na

preposition. to

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

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

used with subject

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

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

to

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

na

preposition. like French à

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

na

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

na

preposition. to, towards, at

na-

verb. to be

A verb for “to be” based on the root √NĀ of the same meaning. This verb is barely attested in the Sindarin language, and the general consensus is that [for purposes of Neo-Sindarin at least] Sindarin omits the verb “to be” in most phrases, such as in naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for saving us” (LotR/299) or ✱orchal i adan “tall [is] the man”; see the entry on the copula for further discussion.

The clearest attestation of the verb na- is its imperative form no “be!” in the phrase no aer i eneth lín “hallowed be thy name, (lit.) ✱be holy the name your”, from the Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer from the 1950s (VT44/21). This imperative form was preceded by some hard-to-read deleted forms, perhaps {dôd >> dád >> hae >>} no (VT44/22). The d-forms might be eroded/mutated variants of na-. Compare đa in the phrase inn đa v’im “a mind there is in me = I have a good mind (to do so)” in notes from the late 1960s (PE22/165), where đa could be another eroded form of na-. This phrase was first written as inn no v’im (PE22/165 note #108); see the entry for đa for further discussion.

Another clear attestation of na “be” is an apparent future form natho in the untranslated phrase Sí il chem {na} en i naugrim en ir Ellath {natho} thor den ammen in the so-called “Túrin Wrapper” from the late 1950s (VT50/5). This future[?] form natho was deleted and replaced by thor, and a deleted {na} also appears earlier in the phrase, possibly a false start. Carl Hostetter suggested this phrase might mean something like “✱now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) us” (VT50/22-25). If so, it seems the future of na- “be” was constructed from the bare future suffix (a)tha-, manifesting as tho “✱will be”.

Neo-Sindarin: As noted above, for purposes of Neo-Sindarin the general consensus is that this verb is barely used, and is omitted from most “to be” phrases as in the example orchal i adan given above. The verb’s one widely accepted use is as an imperative, such as in no mae “be well”. Based the Túrin Wrapper, I posit that tho can also be used for a future form “will be”, as in i adan tho orchal “the man will be tall”. I likewise posit a (purely hypothetical) past form [ᴺS.] nî “was”, based on the primitive past-tense element ✶-nē with [[os|long [ē] becoming [ī]]], as in i adan nî orchal “the man was tall”. Neither tho or nî are widely accepted Neo-Sindarin, however.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had the verb G. na- “is” (GL/58), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). This irregular Gnomish verb had some inflected forms: plural nain, participle ol· and past form {ni >>} thi, the last of these being another inspiration for Neo-Sindarin nî “was”.

nan

'with'

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

nauglamír

proper name. Necklace of the Dwarves

The Necklace of the Dwarves holding a Silmaril (S/114), a combination of [N.] naugol “Dwarf” and mîr “jewel” (SA/mîr), the middle a perhaps being the archaic genitive suffix -a.

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this name was G. Nauglafring (LT2/221), a form that was retained in the early Silmarillion drafts (SM/33, SM/134), but was replaced with Ilk. Nauglamír later in the 1930s (SM/313, LR/141). In The Etymologies, this name was designated Doriathrin [Ilkorin], with its initial element being the genitive of Dor. naugol “dwarf” (Ety/NAUK, MIR). This form was not updated in the Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, but no longer fit the phonology of later Sindarin (the expected form would be Nauglavir). Either it was dialectical or (more likely) Tolkien never got around to revising it.

na-chaered palan-díriel

to lands remote I have looked afar

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”.

orod-na-thôn

place name. Mount of the Pine Tree(s)

A mountain in Dorthonion (LotR/469) translated “Pine-mountain” (RC/384) or “Mount of the Pine Tree(s)” (PE17/147). This name is a combination of orod “mountain”, na(n) “of” and thôn “pine-tree” (PE17/82).

Conceptual Development: In Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, this name first appeared as (singular) N. Orod Thon >> (plural) N. Orod Thuin (TI/420), omitting the na “of”.

taur-na-foen

place name. Forest of the Foen

Another name for Dorthonion translated “Forest of the Foen” in a philological fragment of uncertain date, a combination of taur “forest”, na(n) “of” and the mountain name Foen (WJ/187 note #32). It also appeared in another note from the early 1950s where the name was said to be “Beleriandric” (PE21/79).

taur-na-neldor

place name. Beech-forest

Another name for Neldoreth (LotR/469) translated “Beech-forest” (RC/384). It is a combination of taur “forest”, na(n) “of” and neldor “beech”.

