Qenya
naina-
verb. to lament, to lament, *mourn
(nai)naina-
verb. to lament
nui
noun. lament
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing as (nai)naina- “lament” derived from the root ᴹ√NAY of the same meaning (Ety/NAY). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road Christopher Tolkien gave the form as naina- (LR/375), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne corrected this to (nai)naina- in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT45/37). The ongoing validity of this verb is indicated by the noun form nainië “lament” in the title of Galadriel’s poem: Altariello nainië Lóriendesse (RGEO/58).
Conceptual Development: A likely precursor is ᴱQ. nyéna- “lament” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√NYE(NE) “bleat” (QL/68).
Neo-Quenya: In a 2024-11-03 post on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested this verb might also mean “✱mourn”.