Early Quenya
otso
cardinal. seven
Derivations
- ᴱ√OTO “knock” ✧ QL/071
Element in
- Eq. listanelto in otso qarda “*they blessed the great evil” ✧ PE15/32
- Eq. okkea “seventeen” ✧ PE14/049
- Eq. okkaiya “seventeenth” ✧ PE14/082
- Eq. otsonto “one seventh” ✧ PE14/049; PE14/082
- Eq. otya “seventh” ✧ PE14/049
- Eq. otsokainen “seventy” ✧ PE14/049
- Eq. otsola “week”
- Eq. otsollume “*seven times” ✧ PE14/049
- Eq. otsondóre “*septillion”
- Eq. otsondóra “*seven million” ✧ PE14/049
- Eq. otwen “84” ✧ QL/071
- Eq. Tirios Otsoyáma “City of Seven Names”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√OTO > otso [otsō] > [otso] ✧ QL/071
otsola
noun. week
Cognates
- G. ochlad “week” ✧ GL/62; PE14/016; PE14/021
Derivations
- ᴱ✶ot·g’lāta ✧ GL/62
Elements
Word Gloss otso “seven” kala “light” Variations
- Otsan ✧ PE14/016
- Otsola ✧ PE14/016
- otsan ✧ PE14/021
otsonto
fraction. one seventh
Element in
- Eq. otsontya “one seventh” ✧ PE14/051; PE14/051 (
osta); PE14/084Elements
Word Gloss otso “seven” -nto “fraction suffix” Variations
- otsotto ✧ PE14/051
- otso ✧ PE14/051 (
otso)
otsotto
fraction. one seventh
otsan
noun. week
otsontya
fraction. one seventh
Changes
otsotta→ otsottya “7th” ✧ PE14/051Variations
- otsottya ✧ PE14/051
- osta ✧ PE14/051 (
osta)- otsotta ✧ PE14/051 (
otsotta)
otsottya
fraction. one seventh
otya
ordinal. seventh
The Early Qenya word for a seven-day “week” is otsola. It is related to the word otso “seven”, and its Gnomish cognate ochlad is derived from ᴱ✶ot·g’lāta (GL/62). The Qenya word is probably derived from ᴱ✶otso-g’lā, where the second element is a reduced form of ᴱ✶galā > kala “daytime”.
Conceptual Development: In a very early list of weekday names, this word also appeared as ᴱQ. otsan (PE14/16, 21), where its second element was probably derived from sana “day” (GL/29).
Neo-Quenya: There are a couple later words for “week” in Quenya, namely ᴹQ. lemnar and Q. enquië. These describe five- and six-day weeks, respectively and are related to ᴹQ. lempe “five” and Q. enquë “six”. The Elves used a six-day week in Tolkien’s later writing (LotR/1107). The Númenóreans added a seventh day that was adopted throughout the human kingdoms of Middle-earth, but Tolkien did not give a name to this seven-day week.
The later Quenya word for “seven” remained otso, and the later word for the six-day week is a combination of enquë “six” with the abstract-noun suffix -ië. Therefore, otsola might remain a valid Quenya word for a seven-day week, though a revised form !otsolë might fit later Quenya structure better.