "near, by, beside" were rejected). Cf. ara.

ar-

brightest

ar- (2), also ari-, prefix for superlative (compare arya #1, 2), hence arcalima "brightest", arimelda *"dearest" (PE17:56-57). In the grammar described in the source, this prefix was to express superlative as the highest degree (in actual comparison), whereas the alternative prefix an- rather expressed "very" or "exceedingly" with a more purely augmentative or adverbial force, but these distinctions do not seem to have been clearly present at all stages of Tolkiens work. See an- #2, am- #2.

ara

outside, beside, besides

ara prep.(and adv.?) "outside, beside, besides" (AR2, VT49:57). According to VT45:6, the original glosses were "without, outside, beside", but Tolkien emended this. Arsë "he is out", VT49:23, 35, 36. As for ar(a), see ar #1. VT49:25 lists what seems to be ar(a) combined with various pronominal suffixes: Singular anni > arni "beside me", astyë "beside you" (informal), allë "besides you" (formal), arsë "beside him/her", plural anwë > armë "beside us" (exclusive), arwë "beside us" (inclusive), astë > ardë "beside you" (plural), astë > artë "beside them"; dual anwet > armet "beside us (two)". (Here Tolkien presupposes that ara represents original ada-.) The same source lists the unglossed forms ari, arin that may combine the preposition with the article, hence "beside the" (VT49:24-25)

arato

noble

arato noun "a noble" (PE17:147), in PE17:118 given as aratō and there glossed "lord" (often = "king"). Cf. aráto. The form cited in the latter source, aratō with a long final vowel, is evidently very archaic (compare Enderō under Ender); later the vowel would become short. (PE17:118)

arë

and

arë conj. "and", longer form of ar, q.v. (VT43:31)

aran

king

aran noun "king"; pl. arani (WJ:369, VT45:16, PE17:186); gen.pl. aranion "of kings" in asëa aranion, q.v.; aranya "my king" (aran + nya) (UT:193). Aran Meletyalda "king your mighty" = "your majesty" (WJ:369); aran Ondórëo, "a king of Gondor" (VT49:27). Also in arandil "king's friend, royalist", arandur "king's servant, minister" (Letters:386); Arantar masc. name, "King-Lord" (Appendix A); Arandor "Kingsland" region in Númenor (UT:165); the long form Arandórë appears as a name of Arnor in PE17:28 (elsewhere Arnanórë, q.v.) Othercompounds ingaran, Noldóran, Núaran, q.v.

arata

high, lofty, noble

arata adj. "high, lofty, noble" (PE17:49, 186). Also used as a a noun with nominal pl. form Aratar "the Supreme", the chief Valar, translation of the foreign word Máhani adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:402). Aratarya "her sublimity"; Varda Aratarya "Varda the lofty, Varda in her sublimity" (WJ:369). In one source, Aratar is translated as a singular: "High One" (PE17:186)

arquen

noble

arquen noun "a noble" (WJ:372), "knight" (PE17:147)

aran

noun. king

ar(a)-

prefix. noble, high

Eldarin

eldarin, elvish

Eldarin adj. derived from Elda: "Eldarin, Elvish" (Silm, ÉLED). Also in the longer form Eldarinwa (pl. Eldarinwë in VT47:14, in the title Eldarinwë leperi ar notessi, "The Eldarin fingers and numerals")

nasser ar cenime cantar valaron ar maiaron

The Natures and Visible Shapes of the Valar and Maiar

valar ar maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen ve quenderinwe coar ar larmar

Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils, like to Elvish bodies and raiment

ványë ar válmë

I and those with me are against it

atar

noun. father

The Quenya word for “father”, derived from the root √AT(AR) (PM/324; WJ/402; VT48/19).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. atar “father” dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, though in that document it was “a more solemn word ... usually to 1st Person of the Blessed Trinity”, as opposed to more ordinary ᴱQ. attu “father” (QL/33). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, ᴱQ. atar was the ordinary word for “father”, but with variant archaic form †attar (PE15/72). ᴹQ. atar “father” reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√ATA of the same meaning (Ety/ATA). It appeared again in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 in various inflected forms (PE22/118-119). It continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s later writings. Thus this word was established early and retained its form throughout Tolkien’s life with only minor variations.

sí ar lúmessë ya firuvammë: násië

now and at the hour of our death: Amen

The seventh line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first few words are sí ar lúmessë “now and at [the] hour”, the last being a combination of the noun lúmë “time” (“hour”) and the locative suffix -ssë “at, in, on”. The next two words are a subordinate clause: ya firuvammë “✱when we will die”, the latter being future 1st-person-plural-exclusive form of the verb fir- “to die”. The last word, násië “Amen”, is also used by Tolkien in the Quenya prayer Átaremma.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> sí ar lúme-ssë ya fir-uva-mmë: násië = “✱now and time-at when die-(future)-we: amen”

Less literally: “✱now and at the time when we will die”.

Conceptual Development: The first few words sí ar lúmesse are the nearly same in all versions of the prayer, except (a) the accents are omitted from si and lumesse in version I and (b) Tolkien considered and rejected a variant form are for ar “and” (as he did in line four).

In the first two versions of the prayer Tolkien used a Quenya word for “of our death”: fíriemmo (I) and effíriemmo (II). In both cases, the noun is (ef)fírie “death” with the first person plural exclusive possessive suffix -mma “our” and the genitive suffix -o “of”. In the version I, these forms were preceded by some incomplete and difficult-to-decipher forms; for details see VT43/27, 34-35.

The word násië “Amen” appears only in the last two versions of the prayer (III-IV).

| |  I  | II |III|IV| |si|sí| |ar|{are >>} ar|ar| |lumesse|lúmesse| |{urtulm >> urt >> menya >>}|i fíriemmo|effíriemmo|yá firuvamme|ya firuvamme| | |násie|

savin elessar ar <u>i</u> nánë aran ondórëo

that

i (3) conj. "that". Savin Elessar ar i nánë aran Ondórëo "I believe that Elessar really existed and that [he] was a king of Gondor" (VT49:27), savin…i E[lesarno] quetië naitë *"I believe that Elessars speaking [is] true" (VT49:28) Also cf. nai, nái "be it that" (see nai #1), which may seem to incorporate this conjunction.

ëar

sea

ëar noun "sea" (AYAR/AIR [gives also dat. sg. ëaren],WJ:413; see Letters:386 for etymology). Not to be confused with the pl. form of the verb ëa "be, exist". Pl. ëari "seas" (FS, LR:47); Eär "the Great Sea" (cf. ëaron "ocean"), ablative Eärello "from the Great Sea", et Eärello "out of the Great Sea" (EO). Eärë noun "the open sea" (SD:305). Compound ëaruilë noun "seaweed" (UY). Found in proper names like Eärendil "Sea-friend", Eärendur masc. name, *"Sea-servant"; in effect a variant of Eärendil(Appendix A). Eärendur was also used ="(professional) mariner" (Letters:386).Fem. name Eärwen "Sea-maiden" (Silm); Eärrámë "Sea-wing", "Wings of the Sea", name of Tuor's ship (RAM, AYAR/AIR, SA)

tar-

affix. high, high; [ᴹQ.] king or queen (in compounds)

A prefix (and sometimes suffix) meaning “high” as in Tarcil “High Man” or Tarmenel “High Heaven”. It is often used in reference to royalty and nobility, as in Tarumbar “King of the World” or Sorontar “Lord of Eagles”, as well as the names of Númenorean kings and queens. It is related to the adjective tára “high” based on the root √TĀ/TAƷ of similar meaning (Ety/TĀ).

-tar

king

-tar or tar-, element meaning "king" or "queen" in compounds and names (TĀ/TA3), e.g. Valatar; compare the independent nouns tár, tári. Prefix Tar- especially in the names of the Kings and Queens of Númenor (e.g. Tar-Amandil); see their individual names (like Amandil in this case), cf. also Tar-Mairon "King Excellent", title used by Sauron (PE17:183). Also in Tareldar "High-elves"; see also Tarmenel.

Návatar

father

Návatar noun a title of Aulë referring to his position as the immediate author of the Dwarvish race, apparently including atar "father", but the first element cannot be related to any known term for "Dwarf" (PM:391 cf. 381)

atar

father

atar noun "father" (SA; WJ:402, UT:193, LT1:255, VT43:37, VT44:12). According to the Etymologies (ATA) the pl. is atari, but contrast #atári in Atanatári "Fathers of Men" (q.v.); possibly the word behaves differently when compounded. Atarinya "my father" (LR:70), atar(inya) the form a child would use addressing his or her father, also reduced to atya (VT47:26). Diminutive masc. name Atarincë ("k") "Little father", amilessë (never used in narrative) of Curufinwë = Curufin (PM:353). Átaremma, Ataremma "our Father" as the first word of the Quenya translation of the Lord's Prayer, written before Tolkien changed -mm- as the marker of 1st person pl. exclusive to -lm-; notice -e- as a connecting vowel before the ending -mma "our". In some versions of the Lord's Prayer, including the final version, the initial a of atar "father" is lengthened, producing #átar. This may be a contraction of *a atar "o Father", or the vowel may be lengthened to give special emphasis to #Átar "Father" as a religious title (VT43:13). However, in VT44:12 Atar is also a vocative form referring to God, and yet the initial vowel remains short.

car-

with

#car- (2) prep. "with" (carelyë "with thee"), prepositional element (evidently an ephemeral form abandoned by Tolkien) (VT43:29)

haran

king, chieftain

haran (#harn-, as in pl. harni) noun "king, chieftain" (3AR, TĀ/TA3, VT45:17; for "king", the word aran is to be preferred in LotR-style Quenya). In a deleted entry in the Etymologies, haran was glossed "chief" (VT45:17)

tar

beyond

tar (2) prep. "beyond" (FS)

taran

king

taran (1) noun "king", possibly ephemeral variant of aran, q.v. (PE17:186)

vardar

king

vardar noun "king" (LT1:273; rather aran in LotR-style Quenya)

sinomë maruvan ar hildinyar tenn’ ambar-metta

In this place will I abide, and my heirs, unto the ending of the world

Second phrase @@@

atar

noun. father

arata

high, lofty, noble

arata adj. "high, lofty, noble" (PE17:49, 186). Also used as a a noun with nominal pl. form Aratar "the Supreme", the chief Valar, translation of the foreign word Máhani adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:402). Aratarya "her sublimity"; Varda Aratarya "Varda the lofty, Varda in her sublimity" (WJ:369). In one source, Aratar is translated as a singular: "High One" (PE17:186)

cemendë tambe erumandë

on Earth as [it is] in Heaven

The fifth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word cemendë “on Earth” is an assimilated locative form of cemen “earth”. The word tambë likely corresponds to “as”, while Erumandë “in Heaven” is an assimilated locative form of Eruman “Heaven”. The English words “it is” are not represented in the Quenya phrase.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> cemen-dë tambe Eruman-dë = “✱earth-on as [it is] Heaven-in”

Conceptual Development: In earlier versions of this phrase (I-V), Tolkien used menel for “Heaven”. Elsewhere, Tolkien said that menel referred to the dome of the sky or “the firmament”, and therefore was not proper for “Heaven” (MR/387, PE17/152), which is probably why he changed the word to Eruman in version VI of the prayer.

