apa (1) prep. "after" (VT44:36), attested as a prefix in apacenyë and Apanónar, q.v. Variant ep- in epessë, q.v.; see epë for futher discussion. (According to VT44:36, apa was glossed "after" and also "before" in one late manuscript, but both meanings were rejected.) See also apa # 2 below. For Neo-Quenya purposes, apa should probably be ascribed the meaning "after", as in our most widely-published sources (compare Apanónar, "the After-born", as a name of Men in the Silmarillion). Variants pa, pá (VT44:36), but like apa these are also ascribed other meanings elsewhere; see separate entry. Apo (VT44:36) may be yet another variant of the word for "after".
Quenya
pá
on
pá
preposition. touching, against, on (above but touching); as regards, concerning, touching, against, on (above but touching); as regards, concerning, [ᴹQ.] about
Derivations
- √PĀ/APA “touch; after, behind of place” ✧ VT44/26
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √apa > apa [apa] ✧ VT44/26 Variations
- apa ✧ VT44/26; VT44/26; VT49/18
- pā̆ ✧ VT44/26
- apo ✧ VT44/33
- pa ✧ VT44/33
- pā ✧ VT49/18
apa
after
apa
on
apa (2) prep. denoting "on" with reference to contact of surfaces, especially vertical surface (in the sense in which a picture hangs on a wall). Apa is said to have this meaning in various Tolkien manuscripts (VT44:26), but apa is also used for "after" (see apa #1 above), and the two were probably never meant to coexist in a single variant of Quenya. The clash may be avoided by consistently using the variants pá, pa (q.v.) mentioned by Tolkien in the sense of apa #2. Another variant gives apa, pá "on (above but touching)" (VT49:18).
ala
after, beyond
ala (5) prep. "after, beyond" (MC:221, 214; however, LotR-style Quenya has han and pella "beyond" and apa "after")
apo
after
apo prep. ?"after" (see apa #1) (VT44:36)
cata
after
epe
after
pá, pa (1) prep. "on" with reference to contact of surfaces, especially vertical surface (in the sense in which a picture hangs on a wall); also used = "touching, as regards, concerning" (VT44:26). Another variant gives pá (and apa) with the meaning "on (above but touching)". (2) Variants of apa "after" (VT44:36), which preposition is in one source also ascribed the first meaning here discussed. For Neo-Quenya purposes, pá and pa may be used for "on" or "concerning", whereas apa is used for "after" (see entries for apa #1 and #2), or pa may also be seen as a shorter form of apa "after", as in the phrase yéni pa yéni *"years upon years" (VT44:36)