-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".
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
-wë
person
Námo
person, somebody
námo (2) noun "a person, somebody" (PM:340 writers may prefer the synonym quén to avoid confusion with # 1)
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.
-o
person, somebody
-o (2), also -ó, "a person, somebody", pronominal suffix (PM:340)
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).