na

used with subject

poss. art. used with subject, e.g. roch na-heryna 'the horse of (the) lady'.  >> an, roch na-heryna

na

preposition. at

prep. at (a point of time or place). Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'.

na

'with'

d prep. 'with', possessing, provided with, esp. of characteristic feature. nan before vowels. Orod na Thôn 'Mount of the Pines Tree(s)'. >> nan 2

na

preposition. to

prep. to Na-chaered palan-díriel lit. "To-distance (remote) after-gazing" >> na-chaered, nan 2

na

preposition. like French à

_ prep. _like French à, provided with, marked by, with, etc.. >> nan 2

na

to

e _ prep. _to, towards (of spacetime). n' before vowels. >> nan 2

na

preposition. with, by (also used as a genitive sign)

na

preposition. to, towards, at

nan

'with'

prep. 'with', possessing, provided with, esp. of characteristic feature. Form of na before vowels. >> na 2b/c/d/e

na-

verb. to be

nan

preposition. of

ai na vedui dúnadan

Ah! at last, Dúnadan!

dor-na-daerachas

place name. Land of Great Dread

A proposed replacement name for Dor Daedeloth in very late notes from 1971 that Tolkien made to The Lord of the Rings maps (WJ/187), translated “Land of Great Dread” (WJ/183). The first few elements seem to be dôr “land”, na(n) “of” and daer “great”. This means the final element achas (perhaps lented from ✱gachas) must mean “dread”, but there are no other clear equivalents to this word in Tolkien’s writing. In a Discord chat from 2022-10-17, Röandil proposed the first element might instead by dae (still meaning “great”), and that the second element rachas might be related to Q. raxë “danger”.

arthor na challonnas

place name. Realm of the South-harbourage

An old (Númenórean?) name for the region of Gondor (PE17/28). It is a combination of arthor “realm”, the preposition na(n) “of” and the lenited form Challonnas of its shorter name Hallonnas “South-harbourage”.

arthor na forlonnas

place name. Realm of the North-harbourage

An old (Númenórean?) name for the region of Arnor (PE17/28). It is a combination of arthor “realm”, the preposition na(n) “of” and its shorter name Forlonnas “North-harbourage”.

Arthor na Challonnas

'Realm of the South-harbourage'

topon. 'Realm of the South-harbourage', older name of Gondor. Q. Turmen Hyallondiéva. >> Arnor, Arthor na Forlonnas, Forlonnas

Arthor na Forlonnas

'Realm of the North-harbourage'

topon. 'Realm of the North-harbourage', another name of Arnor that soon fell out of general colloquial use. Shorter form Forlonnas. Q. Turmen Follondiéva. >> Arnor, Arthor na Challonas, Forlonnas

Orod na Thôn

place name. 'Mount with Pine Tree'

topon. 'Mount with Pine Tree(s)'. >> na, orod, thôn

roch na-heryna

noun. 'the horse of lady'

prop. n. 'the horse of (the) lady', Aragorn's steed given him by Arwen. >> heryna, na, Rocheruin, Rocheryn, Roheryn

tolo i arnad lín

thy kingdom come

The third line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word tolo is the imperative form of the verb tol- “to come”. The second word is the definite article i “the”, followed by arnad “kingdom” and the possessive pronoun lín “your”, with the adjectival element following the noun as is usual in Sindarin.

See the entry for the second line of this prayer for a discussion of the use of the definite article i “the” before the possessed noun in this phrase.

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

> tol-o i arnad lín = “✱come-(imperative) the kingdom yours”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien first wrote aranarth for “kingdom” before replacing it with arnad. He also wrote lin (with short i) initially for lín, but this could have been a slip.

aran na chîr lim

*king of swift ships

na

near

(as preposition, = ”at, by”) na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

near

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

be

: The verb ”to be” is poorly attested. Apparently the root is na-. The imperative is attested as no, and nad (used = ”thing”) may be seen as an original gerund *”a being”. It seems that the copula ”is, are” (and ”was, were”?) can be omitted altogether, as in the ”Noldorin” sentence lheben teil brann i annon ”five feet high [is] the door” (AI:92), in Sindarin perhaps *leben tail brand i annon.

na

to, toward

1. na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of” 2)

na

at

na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

by

(near) na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

with

(in instrumental sense?) na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salos reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

at

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

be

. The imperative is attested as no, and nad (used = ”thing”) may be seen as an original gerund ✱”a being”. It seems that the copula ”is, are” (and ”was, were”?) can be omitted altogether, as in the ”Noldorin” sentence lheben teil brann i annon ”five feet high [is] the door” (AI:92), in Sindarin perhaps ✱leben tail brand i annon.

na

by

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

to, toward

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

na

with

(followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of”

govannen

Ai na vedui Dúnadan

pp. of govan-. Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'. Tolkien notes that the explanation with the stem ba(n) "Won't really do".

no aer i eneth lín

hallowed be thy name

The second line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word no is the imperative form of the verb na- “to be” followed by aer “✱hallowed, holy”; see that word’s entry for further discussion.

The third word is the definite article i “the”, followed by eneth “name” and the possessive pronoun lín “your”, with the adjectival element following the noun as is usual in Sindarin. As pointed out by Bill Welden (VT44/24), the formation i eneth lín seems to be modeled after Welsh, with the possessive pronoun following the noun, which itself is preceded (at least sometimes) by the definite article. A rough English equivalent might be “✱the name yours”. A similar construction appears in the Moria gate inscription: i thiw hin = “the signs these”.

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

> no aer i eneth lín = “✱be holy the name yours”

dorthonion

place name. Land of Pines

A forested region in northern Beleriand, meaning “Land of Pines”. After its corruption by the forces of Morgoth, the region was renamed to Taur-nu-Fuin.

Possibly Etymology: The name contains the elements S. dôr “land” and thôn “pine”, but its final element -ion is harder to explain. It could be the suffix -ion “-land” appearing in names like Eregion and Rhovanion, but then both the first and final elements of Dorthonion would mean “land”, which seems unlikely.

In one note (PE17/81), Tolkien said that this word was “Sindarin Noldorized”, so perhaps the final element is the Quenya genitive plural -ion, so that -thonion is Quenyarized Sindarin for “of Pines”. In the same note, Tolkien gives Dor i Thuin, apparently as the proper Sindarin name of the region. Since Dorthonion is where many Noldor settled after their arrival in Beleriand, this scenario is plausible.