Tolkien experimented with various ways of comparing Earth to Heaven: ier ... ar tér (I), ier ... tier (IIa), ya(n) ... ar san (IIb) and san ... ya (III-IV), each probably meaning something like “as ... so ...”, as suggested by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT43/16-7). In versions V and VI Tolkien switched to a single word “as”: sívë (V) and tambë (VI).

The English words “it is” are only expressed in version III-IV, with the Quenya verb na, appearing at the end of the phrase as is typical of declarative statements.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |{yé >> ye >>}|ier|ya(n)|san| | |menelle|menelze|menelde|cemende| |ar tér|tier|ar san|ya|sívë|tambe| |{kemenze >>}|cemenze|cemende|menelde|Erumande| | |na| |

melda

beloved, dear, sweet

melda adj. "beloved, dear, sweet" (MEL, VT45:34), superlative arimelda *"dearest" (PE17:56, see ar- #2), meldielto "they are beloved" (sc. meld[a]-ië-lto "beloved-are-they" however, both the stative verb ending -ië "is/are" and the ending -lto "they" may be obsolete in LotR-style Quenya) (FS) PE17:55 gives the comparative form as arimelda or ammelda and the superlative as eremelda, anamelda or once again ammelda (PE17:55).

na

to, towards

na (2) prep. "to, towards", possibly obsoleted by #1 above; for clarity writers may use the synonym ana instead (NĀ1). Originally, Tolkien glossed na as "at, by, near"; the new meaning entered together with the synonyms an, ana (VT45:36).

ná

but, on the contrary, on the other hand

ná (2), also nán, conj. "but, on the contrary, on the other hand" (NDAN; the form nan, q.v., is probably to be preferred to avoid confusion with ná "is", *nán "I am").

airë

noun. sea

An archaic word for “sea” which fell out of use to due conflict with “holy” words like aira or airë; it was a noun form of primitive ✶gaı̯ră (PE17/27). The more common modern word for “sea” is ëar.

Conceptual Development: ᴹQ. aire “sea” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√AYAR (Ety/AY); it appeared beside a form ᴹQ. airen that might be a genitive form, or might be a longer form; see the entry on ᴹQ. airon for discussion.

Ae

day

Ae (Quenya?) noun "day" (LEP/LEPEN/LEPEK - ae was written over ar [# 2] in the names of the Valinorean week, but ar was not struck out.)

al

al

al (2) an assimilated form of the conjunction ar before l (PE17:41, 175);see ar #1.

am-

signifying addition, increase

am- (2) prefix used in comparison, "signifying addition, increase" (PE17:90), or with genitive superlative: elenion ancalima "brightest of stars" (PE17:91). Originally identical with #1 above. The form am- as such is in late Quenya only used before p and (presumably) before vowels; the longer form ama- came to be preferred before r and l; before other consonants, the prefix assumes the form an- (pronounced, but not in Romanized Quenya orthography written, añ- before c) (PE17:90-92). Phonologically we would expect am- before y- (since my is an acceptable Quenya combination); however, Tolkien used an- in the word anyára (q.v.) See an- #2 and compare ar- #2.

an-

very

an- (2) intensive or superlative prefix carrying the idea of "very" or "most", seen in ancalima "most bright" (cf. calima "bright"), antara "very high, very lofty" and #anyára "very old" or "oldest" (the latter form occurring in the so-called Elaine inscription [VT49:40], there with the dative ending -n). Assimilated to am- before p-, as in amparca ("k") "very dry", and to al-, ar-, as- before words in l-, r-, s- (though Tolkien seems to indicate that before words in l- derived from earlier d, the original quality of the consonant would be preserved so that forms in and- rather than all- would result). See also un-. (Letters:279, VT45:5, 36) Regarding the form of the superlative prefix before certain consonants, another, partially discrepant system was also set down in the Etymologies and first published in VT45:36. The prefix was to appear as um- or un- before labialized consonants like p-, qu-, v- (the consonant v preserving its ancient pronunciation b- following the prefix, thus producing a word in umb-), as in- (technically iñ-) before c- and g- (the latter presumably referring to words that originally had initial g-, later lost in Quenya but evidently preserved following this prefix), and as an- otherwise. However, this system would contradict the canonical example ancalima, which would have been *incalima if Tolkien had maintained this idea. In a post-LotR source, the basic form of the prefix is given as am- instead (see am- #2). In this late conception, the prefix still appears as an- before most consonants, but as ama- before r, l, and the form an- is used even before s- (whether original or from þ), not the assimilated variant as- described above. General principles would suggest that the form am- should also appear before y- (so the form #anyára probably presupposes an- rather than am- as the basic form of the prefix, Tolkien revisiting the earlier concept in the _Elaine inscription). (PE17:92)_

and

and

a (2) conj. "and", a variant of ar occurring in Fíriel's Song (that also has ar; a seems to be used before words in f-, but contrast ar formenna "and northwards" in a late text, VT49:26). According to PE17:41, "Old Quenya" could have the conjunction a (as a variant of ar) before n, ñ, m, h, hy, hw (f is not mentioned), PE17:71 adding ty, ny, hr, hl, ñ, l, r, þ, s. See ar #1. It may be that the a or the sentence nornë a lintieryanen "he ran with his speed" (i.e. as quickly as he could) is to be understood as this conjunction, if the literal meaning is "he ran and [did so] with his speed" (PE17:58).

as

with

as prep. "with" (together with), also attested with a pronominal suffix: aselyë "with thee" (VT47:31, VT43:29). The conjunction ar "and" may also appear in assimilated form as before s; see ar #1.

az

and

az, archaic form of the conjunction ar "and"; see ar #1.

calima

bright

calima adj. "bright" (VT42:32); cf. ancalima; in PE17:56, arcalima appears as another superlative "brightest" (see ar- #2).

sí

now

sí adv. "now" (Nam, RGEO:67, LR:47, SD:310, VT43:34, VT49:18, PE17:94), sin (SI, LR:47) or sín _(SD:247, 310) _before vowels. Compare the distribution of a/an in English, though in his Quenya version of Hail Mary, Tolkien used sí also before a vowel (sí ar "now and", VT43:28). Si, a short (or incompletely annotated) form of sí (VT43:26, 34). In Fíriel's Song, sí is translated "here".

vëa

sea

vëa (3) noun "sea" (MC:213, 214, 216; possibly obsoleted by #1 and #2 above, though some argue that the initial element of the late names Vëantur and Vëandur [q.v.] could be vëa #3 rather than #2 (it can hardly be #1) . In any case, the normal word for "sea" in LotR-style Quenya seems to be ëar.) Inflected vëan "sea" (MC:220), vëar "in sea" (a "Qenya" locative in -r, MC:213), vëassë "on sea" (MC:220). Cf. also vëaciryo.

yo

and

yo conj. "and", "often used between _two _items (of any part of speech) that were by nature or custom clearly associated, like the names of spouses (Manwë yo Varda), or "sword and sheath" (*macil yo vainë*), "bow and arrows" (quinga yo pilindi), or groups like "Elves and Men" (Eldar yo Fírimor but contrast eldain a fírimoin [dative forms] in FS, where Tolkien joins the words with a, seemingly simply a variant of the common conjunction ar). In one source, yo is apparently a preposition "with" (yo hildinyar* = "with my heirs", SD:56).

árë

day

árë noun "day" (PM:127) or "sunlight" (SA:arien). Stem ári- _(PE17:126, where the word is further defined as "warmth, especially of the sun, sunlight"). Also name of tengwa #31; cf. also ar # 2. Originally pronounced ázë; when /z/ merged with /r/, the letter became superfluous and was given the new value ss, hence it was re-named essë (Appendix E)_. Also árë nuquerna *"árë reversed", name of tengwa #32, similar to normal árë but turned upside down (Appendix E). See also ilyázëa, ilyárëa under ilya. In the Etymologies, this word has a short initial vowel: arë pl. ari (AR1)

ímen

in them

ímen a word occurring in Fíriel's Song, translated "in them" (ar ilqua ímen "and all [that is] in them"). Probably not valid in LotR-style Quenya.

írima

lovely, beautiful, desirable

írima adj. "lovely, beautiful, desirable" (ID, FS, PE17:155), in FS also pl. írimar; in the "Qenya" of Fíriel's Song, adjectives in -a form their plurals in -ar instead of -ë as in LotR-style Quenya.

hína

noun. child

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected ✱✱hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.

Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien often used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274; RGEO/66), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form. This variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).

sí

adverb. now

The Quenya word for “now” which is very well attested. In notes on demonstratives from 1968, it is a vowel-lengthened form of demonstrative si “this” (VT49/18) which seems to be a standard way of forming adverbs of time in Tolkien’s later writings; compare tá “then” (VT49/11) and yá “when” (VT49/23). This vowel-lengthening construction was explicitly described in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948: “The bare stems lengthened are used [for adverbs of time]” (PE23/109).

In Tolkien’s writings from the 1930s and 40s, he occasionally had sin or sín “now” with an n (Ety/SIN; LR/47; SD/247; SD/310). One working theory is that this is the form of sí when it appears before a vowel. However, in the aforementioned DRC from 1948, Tolkien had a variant form ᴹQ. sin(an) “now” using the suffix ᴹQ. -n(an), also used for adverbs of time.

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. tyá “now” based on the early root ᴱ√KI “this by me” (QL/46, 49). In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) from the 1920s he had ᴱQ. qí or qin for adverbs of time based ᴱQ. qi “this”, hence = “✱now”. However, the untranslated text Sí Qente Feanor from the 1910s seems to use sí = “now” (PE15/32, 34).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mostly use sí “now”, but I would also use sín or sin in cases where the results are more euphonic, particularly preceding a word starting with a vowel.

cala

noun. light, light; [ᴱQ.] daytime (sunlight), 12 hours

This is the most common Quenya word for “light”, derived from the root √KAL of similar meaning (RGEO/62; PE17/84). It appears in numerous compounds, either in its full form or in a reduced form cal-.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. kala appeared all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “daytime (sunlight), 12 hours” and derived from the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44), but it had the sense “light” in the phrase ᴱQ. i·kal’antúlien “Light hath returned” (LT1/184), and it was given as the cognate of G. gala “light, daylight” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/37).

