melwa

lovely

melwa adj. "lovely" (LT1:262); compare melda in Tolkiens later Quenya.

írimë

feminine name. *Lovely

The father-name of the fourth child and youngest daughter of Finwë (MR/207, PM/343). It seems to be a feminized form of the adjective írima “desirable, lovely”.

Conceptual Development: When she first appeared, her name was given as Írimë and she was either the middle or youngest daughter, varying in birth-order with a third daughter Faniel (MR/207, 238), who later disappeared from the texts. At one point her name was temporarily changed to Finvain (MR/262), but later still she reappeared as Írimë, as the second of only two daughters (PM/343). Confusingly, her name was then changed to Írien just a few lines later, without explanation.

Christopher Tolkien discusses the changing names for Finwë’s daughters on PM/359, notes #26 and #28. This entry uses Írimë as the most common of her names.

Elements

Word	Gloss
írima	“desirable, lovely”

Variations

• Írime ✧ PE17/112
• Írien ✧ PMI/Írimë

lelya

delicate, beautiful & fine, slender; lovely

lelya (2) adj. "delicate, beautiful & fine, slender; lovely" (PE17:139, 151)

lelya

adjective. delicate, beautiful and fine, slender, lovely

Cognates

• S. dail “beautiful, fine, delicate, lovely” ✧ PE17/139; PE17/151; PE17/151

Derivations

• ✶delya “lovely, fine, beautiful” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151
  • √DEL “*fair” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶delya > lelya	[delja] > [lelja]	✧ PE17/151
✶delya > lelya	[delja] > [lelja]	✧ PE17/151

vanë

adjective. fair, fair, [ᴱQ.] lovely

Derivations

• √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/056

Element in

• Q. úvanë(a) “without beauty”
• Q. vanessë “beauty” ✧ PE17/056
• Q. vanië “beauty” ✧ PE17/056
• Q. vanima “beautiful, fair, beautiful, fair, *handsome; [ᴱQ.] proper, right, as it should be, fair” ✧ PE17/056

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√BAN > vane	[bani] > [bane] > [βane] > [vane]	✧ PE17/056

Variations

• vane ✧ PE17/056

míra

adjective. beautiful, lovely

írima

adjective. desirable, lovely

Changes

• írime → írima “desirable, lovely” ✧ PE17/112

Cognates

• S. írui “desirable, lovely” ✧ PE17/155

Derivations

• √ID “desire, long for” ✧ PE17/112
• √IR “desire, long for, desire, long for; [ᴹ√] desirable, beautiful” ✧ PE17/155; PE17/155

Element in

• Q. Írimë “*Lovely” ✧ PE17/112

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√ID > írima	[īdima] > [īðima] > [īrima]	✧ PE17/112
√IR > írima	[īrima]	✧ PE17/155

Variations

• írime ✧ PE17/112 (írime)

alya

fair, good

alya (1) adj. "fair, good" (PE17:146), "prosperous, rich, abundant, blessed" (GALA). In a deleted entry in Etym, the glosses provided were "rich, blessed"; another deleted entry defined alya as "rich, prosperous, blessed". (GALA, [ÁLAM], VT42:32, 45:5, 14)

vanë

fair

vanë adj. "fair" (LT1:272; in Tolkien's later Quenya rather vanya)

vanya

fair

vanya (1) adj. "fair" (FS), "beautiful" (BAN), a word referring to beauty that is "due to lack of fault, or blemish" (PE17:150), hence Arda Vanya as an alternative to Arda Alahasta for "Arda Unmarred" (ibid., compare MR:254). Nominal pl. Vanyar "the Fair", the first clan of the Eldar; the original meaning of this stem was "pale, light-coloured, not brown or dark" (WJ:382, 383, stem given as WAN), "properly = white complexion and blonde hair" (PE17:154, stem given as GWAN); stems BAN vs. WAN discussed, see PE17:150.

írima

lovely, beautiful, desirable

írima adj. "lovely, beautiful, desirable" (ID, FS, PE17:155), in FS also pl. írimar; in the "Qenya" of Fíriel's Song, adjectives in -a form their plurals in -ar instead of -ë as in LotR-style Quenya.

calwa

beautiful

calwa ("k") adj. "beautiful" (LT1:254)

mairëa

beautiful

mairëa adj. "beautiful" (of things made by art) (PE17:163). An alternative (and peculiar) form "mairia" is also implied in the source.

mírya

beautiful

mírya adj. "beautiful" (of work of art only) (PE17:165)

vanima

adjective. beautiful

linda

fair, beautiful

linda adj. "fair, beautiful" (of sound) (SLIN, LIND; VT45:27), "soft, gentle, light" (PE16:96), "beautiful, sweet, melodious of sound" (PE17:150); for Linda as a noun, see Lindar.

vanima

beautiful, fair

vanima adj. "beautiful, fair" (BAN, VT39:14) (glossed "proper, right, fair" in early "Qenya", LT1:272, though a later source says the word is used "only of living things, especially Elves and Men", PE17:150); nominal pl. vanimar "beautiful ones", partitive pl. genitive vanimálion, translated "of beautiful children", but literally meaning *"of [some] beautiful ones") (LotR3:VI ch. 6, translated in Letters:308). Arwen vanimalda "Beautiful Arwen", literally "Arwen your beauty" (see -lda for reference; changed to Arwen vanimelda in the second edition of LotR; see vanimelda).