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the early 1930s, this name first appeared as Taur Danin (SM/107), later revised to Taur-na-Danion “Forest of Pines” (SM/296, LR/145) with variants -Thanion, -Donion, -Thonion. It became Dorthanion >> Dorthonion in Silmarillion drafts from the mid-1930s (LR/145, 257), the last of these forms being used thereafter.

In The Etymologies, Tolkien specified that the name was from the Ilkorin language, Ilk. Dorthonion “Land of Pines”, while its Noldorin form was N. Dor-na-Thuin (Ety/THŌN). Since the Ilkorin language also used -(i)on for is genitive plural, this is an earlier parallel of the Quenyarized Dorthonion versus proper Sindarin Dor i Thuin discussed above.

nev

near

(adj. pref.) nev- (hither, on this side). Also used as a preposition nef ”on this side of”.

nev

near

(hither, on this side). Also used as a preposition nef ”on this side of”.

dangen

adjective. slain

An adjective for “slain” derived from primitive ✶dankĭnā (PE17/133), best known from its (mutated plural) appearance in the name Haudh-en-Ndengin “Hill of Slain” (S/197). N. dangen “slain” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√NDAK “slay” (Ety/NDAK). This adjective is likely the passive participle of the verb dag- “to slay”.

Conceptual Development: A similar adjective ᴱN. danc “killed in battle” appeared in the Early Qenya Phonology of the 1920s, also related to ᴱN. dag- “slay” (PE14/66).

an

preposition. to, towards, for

With suffixed article and elision in aglar'ni Pheriannath

an

to

_ prep. _to, for. naur an edraith ammen! 'fire [be] for rescue/saving for us'. aglar an|i Pheriannath  'glory to all the Halflings'.

araw

oromë

also called Tauron (na Dauron, o Thauron). Other names: Galadhon (na ’Aladhon) or Tauros (na Dauros, o Thauros)

bannos

mandos

(na Mannos, o Mbannos), also called Gurfannor (na Ngurfannor, o N’gurfannor)

gaul

aulë

(na ’Aul), often in longer form Belegol (na Velegol) ”Great Aulë”; also called Barthan (na Marthan, o Mbarthan)

neth

nessa

also called Díneth ”the young bride” (na Nineth)

o

from

(od), followed by hard mutation; with article uin ”from the, of the” (followed by mixed mutation according to David Salo’s reconstuctuons). (WJ:366) Not to be confused with o ”about, concerning” (q.v. for this meaning of ”of”). 2) na (followed by lenition), with article nan (followed by ”mixed mutation”, according to David Salo’s reconstruction). The preposition has various meanings: ”with, by, near” and also ”to, toward, at; of” 3)

rhûn

east

(?na Thrûn) (maybe primarily ”the East” as a region), also amrûn (sunrise, orient, uprising). The term ✱Rhúven (?na Thrúven) is maybe primarily ”east” as a direction; the final element means ”way”. This word is spelt ”rhufen” in the source (LR:384 s.v. RŌ), but it would seem that f here represents v. –

yssion

ossë

Gaerys (na ’Aerys), ✱Aeros (suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” Oeros, LR:359 s.v. GOS, GOTH)

an

for

(prep.) an (+ nasal mutation), with article ni ”for the” (+ nasal mutation in plural).

an

to

(prep.) an (+ nasal mutation), with article ni "to the" (+ nasal mutation in plural).

an

for

(+ nasal mutation), with article ’ni ”for the” (+ nasal mutation in plural).

an

to

(+ nasal mutation), with article ’ni "to the" (+ nasal mutation in plural).

dag

slain

(passive participle of dag- "slay", but treated almost like a derived noun) dangen (i nangen, o ndangen), pl. dengin (i ndengin; the spelling "in-ndengin" occurs in the Silmarillion). Compare SLAY.

dag

slain

"slay", but treated almost like a derived noun) dangen (i nangen, o ndangen), pl. dengin* (i ndengin*; the spelling "in-ndengin" occurs in the Silmarillion). Compare

di

preposition. with

baran

adjective. brown, swart, dark brown, golden brown, yellow brown

di

preposition. with

_ prep. _with. Q. lé.

mell

adjective. dear

_ adj. _dear, beloved. Q. melda.

no

verb. be!

rhosg

adjective. brown

uin

preposition. of the

ammen

for us

(to us).

ammen

to us

(for us)

an

for

(adverbial prefix) an-

an

to

(adverbial prefix) an-. 3)

an

for the

(for) + i (the).

an

to the

(for) + i (the).

baran

brown

1. baran (swart, dark brown, yellow brown, golden-brown), pl. berain; 2) rhosc (red, russet), lenited ?throsc or ?rosc (the lenition product of rh is uncertain), pl. rhysc

baran

brown

(swart, dark brown, yellow brown, golden-brown), pl. berain

en

of the

e- (sg. genitival article)

mail

dear

mail (lenited vail, pl. mîl), also mell (lenited vell; pl. mill), also muin (lenited vuin; no distinct pl. form)

mail

dear

(lenited vail, pl. mîl), also mell (lenited vell; pl. mill), also muin (lenited vuin; no distinct pl. form)

rhosc

brown

(red, russet), lenited ?throsc or ?rosc *(the lenition product of rh is uncertain)*, pl. rhysc

na

to be

na (1) form of the verb "to be", evidently the imperative (or subjunctive): Tolkien stated that na airë would mean "be holy" (VT43:14), and san na (q.v.) must mean "thus be" = "let it be so"; see ná #1 Cf. also the sentence alcar mi tarmenel na Erun "glory in high heaven be to God" (VT44:32/34). Inserted in front of a verb, na expresses a wish: aranielya na tuluva "may thy kingdom come" (ibid).

na

to, towards

na (2) prep. "to, towards", possibly obsoleted by #1 above; for clarity writers may use the synonym ana instead (NĀ1). Originally, Tolkien glossed na as "at, by, near"; the new meaning entered together with the synonyms an, ana (VT45:36).

na

preposition. to, towards

@@@ fix weird cognate bug

na-

verb. na-

[na-] (3) a prefix occurring in the Markirya poem, changed by Tolkien to a-, q.v.

na airë esselya

hallowed be thy name

The second line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word na “be” is a subjunctive or imperative form, which is generally the case when this word appears at the beginning of a sentence (VT43/14). It is followed by airë “hallowed” and esselya “thy name”, the 2nd person singular polite form of essë “name”.