ᴹQ. kala “light” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√KAL “shine” (Ety/KAL). Somewhat curiously in that document its primitive form was given as ᴹ✶k’lā́ (EtyAC/KAL), a form that also appeared in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ1) from the 1930s (PE18/38). Tolkien may have used this variant form to explain N. glaw “radiance” (< ᴹ✶g’lā́), but in later writings S. glaw “sunshine” was derived from √LAW.

han

preposition. beyond

A word for “beyond” in the final version of the Átaremma prayer of the 1950s in the phrase Átaremma i ëa han Eä, equivalent to “our Father who art in Heaven” but more literally “✱who is beyond Creation” (VT43/12). This word also appeared with the gloss “beyond” in notes from around 1970 as a derivative of √HAN “add to, increase, enhance, honour (espec. by gift)” (VT43/14).

onna

noun. child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature

A word for “child” appearing in various late notes and phrases (NM/31; PM/391; VT49/42), derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born” and once appearing in a variant form onwe (PE17/170). Giving its derivation, its actual meaning may be closer to “✱offspring”, as first suggested to me by Tamas Ferencz.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. onna was instead glossed “creature”, though it was still derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).

quessë

noun. feather

The Quenya word for “feather” and the name of tengwa #4 [z] (LotR/1122).

Conceptual Development: Some similar words appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QASA: ᴱQ. qasil “arrow-feather, arrow” and ᴱQ. qasilla “tuft, nodding spray, tassel, plume” (QL/76); quasil was only glossed “arrow” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/76). ᴹQ. qesse “feather” first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KWES (Ety/KWES), already the name of tengwa #4 (EtyAC/KWES). It was also the name of this tengwa in notes on the Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 1940s (PE22/22, 51, 61), and remained so into the published version of The Lord of the Rings.

-nna

to

-n (1) dative ending, originating as a reduced form of -nă "to", related to the allative ending -nna (VT49:14). Attested in nin, men, ten, enyalien, Erun, airefëan, tárin, yondon (q.v.) and also added to the English name Elaine (Elainen) in a book dedication to Elaine Griffiths (VT49:40). The longer dative ending -na is also attested in connection with some pronouns, such as sena, téna, véna (q.v.), also in the noun mariéna from márië "goodness" (PE17:59). Pl. -in (as in hínin, see hína), partitive pl. -lin, dual -nt (Plotz). The preposition ana (#1) is said to be used "when purely dative formula is required" (PE17:147), perhaps meaning that it can replace the dative ending, e.g. *ana Eru instead of Erun for "to God". In some of Tolkiens earlier material, the ending -n (or -en) expressed genitive rather than dative, but he later decided that the genitive ending was to be -o (cf. such a revision as Yénië Valinóren becoming Yénië Valinórëo, MR:200).

-nna

to, at, upon

-nna "to, at, upon", allative ending, originating from -na "to" with fortified n, VT49:14. Attested in cilyanna, coraryanna, Endorenna, Elendilenna, númenórenna, parma-restalyanna, rénna, senna, tielyanna, q.v. If a noun ends in -n already, the ending -nna merges with it, as in Amanna, formenna, Elenna, númenna, rómenna as the allative forms of Aman, formen, elen, númen, rómen (q.v.). Plural -nnar in mannar, valannar, q.v.

-ssë

at

-ssë (1) locative ending (compare the preposition se, sé "at", q.v.); in Lóriendessë, lúmessë, máriessë, yalúmessë (q.v. for reference); pl. -ssen in yassen, lúmissen, mahalmassen, símaryassen, tarmenissen, q.v. Pronouns take the simple ending -ssë, even if the pronoun is plural by its meaning (messë "on us", VT44:12). The part. pl. (-lissë or -lissen) and dual (-tsë) locative endings are known from the Plotz letter only.

-yë

conjunction. and

-yë (4) conj. "and" as a suffix added to the second of a pair, as Menel Cemenyë "Heaven and Earth" (VT47:30, 31, VT49:25). Other "pairs" are mentioned as examples but not actually translated into Quenya by Tolkien: Sun and Moon (*Anar Isilyë), Land and Sea (*Nór Eäryë), fire and water (*nárë nenyë, or *úr nenyë).

airë

sea

airë (2) noun "sea" (the form airen is given, intended as a genitive singular when Tolkien wrote this; in LotR-style Quenya it would rather be a dative sg.) (AYAR/AIR; cf. airon)

ana

to

ana (1) prep. "to" (VT49:35), "as preposition _ana _is used when purely _dative formula is required" (PE17:147), perhaps meaning that the preposition ana can be used instead of the dative ending -n (#1, q.v.) Also as prefix: ana- "to, towards" (NĀ1); an (q.v.) is used with this meaning in one source (PE17:127)_

atto

father, daddy

atto noun "father, daddy" (hypocoristic)(ATA, LR:49), supposedly a word in "actual 'family' use" (VT47:26), also used in children's play for "thumb" and "big toe" (VT47:10, 26, VT48:4, 6). The dual form attat listed in VT48:19 seems to be formed from the alternative form atta, though attat was changed by Tolkien from attot. - Compare atya.

aurë

sunlight, day

aurë noun "sunlight, day" (SA:ur), "day (of light), a day of special meaning or festival" (VT49:45). locative auressë "in (the) morning" in Markirya, allative aurenna *"on the day" (VT49:43-45). Also compare amaurëa.

ava-

without

ava- (3) prefix "without" (AR2, AWA). In some cases apparently used as a mere negation prefix: The form avalerya in VT41:6 is seemingly a negated form of the verb lerya- "release, set free"; the verb avalerya- is suggested to have the same meaning as the root KHAP = "bind, make fast, restrain, deprive of liberty". Likewise, the verb avalatya- from the same source seems to mean "to close, shut", this being a negated form of a verb *latya- "open" (q.v.)

calina

light

calina ("k")adj. "light" (KAL), "bright" (VT42:32) "(literally illumined) sunny, light" (PE17:153) but apparently a noun "light" in coacalina, q.v.

cálë

light

cálë ("k")noun "light" (Markirya; in early "Qenya", cálë meant "morning", LT1:254)

han

beyond

han prep. "beyond" (compare the _postposition pella of similar meaning) (VT43:14)_

hína

child

hína noun "child", also hina used in the vocative to a (young) child (also hinya "my child", for hinanya) (WJ:403). Pl. híni (surprisingly not **hínar) in Híni Ilúvataro "Children of Ilúvatar" (Silmarillion Index); dative hínin in VT44:35. In compounds -hin pl. -híni (as in Eruhíni, "Children of Eru", SA:híni). According to one source, the word is hín(i) and solely plural (PE17:157), but this is obviously contradicted by some of the sources quoted above.

ita

very, extremely

ita, íta adv. 2) "very, extremely" (PE17:112). Like #1 above, this element emerged as part of Tolkiens efforts to explain the initial element of the name Idril (Q Itaril), so it is questionable if #1 and #2 were ever meant to coexist in the "same" version of Quenya.

lai

very

[lai adverbial particle "very" (VT45:8)]

laurina

golden

laurina adj. "golden" (LT1:258). Compare laurëa in later material.

melwa

lovely

melwa adj. "lovely" (LT1:262); compare melda in Tolkiens later Quenya.

nan

but

nan conj. "but" (FS); the Etymologies also gives ná, nán (NDAN), but these words may be confused with forms of the verb "to be", so nan should perhaps be preferred, unless for "but" one uses the wholly distinct word mal. In Tolkien's later Quenya, it may be that he introduced new words for "but" to free up nan for another meaning (perhaps the adverb "back", compare the prefix nan-).

ne

that

ne (2) conj. "that" (as in "I know that you are here") (PE14:54), evidently replaced by i in Tolkiens later Quenya (see i #3).

pella

beyond

pella "beyond", apparently a postposition rather than a preposition: Andúnë pella "beyond the West", elenillor pella "from beyond the stars" (Nam, RGEO:66, Markirya) In one version of the Quenya Lord's Prayer, Tolkien used pell' (evidently an elided form of pella) as a _preposition, but this version was abandoned (VT43:13)_

quessë

feather

quessë noun "feather", also name of tengwa #4 (Appendix E, WJ:417, KWES, VT45:24); súriquessë "wind feather" (referring to a "tuft of radiating grass" in a drawing by Tolkien) (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 197)

ré

day

ré noun "day" (of the sun), a full 24-hour cycle (Appendix D) composed of aurë (day, daylight) and lómë "night" (VT49:45). Short -rë in compounds like Ringarë (q.v.). Allative rénna (VT49:45).

sa

it

sa pron. "it", 3rd person sg, corresponding to the ending -s (VT49:30). Used of inanimate things or abstracts (VT49:37; plants are considered animate; see se). For sa as object, cf. the sentence ecë nin carë sa "I can do it" (VT49:34). Stressed sá (VT49:51). Ósa "with it" (VT43:36). Also compare the reflexive pronoun insa "itself", q.v. In one text, sa is also defined as "that" (VT49:18); apparently Tolkien also at one point considered giving sa a plural significance, so that it meant *"they, them" of inanimate things, the counterpart of "personal" té (VT49:51).

se

at, in

se (2), also long sé, preposition "at, in" (VT43:30; compare the "locative prefix" se- possibly occurring in an early "Qenya" text, VT27:25)

selda

child

selda adj.?noun? (meaning not clear, related to seldë "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter") and seldo "boy". Thus selda may be an adjective "childlike", since -a is a frequent adjectival ending. Alternatively, as suggested in VT46:13, selda may be a neuter noun "child", corresponding to masc. seldo "boy" and fem. seldë "girl" (before Tolkien changed the meaning of the latter to "child"). (SEL-D, cf. VT46:22-23)

seldo

child

seldo noun (meaning not quite clear, likely the masculine form of seldë "child", hence *"boy") (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23)

sin

now

sin (2) adv., a form of sí "now" (q.v.) often occurring before vowels; also sín (SI). However, sí itself (q.v.) may also appear before a vowel.

ta

that, it

ta (1) pron. "that, it" (TA); compare antaróta** "he gave it" (FS); see anta-. The forms tar/tara/tanna "thither", talo/tó "thence" and tás/tassë* "there" are originally inflected forms of this pronoun: "to that", "from that" and "in that" (place), respectively. Compare "there" as one gloss of ta (see #4).

tá

high

tá 2) adj. "high" (LT1:264; there spelt tâ. This is hardly a valid word in Tolkien's later Quenya, but cf. tára "lofty".)

tána

high, lofty, noble

tána (meaning unclear, probably adj. "high, lofty, noble") (TĀ/TA3). Compare tára.

tár

king

tár noun "king" (only used of the legitimate kings of whole tribes); the pl. tári "kings" must not be confused with the sg. tári "queen" (TĀ/TA3). Prefix tar-, compare -tar above. The normal Quenya word for "king" is aran, but compare Tarumbar.

túr

king

túr, tur noun "king" (PE16:138, LT1:260); rather aran in LotR-style Quenya, but cf. the verb tur-. Also compare the final element -tur, -ntur "lord" in names like Axantur, Falastur, Fëanturi, Vëantur (q.v.)

cálë

noun. light

A noun for “light” appearing in the versions of the Markirya poem from the 1960s (MC/222-223).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. kále “morning” was a derivative of the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44), and kāle was mentioned again Gnomish Lexicon Slips as a cognate of G. gaul “a light” (PE13/114). The form ᴱQ. kale “day” appeared in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, but was deleted (PE14/43). It might also be an element in ᴹQ. yúkale “twilight” (= “both lights”) from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/KAL).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d stick to the better attested Q. cala “light”.

lé

preposition. with

The preposition lé “with” was mentioned in a (rejected) etymology of S. di “with” in Tolkien’s notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/94), from the phrase le nallon sí di’nguruthos (LotR/729), usually translated “here overwhelmed in dread of Death, I cry”. In this note, Tolkien eventually decided that S. (n)di actually meant “beneath”, and its Quenya equivalent was Q. nî.

