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”.
Sindarin
mein
ordinal. first, (only in the sense of) prime, chief, pre-eminent
mein
ordinal. first
Cognates
- Q. minya “first; eminent, prominent” ✧ VT42/10
main
ordinal. first, (only in the sense of) prime, chief, pre-eminent
minui
ordinal. first
minui
ordinal. first
Cognates
- Q. minya “first; eminent, prominent” ✧ VT42/25
ned
noun. first, *one more; first; *during
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
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”
erui
first
(single, alone). No distinct pl. form. Some would argue that Tolkien abandoned erui as a word for ”first”.
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.