ontar

begetter, parent

ontar noun prob. *"begetter, parent" (a gender-neutral term, applied to a woman in the source; compare the various gender-specific forms below) (VT44:7). Dual ontaru "(two) parents" (see ontani above).

ontarë

begetter, parent

ontarë noun "begetter, parent" (fem); the pl. ontari or dual ontaru (see ontani) covers both sexes. (ONO, VT46:7)

ontarië

begetter, parent

ontarië noun "begetter, parent" (fem.) (VT44:7)

ontaro

begetter, parent

ontaro noun "begetter, parent" (evidently masc.); pl. ontari or dual ontaru (see ontani) covers both sexes. (ONO, VT46:7)

ontar

noun. parent (gender neutral)

ó

preposition. [together] with

The preposition ó “with” appeared in draft versions of the Aia María prayer from the 1950s, in the phrase i Héru olesse “the Lord is with thee” (VT43/27), along with a chart for this preposition having pronominal suffixes (VT43/29). Prepositional ó is clearly related to the prefix o- “together”. In the third version of the prayer, it was revised to carelye (VT43/27), apparently a variant of the preposition ca as suggested by Wynne, Smith, and Hostetter (VT43/29). In the fourth and final version of the prayer it became aselye (VT43/28), using an otherwise unattested preposition possibly related to √AS “beside”.

In the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, Tolkien said of primitive WO “together” that it “does not remain in Q as an independent word” (WJ/367). However, the preposition ó “with” reappeared in a phrase from 1969: vá meninye {yó >>} ó le “I won’t come with you” (PE22/162). Based on the revision of {yó >>} ó and the meaning of the related prefixes, it is likely that ó more specifically means “with (one other individual)” as opposed to yó(m) for “with (a group)”. However, I think ó could be used in most cases, and yó(m) is only used when accompanying a group is being emphasized.

Neo-Quenya: It seems likely that ó specifically means “[together] with”, and other senses of “with” would use other prepositions such as lé “with, by (means of)” or the instrumental suffix -nen.