Conceptual Development: Prepositional ᴹQ. le also appeared in the Lament of Atalante from the 1940s, in the phrase ᴹQ. Númeheruvi arda sakkante lenéme Ilúvatáren “the Lords of the West broke the world by [or with] leave of Ilúvatar” (SD/246, 310). Here “with” seems to be used in the instrumental sense “by means of”.

The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. le “with (accompaniment)” under the early root ᴱ√LĒ (QL/52). Le was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as the equivalent of G. li “with (of accompaniment only)”, but also used to mean “and” between nouns (GL/54). In this period the instrumental preposition seems to be ᴱQ. ma, which appeared in a few phrases from ᴱQ. Sí Qente Feanor from the 1910s: ᴱQ. malto ísier i nosta “✱by those from whom this birth was known” and ᴱQ. nalto fustúme ma Melkon “✱they can be smelled out by Melko” (PE15/32). Compare G. ma “with instrument or by agent” from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/55).

Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. lé for purposes of Neo-Quenya as a rarely-used instrumental preposition meaning “with, by (means of)”, reconceived as a derivative of √LEÑ “✱way, method, manner” (PE17/74).

tana

that

A word for “that” appearing in a list of demonstratives from 1968, an adjectival form of ta “that” (VT49/11). This adjective also appeared in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/135). Similarly formed ᴹQ. tana appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/85, 104-105) where it could also be used both adjectivally (“that”) and substantively (“that fact”). ᴹQ. tana “that” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s but in that document Tolkien said it was “anaphoric” (Ety/TA), as opposed to later when Q. sana was used for anaphoric that (PE16/97; PE23/104).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. táma was “this” rather than “that” (QL/87). The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had ᴱQ. {santa >>} sanda “that” (PE14/55), but drafts of the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930 seem to have tanda for “that” (PE16/56-57, 60).

áya

noun. awe

nec-

prefix. without

ono

conjunction. but

-enca

without, -less

-enca suffix "without, -less" (PE17:167), cf. nec-, q.v.

ala

day

[ala (7) noun "day", also alan "daytime". The forms allen, alanen listed after these words could be inflected forms of them, genitive "of daytime", constracted (allen = al'nen) and uncontracted. However, Tolkien struck out all of this (VT45:13).]

anat

but

anat conj. "but" (VT43:23; possibly an ephemeral form)

apa

but

apa (3) conj. "but": melinyes apa la hé "I love him but not him" (another) (VT49:15)

as

with

o (2) prep. "with" (MC:216; this is "Qenya"; WJ:367 states that no independent preposition o was used in Quenya. Writers may rather use as.) See ó- below.

au-

without

au- (3) privative prefix, = "without" (AWA)

ava

outside, beyond

ava (1) adv.? noun? prep.? "outside, beyond" (AWA, VT45:6)

cala

light

cala ("k")noun "light" (KAL). Concerning the "Qenya" verb cala-, see #cal- above.

etsë

outside, exterior

etsë noun "outside, exterior", glosses changed from ?"issuing" and ?"spring" (VT45:13)

ettë

outside

ettë noun(and/or adv.?) "outside" (ET)

laurëa

golden, like gold

laurëa adj. "golden, like gold"; pl. laurië is attested (Nam, RGEO:66)

lé

with

lé (2) prep. "with" (PE17:95)

mal

but

mal conj. "but" (VT43:23)

nec-

without, -less

nec- prefix "without, -less" (PE17:167), cf. -enca, q.v.

nó

but

nó (2) conj. "but" (VT41:13)

ono

but

ono conj. "but" (VT43:23, VT44:5/9)

onwë

child

onwë noun "child" (PE17:170)

onë

but

onë conj. "but" (VT43:23)

pen

without, not having

[pen prep. "without, not having" (PE17:171). Cf. Ú #1.]

seldë

child

seldë noun "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter"; in his later texts the Quenya word for "child" is rather hína, and the final status of seldë is uncertain. See also tindómerel.) (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23) In one late source, Tolkien reverts to the meaning "daughter", but this may have been replaced by anel, q.v.

tana

that

tana (1) demonstrative "that" (said to be "anaphoric") (TA). According to VT49:11, tana is the adjective corresponding to ta, "that" as a pronoun.

tanya

that

tanya demonstrative "that" (MC:215; this is "Qenya", perhaps corresponding to later tana)

váya

sea

váya noun "sea" (considered as "waters, motion"). The wording of the source indicates that Tolkien only tentatively considered such a word (PE17:33)

yana

that

yana demonstrative "that" (the former) (YA)

áya

awe

áya noun "awe" (PM:363)

ú

without, destitute of

ú (1) adv. and prep. "without, destitute of" (VT39:14). Usually followed by genitive: ú calo "without light" (cala). In one source, ú is seemingly also used as a negative verb "was not" (VT49:13), but Tolkien revised the text in question.

eldatár

`Vm#1~C6 noun. elf-king, elfking, elven-king

airen

noun. sea

an(da)-

prefix. superlative prefix

apa

conjunction. but

as

preposition. with

halda

adjective. high, tall

i

pronoun. that

i, antevokaliskt in

conjunction. that

mal

conjunction. but

nó

conjunction. but

onwë

noun. child

onë

conjunction. but

sa

conjunction. that

sa

pronoun. it

sana

that

sén

noun. child

sí

adverb. now

sír

adverb. now

ó

with, accompanying

lai

adverb. very

ar

conjunction. and

arthoren

place name. Fenced Realm

A Noldorin translation of Ilk. Garthurian “Fenced Realm, Hidden Realm” appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s along with numerous variations (Ety/ƷAR|GARAT, THUR). It seems to be a combination of ardh “realm” and thoren “fenced”, as indicated by the variant forms Ardh-thoren or Ar(ð)thoren. A third variation, Arthurien is said to be a half translation or Noldorization of Ilk. Garthurian. A fourth variation, Ardholen seems to have a different meaning: “Hidden Realm” (Ety/GAT(H)).

ar vanwe

proper name. Day of Manwe, first day of the Valian week

The Noldorin name for the 1st day of the Valian 5-day week, a combination of the prefix ar- “day” and the lenited form of Manwe (Ety/AR¹, LEP).

ar fennuir

proper name. Day of the Fanturi, fourth day of the Valian week

The Noldorin name for the 4th day of the Valian 5-day week, a combination of the prefix ar- “day” and the plural of Fannor, the common title of Lórien and Mandos (Ety/LEP).

ar uiar

proper name. Day of Ulmo, second day of the Valian week

The Noldorin name for the 2nd day of the Valian 5-day week, a combination of the prefix ar- “day” and Uiar, the Noldorin name of Ulmo (Ety/LEP).

ar vedhwen

proper name. Day of the Spouses, third day of the Valian week

The Noldorin name for the 3rd day of the Valian 5-day week, a combination of the prefix ar- “day” and the lenited form of Bedhwen “Spouses”, a term referring to Aule and Yavanna (Ety/LEP).

ar-

prefix. day

ar ifan

proper name. *Day of Yavanna

aer

noun. sea

ar-

prefix. etym. beside

ar-

prefix. without

aran

noun. king (used of a lord or king of a specified region)

aur

noun. day, sunlight, morning

edinar

noun. anniversary day

penninar

noun. last day of the year

lheben teil brann i annon ar neledh neledhi gar godrebh

five foot high the door and three may walk abreast

This phrase appeared on a preliminary sketch of Thrór’s Map from 1936. The final form of the map appeared in the first edition of The Hobbit without the phrase. Rhona Beare copied the phrase from a display of the sketch in the British Museum, and the phrase was first published in 1989 in Parma Eldalamberon #6 and Vinyar Tengwar #7 (PE6/38, VT7/7). The sketch itself appears in J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator edited by Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull (TAI/92, illustration #85), and a rendition of the phrase appears in a footnote (TAI/150, note #6).

Hammond and Scull interpreted the phrase in the footnote mentioned above. An analysis of the phrase also appeared in an article by Didier Willis titled “Une phrase elfique dans « J. R. R. Tolkien, Artist & Illustrator »” (PED-TAI) and in David Salo’s A Gateway to Sindarin (GS/216-7). These three analyses are very close and form the basis for the version presented here.

Tolkien gave two translations of the phrase in the sketch. There is a Modern English translation “five foot high the door and three may walk abreast”, written in runes. There is also an Old English translation: “fif fota heah is se dura and þrie maeg samod þurghgangend”, in Modern English: “five foot high is the door and three may together through-go”.

The first part of the phrase is clear. The first word is lheben “five”, followed by the Noldorin plural form teil “feet” of tâl “foot”. The third word is brann, which is translated in The Etymologies as “lofty, noble, fine” (Ety/BARÁD) but here seems to mean “high”. The fourth word is the definite article i “the” and the fifth is annon “gate, door”. The sixth word ar is a Noldorin variant of later Sindarin a “and” (like its cognate ᴹQ. ar) followed by neledh “three”.

The remainder of the phrase is difficult to interpret. The eighth word is illegible. Rhona Beare thought it might be ?nelwhi or ?maohi (VT7/7). Hammond and Scull rendered it as neledhi, which they interpreted as a variant of neledh “three”, so that neledh neledhi means “three by three”. Willis and Salo suggested instead that neledhi means “to walk [in]” (PED-TAI, GS/217), the infinitive of an unattested verb ✱neledh- “to go in, enter” (GS/276). Willis further suggested that it was written over a rejected form neledie (also noted, but not interpreted, by Hammond and Scull), the Old Noldorin form of the word. Willis and Salo analyzed this verb as a combination of the prefix ✱ne- “in” (also seen in N. nestag- “stick in”) and a derivative of the root ᴹ√LED “go, fare, travel”. If the eighth word corresponds to English “walk [in]”, then this interpretation is quite plausible.

The ninth word gar seems to be a verb corresponding to English “may” in the sense “can, be able to”. Salo suggested that it is the Noldorin verb gar-, but this is translated “hold, have” in The Etymologies (Ety/GAR), which does not seem appropriate. Willis suggested that it is the (Early Noldorin?) verb ᴱN. gar “went” seen in the phrase ven Sirion gar meilien “towards (the river) Sirion went laughing”; Hammond and Scull also suggested it might be a verb meaning “go”. A third possibility is that it is a soft mutation of the verb car- “do, make” (Ety/KAR), perhaps lenited because it follows an infinitive form; the meaning of car- seems to me to be a bit closer in sense to “may”, but this is still just a guess.

