nuquerna adj. "reversed", or perhaps rather *"turned upside down". Attested in the phrases silmë nuquerna and árë nuquerna, q.v.
Quenya
nuquerna
adjective. reversed, inverted, *(lit.) under-turned
nuquerna
reversed
silmë nuquerna
noun. s-reversed
árë nuquerna
noun. árë-reversed
quer-
verb. turn
#quer- vb. "turn" (transitive), attested as pa.t. quernë (VT49:18-20). Compare kuere (kwere) as one variant of a stem meaning "turn" (PE14:65). English intransitive "to turn" requires a reflexive pronoun in Quenya: mo quernë immo "one turned oneself" (VT49:6), in idiomatic English simply "one turned". Passive participle #querna "turned", isolated from nuquerna (q.v.) "under-turned" = reversed, turned upside down. Also in númenquerna "turned westward" (VT49:18), nanquernë "turned back", pl. form of *nanquerna (VT49:17-18, 20)
róma
loud sound, trumpet-sound
róma (2) noun "loud sound, trumpet-sound" (ROM). In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, róma was also the name of tengwa #30, which letter Tolkien would later call silmë nuquerna instead.
silmë
starlight
silmë noun "starlight", also name of tengwa #29 (Appendix E), though in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, the name silmë instead applied to tengwa #3 (VT46:13). Silmë nuquerna "_s reversed", name of tengwa #30, similar to normal silmë but turned upside down (Appendix E)_. In the Etymologies, stem SIL, silmë is defined as the "light of Silpion" (Telperion), and also a poetic word for "silver".
árë
day
árë noun "day" (PM:127) or "sunlight" (SA:arien). Stem ári- _(PE17:126, where the word is further defined as "warmth, especially of the sun, sunlight"). Also name of tengwa #31; cf. also ar # 2. Originally pronounced ázë; when /z/ merged with /r/, the letter became superfluous and was given the new value ss, hence it was re-named essë (Appendix E)_. Also árë nuquerna *"árë reversed", name of tengwa #32, similar to normal árë but turned upside down (Appendix E). See also ilyázëa, ilyárëa under ilya. In the Etymologies, this word has a short initial vowel: arë pl. ari (AR1)
silmë
noun. starlight, starlight; [ᴹQ.] silver [light], moonlight, light of Silpion
A word for “starlight” and also the name of tengwa #29 [i] (LotR/1123), clearly derived from the root √SIL.
Conceptual Development: The earliest hint of this word was in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. silmea seems to be an adjective meaning “✱lunar” (QL/56). ᴱQ. silme also seems to be an adjectival element “gleaming, silver” in ᴱQ. silmerána “gleaming moon, silver moon” from the Oilima Markirya poem and its drafts from around 1930 (MC/220; PE16/75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. silme was derived from primitive ᴹ✶silimē “light of Silpion, †silver” under the root ᴹ√SIL “shine silver” (Ety/SIL) and thus seems to mean “moonlight”. Indeed, silme had the gloss “moonlight” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s (PE22/22, 51), where it was already the name of tengwa #29. It became “starlight” in Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, however (LotR/1123), and elsewhere “moonlight” was isilmë (MC/223).
Ae
day
Ae (Quenya?) noun "day" (LEP/LEPEN/LEPEK - ae was written over ar [# 2] in the names of the Valinorean week, but ar was not struck out.)
Ilma
starlight
Ilma noun "starlight" (GIL)
Ilmarë
starlight
Ilmarë noun "starlight", also fem. name, referring to a Maia (GIL, SA:ilm-)
ala
day
[ala (7) noun "day", also alan "daytime". The forms allen, alanen listed after these words could be inflected forms of them, genitive "of daytime", constracted (allen = al'nen) and uncontracted. However, Tolkien struck out all of this (VT45:13).]
ar
day
ar (2) noun "day" (PE17:148), apparently short for árë, occurring in the names of the Valinorean week listed below. Tolkien indicated that ar in these names could also be arë when the following element begins in a consonant (VT45:27). Usually the word for "day" in LotR-style Quenya is rather aurë (or ré), q.v.
ré
day
ré noun "day" (of the sun), a full 24-hour cycle (Appendix D) composed of aurë (day, daylight) and lómë "night" (VT49:45). Short -rë in compounds like Ringarë (q.v.). Allative rénna (VT49:45).
ilma Reconstructed
proper name. Starlight
An (archaic?) name for “Starlight”, it is not directly attested in Tolkien’s later writing, but appears as an element in several names (SA/ilm). It is a derivative of the root √(Ñ)GIL “shine (white)”. Elsewhere, the usual Quenya word for “starlight” is given as silmë (LotR/1123).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. ilma “air” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/142). The name ᴹQ. Ilma “Starlight” is directly attested in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/205), where it first appeared as Silma (SM/240). Ilma also appeared in The Etymologies as a derivative of ᴹ√GIL (Ety/GIL), which is the source of the etymology noted above.
A word meaning “reversed” (LotR/1123) or “inverted” (PE22/49) in the names of the tengwar árë nuquerna and silmë nuquerna. It appears to be a combination of nu “under” and an adjectival form querna of the verb quer- “turn”, so more literally “✱under-turned”. Thus it only means “reversed” in a vertical direction, and “inverted” is a more accurate translation.