inga

first

inga (2) adj. "first" (ING)

inga

top, highest point

inga (1) noun "top, highest point" (PM:340), "only applied to shapes pointing upwards...[it] referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad". Compounded in the nouns aldinga "tree-top" (alda + inga) (VT47:28), ingaran "high-king" (PM:340)

inga

noun. top, highest point, top, highest point, [ᴹQ.] first

A word have the same root (√ING) as the name Ingwë, giving a clue to the original meaning of that name. In a few places, the plural Ingar of this word was used as another name for the Vanyar (MR/230, 265), but Tolkien more frequently used the plural Ingwë for this purpose: see Ingwi.

In later writings, this word was generally presented as a noun meaning “top, highest point” (PM/340, VT47/28), but in The Etymologies, ᴹQ. inga was an adjective glossed “first”, as in “foremost” (Ety/ING).

Tolkien stated that “inga ... applied to shapes pointing upward” but also that it “referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad” (VT47/28). Therefore, inga referred to the highest level whether it was a single point or a plateau.

Derivations

• √ING “highest, top, highest, top; [ᴹ√] first, foremost” ✧ PM/340

Element in

• Q. aldinga “tree-top” ✧ VT47/28
• Q. ingaran “high-king” ✧ PM/340
• ᴺQ. ingëa “top”
• Q. Ingalaurë “*Top Gold”
• Q. orotinga “mountain-top” ✧ VT47/28

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√ing- > inga	[iŋga]	✧ PM/340

ingaran

high-king

ingaran noun "high-king" (PM:340), compounded from inga and aran

ingaran

noun. high-king

Elements

Word	Gloss
inga	“top, highest point, top, highest point, [ᴹQ.] first”
aran	“king”

minya

first

minya adj. "first" (MINI) (cf. Minyatur, Minyon); "eminent, prominent" (VT42:24, 25). Minyar "Firsts", the original name of the Vanyar (or rather the direct Quenya descendant of the original Primitive Quendian name) (WJ:380)

enna

first

[enna adj. "first" (VT45:12)]

esta

first

esta (2) adj. "first" (ESE/ESET); this entry was marked with a query. The word Yestarë (q.v.) "Beginning-day" in LotR suggests that Tolkien decided to change the stem in question to _YESE/YESET_. We could then read *yesta for esta (but later this became a noun "beginning" rather than an adj. "first", PE17:120) and also prefix a y to the other words derived from ESE/ESET (essë* > yessë, essëa > yessëa). Estanossë noun "the firstborn", read likewise Yestanossë** (*Yestanessi?) but in a later text, Tolkien used Minnónar (q.v.) for "the Firstborn" as a name of the Elves, and this form may be preferred. _(In the Etymologies as printed in LR, the word _Estanossë is cited as "Estanesse", but according to VT45:12, the second-to-last vowel is actually o in Tolkien's manuscript.)

setta

first

[setta, setya adj. "first" (possibly also "primary", but Tolkien's gloss was not certainly legible) (VT46:13)]

ingëa

adjective. top

@@@ Discord 2022-05-23

Elements

Word	Gloss
inga	“top, highest point, top, highest point, [ᴹQ.] first”

main

ordinal. first, (only in the sense of) prime, chief, pre-eminent

mein

ordinal. first, (only in the sense of) prime, chief, pre-eminent

mein

ordinal. first

Cognates

• Q. minya “first; eminent, prominent” ✧ VT42/10

minui

ordinal. first

minui

ordinal. first

Cognates

• Q. minya “first; eminent, prominent” ✧ VT42/25

ned

noun. first, *one more; first; *during

This word replaced the preposition uin “of the” in the third version of the King’s Letter, appearing in the phrase nelchaenen ned Echuir “the thirty-first day of Stirring”. Both Carl Hostetter (VT31/30) and David Salo (SG/229) theorized that this replacement has a similar prepositional function, from either √NOT “count” or √NED “middle”. Fiona Jallings suggested it might be a temporal preposition, with sense “during” (FJNS/349).

On VT47/40, note 67, Patrick Wynne suggested that this word might be a cognate of the newly published Quenya word net(ë) “one more”. This theory is supported by the most likely interpretation of nelchaenen. This word seems to mean “thirtieth” rather than “thirty-first”, and Patrick Wynne suggested that nelchaenen ned means “thirtieth and one more” = “thirty-first”. I find this theory the most compelling, and use it here.

Element in

• S. 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” ✧ SD/129
• ᴺS. neman “when, (lit.) during what”

minui

first

1) minui (lenited vinui; no distinct pl. form), 2) mîn (lenited vîn; no distinct pl. form) (isolated, towering). Note: homophones include the noun ”peak” and the number ”one”; 3) erui (single, alone). No distinct pl. form. Some would argue that Tolkien abandoned erui as a word for ”first”.

minui

first

(lenited vinui; no distinct pl. form)

mîn

first

(lenited vîn; no distinct pl. form) (isolated, towering). Note: homophones include the noun ”peak” and the number ”one”

caw

top

caw (i gaw, o chaw), pl. coe (i choe)

caw

top

(i gaw, o chaw), pl. coe (i choe)

erui

first

(single, alone). No distinct pl. form. Some would argue that Tolkien abandoned erui as a word for ”first”.

minya

ordinal. first

Cognates

• Q. minya “first; eminent, prominent” ✧ VT42/25

minya

ordinal. first

Derivatives

• S. main “prime, chief, pre-eminent” ✧ VT42/25

caw

noun. top

caw

noun. top

Derivations

• ᴹ√KAS “head” ✧ Ety/KAS

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√KAS > caw	[kāsa] > [kǭsa] > [kǭha] > [kouha] > [kauha] > [kauh] > [kau]	✧ Ety/KAS

ereg

place name. First

Earlier name for the river S. Erui from Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, apparently a Noldorin word meaning ereg “first” (TI/312, WR/436).

Changes

• Ereg → Erui “First” ✧ TI/312
• Ereg → Erui ✧ WRI/Erui

ereg

adjective. first

Element in

• N. Ereg “First” ✧ TI/312

Elements

Word	Gloss
er	“one, alone”
-eg	“suffix for ordinal numbers”

Variations

• Ereg ✧ TI/312

edhen

adjective. first

Cognates

• ᴹQ. enna “first” ✧ EtyAC/EDE

Derivations

• ᴹ✶edenā “first” ✧ EtyAC/EDE
  • ᴹ√EDE(L) “precede, come forward, hence” ✧ EtyAC/EDE

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶edenā > eðen	[edenā] > [edena] > [eðena] > [eðen]	✧ EtyAC/EDE

Variations

• eðen ✧ EtyAC/EDE (eðen)