The last word godrebh might correspond to English “abreast”, but Hammond, Scull, Willis and Salo all suggested that it means “together through”, matching the Old English “samod þurgh”. Willis and Salo both independently analyzed this word as the prefix go- “together” and a lenited prefixal form dre of trî “through”, with the final -bh (pronounced [v]) marking it as an adverb (PED-TAI, GS/217). The word godrebh was preceded by some deleted and unclear writing, rendered ?goldegoelend by Rhona Beare (VT7/7), perhaps two rejected forms ?golde >> goelend (?“together-go”), though Hammond and Scull transcribed the two rejected forms as golda >> goelend (TAI/150, note #6).

adar

noun. father

adar

noun. father

glawar

noun. sunlight, radiance (of the golden tree Laurelin)

oear

noun. sea

oear

noun. sea

na

preposition. to, towards, at

nethwelein

proper name. Younger Gods

A term for the three Valar Osse, Orome and Tulkas from the day-name Ar Nethwelein appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s (Ety/LEP), a combination of neth “young” and the mutated plural form of Balan “god, Vala”.

athan

preposition. beyond

A word appearing in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s in the name N. Bronwe athan Harthad “Endurance beyond Hope” (SD/62). According to Christopher Tolkien, the form athan is very unclear and uncertain (SD/70 note #6). It might instead be athar, which would be more compatible with the root √THAR “across, beyond” (PE17/14; Ety/THAR).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. {athron “further, beyond” >>} adron “further, beyond, over, on other side” based on G. {athra “across, athwart” >>} adr(a) “lying athwart; situated on far side” (GL/17). This hints that later athan “beyond” may be based on N. ath- “across” (Ety/AT(AT)).

a

conjunction. and

oer

noun. sea

gloriel

adjective. golden

calad

noun. light

dae

adverb. very

ha

pronoun. it

ada

noun. father, daddy

an-

prefix. with, by

calad

gerund noun. light

gail

noun. bright light

gal-

prefix. light

galad

noun. light

glaur

noun. golden light (of the golden tree Laurelin)

glor-

noun. golden light (of the golden tree Laurelin)

ha

pronoun. it

hana

pronoun. it

hana

pronoun. it

heltha-

verb. to strip

The form helta- in the Etymologies is a misreading according to VT/46:14

na

preposition. with, by (also used as a genitive sign)

oer

noun. sea

taur

noun. king (only used of the legitimate kings of whole tribes)

In LotR/IV:IV, Frodo is called Daur, which might be the mutated form of this word

âr

noun. king (used of a lord or king of a specified region)

âr

noun. king

ar

conjunction. and

See ah for the form that this conjunction might take before a vowel

ar

conjunction. and, and, [G.] too, besides

ar-

ar-

_ pref. _Q. ar-.

ar-

ar-

_ pref. _Q. ar-. . This gloss was rejected.

aran gondor ar arnor ar hîr i mbair annui

king of Gondor and Arnor and Lord of the Westlands

ar-feiniel

feminine name. White Lady

A sobriquet of Aredhel translated “White Lady” (S/60). This name is probably a combination of ar(a)- “noble”, fain “white and shining [thing]” and the feminine suffix -iel (as suggested by David Salo, GS/342).

See the entry for Aredhel for discussion of her other names.

ar díheno ammen i úgerth vin

and forgive us our trespasses

The seventh line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word ar is a form of a “and”. The second word díheno is the imperative form of díhena- “to forgive”, followed by ammen “for us”, a combination of an “to, for” and men “us”.

The fourth word is the definite article i “the”, followed by the plural form úgerth of úgarth “trespass, ✱misdeed” and the lenited form vin of the possessive pronoun min “ours”. The adjectival elements follow the noun as is usual in Sindarin. See the entry for the second line of this prayer for a discussion of the use of the definite article i “the” before the possessed noun in this phrase.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> ar díhen-o am-men i úgerth vin [← min] = “✱and forgive-(imperative) for-us the trespasses ours”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien initially wrote the (singular) form ugarth “trespass” after the verb before deleting it and writing the rest of the phrase, which may help explain why the definite article is not in its usual plural form before vowels: in. Tolkien first wrote the unlenited form min of the pronoun “our” before replacing it with the lenited form vin. In both min and vin, the vowel i was short where it was long in the previous line of the prayer, but this may have been a slip.

Ara-

prefix. king

pref. king. >> ar-, Arathorn

ar-

prefix. king

pref. king. >> ara-, Arathorn

arnen

adjective. (?) royal

Originally, Lonnath-Ernin might have been intended to mean 'royal havens', assuming the second element to be a regular adjective. However, the second element in Emyn Arnen 'hills of Arnen' is singular, and Tolkien later decided that it should mean 'Hill beside the water', see VT/42:17 and HL/119-124. Nevertheless, this meaning cannot apply to Lonnath-Ernin (havens are near water by definition), so unless we entirely reject this earlier form, we may assume that an adjective 'royal' is still possible.

arod

adjective. noble

d adj. noble. Q. arata. >> raud

aer

noun. sea

Tolkien changed this word several times, see aear , gaear

ar(a)-

prefix. noble, royal, high

ar e aníra ennas suilannad mhellyn în phain

and he desires to greet there all his friends

ar in ellath epholar eno vi eressai

*and the Elves (?remember) still in Eressëa

arod

adjective. noble

ara

noun. king

_ n. _king. 

arn

adjective. royal

arod

noble

1b _adj._noble. >> raud

arod

adjective. noble

adj. #noble.

arth

adjective. (unknown meaning, perhaps (?) noble, lofty, exalted)

Ara-

prefix. high, noble, royal

ar-

prefix. high, noble, royal

aran

noun. king (used of a lord or king of a specified region)

ar iorhael, gelir, cordof, ar baravorn, ionnath dîn

and Frodo, Merry, Pippin and Hamfast his sons

@@@ should be revised to use v3 of the letter from AotM

ar meril bess dîn, ar elanor, meril, glorfinniel, ar eirien sellath dîn

and Rose his wife; and Elanor, Rose, Goldilocks and Daisy his daughters

@@@ should be revised to use v3 of the letter from AotM

arod

adjective. noble

arphen

noun. a noble

aur

noun. day, sunlight, morning

gaear

noun. sea

A word for “sea” variously attested as gaear (PE17/027; PM/363; WJ/400), gaer (PE17/27; PE17/149), and aear (Let/386; RGEO/65) in later writings. Of these, I prefer gaear for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, reduced to gaer in compounds.

Possible Etymology: The presence or absence of the initial g- depends on whether the word’s root is √AY(AR) (as it appears in The Etymologies and some later writings) or √GAY(AR) (as it appears in other later writings). See the entry of the root √GAY(AR) for a discussion of this vacillation. Similarly, the form gaer appears primarily as an element in compounds, and can be explained as a reduced form of gaear in that context. For these reasons, this entry uses gaear as the ordinary Sindarin word for “sea”. This has the additional advantage of disambiguating it from the adjective gaer “dreadful”.

Conceptual Development: This word appeared as N. oer or oear “sea” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, reflecting the Noldorin sound change of ai to oe (Ety/AY). However name for the “Great Sea” was N. {Belegar >>} Belegaer in the narratives of this period (LR/19), and the name N. Rhûnaer “Eastern Sea” appeared in draft Lord of the Rings maps from 1943 (TI/307). The element N. oer did appear in the day-of-the-week name N. Aroeren “✱Sea-day” in drafts of The Lord of the Rings appendices, but this was revised to S. Oraeron (PM/130, 138).

adar

noun. father

The Sindarin word for “father”, derived from the root √AT(AR) (PM/324; VT44/21-22; VT48/19).

Conceptual Development: N. adar “father” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√ATA of the same meaning (Ety/ATA). In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, however, G. †ador “father” was marked as archaic, and it seems {athon >>} G. nathon was the ordinary word for ”father” (GL/17, 59).

aear

Sea

_n. _Sea, especially the Great (Western) Sea. Q. ear. nef aear, sí nef aearon lit. 'beyond the Sea, here beyond the Great Sea'. >> gaear, gaer

gaear

Sea

_n. _Sea, especially the Great (Western) Sea. Shorter form gaer. Q. ear. >> aear, gaer

aear

noun. sea

Tolkien changed this word several times, see gaear

aearon

noun. great sea, ocean

Tolkien changed this word several times, see gaearon

a pherhael ar am meril suilad uin aran o minas tirith nelchaenen ned echuir

to Samwise and Rose the King’s greeting from Minas Tirith, the thirty-first day of Stirring

anwar

noun. awe

adar

noun. father

aear

noun. sea

anwar

noun. awe

gaear

noun. sea

gaearon

noun. great sea, ocean

oraearon

noun. seventh day of the Númenórean week, Sea-day

ar

outside

(adv. prefix) ar- (without)the literal meaning of a word translated SPY (q.v.)

ar

without

(adv. prefix) ar- (outside)

ar

noble

(adjectival prefix) ar- (high, royal). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain.

ar

royal

(adj. prefix) ar- (noble, high). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain.

ar

noble

(high, royal). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain.

ar

royal

(noble, high). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain.

ar

outside

(without)

ar

without

(outside)

aran

king

1. (king of a region) aran (pl. erain). Coll. pl. aranath. Also †âr with stem-form aran- (also with pl. erain; the longer form aran may be a back-formation from this plural). 2) (king of a people) †taur (i daur, o thaur) (said in LR:389 s.v. _T_Ā to refer to ”legitimate kings of the whole tribes”), pl. toer (i thoer), coll. pl. torath.

arn

noble

(adjective) 1) arn (royal), pl. ern, also arth (lofty, exalted), pl. erth, or arod (archaic *araud), pl. aroed. 2) brand (high, lofty, fine), lenited vrand, pl. braind; 3) raud (eminent, high), in compounds -rod, pl. roed. 4) taur (also tor-, tar- in compounds) (lofty, high, sublime; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”. Also used as noun ”a noble”; see below.

arn

royal

arn (noble), pl. ern

arphen

noble

(noun, "a noble") 1) arphen, pl. erphin; 2) raud (eminent man, champion), pl.roed (idh roed), coll. pl. rodath.

aran

king

(pl. erain). Coll. pl. aranath. Also †âr with stem-form aran- (also with pl. erain; the longer form aran may be a back-formation from this plural).

arn

noble

(royal), pl. ern, also arth (lofty, exalted), pl. erth, or arod (archaic ✱araud), pl. aroed.

aur

day

aur (morning), pl. oer. As prefix or- in names of weekdays.

arn

royal

(noble), pl. ern

arphen

noble

pl. erphin

arwen

noble woman

(pl. erwin).****

aur

day

(morning), pl. oer. As prefix or- in names of weekdays.

