Quenya 

arë

and

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

nar

are

nar (1) "are"; see ná #1

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.

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)

árë

noun. sunlight, warmth (especially of the sun); day

A word for “sunlight” and “warmth (especially of the sun)” as well as the older name of tengwa #31 (k), which was originally used for the sound [z] matching the archaic pronunciation of this name: †áze (LotR/1123). When this sound fell out of use in Quenya (becoming r) the tengwa was repurposed for [ss] and given a new name: Q. essë. The word árë was derived from the root √AS “warmth” (PE17/18, 148; VT43/18).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. are has the sense “day” as a derivative of the root ᴹ√AR of the same meaning (Ety/AR¹), and it appears with this gloss in some later writings as well (PE17/148, PM/127). By the time Tolkien was writing The Lord of the Rings appendices, though, he had changed the sense of this word to “sunlight” as described above. The sense “day” was transferred to the words aurë and ré.

Cognates

  • S. ast “light or heat of the sun” ✧ PE17/018

Derivations

  • ✶áse “sunlight” ✧ PE17/018
    • √AS “warmth” ✧ PE17/018
  • √AS “warmth” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/148; SA/arien; VT43/18

Element in

  • Q. árë nuquerna “árë-reversed” ✧ LotR/1123
  • Q. Arien “Maiden of the Sun” ✧ PE17/148
  • ᴺQ. árinqua “sunny, (lit.) sunlight-full”
  • Q. ilyarëa “*daily”
  • Q. siar(ë) “*today, this day”
  • Q. hyárë “*today, this day”
  • Q. sinar “today, today, [ᴹQ.] this morning”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
Q. áze > áre[āze] > [āre]✧ LotR/1123
✶áse > áze > áre[āse] > [āze] > [āre]✧ PE17/018
√AS > āze > āre[āse] > [āze] > [āre]✧ PE17/148
√AS > ar[ase] > [aze] > [are] > [ar]✧ PE17/148
√as- > árë[āse] > [āze] > [āre]✧ SA/arien
√AS > áze > áre[āse] > [āze] > [āre]✧ VT43/18

Variations

  • áre ✧ LotR/1123; PE17/018; PE17/126; VT43/18
  • áze ✧ LotR/1123 (áze)
  • āre ✧ PE17/126; PE17/148
  • ar ✧ PE17/148
  • arë ✧ PM/127
Quenya [LotR/1123; PE17/018; PE17/126; PE17/148; PM/127; SA/arien; VT43/18] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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.)

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

conjunction. and, and; [ᴱQ., ᴹQ.] but

Changes

  • ara → ar ✧ NM/239
  • ar → ar “and” ✧ PE17/041
  • ar → ar ✧ PE17/041
  • ar → al ✧ PE17/175

Cognates

  • S. a “and; †by, near, beside” ✧ PE17/041; PE17/041; PE17/041; PE17/041; PE17/041; PE17/102; PE17/145; SA/ar

Derivations

  • ✶as(a) “and” ✧ PE17/041; PE17/041; VT47/31
    • √AS “beside” ✧ VT47/31
  • ✶ad(a) “and, alongside” ✧ PE17/041; PE17/041; PE17/041; PE17/070; PE17/071; PE17/071; PE17/102
    • √AD(A) “by (the side of), beside, alongside; against, opposed to, opposite” ✧ PE17/071
  • √AD(A) “by (the side of), beside, alongside; against, opposed to, opposite” ✧ PE17/145
  • √AR “beyond, further than; outside; beside, alongside, beyond, further than; outside; beside, alongside; [ᴱ√] spread, extend sideways” ✧ SA/ar

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
✶as(a) > ar[asa] > [aza] > [ara] > [ar]✧ PE17/041
✶ad(a) > az > ar[ada] > [ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/041
✶ad > ar[ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/041
✶ad(a) > ar[ada] > [ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/041
✶as(a) > ar[asa] > [aza] > [ara] > [ar]✧ PE17/041
✶ad > ar[ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/070
✶ad(ă)/ad > ar[ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/071
✶ad > ađ > ař > ar[ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/071
✶ada > ar[ada] > [ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/102
√ADA > ar[ad] > [að] > [ar]✧ PE17/145
√ar- > ar[ar]✧ SA/ar
✶as > ar[asa] > [aza] > [ara] > [ar]✧ VT47/31