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

> na airë esse-lya = “✱be hallowed [holy] name-thy”

Conceptual Development: The words in this phrase remained the same in all versions of the prayer, changing only their word order. The one exception is in version III, where Tolkien considered and rejected aira for “holy” instead of airë. As suggested by the Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT43/14), this probably reflects Tolkien’s uncertainty as to the proper adjectival form of this word. Elsewhere, Tolkien stated that airë was a noun meaning “holiness, sanctity” while aira was the adjective (PM/363).

Tolkien experimented with different word orders for this phrase in different versions of the prayer. In versions I-IIba and V-VI he used copula-adjective-noun, while in the version IIa-IV he used noun-copula-adjective. The reasons for the different orders is unclear.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |na|esselya|na| |{esselya >>}|aire|na|aire| |{aire >>}|esselya|aire {aira in III}|esselya|

na carë indómelya

thy will be done

The fourth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word na “be” serves a subjunctive or imperative function, followed by carë “done”, the aorist or infinitive form of car- “to make, do”. This is followed by indómelya “thy will”, the second person singular polite possessive form of indómë.

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

> na carë indóme-lya = “✱be done will-thy”

Conceptual Development: In earlier versions of this phrase (I-IV), Tolkien vacillated over whether to use á or na for the subjunctive/imperative element. Tolkien also used mendë for “will” instead of indómë in the early versions of the prayer, and he used different verb forms for car-: carina (I-IIa, likely a passive participle “done”) and cara (IIb-IV, perhaps a suffixed imperative).

There is a peculiar form carima in version V of the prayer, which resembles an adjective. Elsewhere, the suffix -ima has a function similar to the suffixes “-able, -ful” in English (PE17/68), which would give carima the meaning “do-able”, but this seems unlikely to be the intended meaning. This form carima is not a mistake, though, since Tolkien deliberately altered it from carina.

Helge Fauskanger suggested (LP-AM) that this sentence may be an example of an impersonal, subject-less sentence, meaning “[may it] be done your will”. There are other examples of Quenya verbs that can be used in such subject-less impersonal constructions, such as ora “[it] warns” (VT41/13), for your conscience (órë) warning you against an action.

|  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |na|á|na| |carina|cara|carima|care| |mendelya|indómelya|

nëa

to be

nëa (2) an optative form of the verb na- "to be"? (nëa = LotR-style Quenya nai?): ya rato nëa "which soon may (it) be" = "which I hope will be soon" (Arct)

nanca

slain

nanca adj. *"slain" (PE17:68); see -na

namárië

interjection. farewell, (lit.) be well, let it be well (to you)

na-

prefix. plu-

na-

prefix. infinitive prefix

na-súrimar

noun. aspirate

aspirate [stops]

alcar mi tarmenel na erun

Alcar mi Tarmenel na Erun

Tolkien’s translation of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo prayer into Quenya, composed sometime in the 1960s (VT44/31), first published in the “Alcar mi Tarmenel na Erun” article in Vinyar Tengwar #44. Tolkien only translated the first two lines of the prayer. Tolkien did not provide an English translation of the prayer; following the editor of the “Alcar mi Tarmenel na Erun” article, I used a modern English (King James) translation of the prayer (VT43/31).

Tolkien made three translations of the lines; the version presented here is Arden Smith’s “reconstructed” version, which is version II with corrections from the incomplete version III. Note that Arden Smith was uncertain of the order of composition of the versions, suggesting that version I might have followed II and III, but his analysis (and mine) assumes that the versions were created in the order they appeared on the page (VT44/32).

Further discussion can be found in the analysis of the individual phrases. My analysis largely follows that of the “Alcar mi Tarmenel na Erun” section (VT44/31-7).

aistana elyë imíca nísi

blessed art thou amongst women

The third line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. This is a declarative statement. The first word aistana “blessed” is the predicate. The second word elyë “thou” is the subject, the emphatic form of the pronoun lye “you (polite)”. The last two words are the prepositional phrase imíca nísi “among women”, the latter being the plural of nís “woman”. As in the second line, there is no Quenya equivalent of the English word “are (art)” in the final version of the prayer.

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

> aistana elyë imíca nís-i = “✱blessed [art] thou among woman-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: The first two versions of the prayer used manna for “blessed” instead of aistana. Tolkien considered several different prepositional elements for English “among”: mil (I deleted), mi (I-II), mitta (III deleted), mika (III) before settling on imíca (IV).

In version I-II, he used another word for “women”: nínaron, apparently genitive plural of an otherwise unattested word nína. In version I, he considered and deleted many variants before settling on nínaron. I’ve omitted them from this discussion because they appear nowhere else, and including them would obscure the development of the phrase. For further details, see VT43/27, 31.

| |  I  | II |III|IV| | |elye|manna|aistana| |{manna na >>}|na manna|nalye|elye| |{mil >>}|mi|{mitta >>} mika|imíca| |[various >>]|nínaron|nísi|

alcar mi tarmenel na erun

glory [be] to God in the highest

The first line of Alcar mi Tarmenel na Erun, Tolkien’s translation of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo prayer. The first word is alcar “glory”, followed by mi Tarmenel “in the highest”, more literally “✱in High-heaven”. The fourth na word is the imperative of the verb ná- “to be”. The last word Erun “to God” is the dative form of Eru “God”.

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

> alcar mi Tar-menel na Eru-n = “✱glory in High-heaven be God-to”

Conceptual Development: In version I, Tolkien first wrote tarmenissen, apparently the locative plural of tarmen “?high place”, perhaps meaning “?in high places”. He revised this into an assimilated locative tarmenelde of Tarmenel.

In version II he first wrote the allative form Erunna “✱towards God” before changing to the dative form Erun “to God”, also used in version II.

In version III he only wrote the word alcar. For this reason, the phrase in this entry is derived from version II.

|  I  |II|III| |alcar| |{tarmenissen >>} tarmenelde|mi tarmenel|...| |na Erun|{Erunna >>} na Erun| |

aranielya na tuluva

thy kingdom come

The third line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word aranielya “thy kingdom” is the 2nd person singular polite form of aranië “kingdom”. It is followed by the word na, serving a subjunctive or imperative function, and tuluva, the future tense of tul- “to come”. This future tense probably reflects the fact that God’s kingdom is not yet manifest on Earth, and its literal meaning may be “✱be it that thy kingdom will come”.