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”.

taur-na-chardhîn

place name. Forest of Southern Silence

Another name for Taur-im-Duinath appearing in revisions to the Silmarillion maps from the 1950s-1960s, translated “Forest of Southern Silence” (WJ/185). This name a combination of taur “forest”, na(n) “of”, the nasal mutation char- of harn “southern” and the soft mutation dhîn of dîn “silence”.

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

caro den i innas lin

thy will be done

The fourth line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word caro is the imperative form of the verb car- “to do”. The third word is the definite article i “the”, followed by innas “will” and the possessive pronoun lin “your”, with the adjectival element following the noun as is usual in Sindarin.

The function of the word den in this phrase is unclear. Bill Welden suggested (VT44/25) that is a marker of the passive voice (“thy will be done” instead of “do thy will”), and is the lenited form of ten, either a 3rd-plural pronoun “they” (as in impersonal English phrases such as “they say ...”) or a neutral pronoun “it”. Since “they” appears as di (← ti) elsewhere in the prayer, I think the second possibility is more likely.

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

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

> car-o den i innas lin = “✱do-(imperative) it the will yours”

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

i arben na megil and

Knight of the Long Sword

roch na-heryna

the horse of (the) Lady

sí il chem en i naugrim en ir ellath thor den ammen

*now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) to us

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

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

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

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

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

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

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”

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

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

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

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”

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.

tol-in-gaurhoth

place name. Isle of Werewolves

The name of Tol Sirion after it was inhabited by Sauron and his minions, translated “Isle of Werewolves” (S/156), a combination of tol(l) “island”, the plural in of the definite article i and the class-plural of gaur “werewolf” using the suffix hoth “host” (SA/gaur, hoth).

Conceptual Development: In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, this name was Tol-na-Gaurhoth (SM/311, LR/284).

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”.

bo ceven sui vi menel

on Earth as [it is] in Heaven

The fifth line of Ae Adar Nín, Tolkien’s Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer (VT44/21). The first word is the preposition bo “on” (possibly a mutated form for po), followed by ceven “earth”. The third word is the preposition sui “as”, followed by vi the lenited form of mi “in” and menel “heaven”. There is no Sindarin equivalent for English “it is” in this phrase.

See the entry for the first line of this prayer for a discussion of the (mis)use of menel for “Heaven” in this phrase.

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

> bo Ceven sui vi Menel = “✱on Earth as in Heaven”

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'.

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)

ach

conjunction. but

[it] appears that ach is the contrastive coordinating conjunction 'but'.

ach

conjunction. but

[it] appears that ach is the contrastive coordinating conjunction 'but'.

an

for

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

an

for

(+ 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

to

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

cen

verb. see

cen- (i gên, i chenir), also tíra- (i díra, i thírar), the latter rather meaning “watch”. SEEING #cened (i gened) (sight), pl. cenid (i chenid) if there is a pl. Isolated from cenedril, see mirror, SEEING STONE *gwachaedir (*i 'wachaedir) (palantír), no distinct pl. form. except with article (in gwachaedir); coll. pl. ?gwachaediriath or ?gwachadirnath (the latter assuming that -dir is reduced from older -dirn) The form occurring in the primary source, gwahaedir, must represent the late Gondorian pronunciation with h for ch (PM:186)

e

he

1. e (SD:128-31), 2) ho, hon, hono. (The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ho is the nominative ”he”, whereas hon is the accusative ”him”. Hono could be an emphatic form. It may be that all of these pronouns, except e, are ”Noldorin” and were not maintained in Sindarin proper.)

gwachaedir

seeing stone

(i ’wachaedir) (palantír), no distinct pl. form. except with article (in gwachaedir); coll. pl. ?gwachaediriath or ?gwachadirnath (the latter assuming that -dir is reduced from older -dirn) The form occurring in the primary source, gwahaedir, must represent the late Gondorian pronunciation with h for ch (PM:186) ****

ho

he

hon, hono. *(The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ho is the nominative ”he”, whereas hon is the accusative ”him”. Hono could be an emphatic form. It may be that all of these pronouns, except e, are ”Noldorin” and were not maintained in Sindarin proper.)*

-eb

suffix. adjective suffix

-en

suffix. adjective suffix

-i

suffix. adjectival suffix

-iel

suffix. adjective suffix

-ren

suffix. adjective suffix

@@@ perhaps a later, S-only, innovation

aran cîr lim

*king of swift ships

di

preposition. with

e

pronoun. he

mell

adjective. dear, beloved

nin

pronoun. me

ón annin

*he gave (it) to me

-in

suffix. adjective suffix

baran

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

celair

adjective. brilliant

di

preposition. with

_ prep. _with. Q. lé.

