nar

nar

[nar] (2), see [narwë]

nyar-

verb. to tell

nyar- vb. "to tell" (1st pers. aorist nyarin "I tell") (NAR2, VT45:36). Compare nyárë, nyarië, nyarna.

nar

are

nar (1) "are"; see ná #1

anar

noun. Sun

Anar is the most common Quenya name for the Sun and was derived from primitive ✶Anār, an augmented form of the root √NAR “fire” (Let/425; PE17/38; Ety/ANÁR; SD/302, 306). In the uninflected form the long vowel shortens as usual in final syllables, but its stem form is probably Anár- as with the name Anárion (LotR/1044) and the plural coranári of coranar “sun-round” (PM/126). When suffixes with consonant clusters are added, however, the á shortens such as with Anarinya “my Sun” (LR/72).

Conceptual Development: This term appeared in Silmarillion drafts of the 1930s with the gloss “Heart of Flame” (LR/240) and as ᴹQ. Anar “sun” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, already with the derivation given above (Ety/ANÁR, NAR¹).

nár

noun. fire (as an element), fire (as an element); [ᴹQ.] flame

The basic Quenya word for “fire” derived from the root √NAR of the same meaning (PE17/29, 38), more specifically “fire as an element” or as a force or abstract concept (PE17/183), versus ruinë “a fire, a blaze” which is an individual fire or blaze in the physical world. In The Etymologies of the 1930s it appeared as ᴹQ. nár or náre “flame” derived from the root ᴹ√NAR “flame, fire” (Ety/NAR¹).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had as a derivative of the root ᴱ√SAH(Y)A “be hot” the word ᴱQ. Sā “Fire, especially in temples, etc. A mystic name identified with Holy Ghost” (QL/81), and this “mystic name” was also mentioned in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/81). Thus it seems ᴱQ. sá was “mystic fire”, as opposed to ᴱQ. uru which was ordinary “fire” (QL/98).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use this word as [ᴹQ.] náre as an independent word, and use nár or nar in compounds only. This helps keep it distinct from nár the plural of ná- “to be”.

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.

nár

flame

nár noun "flame", also nárë (NAR1).Translated "fire" in some names, see Aicanár(o), Fëanáro (where nár apparently has the masculine ending -o added to it). According to PE17:183, nár- is "fire as an element" (a concrete fire or blaze is rather called a ruinë).

Narquelion

fire-fading, autumn

Narquelion ("q")noun "fire-fading, autumn" (FS, Narqelion, KWEL, (LAS1), "nar-qelion", VT45:24); simply translated "Fading" in LR:72. The word also heads a section of the poem The Trees of Kortirion(LT1:41).

-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.

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|

narwë

sign, token

[narwë (and short nar, unless this is an incomplete form) noun "sign, token"] (VT45:37)

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.

nárë

flame

nárë, also short nár, noun "flame" (NAR1, Narqelion). Translated "fire" in some names, see Aicanáro, Fëanáro (where nár apparently has the masculine ending -o, though in the latter name it may also be the genitive ending since Fëa-náro** is translated "Spirit of Fire"). At one point, Tolkien mentioned "nār-" as the word for "fire (as an element)" (PE17:183). Cf. ruinë** as the word for "a fire" (a concrete instance of fire) in the same source.

ruinë

fire, a blaze

ruinë noun "a fire, a blaze" (PE17:183). Compare nárë.

sá

fire

sá noun "fire" (LT1:265; "Qenya" spelling sâ. Rather nárë in LotR-style Quenya.)

taina

sign

#taina (2) noun "sign", isolated from Tainacolli *"Sign-bearer" MR:385

tanna

sign, token

tanna (1) noun "sign, token" (MR:385, PE17:186), also tanwa (PE17:186)

tanna

noun. sign, token

tanwa

sign, token

tanwa noun "sign, token" (Tolkien marked this word with a query, but it is not clearly rejected). Also tanna (#1). (PE17:186)

tengwa

noun. sign

sign, indicator, letter

uru

fire

uru noun "fire" (LT1:271)

velca

flame

velca ("k") noun "flame" (LT1:260; nár, nárë would be the normal word in Tolkien's later Quenya)

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.

á hyamë rámen úcarindor

pray for us sinners

The sixth line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first word á is the imperative particle, indicating that the verb form hyamë “pray” is an imperative. The third word rámen “for us” is combination of the preposition rá “for” (lit. “✱on behalf of”) and the dative men of the pronoun me “us”. The last word úcarindor “sinners” is the plural of úcarindo “sinner”.

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

> á hyamë rá-me-n úcarindo-r = “✱do pray for-us-(dative) sinner-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: In the first two versions of the prayer Tolkien suffixed the pronoun lye “you (polite)” to the imperative particle a: alye (I-II). He also used the verb arca (I-II) instead of hyamë (III-IV) for “pray”. He used several different words for the preposition “for”: atar (I), meter (II), hrá (III deleted) and rá, always followed by the pronoun me “us”, sometimes dative (men) and sometimes not (me).

Tolkien considered several words for “sinners”: ulcarindor (I deleted), naicandor (I), naicor (I replacement), naici (II deleted) and úcarindor (IV). In version II of the prayer, Tolkien replaced “sinners” with a subordinate clause: i naici nar “✱[those] who are sinners” (II deleted) >> i naiquear “✱[those] who sin” (II).

Wynne, Smith and Hostetter analyzed the word naiquear as an adjective used as a plural noun: “sinners” (VT43/34). However, since it replaced a verbal phrase, I think it is likelier to be the present tense of an otherwise unattested verb naiqua- “✱to sin”.

| |  I  | II |III|IV| |{arca >>}|alye|á| |{alye >>}|arca|hyamë| |{atarmen >>}|atarme|meterme|{hrá >>} rá men|rámen| |{ulcarindor >>}| naicandor [>> naicor]|i {naici nar >>} naiquear|úcarindor|

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).

úr

fire

úr noun "fire" (UR)This stem was struck out in Etym, but a word that must be derived from it occurs in LotR, so it seems that Tolkien restored it. Early "Qenya" also has Ûr, noun "the Sun" (also Úri, Úrinci ("k"), Urwen) (LT1:271). Cf. Úri.

úr(in)

proper name. Sun

A late remnant of earlier names for the Sun: ᴱQ. Ûr and ᴹQ. Úrin. In Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, this name was changed from Úrin >> Naira >> Vása (MR/198), but the form Úr(in) occasionally appeared in some later writings (PE17/148, MR/377). This name was a derivative of the root √UR “heat, be hot” (PE17/148).

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, this name was ᴱQ. Ûr, Ur or Úri “Sun”, but literally meaning “Fire” (LT1/187, QL/98). The name became ᴹQ. Úrin in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/240). It was rejected in The Etymologies along with the root form ᴹ√UR, but reappeared sometimes in later writing as noted above.

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")

tanwa

noun. sign, token