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

> aranie-lya na tul-uva = “✱kingdom-thy be come-(future)”

Conceptual Development: In earlier versions of this phrase, Tolkien vacillated over whether to use á or na for the subjunctive/imperative element. He also considered other words for “kingdom”: túrinasta and túrindië. Finally, he used aorist forms or “double imperative” forms of tul-, such as tule or á tula, adopting the future tense only in version V.

Tolkien experimented with different word orders for this phrase in different versions of the prayer. In versions I-IIb, he used particle-verb-subject, while in the version III-VI he used subject-particle-verb. The reasons for the different orders is unclear.

| |I|IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |{na >>}|nā|na|á|túrindielya|aranielya| |{túrinastalya >>}|túle|tule|tula|á|na| |{tūle >>}|túrinastalya|tuluva|

menel acúna

the heavens bending

The twenty-fourth line of the Markirya poem (MC/222). It consists of another subordinate clause menel acúna “heavens bending”, with the noun menel “heavens” followed by the infinitive of the verb cúna- “to bend”. The prefix a- in acúna marks the infinitive as an object of the primary verb, which is the verb “see” of the previous phrase.

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

> menel a-cúna = “✱heavens (object)-bending”

Conceptual Development: In the first draft, Tolkien used na- for the object-prefix, which he first retained in the second draft before changing it to a- (MC/222).

ana-

prefix. to, towards

A prefixal form of preposition an(a) from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/NĀ¹). It was mentioned as a verbal prefix {na- >>} ana- in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 (PE17/147), and while the paragraph where it appeared was rejected I think it likely the prefix itself was retained.

-na

no longer part of verbal conjugation

-na (4), ending used to form passive participles as well as some adjectives and nouns; see -ina. According to PE17:68, the ending -na was "no longer part of verbal conjugation"; the derived words are thus considered independent adjectives (sometimes nouns) rather than regularly derived passive participles, the obvious etymological connection to certain verbal stems notwithstanding. Where adding the ending to a root would produce the combinations tn, pn, kn (cn), metathesis occurs to produce nt, (np >) mp, nc, as in nanca *"slain" for older ¤ndakna, or hampa "restrained, delayed, kept" vs. the root KHAP "retain, keep, detain". Following -l, the suffix -na turns into -da, as in yulda "draught, the amount drunk" for older yulna (this being an example of a noun being derived with this ending, though Tolkien might also explain yulda as containing a distinct ending -da [q.v.] denoting the result of a verbal action). The word *turúna "mastered" (q.v., only attested in elided form turún) would seem to be a passive participle formed from the verb turu- "master" (PE17:113), suggesting that in the case of U-stem verbs, their final -u is lengthened to ú when -na is added.

-na

suffix. slain

A shorter ending -na also occurs, e.g. nahtana "slain" (VT49:24); the example hastaina "marred" would suggest that *nahtaina is equally possible. In the example aistana "blessed" (VT43:30), -na may be preferred to -ina for euphonic reasons, to avoid creating a second diphthong ai where one already occurs in the previous syllable (*aistaina). In PE17:68, the ending -ina is said to be "aorist" (unmarked as regards time and aspect); the same source states that the shorter ending -na is "no longer part of verbal conjugation", though it obviously survives in many words that are maybe now to be considered independent adjectives. See -na #4.

-nna

to

-n (1) dative ending, originating as a reduced form of -nă "to", related to the allative ending -nna (VT49:14). Attested in nin, men, ten, enyalien, Erun, airefëan, tárin, yondon (q.v.) and also added to the English name Elaine (Elainen) in a book dedication to Elaine Griffiths (VT49:40). The longer dative ending -na is also attested in connection with some pronouns, such as sena, téna, véna (q.v.), also in the noun mariéna from márië "goodness" (PE17:59). Pl. -in (as in hínin, see hína), partitive pl. -lin, dual -nt (Plotz). The preposition ana (#1) is said to be used "when purely dative formula is required" (PE17:147), perhaps meaning that it can replace the dative ending, e.g. *ana Eru instead of Erun for "to God". In some of Tolkiens earlier material, the ending -n (or -en) expressed genitive rather than dative, but he later decided that the genitive ending was to be -o (cf. such a revision as Yénië Valinóren becoming Yénië Valinórëo, MR:200).

-nna

to, at, upon

-nna "to, at, upon", allative ending, originating from -na "to" with fortified n, VT49:14. Attested in cilyanna, coraryanna, Endorenna, Elendilenna, númenórenna, parma-restalyanna, rénna, senna, tielyanna, q.v. If a noun ends in -n already, the ending -nna merges with it, as in Amanna, formenna, Elenna, númenna, rómenna as the allative forms of Aman, formen, elen, númen, rómen (q.v.). Plural -nnar in mannar, valannar, q.v.

-nna

suffix. (movement) to, towards, onto, at (arriving at a point); allative suffix

The Quenya allative suffix indicating motion towards; see that entry for discussion.

Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s earlier writings, it had other forms like ᴱQ. -nta or -tta (PE14/46, 78).

ca(na)sta

fraction. one fourth, one fourth, *quarter

A word appearing as kanasta, kasta, or kansat “1/4” in notes on numbers from the late 1960s, a combination of canta “four” with the fractional suffix -sta.

Conceptual Development: The Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s had ᴱQ. kantasto “quarter, [one] fourth” with adjective form ᴱQ. kantast(y)a (PE14/51, 84), combinations with the 1920s fractional suffix ᴱQ. -sto.

ana

to

ana (1) prep. "to" (VT49:35), "as preposition _ana _is used when purely _dative formula is required" (PE17:147), perhaps meaning that the preposition ana can be used instead of the dative ending -n (#1, q.v.) Also as prefix: ana- "to, towards" (NĀ1); an (q.v.) is used with this meaning in one source (PE17:127)_

canasta

one fourth

canasta ("k")fraction "one fourth" (1/4). Also cansat, casta (VT48:11)

a anamelda na ar ilyan

A is dearest of all

a anamelda na epë b

A is dear before B

antanë ninna

*he gave (it) to me

sínen i·anda nyarnë metta ar taina andaurenya na quanta

*with this the long tale ends and my extended long day is complete

á na márië

be well

-ina

suffix. adjective suffix; passive participle

a anamelda na ep’ ilya

A is dearest of all

a arimelda na epe b

A is (very much) [dearer] than B

a arimelda na ilyaron

A is dearest of all

ana-

prefix. plu-

lendes pallan(na) i sír

he came (to a point) far beyond the river

san na

interjection. *amen, (lit.) may it be so

qua(na)

all, complete, entire, full, the whole

A neologism for “all, complete, entire, full, the whole” appearing in a conversation involving Arael, Raccoon, Lokyt, and Röandil on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) from 2022-03-10. It is remarkably similar to Tolkien’s own word [ᴹQ.] quanna “entire, whole, complete, altogether” first published in 2024 (PE23/106).