Variations

  • Ar ✧ NM/239
  • ara ✧ NM/240 (ara)
  • a ✧ PE17/071 (a)
  • as ✧ PE17/071 (as); PE17/071
  • al ✧ PE17/071; PE17/175
  • are ✧ VT43/31 (are); VT43/34 (are); VT47/04
Quenya [LotR/0377; LotR/0967; Minor-Doc/1955-CT; NM/239; NM/240; PE16/096; PE17/041; PE17/070; PE17/071; PE17/072; PE17/102; PE17/103; PE17/145; PE17/174; PE17/175; PE22/147; PE22/154; PE22/158; PE22/162; RGEO/58; RGEO/59; S/190; SA/ar; UT/305; VT43/17; VT43/18; VT43/21; VT43/31; VT43/34; VT43/36; VT44/10; VT44/34; VT47/04; VT47/31; VT49/25; VT49/27; VT49/40; WJ/166] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-rë

suffix. abstract noun

Derivations

Element in

  • Q. fanyarë “the skies (not heaven or firmament), the upper airs and clouds” ✧ MC/223
  • Q. mittar(ë) “*entering”
  • ᴺQ. nónarë “generation”
  • Q. Ringarë “December, *Coldness”
  • Q. insangarë “*temptation”
  • Q. vinyarë “youth, youth, *young adulthood”

Variations

  • -re ✧ MC/223 (-re)

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).

az

and

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

ye

is

ye (2) copula "is" (FS, VT46:22); both earlier and later sources rather point to ná (q.v.) as the copula "is", so ye may have been an experiment Tolkien later abandoned. Future tense yéva, q.v.

-ië

suffix. is

-ië (3) "is", -ier "are", stative verb suffix occurring in Fíriel's Song: númessier "they are in the west", meldielto "they are...beloved", talantië "he is fallen", márië "it is good" (< *númessë "in the west", melda "beloved", *talanta "fallen"); future tense -iéva in hostainiéva "will be gathered" (< *hostaina "gathered"). Compare ye "is", yéva "will be", verbs that also occur in Fíriel's Song. This suffix is probably not valid in LotR-style Quenya: -ië is an infinitival or gerundial ending in CO, for ye "is" Namárië has ná, and the phrase "lost is" is vanwa ná, not *vanwië.

-më

suffix. abstract noun

Derivations

  • ✶-(u)mē “denoting a (single) action”

Element in

  • Q. carmë “art; making, production; structure”
  • Q. indómë “settled character; will of Eru”
  • Q. Nénimë “February, *Wet-ness”
  • Q. normë “race, running, race (running)” ✧ PE17/169
  • ᴺQ. nyarmë “storytelling (general/abstract)”
  • Q. Súlimë “March, *Windy-one”
  • ᴺQ. tirmë “steadfast regard, stare, *gaze”

Variations

  • -me ✧ PE17/169 (-me)

-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).

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).]

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).

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)]

ná

is

ná (1) vb. "is" (am). (Nam, RGEO:67). This is the copula used to join adjectives, nouns or pronouns "in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have certain quality, or to be the same as another" (VT49:28). Also in impersonal constructions: ringa ná "it is cold" (VT49:23). The copula may however be omitted "where the meaning is clear" without it (VT49:9). Ná is also used as an interjection "yes" or "it is so" (VT49:28). Short na in airë [] na, "[] is holy" (VT43:14; some subject can evidently be inserted in the place of [].) Short na also functions as imperative: alcar mi tarmenel na Erun "glory in high heaven be to God" (VT44:32/34), also na airë "be holy" (VT43:14); also cf. nai "be it that" (see nai #1). The imperative participle á may be prefixed (á na, PE17:58). However, VT49:28 cites ná as the imperative form. Pl. nar or nár "are" (PE15:36, VT49:27, 9, 30); dual nát (VT49:30). With pronominal endings: nányë/nanyë "I am", nalyë or natyë "you (sg.) are" (polite and familiar, respectively), nás "it is", násë "(s)he is", nalmë "we are" (VT49:27, 30). Some forms listed in VT49:27 are perhaps to be taken as representing the aorist: nain, naityë, nailyë (1st person sg, and 2nd person familiar/polite, respectively); does a following na represent the aorist with no pronominal ending? However, the forms nanyë, nalyë, ná, nassë, nalme, nar (changed from nár) are elsewhere said to be "aorist", without the extra vowel i (e.g. nalyë rather than nailyë); also notice that *"(s)he is" is here nassë rather than násë (VT49:30).Pa.t. nánë or né "was", pl. náner/nér and dual nét "were" (VT49:6, 9, 10, 27, 28, 30, 36). According to VT49:31, né "was" cannot receive pronominal endings (though nésë "he was" is attested elsewhere, VT49:28-29), and such endings are rather added to the form ane-, e.g. anen "I was", anel "you were", anes "(s)he/it was" (VT49:28-29). Future tense nauva "will be" (VT42:34, VT49:19, 27; another version however gives the future tense as uva, VT49:30). Nauva with a pronominal ending occurs in tanomë nauvan "I will be there" (VT49:19), this example indicating that forms of the verb ná may also be used to indicate position. Perfect anaië "has been" (VT49:27, first written as anáyë). Infinitive (or gerund) návë "being", PE17:68. See also nai #1.

