@@@ gloss “statement” suggested by Sami Paldanius
Quenya
eques
saying, dictum, a quotation from someone's uttered words, a current or proverbial dictum
eques
noun. saying, (current or proverbial) dictum, quotation from someone’s uttered words, saying, (current or proverbial) dictum, quotation from someone’s uttered words, *quote, statement
Cognates
- ᴺS. pess “saying, [G.] proverb”
Element in
- ᴺQ. eneques “rumor, (lit.) re-saying”
- Q. i Equessi Rúmilo “The Sayings of Rúmil” ✧ WJ/398
equë
say/says
equë vb. "say/says" or "said" (a tenseless pseudo-verb used to introduce quotations or a "that"-construction); with affixes equen "said I", eques "said he/she" (WJ:392, 415)
equë
verb. say, says, said
A defective verb in Quenya that meant “say”, “says” or “said”, the only remnant of the verbal function of the ancient root √KWE (WJ/392). This verb is “defective” in the sense that is does not have most verbal inflections:
> It has no tense forms and usually receives no pronominal affixes, being mostly used only before either a proper name (sg. or pl.) or a full independent pronoun, in the senses “say / says” or “said”. A quotation then follows, either direct, or less usually indirect after a “that”-conjunction (WJ/392).
Thus it resembles the English verb “quoth”, which is likewise a defective verb that is not inflected for tense: Eque Manwe = “Quoth Manwe”, which would then be followed by the thing that Manwe said. This difference is that English “quoth” sounds archaic and can only be used of past quotations, whereas Quenya eque is not archaic and can used of either past quotations or habitual quotations: things the speaker regularly says. The only inflections this verb can take are pronominal suffixes, which are attached directly to eque such as equen “said I” or eques “said he”, and such inflections are only used when reporting a dialogue (WJ/415).
Cognates
- T. epë “say, says, said” ✧ WJ/392
Derivations
Element in
- Q. eques “saying, (current or proverbial) dictum, quotation from someone’s uttered words, saying, (current or proverbial) dictum, quotation from someone’s uttered words, *quote, statement” ✧ WJ/392
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶ekwē > eque [ekwē] > [ekwe] ✧ WJ/392 Variations
- eque ✧ WJ/392
quet-
say, speak
quet- vb. "say, speak" (SA:quen-/quet-, LT2:348), sg. aorist quetë in VT41:11 and VT49:19 (spelt "qete" in the latter source), not to be confused with the infinitival aorist stem in the example polin quetë "I can speak" (VT41:6); pl. aorist quetir in VT49:10-11, present tense quéta in VT41:13, pa.t. quentë in PM:401, 404, apparent gerund quetië in VT49:28 (by Tolkien translated as "words", but more literally evidently *"speaking"). Imperative in the command queta Quenya! "speak Quenya!" (PE17:138), see Quenya regarding the meaning of this phrase. The same verb is translated "tell" in the sentence órenya quetë nin "my heart tells me" (VT41:15). Cf. also #maquet-
caris
he/him, she/her, it
-s (1) 3rd person sg. pronominal ending "he/him, she/her, it" (VT49:48, 51), occurring in caris "he/she/it does" (VT49:16, PE17:129), caitas "it lies" (PE17:65), tentanes "it pointed" (VT49:26), tulis "(s)he comes" (VT49:19), eques (q.v.), anes (see ná #1), also (in object position) in camnelyes, caritas, caritalya(s), melinyes, tiruvantes, and utúvienyes, q.v. (Tolkien mentions -s as an "objective" ending for the 3rd person sg. in PE17:110.) The longer form -së (perhaps with personal meaning "he, she" only) is said to be "rare" (VT49:51); cf. násë "he is", nésë "he was" (see ná #1). In nésë the ending is suggested to be shortened from -sse (VT49:28), an ending that may also be attested in the untranslated verbal form tankassen (PE17:76), where it is perhaps followed by a second pronominal ending -n "me". According to PE17:129, the 3rd person sg. ending at one stage appeared as -ze "when pronominal affixes followed" (Tolkien citing the form carize-, e.g. apparently *carizet for "he makes them"); normally z would later become r, but it actually became (historically: reverted to) s by analogy with the short form caris as well as the independent pronoun se*. Exilic Quenya would then evidently have (e.g.) cariset for "he makes them", with a rare example of intervocalic s that is not derived from older þ**.
eques (equess-, as in pl. equessi) noun "a saying, dictum, a quotation from someone's uttered words, a current or proverbial dictum" (WJ:392); I Equessi Rúmilo "the Sayings of Rúmil" (WJ:398)