ana-

prefix. to, towards

har

near

har, harë adj.? adv.? "near" (LT1:253)

an(a)

preposition. to, towards, to a point near, alongside, to, towards, to a point near, alongside; [ᴱQ.] until

A word meaning “to” or “towards”, the prepositional equivalent of allative suffix -nna. It dates back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. ana “to(wards)” appeared under the early root ᴱ√ANA (QL/31). In later writings it usually appeared as an or ana and had a similar derivation from √ANA (PE17/127; VT49/35; Ety/NĀ¹), but it also appeared as na (PE21/79; PE23/92; VT27/10). It is similar to but distinct from the conjunction/adverb an “for; furthermore”, because ana can serve a dative or allative function (PE17/147). For example: an i falmalī “upon the many waves” vs. more usual allative i falmalinna (PE17/127). In one place Tolkien said the inverted form na had the more precise meaning “towards, to a position near, alongside”, implying not only approach but arrival alongside (PE21/79).

cemendë tambe erumandë

on Earth as [it is] in Heaven

The fifth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word cemendë “on Earth” is an assimilated locative form of cemen “earth”. The word tambë likely corresponds to “as”, while Erumandë “in Heaven” is an assimilated locative form of Eruman “Heaven”. The English words “it is” are not represented in the Quenya phrase.

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

> cemen-dë tambe Eruman-dë = “✱earth-on as [it is] Heaven-in”

Conceptual Development: In earlier versions of this phrase (I-V), Tolkien used menel for “Heaven”. Elsewhere, Tolkien said that menel referred to the dome of the sky or “the firmament”, and therefore was not proper for “Heaven” (MR/387, PE17/152), which is probably why he changed the word to Eruman in version VI of the prayer.

Tolkien experimented with various ways of comparing Earth to Heaven: ier ... ar tér (I), ier ... tier (IIa), ya(n) ... ar san (IIb) and san ... ya (III-IV), each probably meaning something like “as ... so ...”, as suggested by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT43/16-7). In versions V and VI Tolkien switched to a single word “as”: sívë (V) and tambë (VI).

The English words “it is” are only expressed in version III-IV, with the Quenya verb na, appearing at the end of the phrase as is typical of declarative statements.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |{yé >> ye >>}|ier|ya(n)|san| | |menelle|menelze|menelde|cemende| |ar tér|tier|ar san|ya|sívë|tambe| |{kemenze >>}|cemenze|cemende|menelde|Erumande| | |na| |

i héru aselyë

the Lord is with thee

The second line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. This is a declarative statement. The first two words i Héru “the Lord” are the subject. The third word aselyë “with thee” is the predicate, a combination of the preposition as “with” and the pronoun lye “you (polite)”. As noted by the editors of the “Aia María” texts, the “to be” copula is often omitted in Quenya (VT43/30), so there is no Quenya equivalent of the English word “is” in the final version of the prayer.

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

> i Héru ase-lye = “✱the Lord [is] with-you”

Conceptual Development: The first version of the prayer did have the Quenya word for “is”: na, but it omitted the word for “the”. Tolkien considered several different prepositional elements for English “with”: ó (I-II) and ca(r) (III) before settling on as (IV).

| |  I  | II |III|IV| |{héru na >>}|na héru|i Héru| |{le se >> lese >>}|olesse|carelye|aselyë|

mal ámë etelehta ulcullo: násië

but deliver us from evil: Amen

The tenth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The conjunction mal “but” is followed by a combination of imperative particle á and the pronoun me “us”. This is followed by the aorist form of the verb etelehta “deliver” and ulcullo “from evil”, the ablative form of the noun ulco (perhaps a noun form of ulca). The final word násië, corresponding to English “Amen”, seems to be a Quenya word meaning “✱be it thus”.

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

> mal á-më ete-lehta ulcu-llo: násië = “✱but (imperative)-us out-free evil-from: amen”

Conceptual Development: The tenth line underwent more changes than any other line in the prayer. In version III of the prayer, this phrase was first written as a near match to the phrase in version IIb, but was radically altered to a form that persisted to version IV. The analysis below designates these two variations of version III as IIIa and IIIb.

In earlier versions of the prayer, the word for “but” was mostly ono (IIa-IV), though in version I it was {anat >>} one, and it was elided to on’ in version IIIa.

The earlier imperative element was either na (I-IIa) or a (IIIb-IV), and it appeared either before the verb (I-IIa, IIIb-IV) or in the middle of the verb (IIb-IIIa) as et·a·rúna.

The object pronoun me consistently appeared immediately after the verb in the versions I-IV of the prayer rather than before the verb as in version V-VI.

The early versions (I-IV) used a different verb et(e)rúna for “deliver”, still in the aorist tense but in (IIIb-IV) with an embedded imperative et·a·rúna, as noted above.

Tolkien earlier considered several words for “evil”: olca (I deleted), ulca (I), ulco (IIa) and úro (IIa-IV), the last of these possibly a noun form of úra “nasty”. These appeared either with the allative suffix -llo (I) or the preposition va “(away) from” (IIa-IV). In versions IIIb-IV only, the prepositional phrase va úro appeared before the verb rather than after.

Quenya words corresponding to “Amen” appeared only in a few versions: san na (IIa), násan (IIb) and násië (VI), each meaning something like “✱be it thus” or “✱be it so”.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|IIIa|IIIb|IV|V|VI| |{anat >>}|one|ono|on’|ono|mal| |na etrúna me|et·a·rúna me|va úro|ám’ etelehta|áme etelehta| |{olcallo >>}|ulcallo|va ulco|{var-úra >>} va úro|aly’ eterúna me|ulcullo| | |san na|násan| |násie|

man cenuva lumbor ahosta?

Who shall see the clouds gather?