e

pronoun. he

The meaning "he" is deduced from the apparent function of this word in the so-called "King's Letter", but it also seems possible to interpret it as "indeed" (as in Q. e, LR/63, VT/45:11), used here in a way of formal address expressing the wishes or the will of the King

enni

pronoun. to me

mell

adjective. dear

_ adj. _dear, beloved. Q. melda.

nin

pronoun. me

nin

pronoun. me

_ pron. _me.

no

verb. be!

rhosg

adjective. brown

tolo

verb. come!

tíra-

verb. to see

tírad

gerund noun. to see, for the seing

uin

preposition. of the

ad

again

(as prefix) ad-, also meaning "back, second, re-", e.g. aderthad "reunion".

ad

again

also meaning "back, second, re-", e.g. aderthad "reunion".

ammen

for us

(to us).

ammen

to us

(for us)

an

for

(adverbial prefix) an-

an

for the

(for) + i (the).

an

to

(adverbial prefix) an-. 3)

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

celair

brilliant

celair (lenited gelair; no distinct pl. form)

celair

brilliant

(lenited gelair; no distinct pl. form)

cen

see

(i** gên, i** chenir), also tíra- (i** díra, i** thírar), the latter rather meaning “watch”.

cened

seeing

(i gened) (sight), pl. cenid (i chenid) if there is a pl. Isolated from cenedril, see MIRROR.

cûn

bent

cûn (bowed, bowshaped), lenited gûn; pl. cuin

cûn

bent

(bowed, bowshaped), lenited gûn; pl. cuin

e

he

(SD:128-31)

eden

begun again

(new), pl. edin

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)

nin

me

(object form of ”I”) nin; as indirect object anim or enni ”for myself, (to) me”.

rhosc

brown

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

tol

come

tol- (i dôl, i thelir). The present tense tôl is attested (WJ:254). MAKE COME, see FETCH

tol

come

(i dôl, i thelir). The present tense tôl is attested (WJ:254).

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

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

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|

nai

be it that

nai (1) imperative verb "be it that", used with a verb (usually in the future tense) to express a wish. The translation "maybe" in Tolkien's rendering of Namárië is somewhat misleading; he used "be it that" in the interlinear translation in RGEO:67. Apparently this is na as the imperative "be!" with a suffix -i "that", cf. i #3. It can be used with the future tense as an "expression of wish" (VT49:39). Nai hiruvalyë Valimar! Nai elyë hiruva! "May thou find Valimar. May even thou find it!" (Nam, VT49:39). Nai tiruvantes "be it that they will guard it" > "may they guard it" (CO). Nai elen siluva parma-restalyanna "may a star shine upon your book-fair" (VT49:38), nai elen siluva lyenna "may a star shine upon you" (VT49:40), nai elen atta siluvat aurenna veryanwesto "may two stars shine upon the day of your wedding" (VT49:42-45), nai laurë lantuva parmastanna lúmissen tengwiesto "may (a) golden light fall on your book at the times of your reading" (VT49:47). Nai may also be used with a present continuative verb if an ongoing situation is wished for: Nai Eru lye mánata "God bless you" (VT49:39) or literally "be it that God is (already) blessing you". The phrase nai amanyaonnalya "be it that your child [will be] blessed" omits any copula; Tolkien noted that "imper[ative] of wishes precedes adj." (VT49:41). VT49:28 has the form nái for "let it be that"; Patrick Wynne theorizes that nái is actually an etymological form underlying nai (VT49:36)

