quén (quen-, as in pl. queni; as final element in compounds -quen) noun "one, (some)body, person, individual, man or woman", pl. queni = "persons", "(some) people", "they" with the most general meaning (as in "they [= people in general] say that..."). The element is combined with noun and adjective stems in old compounds to denote habitual occupations or functions, or to describe those having some notable (permanent) quality; examples include roquen, ciryaquen, arquen, q.v. Also in aiquen "whoever", ilquen "everybody" (WJ:361 cf. 360, 372).
Quenya
quén
person, individual, man or woman; one, somebody
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. aiquen “if anybody, whoever, if anybody, whoever, [ᴺQ.] anybody” ✧ WJ/372
- ᴺQ. alquen “nobody, no one”
- ᴺQ. alaquen “nobody, no one”
- Q. arquen “noble, knight” ✧ WJ/372
- Q. ciryaquen “shipman, sailor” ✧ WJ/372; WJ/407
- Q. ilquen “everybody, everybody, *everyone” ✧ WJ/372
- ᴺQ. ráquen “representative, ambassador”
- Q. roquen “knight, horseman, rider” ✧ WJ/372; WJ/407
- ᴺQ. tolloquen “islander”
- ᴺQ. úquen “nobody, no one”
- ᴺQ. vesquen “spouse (gender neutral)”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √KWEN > -kwē̆n [kwēn] ✧ PE19/093 ✶kwēn > quēn [kwēn] ✧ WJ/360 √KWENE > kwēn [kwēn] ✧ WJ/392 Variations
- -kwē̆n ✧ PE19/093
- quēn ✧ WJ/361
- quen ✧ WJ/361; WJ/372
- -quen ✧ WJ/372
- kwēn ✧ WJ/393
quén
one, (some)body, person, individual, man or woman
turinqui
queen
turinqui ("q") noun "queen" (LT1:260; apparently the fem. of tur. In Tolkien's later Quenya, "queen" is tári.)
tári
queen
tári noun "queen", used especially of Varda (TĀ/TA3, LT1:264), etymologically "she that is high" (SA:tar). Dative tárin in the Elaine inscription (VT49:40), genitive tário in Namárië. Elentári "Starqueen", a title of Varda. (Nam, RGEO:67). Tarinya "my queen" (UT:179; sic, not *tárinya). Táris or tárissë "queenship" (PE17:155)
varni
queen
varni noun "queen" (LT1:273; rather tári in Tolkien's later Quenya)
tári
noun. queen, queen, [ᴱQ.] mistress, lady
Element in
- Q. Airë Tári “Holy Queen” ✧ PM/363
- Q. Elainen tárin Periandion ar meldenya anyáran “*to Elaine, queen of Hobbits and my very old friend” ✧ VT49/40
- Q. Elentári “Queen of the Stars, Star-queen” ✧ PE17/067; SA/tar
- Q. Kementári “Queen of the Earth” ✧ SA/tar
- Q. ómaryo airetári-lírinen “in the song of her voice, holy and queenly” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. ómaryo lírinen airetário “in [by means of] her voice’s song, of the holy-queen” ✧ RGEO/59
- Q. lírinen ómo i·aire tário “by the song of the voice of the holy queen” ✧ PE17/076
- Q. lírinen ómo i·aire táríva “by the song of the voice of the holy queen” ✧ PE17/076
- Q. tintilar lirinen ómaryo Airë-tário ✧ PM/364
- Q. táris(së) “queenship”
Variations
- Tári ✧ PM/363
- tā́ri ✧ RGEO/58
rianna
noun. queen
Derivations
- √RIG “wreathe, twine, wind about; wreath, garland, crown”
-li
the elves
-li partitive pl. ending (simply called a plural suffix in the Etymologies, stem LI). The ending is used to indicate a plural that is neither generic (e.g. Eldar "the Elves" as a race) nor definite (preceded by article); hence Eldali is used for "some Elves" (a particular group of Elves, when they are first mentioned in a narrative, VT49:8). Sometimes Tolkien also lets -li imply a great number; in PE17:129, the form falmalinnar from _Namárië _is broken down as falma-li-nnar "foam wave-many-towards-pl. ending", and falmali by itself Tolkien translated "many waves" (PE17:73). A distinct accusative in -lī seems to occur in the phrase an i falmalī (PE17:127, apparently meaning the same as i falmalinnar, but replacing the allative ending with a preposition). Genitive -lion in vanimálion, malinornélion (q.v. for reference), allative -linna and -linnar in falmalinnar, q.v. The endings for other cases are only known from the Plotz letter: possessive -líva, dative -lin, locative -lissë or -lissen, ablative -lillo or -lillon, instrumental -línen, "short locative" -lis. When the noun ends in a consonant, r and n is assimilated before l, e.g. Casalli as the partitive pl. of Casar "Dwarf" (WJ:402), or elelli as the partitive pl. of elen "star" (PE17:127). It is unclear whether the same happens in monosyllabic words, or whether a connecting vowel would be slipped in before -li (e.g. ?queneli or ?quelli as the partitive pl. of quén, quen- "person").
