er

adverb/adjective. one, alone, one, alone; [ᴱQ.] only, a single

The Quenya word for “one, alone” used for isolated or unique things and derived from the root √ER (PE23/142; Ety/ERE). This is contrasted min “one” used when counting: min, atta, neldë, etc. (VT48/6).

Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. er “one” dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared under the early root ᴱ√ERE, but in that document it was revised to ᴱQ. er “only, but, still” (QL/36). The use of er for “one” was restored in the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, where it was already used for isolated things in contrast with ᴱQ. min “one” used for counting (PE14/49; PE14/82). Tolkien retained this usage throughout his later writings.

er

one, alone

er cardinal "one, alone" (ERE, VT48:6, VT49:54), in an early source also adv. "only, but, still" (LT1:269); Eru er "one God" (VT44:17; er was here emended by Tolkien from erëa, which seems to be an adjectival form *"one, single".)

er-

remain

#er- "remain", verb (LT1:269; given in the form erin and glossed "remains"; erin would have to mean "I remain" in Tolkien's later Quenya, if this word is to be adapted. However, the later synonym lemya- may be preferred.)

erëa

cardinal. one

erëa adj.? "one" or *"single", apparently an adjectival form (see er) (VT44:17)

erinqua

single, alone

erinqua adj. "single, alone" (VT42:10)

erya

single, sole

erya adj. "single, sole" (ERE)

a aina neldië eru er órava (o)messë

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us

The ninth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by aina Neldië = “holy Trinity”. The fourth word Eru is Tolkien’s usual Quenya name for God. The fifth word is er “one”, emphasizing the one-ness of the Trinity. The phrase órava (o)messe “have mercy on us” was abbreviated o.o. in the original, but presumably was the same as in earlier lines of the prayer; see the entry for the first line for discussion.

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

> a Aina Neldië Eru Er órava (o)me-sse = “✱o Holy Trinity, God one have-mercy us-on”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien first wrote an adjectival form Erea before changing it to Er as a way of emphasizing the one-ness of the Trinity (VT44/17).

nertë

cardinal. nine

The Quenya word for “nine” derived from the root √NETER of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT42/26; VT48/6; Ety/NÉTER).

Conceptual Development: The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had ᴱQ. {huo >>} hue “nine” (PE14/49, 82), and the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. olme(t) “nine” under the early root ᴱ√OLO “tip” (QL/69).

nertë

cardinal. nine

nertë cardinal "nine" (NÉTER, VT42:26, VT48:6); nertëa ordinal "ninth" (VT42:25)

mer-

verb. wish (for), want

e

pronoun. one, (neut[er]) it, a thing, one, (neuter) it; [ᴹQ.] he, she

min

cardinal. one, one, [ᴱQ.] one (in a series), the first; [adverb] first

The Quenya word for “one” used when counting: min, atta, neldë, etc. This is contrasted with er “one, alone” for an isolated thing (VT48/6).

Conceptual Development: This use of min “one” appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writings, dating back to the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82, 84), but there were occasional variations. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s instead had ᴱQ. mir “one” (QL/61), and The Etymologies of the 1930s had a variant form mine derived from the root ᴹ√MINI “stand alone, stick out” (Ety/MINI).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would also use min adverbially to mean “first”, as in carnes sa min “he/she did it first”, either before anyone else did so, or before he/she did anything else. Tolkien use min this way in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s. See [ᴱQ.] minyallumë “firstly” for further discussion. For adjectival or pronominal “first” I would use minya.

Ellairë

summer

Ellairë alternative name of June (PM:135); evidently incorporating lairë "summer"; the el- part is probably an assimilated form of er-, an element meaning one or first, June being the first summer month.

sanomë

adverb. there

A word for “there” appearing in notes from mid-1960s in the phrase sanome tarne Olórin, Aracorno, Eomer, Imrahil “There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil” (PE17/71). A similar form ᴹQ. sanome(s) appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from the late 1940s, where it was based on ᴹ√NOM “spot, place” (PE23/112).

The word can be contrasted with tanome “there” in different notes from the late 1960s (VT49/11, 19), and also in DRC from the 1940s. DRC made the distinction between these two words clear, in that tanome was “demonstrative there” pointing to a place not previously mentioned, while sanome was “anaphoric there” referring back to a place mentioned before. So “go there” would be á mene tanome, but “I went to the city and found Aragorn there” would be mennen i ostonna ar hirnen Aracorno sanome.