ná

is

ná (1) vb. "is" (am). (Nam, RGEO:67). This is the copula used to join adjectives, nouns or pronouns "in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have certain quality, or to be the same as another" (VT49:28). Also in impersonal constructions: ringa ná "it is cold" (VT49:23). The copula may however be omitted "where the meaning is clear" without it (VT49:9). Ná is also used as an interjection "yes" or "it is so" (VT49:28). Short na in airë [] na, "[] is holy" (VT43:14; some subject can evidently be inserted in the place of [].) Short na also functions as imperative: alcar mi tarmenel na Erun "glory in high heaven be to God" (VT44:32/34), also na airë "be holy" (VT43:14); also cf. nai "be it that" (see nai #1). The imperative participle á may be prefixed (á na, PE17:58). However, VT49:28 cites ná as the imperative form. Pl. nar or nár "are" (PE15:36, VT49:27, 9, 30); dual nát (VT49:30). With pronominal endings: nányë/nanyë "I am", nalyë or natyë "you (sg.) are" (polite and familiar, respectively), nás "it is", násë "(s)he is", nalmë "we are" (VT49:27, 30). Some forms listed in VT49:27 are perhaps to be taken as representing the aorist: nain, naityë, nailyë (1st person sg, and 2nd person familiar/polite, respectively); does a following na represent the aorist with no pronominal ending? However, the forms nanyë, nalyë, ná, nassë, nalme, nar (changed from nár) are elsewhere said to be "aorist", without the extra vowel i (e.g. nalyë rather than nailyë); also notice that *"(s)he is" is here nassë rather than násë (VT49:30).Pa.t. nánë or né "was", pl. náner/nér and dual nét "were" (VT49:6, 9, 10, 27, 28, 30, 36). According to VT49:31, né "was" cannot receive pronominal endings (though nésë "he was" is attested elsewhere, VT49:28-29), and such endings are rather added to the form ane-, e.g. anen "I was", anel "you were", anes "(s)he/it was" (VT49:28-29). Future tense nauva "will be" (VT42:34, VT49:19, 27; another version however gives the future tense as uva, VT49:30). Nauva with a pronominal ending occurs in tanomë nauvan "I will be there" (VT49:19), this example indicating that forms of the verb ná may also be used to indicate position. Perfect anaië "has been" (VT49:27, first written as anáyë). Infinitive (or gerund) návë "being", PE17:68. See also nai #1.

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)

namárië

Farewell

This was the poem that Galadriel recited to Frodo and the fellowship as they departed Lórien (LotR/377). It is the longest canonical Elvish text published by Tolkien, and one of the longest texts in the corpus. In the literature, it is usually called the Namárië or “Farewell” poem, though in one place Tolkien gave it the formal title Altariello nainië Lóriendesse “Galadriel’s lament in Lórien” (RGEO/58).

As a poem, this text is freer in word order and syntax than ordinary Quenya prose (RGEO/58). This makes it somewhat difficult to interpret the poem, since the English translation of the poem does not correspond directly with the Elvish wording. Fortunately, Tolkien published an extensive commentary on the poem within his lifetime (RGEO/58-62), making the proper interpretation the poem abundantly clear. In this commentary, Tolkien included a prose version of the poem, written in a “normal style” and with more ordinary (and therefore easier to follow) word order. The prose version of the poem is discussed in a separate entry.

The text below mostly divides the poem into one phrase for each line of the original poem. The exceptions are lines 5-6, 9-10 and 13-14 which are organized differently to facilitate discussion. The English glosses are from the translation of the poem in the 50th anniversary edition of The Lord of the Rings. Only proper names are capitalized. Interpretations are discussed in the entries for individual phrases.

namárië

farewell

namárië interjection "farewell" (Nam, RGEO:67)

nan

but

nan conj. "but" (FS); the Etymologies also gives ná, nán (NDAN), but these words may be confused with forms of the verb "to be", so nan should perhaps be preferred, unless for "but" one uses the wholly distinct word mal. In Tolkien's later Quenya, it may be that he introduced new words for "but" to free up nan for another meaning (perhaps the adverb "back", compare the prefix nan-).

ná

but, on the contrary, on the other hand

ná (2), also nán, conj. "but, on the contrary, on the other hand" (NDAN; the form nan, q.v., is probably to be preferred to avoid confusion with ná "is", *nán "I am").

na-

prefix. plu-

na-

prefix. infinitive prefix

na-súrimar

noun. aspirate

aspirate [stops]

nan

adverb. again

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| |

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.

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|

cúna-

verb. to bend

A verb for “to bend” based on the adjective Q. kúna “bent, curved” appearing in the Markirya poem of the 1960s (MC/223).

Conceptual Development: Versions of the poem from around 1930 had ᴱQ. lunga(na)- for “bend” (MC/214), more exactly meaning “sag, bend down, hang heavy” (PE16/75) and thus clearly based on ᴱQ. lungo or lunga “heavy” (PE13/163; PE16/75). Another poem from this same period had ᴱQ. kauta- “to bend” (MC/216; PE16/100).

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).

*turúna

mastered

*turúna passive participle "mastered", only attested attested in the elided form turún' (UT:138, apparently incomplete spelling turun in Silm ch. 21). The form may be understood as the passive participle of the verb turu- "master, defeat, have victory over" (PE17:113), the sole available example of a U-stem verb appearing in such a participle form. Compare -na #4.

-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.

