#massa noun "bread" (massamma "our bread", VT43:18); massánië "breadgiver", used as a title of the highest woman among any Elvish people, since she had the keeping and gift of the coimas (lembas). Also simply translated "Lady" (PM:404)
Quenya
massa
noun. bread
Cognates
- S. bas(t) “bread”
Derivations
Element in
- Q. ámen anta síra ilaurëa massamma “give us this day our daily bread” ✧ VT43/18
- Q. coimas “life-bread, lembas”
- Q. massánië “Lady, breadgiver”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶mbassē > masse [mbassē] > [massē] > [masse] ✧ PE17/052 Variations
- masse ✧ PE17/052
massa
bread
massë
bread
massë noun "bread" (as a material), variant of massa, q.v. (PE17:52). Notice that *massë has also been extrapolated as a question-word "where?"
massë
noun. bread
masta
noun. bread
ráma
wing
ráma noun "wing", pl. rámar (RAM, Nam, RGEO:66, LT2:335); Markirya has both nominative pl. rámar "wings" and instrumental pl. rámainen *"with wings" (translated "on wings" by Tolkien); rámali "wings" in MC:213 would be a partitive pl. in LotR-style Quenya. Variant rámë in the names Eärrámë, Alquarámë, q.v.
ráma
noun. wing, wing; [ᴱQ.] arm
The Quenya word for “wing”, derived from the root ᴹ√RAM (PE17/63; Ety/RAM).
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where ᴱQ. ráma “wing” was derived from the early root ᴱ√RAHA “stretch forward” (QL/78). The word appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writings with the gloss “wing”, though at one point in the 1920s it was glossed both “arm, wing” (PE16/137), and in the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s it was given as the Qenya word meaning “arm”, but this was revised to ᴱQ. ranko (PE15/79). The use of ráma for “arm” was a brief and rejected idea, and in The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ráma “wing” was transferred to a new root ᴹ√RAM, while ᴹQ. ranko “arm” remained under ᴹ√RAK “stretch out” (Ety/RAK, RAM).
Cognates
- S. raw “wing” ✧ PE17/063
Element in
- Q. Eärrámë “Sea-wing”
- Q. Númerrámar “West-wings”
- Q. rámainen elvië “on wings like stars” ✧ MC/222
- Q. rámar sisílala “the wings shining” ✧ MC/222
- Q. yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron “long years numberless as the wings of trees” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. yéni únótimë ve aldaron rámar “long-years not-countable as trees’ wings” ✧ RGEO/58
Variations
- rāma ✧ PE17/063
A word for “bread” appearing as massa (VT43/12) or massë (PE17/52) in Tolkien’s later writings, most notably as an element in Q. massánië “breadgiver” (PM/404). It was in competition with, and possibly replaced, the word masta “bread”. The distinction between the two was discussed in notes from 1960s (PE17/52):
> Assume a Primitive Eldarin derivation ✱mbassē “(baked) bread”. The other derivatives were ✱mbasta with short final, an infinitive or verbal noun formation denoting a single action of the stem .. and ✱mbazdā denoting the passive result of the action, and when used substantivally a single product of this: mbazda would thus mean baked or a baked thing ... In Quenya we have masse “bread” as a material, and masta “a cake or loaf” (zd > st).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I prefer to use massa as the typical word for “bread” rather than massë, to avoid conflict with other words like [ᴹQ.] masse “where”. I would also use masta as a more general word for baked goods, including bread but also other baked things like cakes and loafs.