adar

father

adar (pl. edair);

aear

sea

aear (ocean); pl. aeair. The shorter form aer (for N oer) is maybe best avoided since it can be confused with aer "holy", unless the latter is actually a lenited form of gaer. Forms with g-, representing an alternative concept of the word for ”sea”: gaear (i **aear) (ocean), pl. gaeair (i ngaeair = i ñaeair) (PM:363), also gaer (i **aer, no distinct pl. form except with article: i ngaer = i ñaer), but homophones of the latter mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "dreadful, awful, fearful; holy".

anwar

awe

anwar (pl. enwair if there is a pl.)

athar

beyond

1. *athar (across). Suggested correction of the reading "athan" in SD:62. As prep. probably followed by soft mutation. 2) (adverbial prefix) thar- (across, athwart, over)

glawar

sunlight

glawar (i **lawar) (gold, radiance of the Golden Tree Laurelin), pl. glewair (in glewair**) if there is a pl. (VT41:10)

adanadar

father of men

normally pl. Edenedair "Fathers of Men", the early Edain.

aear

sea

(ocean); pl. aeair. The shorter form aer (for N oer) is maybe best avoided since it can be confused with aer "holy", unless the latter is actually a lenited form of gaer. Forms with g-, representing an alternative concept of the word for ”sea”: gaear (i ’aear) (ocean), pl. gaeair (i ngaeair = i ñaeair) (PM:363), also gaer (i ’aer, no distinct pl. form except with article: i ngaer = i ñaer), but homophones of the latter mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "dreadful, awful, fearful; holy".

glawar

sunlight

(i ’lawar) (gold, radiance of the Golden Tree Laurelin), pl. glewair (in glewair) if there is a pl. (VT41:10)

thar

beyond

(across, athwart, over)

adar

father

(pl. edair);

anwar

awe

(pl. enwair if there is a pl.)

athar

beyond

(across). Suggested correction of the reading "athan" in SD:62. As prep. probably followed by soft mutation.

bo ceven sui vi menel

on Earth as [it is] in Heaven

The fifth line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word is the preposition bo “on” (possibly a mutated form for po), followed by ceven “earth”. The third word is the preposition sui “as”, followed by vi the lenited form of mi “in” and menel “heaven”. There is no Sindarin equivalent for English “it is” in this phrase.

See the entry for the first line of this prayer for a discussion of the (mis)use of menel for “Heaven” in this phrase.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> bo Ceven sui vi Menel = “✱on Earth as in Heaven”

an

preposition. to, towards, for

With suffixed article and elision in aglar'ni Pheriannath

na

preposition. to, towards, at

orbelain

noun. sixth day of the week, day of the Powers or Valar

orgilion

noun. first day of the week, day of the Stars

penninor

noun. last day of the year

a

and

conj. and.Form of ad/ada before vowel, with soft mutation. Q. ar. >> ad, ada, adh

a

conjunction. and

conj. and. Pedo mellon a minno! 'Say friend and enter'. Q. ar

ad

conjunction. and

conj. and. a/adh before vowel, with soft mutation. Q. ar. >> a, ada, adh

ada

conjunction. and

conj. and. a/adh before vowel, with soft mutation. Q. ar. >> a, ad, adh

Ídh

and

{ð} conj. and.Form of ad/ada before vowel, with soft mutation. Q. ar. >> a, ad, ada

ah

preposition/conjunction. and, with

The title Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth is translated as "converse of Finrod and Andreth", but some scholars actually believe this word to be unrelated with the conjunction a.1 , ar "and", and they render it as "with". Other scholars consider that "and" and "with" (in the comitative sense) are not exclusive of each other, and regard ah as the form taken by this conjunction before a vowel. That a, ar and ah are etymologically related has finally been confirmed in VT/43:29-30. Compare also with Welsh, where the coordination "and" also takes different forms whether it occurs before a vowel or a consonant (respectively ac and a). In written Welsh, a often triggers the aspirate mutation: bara a chaws "bread and cheese". This usage is seldom applied in colloquial Welsh (Modern Welsh §510)

edinor

anniversary day

*edinor (pl. edinoer*). Archaic edinaur. In ”Noldorin”, the word appeared as edinar**.

edinor

anniversary day

*edinor (pl. edinoer). Archaic edinaur. In ”Noldorin”, the word appeared as edinar.

edinor

anniversary day

(pl. edinoer). Archaic edinaur. In ”Noldorin”, the word appeared as edinar.

edinor

anniversary day

(pl. edinoer). Archaic ✱edinaur. In ”Noldorin”, the word appeared as edinar.

gîl

bright spark

(i ngîl = i ñîl, construct gil) (star, silver glint), no distinct pl. form except with article (in gîl = i ñgîl), coll. pl. *giliath** (RGEO, MR:388)*

edinor

noun. anniversary day

hên

noun. child

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN, more specifically from ✶khinā with short i which became e in Sindarin due to a-affection (WJ/403). It often appeared in its mutated plural form chîn in phrases like Narn i Chîn Húrin “Tale of the Children of Húrin” (WJ/160). This is pronounced with spirantal “ch” as in German Bach, not affricate “ch” as in English “church”.

Christopher Tolkien made the editorial decision to render this plural form as Hîn in The Silmarillion as published as well as in Unfinished Tales, where it “was improperly changed by me [Christopher Tolkien] to Narn i Hîn Húrin ... because I did not want Chîn to be pronounced like Modern English chin” (LR/322).

In the Quendi and Eldar (Q&E) essay of 1959-60, Tolkien said “S has hên, pl. hîn, mostly used as a prefix in patronymics or metronymics”, meaning this word was often used to mean “child of” in reference to one’s parents, for example Túrin hen-Chúrin [Húrin] or Túrin hen-Morwen [assuming nasal-mutation].

an

to

_ prep. _to, for. naur an edraith ammen! 'fire [be] for rescue/saving for us'. aglar an|i Pheriannath  'glory to all the Halflings'.

gaer

Sea

_n._Sea, especially the Great (Western) Sea. Shorter form of gaear.Q. aire (obsolete). >> aear, gaear

galad

light

_ n. _light, fire, brightness, shining. >> calad, Caras Galadon

han

that

pl1. hain _pron. _that, the thing previously mentioned. Tolkien notes "hain = heinn (< san-)" (PE17:42). Im Narvi hain echant 'I Narvi made them'.

na

to

e _ prep. _to, towards (of spacetime). n' before vowels. >> nan 2

pen-

without

(ben-) _ pref. _without,**less. pen-adar 'fatherless'. >> ben-, ú-

alae

interjection. (?) behold!

Uncertain meaning, but compare with Quenya ela! "imperative exclamation directing sight to an actually visible object" (WJ/362)

glân

adjective. bright, shining white

The word is deduced from its mutated form, but it is worth mentioning that a stem GALÁN "bright", with glan "daylight" (and later "clear") as derivative, is listed in the Etymologies (not included in the published text, but see VT/45:13). Most of the words meaning "white" in the Indo-Eureopean languages come from the original notion of "brightness", e.g. Greek leukós "white" is cognate with Latin lucere "to shine", lux "light". This association of sense is also found in Gnomish, PE/11:39 (glan "clean, pure", from "bright" originally) and in Early Noldorin (PE/13:144, glann "clean"). The similarity with Welsh glan (where the vowel, incidentally, is also long, though this is concealed by Welsh orthographic convention) is also striking

glóriel

adjective. golden

This appears to be an adjectival form of glaur “gold (colour or light)” seen only as a element in names like Galadlóriel “Golden Rain” (MR/155; RS/187) [not an exact translation] and Rathlóriel “Golden-bed” (S/235).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s these names had a short o under the root ᴹ√(G)LAWAR, indicating a Noldorin form of N. gloriel (Ety/LÁWAR). The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. glôriol “golden, like gold” based on G. glôr “gold” (GL/40).

laud

noun. feather

A Sindarin word for “feather”, attested only its suffixal form -lod in the name gwaelod “wind feather” (PE23/142). It is derived from ✶lauto, so its Sindarin singular form would be ✱laud.

mallen

adjective. golden, golden, [N.] of gold

An adjective for “golden” mentioned in Tolkien’s “Unfinished Index” of The Lord of the Rings as an element in the name Cormallen “Golden Circle” (RC/625). It may also be seen in Rathmallen, a variant of the name Rathlóriel “Golden-bed”, replacing the second element glóriel “golden” with mallen (WJ/353). The word N. mallen also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” as an “analogical” variant of N. malthen “of gold” (Ety/SMAL).

Possible Etymology: In Tolkien’s later writings, this adjective was probably based on the root √MAL(AT) “gold”, also seen as the basis for the noun malt “gold [as metal]” (PE17/50; VT42/27). It was likely in keeping with the 1950s and 60s sound change whereby medial lth became voiceless ll; a similar sound shift may be seen in S. mallorn “golden tree” < OS. malthorn = malt + orn (VT42/27). In Noldorin of the 1930s lth was preserved, so 1930s N. mallen may have been based on ✱(s)maldina instead.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use this word only for golden colors, and would use [N.] malthen for “of gold [metal]”; see that entry for discussion.

orgaladh

noun. fourth day of the Númenórean week, day of the White Tree

This day was formerly called orgaladhad in the Elvish calendar

orgaladhad

noun. fourth day of the Elvish week, day of the Two Trees

This day was renamed orgaladh in the Númenórean calendar

a

and

a, or ah when the next word begins in a vowel: Finrod ah Andreth, Finrod and Andreth. In some sources, Tolkien uses ar as the conjunction "and", but a(h) would seem to be the proper Sindarin form.

or

high

(adjectival pref.) or- (above, over), also ar- (noble, royal). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain. Nouns:

ú

without

(adverbial prefix) ú-, u- (e.g. udalraph ”without stirrups; stirrupless”, uluithiad *”without quenching” (SD:62) = ”unquenchable”). The prefix ar- has a similiar meaning, as in:

a

and

or ah when the next word begins in a vowel: Finrod ah Andreth, Finrod and Andreth. In some sources, Tolkien uses ar as the conjunction "and", but a(h) would seem to be the proper Sindarin form.

or

high

(above, over), also ar- (noble, royal). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain. Nouns:

ú

without

u- (e.g. udalraph ”without stirrups; stirrupless”, uluithiad ✱”without quenching” (SD:62) = ”unquenchable”). The prefix ar- has a similiar meaning, as in:

an

to

(prep.) an (+ nasal mutation), with article ni "to the" (+ nasal mutation in plural).

calad

light

_(noun) _1) calad (i galad, o chalad), pl. celaid (i chelaid), 2) gaul (i **aul), pl. goel (i ngoel = i ñoel), coll. pl. golath. Note: A homophone means "wolf-howl", but has different mutations. 3) (bright light) galad (i ngalad = i ñalad), (sunlight, brilliance, radiance, glittering reflection), pl. gelaid (in gelaid = i ñgelaid). 4) gâl (gal-, -al in compounds, with article i **âl), pl. gail (i ngail = i ñail).