-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.

cúna

bent, curved

cúna ("k") 1) adj. "bent, curved", from which is derived 2) cúna- vb. "bend", occurring with a- prefix (changed by Tolkien from a na-prefix) in Markirya. Here cúna- is intransitive; we do not know whether it can also be transitive "bend".

am(be)na

adverb. nearer to

A word appearing as amna or ambena “nearer to” in notes from around 1967, an allative form of ambë “more” and more precisely meaning “to a further point in the motion towards an object” (PE17/91). It might be contrasted with ambela “further still beyond” or (hypothetical) ✱ambelo “further away from”.

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)_

anat

but

anat conj. "but" (VT43:23; possibly an ephemeral form)

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

á na márië

be well

amanar

proper name. Yule

ca(na)sta

fraction. one fourth, one fourth, *quarter

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

amna

adverb. nearer to

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

turúna

adjective. mastered

ana-

prefix. to, towards

har

near

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

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).

ná-

verb. to be, to be, [ᴱQ.] exist

The basic Quenya verb for “to be”, based on the root √NĀ (PE17/93). It was typically used as the copula equating a noun to another noun or an adjective:

> √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).

In many circumstances this verb was optional:

> As a copula “be, is” is not usually expressed in Quenya where the meaning is clear: sc. in such expressions as “A is good” where the adjective (contrary to the usual order in Quenya of a qualifying adjective) follows: the normal Quenya for this is A mára (PE17/93).

For further discussion see the entry on the Quenya copula.

Conceptual Development: This verb dates back all the way to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where it was given as the early root ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). This verb and its root appeared regularly throughout Tolkien’s writings thereafter, but at times Tolkien considered alternative verbs for “to be”; see the entry ëa- for further discussion.

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| |

ëa-

verb. to be, exist, to be, exist, [ᴹQ.] have being, be found extant in the real world

One of two Quenya verbs for “to be”, along with ná-. The verb ëa- is derived from the root √EÑ (PE22/147; VT49/28) and so has an unusual past form enge (VT49/29; PE22/147). Strictly speaking, this verb is used only in statements asserting the actual existence of a thing within the world, so “to exist” is a better translation than “to be”:

> Verb nā- is used to assert qualities etc. of separate things in the Universe, verb eŋa (ëa) to assert their actual real existence extra-mentally (PE22/166 note #113).

As such, the verb ëa- is generally not followed by another assertion:

> 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. eŋe is not followed by any adj. or noun but only by a[n] adverb (or negated adverb) mainly[?] of time (PE22/147).

Thus one might say Aracorno enge “Aragorn existed” or Aracorno enge andanéya “Aragorn existed long ago”, but to say “Aragorn was tall” or “Aragorn was a Man” you would need to use the verb ná-: Aracorno náne halla, Aracorno náne Atan. See the entry on the copula for a further discussion of how “to be” statements are expressed in Quenya.

Conceptual Development: The verb ᴱQ. ná- “be” dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/64), but Tolkien often had a second “be” verb, sometimes coexisting with ná and sometimes replacing it. The earliest of these alternate “be” verbs was ᴱQ. ō- “am” under the early root ᴱ√Ō “be, exist” (QL/69), a document that also contained ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, the main “to be” verb was ᴱQ. e- (PE14/57).

By the time of The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ná- “be” was restored (Ety/NĀ²), but Tolkien mentioned another root ᴹ√YĒ for “to be” (EtyAC/YĒ), which in the 1930s was the basis for the so-called “stative suffix” ᴹQ. -ie seen in Fíriel’s Song from this period (LR/72). By the 1940s, ᴹQ. ye- seems to have become the ordinary verb for “to be”, most notably in the original layer of composition for the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/123 note #130).

In QVS Tolkien revised the verb for “to be” to ëa-, derived from a root ᴹ√Ē or more properly eʒe or eñe (PE22/122). In the revisions to QVS, ëa was used for all “to be” statements, both for existence and for equating to adjectives or other nouns, such as in parka ëa nyé “I am thirsty” (PE22/122). But Tolkien eventually restored ná- “be” again, perhaps in the Namárië poem (LotR/378) where namárië “farewell” = na + márië “be well” (PE17/59, 162).