Námo
person, somebody
námo (2) noun "a person, somebody" (PM:340 writers may prefer the synonym quén to avoid confusion with # 1)
-wë
person
-wë a suffix occurring in many personal names, generally but not exclusively masculine (Elenwë is the sole certain example of a fem. name with this ending); it is derived from a stem simply meaning "person" (PM:340, WJ:399). In Etym, -wë is simply defined as an element that is frequent in masculine names, and it is there derived from a stem (WEG) having to do with "(manly) vigour".
mir
cardinal. one
mir (2) cardinal "one" (LT1:260; in LotR-style Quenya rather minë)
-o
person, somebody
-o (2), also -ó, "a person, somebody", pronominal suffix (PM:340)
aranel
princess
aranel noun "princess" (likely *aranell-) (UT:434)
er
one, alone
er cardinal "one, alone" (ERE, VT48:6, VT49:54), in an early source also adv. "only, but, still" (LT1:269); Eru er "one God" (VT44:17; er was here emended by Tolkien from erëa, which seems to be an adjectival form *"one, single".)
erëa
cardinal. one
erëa adj.? "one" or *"single", apparently an adjectival form (see er) (VT44:17)
heri
lady
heri noun "lady" (KHER, LT1:272)
min
cardinal. one
min numeral "one", also minë (VT45:34, VT48:6)
minë
cardinal. one
minë numeral "one", also min (MINI, VT45:34)
mo
one, someone, anyone
mo, indefinite pronoun "one, someone, anyone" (VT42:34, VT49:19, 20, 26)
nassë
person, an individual
nassë (1) "a person, an individual" (VT49:30). Also translated "true-being" (pl. nasser is attested), the inner "true" being of a person. With a pronominal suffix in the form nassentar "their true-being" (PE17:175, cf. -nta #2), in the source referring to the "true" spiritual nature of the Valar, as hidden within their visible shapes. The word nassentar would seem to be plural, *"their true-beings". Not to be confused with the verb nassë/násë "he/she is"; see ná #1.
quimellë
lady
quimellë noun "lady" (GL:45)
rína
crowned
rína adj. "crowned" (RIG), also used as a suffix "garlanded, crowned" (PE17:182)
a
cardinal. one
aranel
noun. princess
Elements
Word Gloss aran “king” -iel “-daughter; feminine suffix” Variations
- Aranel ✧ UT/209; UTI/Emerwen
heri
noun. lady
Derivations
Element in
- Q. hérincë “*little lady” ✧ UT/195
Variations
- héri ✧ UT/195 (héri)
min
cardinal. one, one, [ᴱQ.] one (in a series), the first
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
A general word for “person”, any individual independent of their gender and species, since the term was “freely applied to other Incarnates, such as Men or Dwarves, when the Eldar became acquainted with them” (WJ/372). In unstressed form quen, it was sometimes used as a pronoun “one, somebody”, and was also used as the second element in compounds such as ilquen “everyone” and roquen “horseman” (WJ/363, 372).
Most likely the Elves had a bias towards themselves as the main category of persons, since they used the term Quendi “(lit.) Speakers” to refer the Elves as species, and quén seems to have originally have been a variant of that term, derived from the same root √KWEN “speak”. This word was primarily discussed in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, which may be where the term was introduced, but it appears in other late notes as well (PE19/93).