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).

-ssë

suffix. abstract noun

Cognates

  • S. -as “abstract noun”

Derivations

Element in

  • Q. alanessë “nicotiana, pipeweed, nicotiana, pipeweed, *tobacco”
  • Q. aranus(së) “kingship”
  • Q. carpassë “mouth-system; full organized language, including system, vocabulary, metre, etc.”
  • Q. celussë “freshnet, water falling out swiftly from a rocky spring”
  • Q. entulessë “return”
  • ᴺQ. failassë “justice, fair-mindedness”
  • Q. findessë “head of hair, person’s hair as a whole”
  • Q. incánussë “mind mastership”
  • ᴺQ. letinwessë “constellation”
  • Q. Lótessë “May, *(lit.) Flower-ness”
  • Q. nassë “nature, true-being, *essence; person, individual” ✧ VT49/30
  • ᴺQ. omolmessë “corporation”
  • ᴺQ. restassë “countryside, the country”
  • Q. táris(së) “queenship”
  • Q. tengwassë “alphabet”

Variations

  • -sse ✧ VT49/30 (-sse)

ná-

verb. to be, to be, [ᴱQ.] exist

Changes

  • nā → nāner ✧ VT49/09
  • nār → năr ✧ VT49/30

Cognates

  • Ad. -n “predicate suffix”
  • S. na- “to be”

Derivations

  • √NĀ “be (the same as another), exist” ✧ PE17/093

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
√NĀ > ná[nā]✧ PE17/093

Variations

  • ná ✧ LotR/0377; PE17/090; PE17/093; PE22/154; PE22/167; VT42/33; VT49/09; VT49/23
  • na ✧ Minor-Doc/1955-CT; PE17/057; PE17/074; PE17/074; PE17/090; PE17/162; VT43/13; VT43/30
  • nā ✧ PE17/058; RGEO/59; VT49/09 (nā); VT49/28; VT49/30
  • nā- ✧ PE22/166; VT49/27; VT49/28 (nā-)
  • nā̀ ✧ RGEO/58
  • Nā ✧ RGEO/60
  • nā̆ ✧ VT49/30
  • nār ✧ VT49/30 (nār)
Quenya [LotR/0377; Minor-Doc/1955-CT; PE17/057; PE17/058; PE17/059; PE17/074; PE17/090; PE17/093; PE17/126; PE17/162; PE22/154; PE22/158; PE22/166; PE22/167; PE22/168; RGEO/58; RGEO/59; RGEO/60; VT42/33; VT42/34; VT43/13; VT43/14; VT43/15; VT43/16; VT43/23; VT43/30; VT43/34; VT44/34; VT49/09; VT49/10; VT49/19; VT49/23; VT49/27; VT49/28; VT49/29; VT49/30] Group: Eldamo. Published by

úyë

is

úyë vb., a form occurring in Fíriel's Song (cf. VT46:22), apparently ye "is" with the negative prefix ú-, hence "is not" (úyë sérë indo-ninya símen, translated "my hearth resteth not here", literally evidently *"[there] is not rest [for] my heart here")

arë

adverb. beside, along, near

Elements

WordGloss
ar-“by-, beside, near, by-, beside, near; [ᴹQ.] outside”
Quenya Group: Eldamo - neologism/adaptations. Published by

lai

adverb. very

Derivations

  • √DAY “*great”