The twenty-third line of the Markirya poem (MC/222). The first word is man “who” followed the future tense of cen- “to see”. The object of the phrase is the subordinate clause lumbor ahosta “clouds gather”, with the plural of the noun lumbo “[dark] cloud” followed by the infinitive of the verb hosta- “to gather”. The prefix a- in ahosta marks the infinitive as an object of the primary verb “see” rather than its subject.

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

> man cen-uva lumbo-r a-hosta = “✱who see-(future) cloud-(plural) (object)-gather”

Conceptual Development: In the first draft, Tolkien used na- for the object-prefix, which he retained initially in the second draft before changing it to a- (MC/222).

átaremma i ëa han eä

our Father who art in Heaven

The first line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word Átaremma “our Father” is atar “father” with the 2nd-person-plural-exclusive suffix -mma consistent with the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings (after the 2nd edition of The Lord of the Rings, this suffix would be -lma).

The remainder of the phrase i ëa han Eä “who art in Heaven” is a circumlocution, literally meaning “✱who is beyond Creation [the Material Universe]”. This allowed Tolkien to avoid an explicit name for Heaven, though he did use Eruman for “Heaven” in the fifth line of the prayer.

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

> Átar-emma i ëa han Eä = “✱Father-our who is beyond Creation [the Material Universe]”

Conceptual Development: The form Ataremma for “our Father” appears in all versions of the prayer, sometimes preceded by the interjection a or Ai “O”. Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested that the long Á of Átaremma in versions V to VI of the prayer may be a coalescense with this interjection (VT43/13).

In versions I-IV, Tolkien use menel for the word “Heaven” in various configurations, most involving an assimilated locative, such as meneldea “in Heaven”. In other writings, Tolkien said that menel referred to the dome of the sky or “the firmament”, and therefore was not proper for “Heaven” (MR/387, PE17/152). Perhaps because of this, in version V he switched to the circumlocution i ëa pell’ Eä, with an assimilated form of the preposition pella “before”. In version VI he changed the preposition to han, as above.

In the earliest version (I), Tolkien used the word na for “is”, added at the end of the phrase, but it was omitted later.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| | |A|Ai| | |Ataremma|Átaremma| | |i| |i| |{menellea >>}|menelzea|meneldea|ëa pell’ ëa|ëa han ëa| |na| |

turmen follondiéva

place name. Realm of the North-harbourage

An old (Númenórean?) name for the region of Arnor (PE17/28). It is a compound of turmen “realm” and the possessive form of its shorter name Follondië.

turmen hyallondiéva

place name. Realm of the South-harbourage

An old (Númenórean?) name for the region of Gondor (PE17/28). It is a compound of turmen “realm” and the possessive form of its shorter name Hyallondië.

hosta-

verb. to gather (hastily together), collect, assemble, pile up

This was the Quenya verb for “gather” for most of Tolkien’s life. It appeared in notes associated with the Markirya poem from the 1960s with the glosses “gather, collect, assemble” (MC/223). It also appeared in Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s with the glosses “gather hastily together, pile up” and derived from √KHOT “gather, together in confusion, jumble” (PE17/39). ᴹQ. hosta- “to collect” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KHOTH “gather” (Ety/KHOTH). ᴱQ. hosta- appeared in the Qenya Verb Forms of the 1910s as the basis for ᴱQ. hostalka “able to gather” (PE14/33-34).

lé

preposition. with

The preposition lé “with” was mentioned in a (rejected) etymology of S. di “with” in Tolkien’s notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/94), from the phrase le nallon sí __di__’nguruthos (LotR/729), usually translated “here overwhelmed in dread of Death, I cry”. In this note, Tolkien eventually decided that S. (n)di actually meant “beneath”, and its Quenya equivalent was Q. nî.

Conceptual Development: Prepositional ᴹQ. le also appeared in the Lament of Atalante from the 1940s, in the phrase ᴹQ. Númeheruvi arda sakkante __le__néme Ilúvatáren “the Lords of the West broke the world by [or with] leave of Ilúvatar” (SD/246, 310). Here “with” seems to be used in the instrumental sense “by means of”.

The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. le “with (accompaniment)” under the early root ᴱ√LĒ (QL/52). Le was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as the equivalent of G. li “with (of accompaniment only)”, but also used to mean “and” between nouns (GL/54). In this period the instrumental preposition seems to be ᴱQ. ma, which appeared in a few phrases from ᴱQ. Sí Qente Feanor from the 1910s: ᴱQ. __ma__lto ísier i nosta “✱by those from whom this birth was known” and ᴱQ. nalto fustúme __ma__ Melkon “✱they can be smelled out by Melko” (PE15/32). Compare G. ma “with instrument or by agent” from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/55).

Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. lé for purposes of Neo-Quenya as a rarely-used instrumental preposition meaning “with, by (means of)”, reconceived as a derivative of √LEÑ “✱way, method, manner” (PE17/74).

sí vanwa ná, rómello vanwa, valimar!

now lost is, [to one] from the East lost, Valimar!

The 15th phrase in the prose Namárië, which is essentially the same as its poetic version, differing only in its more literal translation. The phrase still seems somewhat poetic. In most (but not all) cases, the Quenya verb ná- “to be” appears at the end of the phrase. Hypothetically, a more “normal” rendering might be:

> ✱sí Valimar vanwa Rómello ná “now Valimar lost from-the-East is

an

for

an (1) _conj. and prep. _"for" (Nam, RGEO:66), an cé mo quernë… "for if one turned…" (VT49:8), also used adverbially in the formula an + a noun to express "one more" (of the thing concerned: an quetta "a word more", PE17:91). The an of the phrase es sorni heruion an! "the Eagles of the Lords are at hand" (SD:290) however seems to denote motion towards (the speaker): the Eagles are coming. Etym has an, ana "to, towards" (NĀ1). The phrase an i falmalī _(PE17:127) is not clearly translated but seems to be a paraphrase of the word falmalinnar "upon the foaming waves" (Nam)_, suggesting that an can be used as a paraphrase of the allative ending (and if falmalī is seen as a Book Quenya accusative form because of the long final vowel, this is evidence that an governs the accusative case). In the "Arctic" sentence, an is translated "until". Regarding an as used in Namárië, various sources indicate that it means an "moreover, further(more), to proceed" (VT49:18-19) or ("properly") "further, plus, in addition" (PE17:69, 90). According to one late source (ca. 1966 or later), an "is very frequently used after a full stop, when an account or description is confirmed after a pause. So in Galadriels Elvish lament […]: An sí Tintallë, etc. [= For now the Kindler, etc…] This is translated by me for, side an is (as here) often in fact used when the additional matter provides an explanation of or reason for what has already been said". Related is the use of an + noun to express "one more"; here an is presumably accented, something the word would not normally be when used as a conjunction or preposition.

