A word for “snowdrop”, perhaps a reference to that species of flower, appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a combination of ᴹQ. nie “tear” and ᴹQ. ninqe “white”, so literally “white tear” (Ety/NEI, NIK-W). ᴱQ. nieninqe also appeared with the same form, meaning and etymology in the Qenya Lexicon and the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s (QL/68; PME/68). In later writings, it appeared in adjectival form nieninquëa “like a snowdrop” in the 1950s version of the Nieninquë poem (PE16/96); the same form appeared in the version of the poem written around 1930, and its drafts (MC/215; PE16/90, 92). The word nieninquë likewise served as the title of that poem.
Quenya
nieninquë
snowdrop
nieninquë
noun. snowdrop, snowdrop, [ᴹQ.] (lit.) white tear
Element in
- Q. nieninquëa “like a snowdrop” ✧ PE16/096
Elements
Word Gloss nie “tear” ninquë “white; chill, cold; pallid”
nieninquë
Nieninquë
Elements
Word Gloss norolinda pirucendëa “*tripping lightly, whirling lightly” lendë tanna Nieliccilis “*thither came little Niéle” sana wendë nieninquëa “*that maiden like a snowdrop” yan i wilyar antar miquelis “*to whom the air gives kisses” i·oromandi tanna lendë “*the wood-spirits came thither” ar wingildi wilwarindië “*and the foam-like butterflies” losselië telerinwa “*the white people of the shores of Elfland” táli lantalasselingië “*with feet like the music of falling leaves”
nieninquë ("q") noun "snowdrop", etymologically "white tear" (NIK-W, LT1:262, 266)