nótima

adjective. countable, limited in number (weight and measure); (colloquial) moderate in amount, some few, several

A word for “countable”, a combination of Q. not- “count” and -ima “-able” (PE17/62, 68). In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, Tolkien said that nótima also had the sense “limited in number (weight or measure)”, and thus colloquially was used to mean “moderate (in amount), some few, several” as in tas cennen nótimë eldali “I saw a few elves there” (PE22/155). See also [ᴹQ.] sempa for another word meaning “few”.

Conceptual Development: Early Qenya of the 1910s had a word ᴱQ. tasinwa “numbered” as an element in the name ᴱQ. Nieriltasinwa “Unnumbered Tears” (LT2/84).

nótima

countable

nótima adj. "countable" (PE17:68, 172), negated únótima "uncountable", q.v.

nótima

adjective. countable; some few

-ima

suffix. -able, -ible, adjective suffix, apt to do

-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)