cirya _("k")_noun "ship" (MC:213, 214, 220, 221), "(sharp-prowed) ship" (SA:kir-, where the word is misspelt círya with a long í; Christopher Tolkien probably confused it with the first element of the Sindarin name Círdan. It seems that Círyon, the name of Isildur's son, is likewise misspelt; read Ciryon as in the index and the main text of the Silmarillion. Cf. also kirya_ in Etym, stem KIR.) _Also in Markirya. In the Plotz letter, cirya is inflected for all cases except plural possessive (*ciryaiva). The curious dual form ciriat occurs in Letters:427, whereas Plotz gives the expected form ciryat. Locative ciryasse "upon a ship" (MC:216). Compounded in ciryaquen "shipman, sailor" (WJ:372), also ciryando (PE17:58), cf. also ciryamo "mariner" (UT:8). Masc. names Ciryaher* "Ship-lord" (Appendix A), Ciryandil "Ship-friend" (Appendix A), Ciryatan "Ship-builder" (Appendix A), also Tar-Ciryatan**, name of a Númenórean king, "King Shipbuilder" (SA:kir-)
Primitive elvish
kiryā
noun/adjective. (small swift sailing) ship; swift (especially of things that pass easily through obstacles)
kiryaktō
noun. shipwright
kiryā kyulmā
a ship’s mast
Cirya has been the Quenya word for “ship” for much of Tolkien’s life, and is very well-attested with this meaning. ᴱQ. kirya “ship” first appeared in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/46, 79) and in the English-Qenya Dictionary of this same period, where Tolkien described it as the “general term” for a ship, as opposed to ᴱQ. lunte “boat” (PE15/77).
Tolkien regularly used ᴹQ. kirya “ship” in lists of noun declensions from the late 1920s and early 1930s (PE16/112-115; PE21/4, 46, 53). In one of these it was glossed “boat” rather than “ship” (PE21/53). ᴹQ. kirya “ship” appeared in The Etymologies from around 1937 under the root ᴹ√KIR (Ety/KIR), and it was derived from the root √KIR in later notes as well (PE22/150). It continued to be used in declension examples all the way up to the famous Plotz of 1966-7 (VT6/14).
The second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) from around 1950 specified that its primitive antecedent had two variants: noun ✶kíryā “small swift sailing ship” and adjective kiryā́ “swift (especially of things that pass easily through obstacles)”, distinguished only by ancient patterns of stress (PE18/106). Hints of this second adjectival meaning can be seen in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, where Tolkien glossed kirya as an adjective meaning “swift gliding” in a note where he tried to distinguish the meaning of the roots √KIR and √KER (PE22/150).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use cirya only as a noun for “ship”, and would assume its adjectival use “swift” was archaic. I would further assume cirya is used of faster ships with deeper hulls that cut through the water (especially if driven by sails or other motor), as opposed to a slower or flatter Q. luntë “boat” which moves mainly by floating on top of the water. Thus [in my opinion] the distinction between cirya and luntë is mainly the relative depth of the hull rather than the size of the vessel, so that luntë could refer to a large barge and cirya to a small but swift sailboat.