Early Quenya
pinilya
adjective. small
pinilya wilwarindon
small like a butterfly
minwa
adjective. small
pínea
adjective. small
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
The second phrase of the first version of the Oilima Markirya poem (MC/220). The first word is the adjective pinilya “small”, followed by the adverbial form wilwarindon of wilwarin “butterfly”, hence: “like a butterfly”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> pinilya wilwarin-don = “✱small butterfly-like”
Conceptual Development: The reference to a butterfly did not appear until the fourth draft of the poem (OM1d: PE16/62); earlier drafts used the unrelated phrase lutsilya lúne veasse “✱sailing on a blue sea” (OM1a-c: PE16/56-7, 60). In the first appearance of this phrase, Tolkien retained the adjective lutsilya “sailing” (active-participle of the verb lutu-) as a descriptor for the butterfly. He changed it to the adjective pinilya in the sixth draft (OM1f: PE16/74, 76).