gail

light

(adjective) 1) gail (bright), lenited ngail, no distinct pl. form (VT45:18), 2) lim (clear, sparkling), no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means ”fish”.

galad

sunlight

1. galad (i ngalad = i ñalad), (bright light, brilliance, radiance, glittering reflection), pl. gelaid (in gelaid = i ñgelaid). 2) glawar (i **lawar) (gold; radiance of the Golden Tree Laurelin), pl. glewair (in glewair**) (VT41:10)

ha

it

ha, han, hana. (The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ha is the nominative, whereas han is the accusative. Hana could be an emphatic form. It may be that these pronouns as ”N” rather than Sindarin proper.)

na

with

(in instrumental sense?) na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

at

na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

pen

without

1. pen (lenited ben) (lacking, -less) (WJ:375) Not to be confused with the pronoun pen ”one, somebody, anybody”. When prefixed to a noun, the resulting phrase can be treated as an adjective in that it is lenited (pen- appears as ben-) where an adjective would be lenited. 2)

ach

conjunction. but

[it] appears that ach is the contrastive coordinating conjunction 'but'.

ach

conjunction. but

[it] appears that ach is the contrastive coordinating conjunction 'but'.

calad

light

(i galad, o chalad), pl. celaid (i chelaid), 2) gaul (i ’aul), pl. goel (i ngoel = i ñoel), coll. pl. golath. Note: A homophone means "wolf-howl", but has different mutations. 3) (bright light) galad (i ngalad = i ñalad), (sunlight, brilliance, radiance, glittering reflection), pl. gelaid (in gelaid = i ñgelaid). 4) gâl (gal-, -al in compounds, with article i ’âl), pl. gail (i ngail = i ñail).

gondrath

highway

(i ’ondrath) (street of stone, causeway), pl. gendraith (i ngendraith = i ñendraith). Archaic pl. göndreith. (WJ:340). Possibly the pl. can also be gondraith, without umlaut of the first element.

ha

it

han, hana. *(The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ha is the nominative, whereas han is the accusative. Hana could be an emphatic form. It may be that these pronouns as ”N” rather than Sindarin proper.)*

i

that

(+ soft mutation), basically in in the plural, but often loses the n which is then replaced by nasal mutation of the next consonant (e.g. gyrth i chuinar ”dead that live [cuinar]”, Letters:417). Sometimes i (+ soft mutation) is used in the singular as well. – The form ai (following by lenition) occurs in the phrase di ai gerir ✱”those who do” (VT44:23). Possibly it is a form of the relative pronoun that is used when the previous word ends in -i. Whether ai is both sg. and pl. is unclear; in its one attestation it is followed by a plural verb that is lenited.

lim

light

(clear, sparkling), no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means ”fish”.

na

with

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

at

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

pen

without

(lenited ben) (lacking, -less) (WJ:375) Not to be confused with the pronoun pen ”one, somebody, anybody”. When prefixed to a noun, the resulting phrase can be treated as an adjective in that it is lenited (pen- appears as ben-) where an adjective would be lenited.

raud

noble

(eminent, high), in compounds -rod,  pl. roed.  4) taur (also tor-, tar- in compounds) (lofty, high, sublime; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”. Also used as noun ”a noble”; see below.

taur

tall

(also tor-, tar- in compounds) (lofty, high, sublime, noble; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”.

hí

adverb. now

san

pronoun. that

pess

noun. feather

a

and

conj. and. About his mutation, see PE17:145.

calad

noun. light

_ n. _light, fire, brightness, shining. >> galad

dail

adjective. lovely

_ adj. _lovely, beautiful. Q. lelya. >> deil

deil

lovely

_ adj. _lovely, beautiful. Q. lelya. >> dail

di

preposition. with

_ prep. _with. Q. lé.

hi

adverb. now

_ adv. _now. annon edhellen edro hi ammen! 'Elvish gate open now for us'.

hî

now

_adv. _now. Q. sí. thî/hî << hî. >> thî****

malh

golden

adj. #golden. This word is not explicitly presented as S. >> mall, mallorn

mall

golden

adj. #golden. This word is not explicitly presented as S. >> malh, mallorn

na

preposition. to

prep. to Na-chaered palan-díriel lit. "To-distance (remote) after-gazing" >> na-chaered, nan 2

na

preposition. at

prep. at (a point of time or place). Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'.

pen

preposition. without, lacking, -less

ten

pronoun. (?) it (as object)

thî

now

_adv. _now. Q. sí. thî/hî << hî. >> hî****

Ídh

and

{ð}_ conj. _and. It was not mutated before vowels. >> a

Ídh

and

{ð} conj. and. About his mutation, see PE17:145.

calan

noun. day, period of actual daylight

Attested in the first edition of LotR, but omitted from the second.

an

to

(adverbial prefix) an-. 3)

an-

very

(as adverbial prefix) an-, as in:

dae

very

dae (exceedingly). Lenited dhae.

gail

bright

gail (light), lenited ngail; no distinct pl. form (VT45:18). The adj. calen etymologically means "bright", but is used = "green" (q.v.).

hên

child

hên (i chên), pl. hîn (i chîn); also -chen, pl. -chín at the end of compounds (e.g. Eruchín ”Children of Eru”). _(WJ:403) _CHILDREN OF THE ONE (Elves and Men as children of God) Eruchín** **(sg. *Eruchen)

malthen

golden

1. (of gold) malthen (melthin- in compounds; lenited valthen; pl. melthin), 2) (shining with golden light) glóren (glórin-), lenited lóren; pl. glórin, 3) mallen (lenited vallen; pl. mellin).

si

now

si (lenited hi)

taw

that

(demonstrative pronoun) ?taw. _Only the ”Old Noldorin” form tó is actually given in LR:389 s.v. _

a

conjunction. and

See ah for the form that this conjunction might take before a vowel

adh

conjunction. and

ah

conjunction. and

athan

preposition. beyond

atheg

noun. "litte father"

atheg

noun. thumb (Elvish play-name used by and taught to children)

calad

gerund noun. light

di

preposition. with

gaer

noun. sea

gaer

noun. sea

gaeron

noun. great sea, ocean

galad

noun. light, radiance, glittering, reflection (from jewels, glass or polished metal, or water)

hin

adverb. now

hên

noun. child (mostly used as a prefix in patronymics or metronymics)

melui

adjective. lovely, sweet

This word only occurs in the place name Imloth Melui, a vale where roses grew

na

preposition. with, by (also used as a genitive sign)

oranor

noun. second day of the week, day of the Sun

orithil

noun. third day of the week, day of the Moon

ormenel

noun. fifth day of the week, Heavens' day

si

adverb. now

sí(r)

adverb. now

sîr

adverb. now

thî

adverb. now

ada

father

(pl. edai)

an-

very

as in:

andrath

high pass

(literally "long climb"), pl. endraith.

brand

noble

(high, lofty, fine), lenited vrand, pl. braind

brand

tall

(lofty, noble, fine), lenited vrand, pl. braind.

calan

daytime

(i galan, o chalan), pl. celain (i chelain)

dae

adverb. very

dae

very

(exceedingly). Lenited dhae.

duinen

high tide

(i dhuinen), pl. duinin (i nuinin). (VT48:26).

eruchen

children of the one

)

eth

adverb/adjective. outside

gail

bright

(light), lenited ngail; no distinct pl. form (VT45:18). The adj. calen etymologically means "bright", but is used = "green" (q.v.).

gail

light

(bright), lenited ngail, no distinct pl. form (VT45:18)

galad

sunlight

(i ngalad = i ñalad), (bright light, brilliance, radiance, glittering reflection), pl. gelaid (in gelaid = i ñgelaid).

glaur

golden light

(i ’laur), pl. gloer (in gloer).

glóren

golden

(glórin-), lenited ’lóren; pl. glórin

glóren

shining with golden light

(glórin-) (golden), lenited ’lóren; pl. glórin

hall

tall

(exalted); lenited chall; pl. hail. Note: a homophone means ”veiled, hidden, shadowed, shady”.

hên

child

(i chên), pl. hîn (i chîn); also -chen, pl. -chín at the end of compounds (e.g. Eruchín ”Children of Eru”). (WJ:403)

mallen

golden

(lenited vallen; pl. mellin).

malthen

golden

(melthin- in compounds; lenited valthen; pl. melthin)

raud

tall

(eminent, noble), in compounds -rod,  pl. roed. Also used as noun ”champion, eminent man, [a] noble”.

sa

pronoun. that

si

now

(lenited hi)

taur

king

(i daur, o thaur) (said in LR:389 s.v. TĀ to refer to ”legitimate kings of the whole tribes”), pl. toer (i thoer), coll. pl. torath.

taw

pronoun. that

taw

that

. Only the ”Old Noldorin” form tó is actually given in LR:389 s.v.

telu

high roof

(i delu, o thelu) (dome), pl. tely (i thely).

ar-pharazôn kathuphazgânun

King Ar-Pharazon the Conqueror

A phrase given by Tolkien as an example of how a pair of nouns would be declined into the subjective case, with only the last noun inflected (SD/429). The entire noun phrase would be the subject of the sentence. It is contrasted with Ar-Pharazônun kathuphazgân, where the first noun is inflected instead. This would be a the sentences “Ar-Pharazôn (is) a conquerer”.

ar-pharazônun azaggara avalôiyada

[Ar-Pharazôn] was warring against [the] Powers

The 3rd phrase of the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). It differed from its earlier drafts only in its use of grammar. Tolkien’s gloss was “‽ was warring against Powers”, omitting the name Ar-Pharazôn because Lowdham was unsure how to translate it. In more ordinary English might be “Ar-Pharazôn was warring against the Powers”.

The subject Ar-Pharazônun is the subjective form of the name Ar-Pharazôn. The verb azaggara “was warring” is a form of azgarâ- “to wage war”, either the past tense or continuative-past tense (see the entry for that continuative-past tense for further discussion). The last word Avalôiyada “against the Powers” is the plural form of Avalô “Power, God” with the prepositional suffix -ada “toward, against” separated from the i of the plural by the usual glide-consonant y.