Tolkien retained ëa-, most notably as the basis for the name of the universe Eä “the World That Is” (S/20; Let/286; MR/39; NM/231). It is not clear when Tolkien decided that ëa- was used for statements of existence only. Its root √EÑ was still glossed “be” in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s (PE19/96), and its past form enge was used for “was” in the Alcar i Ataren prayer from later in the 1950s (VT43/36). However, its limitation to existence only was well established by the late 1960s, as described above (PE22/147; VT49/28).

a-

see

a- (2) a prefix occurring in the Markirya poem (Tolkien first used na-, then changed it). It may be prefixed to verbal stems following a noun that is the object of sense-verbs like "see" and "hear" when the verb it is prefixed to describes what happens to this noun, as in man cenuva lumbor ahosta[?] (changed from na-hosta), "who shall see the clouds gather?" (hosta = "gather").

násië

amen

násië interjection "amen", "may it be so" (VT43:24, 35. As a translation of "amen", Tolkien apparently abandoned the earlier form násan and the two-word variant san na, VT43:24)

san

so

san (2) adv. ephemeral word for "so" (ya(n)...san "as...so"; san na "thus be" = let it be so, "amen"); this form was apparently quickly abandoned by Tolkien (VT43:16, 24, VT49.18)

tul-

verb. come

tul- vb. "come" (WJ:368), 1st pers. aorist tulin "I come" (TUL), 3rd pers. sg. tulis "(s)he comes" (VT49:19), perfect utúlië "has come" (utúlien "I am come", EO), utúlie'n aurë "Day has come" (the function of the 'n is unclear; it may be a variant of the article "the", hence literally "the Day has come"). Past tense túlë "came" in LR:47 and SD:246, though an alternative form *tullë has also been theorized. Túlë in VT43:14 seems to be an abnormal aorist stem, later abandoned; tula in the same source would be an imperative. Prefixed future tense entuluva "shall come again" in the Silmarillion, future tuluva also in the phrase aranielya na tuluva* "may thy kingdom come" (VT44:32/34), literally apparently "thy kingdom, be-it-that (it) will come". In early "Qenya" we have the perfects tulielto "they have come" (LT1:114, 270, VT49:57) and tulier "have come", pl., in the phrase I·Eldar tulier "the Eldar have come"(LT1:114, 270). Read probably utúlieltë, Eldar utúlier** in LotR-style Quenya.

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.

locin

adjective. bent, bent, *curled

An adjective meaning “bent” appearing in 1964 notes on Dalath Dirnen (DD) based on the root √LOK “bend” (PE17/160).

Neo-Quenya: I would use this adjective for “curled” as well, given lócë “bight, bend, curl of hair” appearing on the same page.

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 lenéme 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. malto 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

-ië

suffix. is

-ië (3) "is", -ier "are", stative verb suffix occurring in Fíriel's Song: númessier "they are in the west", meldielto "they are...beloved", talantië "he is fallen", márië "it is good" (< *númessë "in the west", melda "beloved", *talanta "fallen"); future tense -iéva in hostainiéva "will be gathered" (< *hostaina "gathered"). Compare ye "is", yéva "will be", verbs that also occur in Fíriel's Song. This suffix is probably not valid in LotR-style Quenya: -ië is an infinitival or gerundial ending in CO, for ye "is" Namárië has ná, and the phrase "lost is" is vanwa ná, not *vanwië.

-ro

he

-ro pronominal ending "he", in antaváro, q.v. In Tolkiens later Quenya, the ending -s covers both "he", "she" and "it".

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)

cen-

verb. see, behold

cen- ("k")vb. "see, behold", future tense cenuva ("kenuva") "shall see" in Markirya. Imperative cena ("k"), VT47:31.Also #cen = noun "sight" as the final element of some nouns (*apacen, tercen, q.v.) Compare the root KHEN-, KEN-, KYEN- "look at, see, observe, direct gaze" (VT45:21)

essë

he

essë (2) pron? "he" (and also "she, it"?), possible emphatic 3rd sg. emphatic pronoun, attested in the sentence essë úpa nas "he is dumb" (PE17:126)

haila

adverb. far beyond

A word for “far beyond” in notes from 1965, a combination of ᴹ√KHAY “far” and lá “beyond” (PE17/65). In this note it was a “more remote” variant of palla.

ni

me

ni (1) 1st person sg. pron. "I" (according to PE17:68 also "me" as object), with long vowel (ní) when stressed (VT49:51), cf. ní nauva next to nauvan for "I will be" (VT49:19), the former wording emphasizing the pronoun. The pronoun ni represents the original stem-form (VT49:50). Dative nin "for me, to me" (Arct, Nam, RGEO:67, VT41:11/15). Compare the reflexive pronoun imni, imnë "myself" and the emphatic pronoun inyë, q.v. The ancient element ni is said to have implied, originally, "this by me, of my [?concern]" (VT49:37)

se

he, she, it

se (1) pron. "he, she, it" also object "him, her, it", 3rd person sg. Used "of living things including plants" (VT49:37; the corresponding inaimate pronoun is sa). The pronoun comes directly from se as the original stem-form (VT49:50). Stressed form sé, VT49:51, attested in object position in melin sé "I love him" (VT49:21). Ósë "with him/her", VT43:29; see ó-. Long dative/allative sena "[to/for] him" or "at him", VT49:14, allative senna "to him/her" (VT49:45, 46). Compare the reflexive pronoun insë *"himself, herself".

véla

verb. see

véla (2) vb. "see" (Arct); present/continuative tense of a verbal stem #vel-? The context of the sentence where it occurs ("till I see you next") suggests that this is "see" in the sense of "meet".