as

with

as prep. "with" (together with), also attested with a pronominal suffix: aselyë "with thee" (VT47:31, VT43:29). The conjunction ar "and" may also appear in assimilated form as before s; see ar #1.

cansat

one fourth

cansat ("k")fraction "one fourth" (1/4). Also canasta, casta (VT48:11)

car-

with

#car- (2) prep. "with" (carelyë "with thee"), prepositional element (evidently an ephemeral form abandoned by Tolkien) (VT43:29)

casta

one fourth

casta (1) ("k")fraction "one fourth" (1/4). Also canasta, cansat (VT48:11)

eldar ataformaiti

the Elves were ambidexters

First phrase @@@

| |  I  | II |III|IV|  V  |VI|VII| |i Eldar| |i·Eldar|Eldar| |{nār >> nā >>}|nāner|...| |{nár}| | |{tatafor... >>}|attaformor|ataformor|{attaformaite >>} ataformaite|{ataformaite >>} ataformaiti|

a (ná) calima lá b

A is brighter than B; (lit.) A is bright beyond B

[needs to be organized]

a-

prefix. infinitive prefix

antanen parma sen

I gave a book to him

násan

interjection. *amen, (lit.) may it be so

palla

preposition/adverb. far beyond

as

preposition. with

ni

pronoun. me, I

násië

interjection. *amen, (lit.) may it be so

se

pronoun. him, her; he, she, it (animate)

sí vanwa ná, rómello vanwa, valimar!

now lost, lost to those from the east is Valimar!

Fifteenth line @@@

-ssë

at

-ssë (1) locative ending (compare the preposition se, sé "at", q.v.); in Lóriendessë, lúmessë, máriessë, yalúmessë (q.v. for reference); pl. -ssen in yassen, lúmissen, mahalmassen, símaryassen, tarmenissen, q.v. Pronouns take the simple ending -ssë, even if the pronoun is plural by its meaning (messë "on us", VT44:12). The part. pl. (-lissë or -lissen) and dual (-tsë) locative endings are known from the Plotz letter only.

as

with

o (2) prep. "with" (MC:216; this is "Qenya"; WJ:367 states that no independent preposition o was used in Quenya. Writers may rather use as.) See ó- below.

cansat

fraction. one fourth

ea

verb. be

be

ea-

verb. be, exist

lé

with

lé (2) prep. "with" (PE17:95)

melin

dear

melin adj. "dear" (MEL)

se

at, in

se (2), also long sé, preposition "at, in" (VT43:30; compare the "locative prefix" se- possibly occurring in an early "Qenya" text, VT27:25)

sonda

dear, fond

[sonda adj. "dear, fond" (VT46:15)]

ten

for

ten (2) conj. "for", in Fíriel's Song; apparently replaced by an in LotR-style Quenya.

varnë

brown, swart, dark brown

varnë (1) adj. "brown, swart, dark brown", stem-form varni- (BARÁN)

ó

with, accompanying

imallumë

adverb. at or during exactly the same time

imandë

adverb. to exactly the same degree

na

preposition. with, by; of

na

preposition. with, by (also used as a genitive sign)

na

preposition. to, towards, at

nan

preposition. of

gir... edlothiand na ngalad melon i ni (?sevo) ni (?edran)

gir... edlothiand na ngalad melon i ni (?sevo) ni (?edran)

edeb na nestad

place name. Houses of Healing

A rejected Noldorin name for the Houses of Healing (WR/380). It is a combination of the plural of adab “house”, the preposition na “of” and the noun nestad “healing”.

dor-na-fauglith

place name. Land of (Gasping) Thirst

dor-na-thuin

place name. Land of Pines

har na ond i mid

stand by the grey stone

A phrase on the back of one version of Thror’s Map, and hence probably from the early 1930s. The English translation appears further down the page.

bair nestad

place name. Houses of Healing

Noldorin name for the Houses of Healing appearing only in the Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s along with several variations (WR/379-380). It is a combination of the plural of bár “home” and nestad “healing”.

Conceptual Development: In a somewhat later typescript version, the form of this name was Edeb na Nestad, but this was rejected (WR/380).

cristhorn

place name. Eagle’s Cleft

dangen

adjective. slain

dor-daideloth

place name. Land of (the Shadow of) Dread, Loathly Land

a(n)

preposition. of

mell

adjective. dear

muin

adjective. dear

an-

prefix. with, by

baran

adjective. brown, swart, dark brown, golden brown, yellow brown

dangen

noun. slain

heltha-

verb. to strip

The form helta- in the Etymologies is a misreading according to VT/46:14

mell

adjective. dear

muin

adjective. dear

rhosc

adjective. brown

nā

root. be (the same as another), exist

Tolkien used this root as the basis for Elvish “to be” verbs for much of his life. ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like the verb ᴱQ. ná- “to be” and ᴱQ. nasta “existence, being, creature” (QL/64). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. na- “to be” and G. nast “being” (GL/58-59). It appeared again in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√NĀ “be” (Ety/NĀ²), along with an invertible variant ᴹ√ANA² “be, exist” with the derivative ᴹQ. anwa “true, real, actual” (Ety/ANA²); this seems to be the only point where Tolkien considered this root to be invertible. The root √NĀ “be” is mentioned several times in Tolkien’s later writings as well (PE17/93; PE22/147; VT49/27-28).

The root √NĀ was often contrasted with other roots of similar meanings. For example:

> Stem of verb “exist” (have being in primary world of history) was √EŊE, distinct from √NA joining adjs./nouns/pronouns in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have a certain quality, or to be the same as another (PE22/147).

There were also periods when roots other than √NĀ were the basis for “to be” statement in Elvish. See the entry on √EÑ “exist” for a conceptual history of these alternate roots and their derivatives.

na/ana

root. to, towards; at side of, alongside, besides; moreover, in addition, plus

The root √ANA was connected to “giving” and “movement toward” for much of Tolkien’s life. The root first appeared as ᴱ√ANA “give, send towards” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, and in this period was the basis for words like ᴱQ. anta-/G. antha- “give” and ᴱQ. ana “to(wards)” (QL/31; GL/19). The root reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√ANA with an inverted variant ᴹ√NĀ¹ “to, towards”; the most notable derivative of this inverted form was N. na “with, by” (Ety/ANA¹, NĀ¹). In the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1), √AN was given as one of the primary examples of the inversion of roots, where √AN(A) was originally a “biconsontal root” (²√) with a vocalic beginning, and the inverted form √NA was an abnormal vocalization of the basic root (PE18/38).