alima

fair, good

alima adj. "fair, good" (also alya) (PE17:146)

-ima

fair

-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)

dail

adjective. lovely

_ adj. _lovely, beautiful. Q. lelya. >> deil

deil

lovely

_ adj. _lovely, beautiful. Q. lelya. >> dail

melui

adjective. lovely, sweet

This word only occurs in the place name Imloth Melui, a vale where roses grew

melui

adjective. lovely, sweet

Element in

• S. Imloth Melui “Lovely or Sweet Flower-valley” ✧ RC/582; VT42/18

Elements

Word	Gloss
mel-	“to love”
-ui	“-ful, having quality, adjective suffix; possibility, suitability [as verbal suffix], *-able”

Variations

• Melui ✧ RC/582; VT42/18

írui

adjective. desirable, lovely

Cognates

• Q. írima “desirable, lovely” ✧ PE17/155

deil

adjective. delicate

adj. delicate, beautiful and fine, slender. Q. lelya. >> dail

deil

adjective. beautiful, fine, delicate, lovely

fael

adjective. fair minded, just, generous

dail

adjective. beautiful, fine, delicate, lovely

Cognates

• Q. lelya “delicate, beautiful and fine, slender, lovely” ✧ PE17/139; PE17/151; PE17/151

Derivations

• ✶delya “lovely, fine, beautiful” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151
  • √DEL “*fair” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶delya > deil > dail	[delja] > [delia] > [deli] > [deil] > [dail]	✧ PE17/151
✶delya > deil	[delja] > [delia] > [deli] > [deil] > [dail]	✧ PE17/151

Variations

• deil ✧ PE17/139; PE17/151

dail

adjective. delicate

adj. delicate, beautiful and fine, slender. Q. lelya.

bain

beautiful

_ adj. _beautiful. Q. vanya.

írui

adjective. desirable

_ adj. _desirable, lovely (mostly applied to persons, esp. women).

lind

adjective. fair

Derivations

• √LIN “sing, make a musical sound, sing, make a musical sound, [ᴱ√] gentle”

Element in

• S. Linhir “Fair Stream” ✧ RC/587

Variations

• lin ✧ RC/587 (lin)

bain

adjective. beautiful, fair

bain

fair

_ adj. _fair, good, blessed, wholesome, favourable, without evil/bad element, not dangerous, evil or hostile. bân or bain << bân pl. bain. >> bân

bain

fair

bain (beautiful). Lenited vain. No distinct pl. form.

bain

fair

(beautiful). Lenited vain. No distinct pl. form.

bân

adjective. fair

_ adj. _fair, good, wholesome, favourable, not dangerous, evil or hostile. bân or bain << bân pl. bain. >> bain

gwain

adjective. fair

adj. fair. . This gloss was rejected.

gwana

noun/adjective. fair

Changes

• gwain → gwana “fair, general word for Elves” ✧ PE17/140

Derivations

• ✶wanasō ✧ PE17/140

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶wanasō > gwana	[wanasō] > [wanaso] > [wanaho] > [gwanaho] > [gwanah] > [gwana]	✧ PE17/140

Variations

• gwain ✧ PE17/140 (gwain)

gwân

adjective. fair

_ adj. _fair, pale.

bain

beautiful

bain (fair). Lenited vain. No distinct pl. form.

bain

beautiful

(fair). Lenited vain. No distinct pl. form.

delya

adjective. lovely, fine, beautiful

Derivations

• √DEL “*fair” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151

Derivatives

• Q. lelya “delicate, beautiful and fine, slender, lovely” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151
• S. dail “beautiful, fine, delicate, lovely” ✧ PE17/151; PE17/151

banya

adjective. beautiful

Derivations

• √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/165

Derivatives

• Q. Vanya “Fair Elves, the Fair” ✧ PM/402
  • T. Vania “Vanya” ✧ WJ/383
• Q. vanya “fair, beautiful, unmarred; fair-haired (yellow to golden), fair, beautiful, unmarred; fair-haired (yellow to golden); [ᴱQ.] good (not evil), holy” ✧ PE17/165
• S. bain “fair, beautiful; good, wholesome, favorable; fair-haired, beautiful; good, wholesome, favorable; fair, fair-haired” ✧ PE17/165

wanyā

adjective. fair

Derivations

• √(G)WAN “pale, fair” ✧ WJ/383

Derivatives

• Q. Vanya “Fair Elves, the Fair” ✧ WJ/380; WJ/383
  • T. Vania “Vanya” ✧ WJ/383

Variations

• wanjā ✧ WJ/380; WJ/383

bani

adjective. fair

Element in

• Q. vanië “beauty” ✧ PE17/057
• Q. vanima “beautiful, fair, beautiful, fair, *handsome; [ᴱQ.] proper, right, as it should be, fair” ✧ PE17/057

Variations

• vanĭ ✧ PE17/057

bein

adjective. beautiful, fair