The previous (second draft) version of this sentence differs from the final version in two ways (SD/312). First, the subject is in the normal-case instead of the subjective case, perhaps because Tolkien had not finalized the rules for the subjective case. Second, its verb form was azagrāra, although the final verb form azaggara was written nearby as an alternative. See the verb azgarâ- for possible interpretations.

ar-pharazônun kathuphazgân

King Ar-Pharazon is (was) a Conqueror

A phrase given by Tolkien as an example of how the subjective case can be used to represent the verb “to be” (SD/429). Since the first noun the subject, the second noun is the predicate and the verb “is” is implied. Depending on context, the sentenced could refer to the past so that the subjective would represent “was” instead. This sentence is contrasted with Ar-Pharazôn kathuphazgânun, where the second noun is inflected in the subjective instead, so that the entire noun phrase would be the subject: “King Ar-Pharazon the Conqueror...”.

ar-pharazônun bâr ’nanadûnê

King Pharazon is Lord of Anadune

An example sentence illustrating Adûnaic grammar: it is a copula (a “to be” expression) without an explicit verb for “is” (SD/428). The subject of the sentence, Ar-Pharazônun, is in the subjective case, which represents the verb “to be”. The rest of the sentence, Bâr ’nAnadûnê “Lord of Anadune (Númenor)” is the predicate and is in the normal-case. This sentence also provides an example of the use of the genitive prefix an- “of”, here elided to ’n because of the preceding uninflected noun.

ar-pharazôn

King Pharazon

A short phrase illustrating the Adûnaic compositional genitive (SD/435).

ar-

prefix. king or queen

A prefix appearing before the Adûnaic names of kings and queens, the equivalent of Q. Tar- “High” (SA/ar(a)). It is most likely either a prefixal form of Ad. ârû “king” or derived from the same root. Conceptual Development: This prefix was introduced in the earliest versions of Adûnaic from the 1940s (SD/311, SD/248), and survived in the later Adûnaic names of The Lord of the Rings and The Silmarillion.

arminalêth

proper name. *Royal Heaven (City)

The Adûnaic name for the capital of Númenor, whose Quenya name is Armenelos (SD/363, PM/145). The final element -êth seems to be a feminizing suffix, also seen in Ad. Akallabêth. The initial element Ar- is the same as that used in the name of kings and queens, and the middle element minal means “heaven”, so perhaps the literal meaning is something like ✱“Royal Heaven (City)”, similar in the sense to the Quenya name.

pharazôn

masculine name. Golden

The son of Gimilkhâd who usurped the throne to become the 25th and final ruler of Númenor, translated “Golden” (LotR/1114, S/270). His Quenya name was Tar-Calion. Since Calion appears to mean “✱Son of Light”, Ar-Pharazôn is an example of a Númenórean ruler whose Adûnaic and Quenya names had different meanings.

The first element in his name is the noun pharaz “gold”. Since Pharazôn is glossed “Golden”, the second element -ôn may be an adjectival suffix. Andreas Moehn instead suggested (EotAL/PHAR’Z) that the name means “✱Golden One”, closer to its Quenya equivalent, and that the suffix -ôn is a masculine variant of the agental suffix -ân. Either way, the name is also notable in that it does not undergo the Adûnaic syncope when its suffix is added.

Conceptual Development: The name also appeared in “The Notion Club Papers” from the 1940s (SD/311), in some examples inflected into the subjective case (SD/247, 428-9).

pharaz

noun. sea

A draft word for “sea”, deleted and replaced with azar (SD/305), which later become azra. This word reappeared later with a different meaning: pharaz “gold”.

Ar-Gimilzôr

Ar-Gimilzôr

Gimilzôr in Adûnaic means "star flame" (gimil "silver" and zôr "flame"); which in Quenya is Tar-Telemnar Gimilzôr is also given as the Adûnaic name of Elros "star-foam" Since zôr also means "foam".

Ar-Pharazôn

Ar-Pharazôn

Pharazôn means "Golden" in Adûnaic, and is derived from the word pharaz, 'gold'.

attô

noun. father

A noun for “father” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, attû and attô, with no indication as to which would be preferred. For reasons similar to those given in the entry for ammê “mother”, my guess is that attû is an archaic form, and attô was preferred by the time of Classical Adûnaic. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AT(AR) “father”, perhaps from Primitive Elvish ᴹ✶atū.

-mâ

preposition. with

A prepositional suffix translated “with” (SD/247, 429).

Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, it was the grammatical inflection -ma used for the draft-instrumental (SD/438).

azra

noun. sea

The Adûnaic word for “sea” (SD/429), appearing as azar in some early texts (SD/305). It is fully declined on SD/431.

zîrân

adjective. beloved

An adjective translated “(the) beloved” (SD/247), apparently formed from the verb zîr- “to love, desire” with the participle suffix -ân. Its placement in the sentence Anadûnê zîrân hikalba “Númenor beloved fell (down)” is unusual, since according to Tolkien adjectives normally precede the nouns they modify (SD/428). It is possible that the adjective here is being used as a noun “the beloved”, an idea supported by the translation of this sentence in the final manuscript: “Anadune the beloved she fell” (VT24/12). See the entry for the Adûnaic participle for further discussion.

îdô

adverb. now

A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.

Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.

I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.

The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:

• agannūlo burudan “death-shade heavy-is” >> agannâlô burôda “death-shadow [is] heavy”

• batānī rōkhī-nam “ways bent-are” >> batîna lôkhî “ways (are) bent”

In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.

In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be ✱îdôwa, not îdôn.

It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.

ârû

noun. king

A noun translated as “king” (SD/429). The Adûnaic word for “queen” is not attested, but could be a feminized form of this word, such as ✱ârî.

-zê

preposition. at

A prepositional suffix translated “at” (SD/429), but not appearing in any example sentences. It is perhaps a later repurposing of the draft-dative case suffix -s, since the other draft-cases became prepositional suffixes in later versions of the Adûnaic grammar: draft genitive -ō versus later preposition -ô “from”, draft instrumental -ma versus later preposition -mâ “with”.

ara

preposition and adverb. beyond, further than

at(ar)

root. father

As the basis for “father” words, √AT and its extended form √ATAR date all the way back to Tolkien’s earliest ideas. The root itself did not explicitly appear in the Qenya or Gnomish Lexicons of the 1910s, but forms like ᴱQ. atar, G. †ador “father” indicate its presence (QL/33; GL/17). The root ᴹ√ATA “father” did appear in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. atar, N. adar (Ety/ATA) and the base √AT(AR) “father” was mentioned again in late 1960s notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (VT48/19). In this late period, the Elvish words for “father” remained Q. atar and S. adar (PM/324).

atar

noun. father

ay(ar)

root. sea

as

root. beside

As discussed in the entry for √AR, for a considerable time in Tolkien’s life the basis for the word “and” was the root √AR with the sense “beside”, so that Q. A ar B “A and B” originally had the sense “A beside B”. However, at some point during the writing of the Lord of the Rings he decided that the Sindarin word for “and” was a, making √AR no longer suitable for its etymology.

From this point forward Tolkien toyed with two possible roots for “beside; and”, either √AD and √AS, with another option √ÑAR considered and rejected in 1957 (PE17/169). It seems Tolkien vacillated between the √AD and √AS, so an exact timeline is hard to nail down. Their primary difference would be in the prevocalic form of Sindarin “and”: either edhil adh edain [ada > aða] or edhil ah edain [asa > aha] for “elves and men”. The most detailed breakdown of these two possibilities appeared in Tolkien’s notes on words in The Lord of the Rings, probably written in the late 1950s (PE17/41). In these notes he kept flipping back and forth between ancient asa and ada, though ultimately settling on ada.

However, ah appeared in the title of the document Athrabeth Finrod ah Andreth “The Debate of Finrod and Andreth” most likely written in 1959 (MR/329), and in a 1968 note Tolkien said the primitive form was as with S. ah “and” before vowels and a before consonants (VT43/30). So either Tolkien reversed himself again and adopted √AS, or he continued to vacillate. For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume the root was √AS.

One result of the change of √AR >> √AS/√AD is that the Sindarin prefix ar- could no longer mean “beside” as it did in Noldorin. Indeed, in notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor written in 1967-69 he said “Arnen originally was intended to mean ‘beside the water’, sc. Anduin, but ar- in this sense is Quenya, not Sindarin” (VT43/17). This leaves us with no good word for “beside” in Sindarin; at one point I coined a neologism sa for this purpose, but it is a real stretch.

As a final note, these 1950s and 1960s roots were not the first time Tolkien used √AS for something like “beside”. All the way back in the 1910s, Tolkien had the root √AS(A) in both the Quenya and Gnomish Lexicons (QL/33; GL/48) with derived forms like ᴱQ. ar “to, against, next, on (wall)” (QL/33), G. hath- “close to, by, beside, touching” (GL/48), and [maybe] G. art “beside, alongside of” (GL/20), though the last form may be unconnected given the unlikeliness of s > r in Gnomish.

tā/taʒ

root. high, high, [ᴹ√] lofty; noble

This root and ones like it were used for “high” things for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√TAHA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. tā “high; high above, high up”, ᴱQ. tahōra or tayóra “lofty”, and ᴱQ. tāri “queen”; it had a variant form ᴱ√TAʕA where the ʕ might be a malformed Y (QL/87). The corresponding forms in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon were G. dâ “high” and G. dara “lofty” (GL/29), indicating the true form of the root was ᴱ√DAHA, since initial voiced stops were unvoiced (d- > t-) in Early Qenya (PE12/17). Primitive forms like ᴱ✶dagá > ᴱN. dâ/ᴱQ. tá “high” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s indicates the root continued to begin with D for the following decade (PE13/141, 161).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave this root as ᴹ√TĀ/TAƷ “high, lofty; noble” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tára “lofty, high”, ᴹQ. tári “queen” and N. taen “height, summit of high mountain” (Ety/TĀ). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien gave the root as √TAG or Tā- “high”, and in notes from around 1967 Tolkien gave √TAƷ as the explanation of the initial element of Q. Taniquetil and contrasted it with √TĂR “stand” (PE17/186). In 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2), Tolkien wrote a marginal note giving √TAƷ > TĀ “high”, but this note was rejected with a statement “transfer to Gen. Structure. No [ʒ] existed in Eldarin” (PE19/72-73 note #22).

This last rejection seems to be part of Tolkien’s general vacillation on the nature and phonetic evolution of velar spirants in Primitive Elvish in 1968-70. For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume the root form was √TAH or √TAƷ > √TĀ as the basis for “high” words, much like √MAH or √MAƷ > ✶mā was the basis for “hand” words.

khin

root. child

A root appearing in Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 with the gloss “child” (PE17/157), and again in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 with the same gloss (WJ/403). It was the basis for the words Q. hína and S. hên “child”, which were probably inspired by the Adûnaic patronymic suffix -hin that Tolkien introduced in the 1940s as part of Êruhin “Child of God” (SD/358), originally an Adûnaic word but later on used in Sindarin (Let/345; MR/330). This root might be a later iteration of the early root ᴱ√HILI from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives had to do with children (QL/40). As evidence of this, the Adûnaic word was first given as Eruhil (SD/341).

as(a)

preposition. and

abta-

verb. refuse, deny, say no

an

preposition. to

kalinā

adjective. bright

lā̆

preposition/adverb. beyond

tāra

adjective. high

áse

noun. sunlight

dē

preposition. with

kalat

noun. light

khīnā

noun. child

san-

pronoun. that

aráta

adjective. noble

atta

noun. father

cala

noun. light

agh

conjunction. and

sha

preposition. with

u

preposition. to

durin

masculine name. king