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!
ninqe
adjective. white
kildo kirya ninqe
a white ship one saw
man kiluva kirya ninqe?
Who shall see a white ship?
The first and fifth lines of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/213). The first word is man “who” followed by the future tense of the verb kili- “to see”, translated “heed” in the fifth line. The object of the phrase is the noun kirya “ship”, followed by the adjective ninqe “white”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> man kil-uva kirya ninqe = “✱who see-(future) ship white”
máno kiluvando ninqe lutya kirya wilwarindon
*who shall see a white ship sailing like a butterfly
The first phrase (lines 1-2) of the intermediate version of the Oilima Markirya poem (PE16/77). The first word is a variant (masculine?) form máno of the interrogative pronoun man “who” followed by future 3rd-singular masculine inflection of the verb kili- “to see”.
The object of the phrase is the noun kirya “ship” preceded by the adjective ninqe “white” and the active-participle lutya “sailing” of the verb lutu- “to sail”, also functioning as an adjective. The phrase ends with the adverbial form of the noun wilwarin “butterfly”: wilwarindon = “like a butterfly”.
The sense of the phrase seems to be identical to the first two lines in the English translations of the poem LA2a-LA2b (PE16/68-9): “who shall see a white ship sailing like a butterfly”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> máno kil-uva-ndo ninqe lut-ya kirya wilwarin-don = “✱who see-(future)-he white sail-ing ship butterfly-like”
man kiluva kirya ninqe?
Who shall heed a white ship?
ondolin ninqanéron
the rocks lay white
The eleventh phrase of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/220). Its first word is the nominative plural form of ondo “rock” followed by the past 3rd-plural masculine form of the verb ninqa- “to shine white”, with “lay” being a loose translation.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> ondo-li-n ninqa-né-ron = “✱rock-(plural)-(nominative) shine-white-(past)-they”
Conceptual Development: A preliminary form of this phrase appeared in the fourth draft of this poem, ondoin morin ninqe “the dark rocks were white” (OM1d: PE16/62). This is a copula, with “is” understood. The subject ondoin and its modifying adjective were morin both nominative plural, while its predicate adjective ninqe does not appear to be inflected at all.
Tolkien altered the phrase into its final verbal formation in the sixth draft (OM1f: PE16/74).
lossa
adjective. white
The first phrase of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/220). The first word kildo “one saw, he saw” is the aorist 3rd-singular masculine inflect of the verb kili- “to see”, as suggested by Gilson, Welden, and Hostetter (PE16/56). It is followed by the object of the phrase: kirya ninqe “a white ship”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> kil-do kirya ninqe = “✱see-he ship white”
Conceptual Development: This phrase appeared in the very first draft of the poem (OM1a: PE16/56), where Tolkien first considered using a past-tense formation killer >> kílier before settling on the aorist kildo. The phrase remained the same thereafter in all later drafts, ignoring the aberrant Finnish-like spelling of the fifth draft (OM1e), though in the third draft it was the second line rather than the first (OM1c: PE16/60).