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).

ontari

mother

ontari noun "mother" or etymologically "begetter, parent" (fem.); clashing with the plural ontari "parents", this was apparently an emphemeral form (see ontarë, ontaril, ontarië for other feminine forms of "begetter, parent") (VT44:7)

ontaril

mother

ontaril noun "mother", female *"begetter" (cf. onta-). Variant of ontarë. (VT43:32)

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)

ontari(l)

noun. *mother, (lit.) genetrix

ontani

parent

ontani form cited in the Etymologies as printed in LR, entry ONO: supposedly the pl. of ontaro, ontarë noun "parent" (m. and. f.) Comparison with the singulars indicate that the n of ontani should actually be r. Thus ontani could be a misreading for ontari (SD:73), but according to VT46:7 the actual manuscript reading is ontaru, evidently a dual form referring to two parents.

ontar

noun. parent (gender neutral)

onórë

sister

onórë noun "sister" (of blood-kin) (THEL/THELES, NŌ; both of these entries in the Etymologies as reproduced in LR have the reading "onóne", but the "Old Noldorin" cognate wanúre listed in the entry THEL/THELES seems to indicate that the Quenya word should be onórë; the letters n and r are easily confused in Tolkien's handwriting. There is no clear evidence for a feminine ending -në in Quenya, but -rë is relatively well attested; cf. for instance ontarë.) A later source gives the word for "sister" as nésa instead.

amal

mother

amal noun "mother"; also emel (VT48:22, 49:22); the form amil (emil) seems more usual.

amil

mother

amil noun "mother" (AM1), also emil (q.v.) Longer variant amillë (VT44:18-19), compounded Eruamillë "Mother of God" in Tolkien's translation of the Hail Mary (VT43:32). If amil is a shortened form of amillë, it should probably have the stem-form amill-. Also compare amilyë, amya, emya. Compounded amil- in amilessë noun "mothername" (cf. essë "name"), name given to a child by its mother, sometimes with prophetic implications (amilessi tercenyë "mother-names of insight"). (MR:217).

amil(lë)

noun. mother

Tolkien used a number of similar forms for “mother” for most of his life. The earliest of these are ᴱQ. amis (amits-) “mother” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s along with variants ᴱQ. ambi, âmi, amaimi under the root ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). An additional variant ammi appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/30). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱQ. ambe or mambe “mother” (PE16/135). This became ᴹQ. amil “mother” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√AM “mother” (Ety/AM¹).

This 1930s form amil appears to have survived for some time. It appeared in a longer form Amille in Quenya Prayers of the 1950s (VT43/26; VT44/12, 18), and as an element in the term amilessi “mother-names” in a late essay on Elvish naming (MR/217). In the initial drafts of Elvish Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s Tolkien used the form amilye or amye as an affectionate word for “mother”, and amaltil as the finger name for the second finger (VT47/26-27 note #34 and #35).

However, in those documents Tolkien seems to have revised the root for “mother” from √AM to √EM and the affectionate forms from amye to emya or emme (VT47/10; VT48/6, 19). The revised word for “mother” appears to be emil based on the 1st person possessive form emil(inya) (VT47/26).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer to retain the root √AM for “mother”, since that is what Tolkien used for 50 years, and ignore the very late change to √EM. As such, I would recommend amil(le) for “mother” and affectionate forms amme “mommy” and amya. However, if you prefer to use Tolkien’s “final” forms, then emil(le), emme and emya seem to be what Tolkien adopted in the late 1960s.

ammë

mother

ammë noun "mother" (AM1)

as

with

as prep. "with" (together with), also attested with a pronominal suffix: aselyë "with thee" (VT47:31, VT43:29). The conjunction ar "and" may also appear in assimilated form as before s; see ar #1.

as

with

o (2) prep. "with" (MC:216; this is "Qenya"; WJ:367 states that no independent preposition o was used in Quenya. Writers may rather use as.) See ó- below.

as

preposition. with

car-

with

#car- (2) prep. "with" (carelyë "with thee"), prepositional element (evidently an ephemeral form abandoned by Tolkien) (VT43:29)

emel

mother

emel noun "mother"; also amal (VT48:22, 49:22); the form amil (emil) seems more usual.

emil

mother

emil noun "mother", emilinya "my mother" (also reduced to emya) the terms a child would use in addressing his or her mother (VT47:26). Emil would seem to be a variant of amil. Also compare emel.

emil

noun. mother

lé

with

lé (2) prep. "with" (PE17:95)

lé

preposition. with

The preposition lé “with” was mentioned in a (rejected) etymology of S. di “with” in Tolkien’s notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/94), from the phrase le nallon sí di’nguruthos (LotR/729), usually translated “here overwhelmed in dread of Death, I cry”. In this note, Tolkien eventually decided that S. (n)di actually meant “beneath”, and its Quenya equivalent was Q. nî.

Conceptual Development: Prepositional ᴹQ. le also appeared in the Lament of Atalante from the 1940s, in the phrase ᴹQ. Númeheruvi arda sakkante lenéme Ilúvatáren “the Lords of the West broke the world by [or with] leave of Ilúvatar” (SD/246, 310). Here “with” seems to be used in the instrumental sense “by means of”. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. le “with (accompaniment)” under the early root ᴱ√LĒ (QL/52). Le was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as the equivalent of G. li “with (of accompaniment only)”, but also used to mean “and” between nouns GL/54().

Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. lé for purposes of Neo-Quenya as a rarely-used instrumental preposition meaning “with, by (means of)”, reconceived as a derivative of √LEÑ “✱way, method, manner” (PE17/74).

mamil

mother, mummy

mamil noun *"mother, mummy" (UT:191)

nésa

sister

nésa (Þ) noun "sister" (VT47:14); this form from a late source possibly replaces earlier seler and onórë, q.v.

nésa

noun. sister

A word for “sister” coined by Tolkien in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, based on the root √NETH of similar meaning (VT47/12, 14). It had a diminutive/affectionate variant nettë used as a play name for the fourth finger in several places in these notes (VT47/12; VT48/6), but I prefer to mainly use nettë for “(little) girl” in Neo-Quenya (VT47/10, 15, 33).

Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. seler “sister” from the root ᴹ√THEL or THELES (Ety/THEL), and the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. heresse “sister” from the early root ᴱ√HESE (QL/40). See those entries for discussion.

osellë

sister, [female] associate

osellë (þ) noun "sister, [female] associate" (THEL/THELES, WŌ). Cf. otorno.

seler

sister

seler (þ) (sell-, as in pl. selli) noun "sister" (THEL/THELES). In a later source, the word nésa (q.v.) appears instead, leaving the conceptual status of seler uncertain.

yó(m)

preposition. [together] with

A preposition appearing as yó(m) “with” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) written in 1969 (PE22/168). Earlier in the same set of documents, it appeared in a sentence vá meninye {yó >>} ó le “I won’t come with you” (PE22/162), but there it was replaced by ó. These were probably based on primitive forms ✶jō(m) “together (plural)” and ✶wō “together (two things)” from the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (WJ/361). If so, Tolkien may have revised {yó >>} ó in the sentence above because “you and I” is a pair rather than a group.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume yó meant “[together] with” when applied to groups of things, as opposed to ó for two things together, though I would also assume ó was the default and yó was only used when plurality needed to be emphasized.

ó

with, accompanying

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.