This same example of inversion was used in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from around 1950 (TQ2: PE18/88), and this invertible root appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings almost always with glosses like “to, towards, motion to”. There were a few instances in which Tolkien explored some alternate meanings for the root, however. In Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s Tolkien said that:

> It is true that in Q. na appears with sense “to”, but this at nearest means “towards, to a position near, alongside” ... The original sense of Eldarin ana was plainly “at side of, alongside, besides”, hence also “moreover, in addition, plus” (seen in use of an- as an intensive prefix), and so an or na in some languages has the sense “along with, with, accompanied by, provided with, associated with” and the like (PE21/79).

Likewise in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN) Tolkien said:

> √ANA/NĀ, to, towards - added to, plu-. Quenya verbal prefix ana, na-, as in napan-, add. an­ “plu-”, intensive prefix, arcalima, preeminently bright, ancalima, very bright ... S an, dative chiefly with pronouns or persons. < ana, hence vocalic mutation, but takes form m before m, b. ✱ to, for (PE17/146-7).

In this note Tolkien went on to explore various non-allative meanings associated with the root such as the conjugation/adverb Q. an “for, then, or, but” and prepositions S. na(n) “with” vs. S. na “to, towards”, differing mainly in the mutations they cause (nasal versus soft). It seems the association of this root with both the intensive an- and words like Q. an “for; moreover” and S. na(n) “with” motivated Tolkien to find a more nuanced meaning for the root. This likewise probably motivated Tolkien to explore an alternate basis for the intensive prefix in 1967, deriving it from √AMA rather than √AN (PE17/90-94).

Neo-Eldarin: For Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to retain an- as the basis for intensives in both Quenya and Sindarin, and thus I think it is best to retain the extended meanings of √AN from the 1950s to include senses like “add to, more” and “up to the side of”, hence by extension “alongside” becoming (in S.) “with, accompanying, possessing, having the trait of” as in S. na(n) “of, with”.

-nā

suffix. adjective suffix; passive participle

eñ

root. be, exist

Throughout much of its conceptual development, Quenya had two distinct roots for the verb to be: the root √NĀ functioning mainly as a copula in “to be” expressions like Elrondo Elda ná “Elrond is an Elf” or Aracorno halla ná “Aragorn is tall”, versus a distinct root used mainly for existential statements such as Eru ëa “God exists”. The copula-root was established very early as √NĀ, but the existential-root varied considerably.

The earliest version of the existential root was ᴱ√Ō “be, exist” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/69). By the 1920s it seems this root has changed to ᴱ√Ī as it appeared in Early Qenya words lists from that period (PE16/140), and the verb for “to be” in the contemporaneous Early Qenya Grammar was ᴱQ. e- or i (PE14/51, 57).

A similar root ᴹ√YĒ or ᴹ√I appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, albeit with no derivatives (EtyAC/YE). It was most likely the basis for the so-called “stative” suffix ᴹQ. -ie seen in the contemporaneous Fíriel’s Song (LR/72). The root ᴹ√YE was also mentioned in both the first and second versions of the Tengwesta Qenderinwa from 1937 (TQ1: PE18/60) and around 1950 (TQ2: PE18/84), though in the latter it was rejected (PE18/84 note #69). This root is reflected in the use of ᴹQ. ye- in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/107, 115, 117, 119-120), but this verb was rejected and replaced towards the end of that document by a new verb ᴹQ. ea- (PE22/122-124 and PE22/123 note #130). The rejection of ye- “to be” may be due to the introduction of Q. yén for the Elvish long year, as suggested by Christopher Gilson (PE22/86).

In QVS, the new verb ea- was derived from a primitive ✱eʒe or ✱eñe (PE22/122); the root ᴹ√EƷ “be” had already been mentioned in Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1940s, indicating Tolkien had been considering this form for some time. In 1948 QVS, Tolkien said:

> The primary sense of this verb was “to exist, to have being, to be found, extant, in the real world”. But it was often weakened to the copula, in statements of identity or predication. This however in classical Quenya was limited mainly to the past and future (PE22/123).

Thus in 1948 Tolkien started the process of establishing ea- as primarily an existential verb. A few years later, Tolkien mentioned the root √EÑ “be” in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s (PE19/96) and he described √EÑ more fully in verbal notes from 1969 where he said:

> Stem of verb “exist” (have being in primary world of history) was √EŊE, distinct from √NA joining adjs./nouns/pronouns in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have a certain quality, or to be the same as another (PE22/147).

Thus the conceptual development of this root seems to have roughly been √Ō (1910s) >> √YĒ/Ī (1920s) >> √EƷ (late 1940s) >> √EÑ (early 1950s). This is an oversimplification however, in that √EƷ appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s and Tolkien may have been considering it much earlier. Furthermore, the role of √EÑ as primarily as existential root (vs. copula √NĀ) was only firmly established in Tolkien’s later writings. When the root was √YĒ/Ī in the 1920s through 1940s, it seems the verbs ᴱQ. e- and ᴹQ. ye- were used for both existential statements and as a copula, and in this period √NĀ (though mentioned) was rarely used and may have been out of favor.

-ni

suffix. adjectival suffix

Seen in lugni < LUG, luini < LUY and ninkwi < NIKW (with subsequent metathesis). Possibly a (rare) variant of -nā and/or -i.

an

preposition. to

dankĭnā

adjective. slain

dē

preposition. with

melnā

noun. dear, beloved

-mâ

preposition. with

A prepositional suffix translated “with” (SD/247, 429).

Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, it was the grammatical inflection -ma used for the draft-instrumental (SD/438).

-zê

preposition. at

A prepositional suffix translated “at” (SD/429), but not appearing in any example sentences. It is perhaps a later repurposing of the draft-dative case suffix -s, since the other draft-cases became prepositional suffixes in later versions of the Adûnaic grammar: draft genitive -ō versus later preposition -ô “from”, draft instrumental -ma versus later preposition -mâ “with”.

sha

preposition. with

u

preposition. to

-ul

suffix. of

dachen

adjective. slain

-o

suffix. of