Lokyt originally suggested this distinction to me in a Discord conversation from 2022, and was eventually proven right by the publication of DRC in 2024.

tassë

adverb. there

The words tās and tasse “there” appeared in a list of demonstratives from 1968 (VT49/11), combinations of ta “that” and the locative suffix -ssë. Short form tas appeared in the phrase tas kennen nótime eldali “I saw a few elves there” in notes from 1969 (PE22/155). Similarly formed ᴹQ. tasse “there” appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948, also with a short variant tas (PE23/97, 111).

en

there, look! yon (yonder)

en (1) interjection "there, look! yon (yonder)" (EN, VT45:12)

lairë

summer

lairë (1) noun "summer" (Letters:283, VT45:26), in the calendar of Imladris a precisely defined period of 72 days, but also used without any exact definition (Appendix D). Oiolairë "Eversummer", name of a tree (UT:167), see also Coron Oiolairë. Lairelossë noun *"Summer-snow", name of a tree (UT:167), perhaps with white flowers.

quén

one, (some)body, person, individual, man or woman

quén (quen-, as in pl. queni; as final element in compounds -quen) noun "one, (some)body, person, individual, man or woman", pl. queni = "persons", "(some) people", "they" with the most general meaning (as in "they [= people in general] say that..."). The element is combined with noun and adjective stems in old compounds to denote habitual occupations or functions, or to describe those having some notable (permanent) quality; examples include roquen, ciryaquen, arquen, q.v. Also in aiquen "whoever", ilquen "everybody" (WJ:361 cf. 360, 372).

sanomë

there

sanomë adv. "there" (PE17:71). Cf. sinomë, tanomë.

ta

there

ta (5) adv. "there" (VT49:33; this may be an Elvish root or "element" rather than a Quenya word; see tanomë; see however also tar, tara, tanna under ta #1).

tassë

there

tassë adv. "there" (VT49:11), short form tás. These seem to be properly locative forms of ta "that, it", hence "in that [place]". Compare allative tanna "thither" and ablative talo "thence".

tás

there

tás adv. "there" (VT49:11); also tassë, q.v.

yára

ancient, belonging to or descending from former times

yára adj. "ancient, belonging to or descending from former times" (YA); evidently it can also simply mean "old", since Tolkien used the intensive/superlative form #anyára to describe Elaine Griffiths as his "oldest" or "very old" friend in a book dedication (see an-).

lairë

noun. summer

laire

noun. summer

tasse

there

tás

adverb. there

rië

adverb. only

An adverb appearing in a marginal note to Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 glossed “only” with an adjectival variant rëa “single”, both derived from ✶rē “single item taken out of a (long) series” and hence related to ré “day” (PE22/158).

rëa

adjective. single

An adjective appearing in a marginal note to Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 glossed “single” with an adverbial variant rië “only”, both derived from ✶rē “single item taken out of a (long) series” and hence related to ré “day” (PE22/158).

calima

bright

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

huë

cardinal. nine

huë "Qenya" cardinal "nine" (in Tolkiens later Quenya nertë) (VT49:54)

latin

open, free, cleared (of land)

latin, latina adj. "open, free, cleared (of land)" (LAT). According to VT41:5, the adjective latina "is used rather of freedom of movement, of things not encumbered with obstacles".

min

cardinal. one

min numeral "one", also minë (VT45:34, VT48:6)

minë

cardinal. one

minë numeral "one", also min (MINI, VT45:34)

mir

cardinal. one

mir (2) cardinal "one" (LT1:260; in LotR-style Quenya rather minë)

olma

cardinal. nine

olma cardinal "nine" (LT1:258; in Tolkien's later Quenya nertë)

a

cardinal. one

lemya-

verb. remain, tarry

lemya- vb. "remain, tarry" (VT45:27)

lenu-

verb. stretch

lenu- vb. "stretch" (LT2:341)

láta

open

láta adj. "open" (VT39:23), "open, not closed" (PE17:159, VT41:5)

mo

one, someone, anyone

mo, indefinite pronoun "one, someone, anyone" (VT42:34, VT49:19, 20, 26)

panta

open

panta adj. "open" (PAT)

rea

adjective. single

rie

adverb. only

tehta

mark, sign

tehta noun "mark, sign" (TEK, VT39:17, Appendix E), especially diacritics denoting vowels in Fëanorian writing (pl. tehtar is attested); these diacritics are explicitly called ómatehtar "vowel-marks", q.v.