>> yomenië

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|

ye

is

ye (2) copula "is" (FS, VT46:22); both earlier and later sources rather point to ná (q.v.) as the copula "is", so ye may have been an experiment Tolkien later abandoned. Future tense yéva, q.v.

-a

suffix. adjectival suffix

This suffix is frequently used to create the adjective form of a noun, especially in the form -ëa for nouns ending in -ë. This function dates back to CE. ✶-ā.

a-

prefix. infinitive prefix

antanen parma sen

I gave a book to him

melda

adjective. dear, beloved, beloved, dear, [ᴹQ.] sweet

násan

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

ono

conjunction. but

palla

preposition/adverb. far beyond

-ya

suffix. adjective suffix

apa

conjunction. but

aran linta ciryalíva

*king of swift ships

as

preposition. with

mal

conjunction. but

násië

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

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.

a ancalima imb’ illi

A is brightest of all

apa

but

apa (3) conj. "but": melinyes apa la hé "I love him but not him" (another) (VT49:15)

aran linta ciryalion

*king of swift ships

arcalima ar eleni

A is brightest of all

arquen andamacilwa

Knight of the Long Sword

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.

ata

again

ata adv. "again", also prefix ata-, at- "back, again, re-; second time, double" (AT(AT), PE17:166, cf. ataquanta-, ataquetië) or "two" (PE17:166), also "ambi-" as in ataformaitë, q.v.

cansat

fraction. one fourth

cautáron

bent

cautáron ("k") adj.?"bent" (MC:216; this is "Qenya")

cenya

verb. see, perceive

ea

verb. be

be

ea-

verb. be, exist

lé

with

lé (2) prep. "with" (PE17:95)

mal

but

mal conj. "but" (VT43:23)

melin

dear

melin adj. "dear" (MEL)

numba

bent, humped

numba adj. "bent, humped" (PE17:168)

nó

but

nó (2) conj. "but" (VT41:13)

nó

conjunction. but

ono

but

ono conj. "but" (VT43:23, VT44:5/9)

onë

but

onë conj. "but" (VT43:23)

onë

conjunction. but

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)]

ta

so, like that, also

ta (2) adv. "so, like that, also", e.g. ta mára "so good" (VT49:12)

tambë

so

tambë prep. (1) "so" or "as" (referring to something remote; contrast sívë). Sívë...tambë "as...so" (VT43:17).

ten

for

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

ter

so

ter (2), also tér, prep. (?) ephemeral word for "so" (see ier), abandoned by Tolkien in favour of tambë (VT43:17)

tul-

verb. come

tunta-

see, notice, perceive

tunta- "see, notice, perceive", pa.t. túne (QL:95)

varnë

brown, swart, dark brown

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

ó

with, accompanying

úyë

is

úyë vb., a form occurring in Fíriel's Song (cf. VT46:22), apparently ye "is" with the negative prefix ú-, hence "is not" (úyë sérë indo-ninya símen, translated "my hearth resteth not here", literally evidently *"[there] is not rest [for] my heart here")

na

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

na

preposition. to, towards, at

nan

preposition. of

mîr na nauglin

proper name. mîr na Nauglin

The proper Noldorin name for the Ilk. Nauglamír (Ety/NAUK) along with variant mîr i-nuig (EtyAC/NAUK), a combination of mîr “jewel”, na “of” and (?archaic plural) Nauglin “Dwarves”.

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

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

cûm-na-dengin

place name. Mound of Slain

An earlier form of the name Haudh-en-Ndengin, translated “Mound of Slain” (SM/312, LR/147), a combination of a remnant of G. cûm “mound”, N. na “of” and the plural of dangen “slain (person)”.

taur-na-danion

place name. Forest of Pines

Earliest name of Dorthonion in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, first appearing as Taur Danin (SM/197) and later expanded to Taur-na-Danion (LR/127) with variants -Thanion, -Donion, -Thonion before ultimately being replaced by the Ilkorin name Dorthonion (LR/145). It is a combination of taur “forest”, na “of” and early variants of thaun “pine”, possibly as an earlier Gnomish-style genitive plural.

taur-na-fuin

place name. Forest of Night

Earlier name of S. Taur-nu-Fuin, this form of the name first appeared in The Lays of Beleriand (LB/34). Early in this period, Tolkien often translated this name as “Deadly Nightshade” (LB/34, SM/103, SM/299), but he eventually decided that this translation was actually a second name for the forest, whose Elvish form was N. Deldúwath.

In The Etymologies, Tolkien also posited that this name was a punning alteration of N. Dor-na-Thuin, the proper Noldorin form of Ilk. Dorthonion, the name of the region before it was corrupted by Morgoth (Ety/THŌN). When the Noldorin language became Sindarin, this development no longer made sense.

taur-na-delduath

place name. *Forest of Deadly Nightshade

A variant name of Taur-na-Fuin appearing in The Etymologies from the 1930s (Ety/ÑGOROTH), simply an expanded form of its other variant Deldúwath “Deadly Nightshade” with the addition of taur “forest” and na “of”.

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

haudh-na-dengin

place name. Hill of Slain

pennas-na-ngoelaidh

proper name. History of the Noldoli

tol-na-gaurhoth

place name. Isle of Werewolves

dor-na-thuin

place name. Land of Pines

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).

amon dengin

place name. Hill of Slain

An earlier form of the name Haudh-en-Ndengin, translated “Hill of Slain” (SM/146, LR/314), a combination of N. amon “hill” and the plural of N. dangen “slain (person)”.

duil rewinion

place name. Hills of the Hunters

Earliest name of Taur-en-Faroth in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (SM/225). Its seems to be a combination of the plural of dôl “hill” and the form rewinion “of the hunters”, apparently a genitive plural formation, possibly related to N. rhui(w) “hunt” from the root ᴹ√ROY “chase” or perhap G. raust “hunt” from the root ᴱ√RAVA.

gwathfuin-daidelos

place name. Deadly Nightshade

An earlier name for S. Deldúwath appearing in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, glossed “Deadly Nightshade” (LR/133) or “Night of Dread’s Shadow” (LR/406). It is a combination of gwath “shade”, fuin “night” and Daedhelos “Shadow of Fear”.

math-fuin-delos

place name. Deadly Nightshade

Earliest name for S. Deldúwath appearing in Silmarillion drafts from the early 1930s, glossed “Deadly Nightshade” (SM/299). It is a combination of G. math “dusk”, N. fuin “night” and a variant form delos of deloth “abhorrence”.

cristhorn

place name. Eagle’s Cleft

deldúwath

place name. Deadly Nightshade

dor-daideloth

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

-(i)on

suffix. adjectival suffix

-eb

suffix. adjective suffix

-en

suffix. adjective suffix

-iel

suffix. adjective suffix

-ren

suffix. adjective suffix

-ui

suffix. adjective suffix

a(n)

preposition. of

celeir

adjective. brilliant

ho

pronoun. he

mell

adjective. dear

muin

adjective. dear

-in

suffix. adjective suffix

-rin

suffix. adjective suffix

aglaur, aglor

adjective. brilliant

brilliant, glorious

aklōra

adjective. brilliant

ON. brilliant, glorious

an-

prefix. with, by

baran

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

celeir

adjective. brilliant

cen-

verb. to see

heltha-

verb. to strip

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

ho

pronoun. he

hon

pronoun. he

hon(o)

pronoun. he

hono

pronoun. he

klōra

adjective. brilliant

ON. brilliant

mell

adjective. dear

muin

adjective. dear

rhosc

adjective. brown

tol-

verb. to come

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

-ya

suffix. adjectival suffix

dē

preposition. with

melnā

noun. dear, beloved

tul-

verb. come, is coming, has come, is here, I come, have come

-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”.

hê

pronoun. me

This element appears to be the object pronoun “me” in the phrase bâ kitabdahê “don’t touch me” (SD/250). It is not clear whether it could also serve as a subject pronoun “I”. Thorsten Renk instead suggested (NBA/18) that -hê may be a marker for the imperative, and proposed the invented word Ad. !ni for “I, me”, a hypothetical cognate of Q. ni.

u

pronoun. he

A well-attested pronominal prefix, the masculine singular pronoun “he” (SD/433). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion. Tolkien said that it had another variant hu- (SD/433), but this variant was only appears in the early and rejected hunekkū, which was changed to unekkū (see nakh-). Tolkien further indicated that the form u- primitively had an initial consonant [ɣ] or [ʔ] that was lost (SD/433).

sha

preposition. with

u

preposition. to

-ul

suffix. of

-o

suffix. of

-ya

suffix. adjective suffix