The name of grass-like plant, a label of one of Tolkien’s drawings in the book J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (TAI/197), like a combination of súrë (súri-) “wind” and quessë “feather”.
Quenya
súriquessë
wind feather
súriquessë
noun. species of grass, (lit.) wind feather
Elements
Word Gloss súrë “wind, breeze” quessë “feather”
quessë
feather
quessë noun "feather", also name of tengwa #4 (Appendix E, WJ:417, KWES, VT45:24); súriquessë "wind feather" (referring to a "tuft of radiating grass" in a drawing by Tolkien) (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 197)
quessë
noun. feather
The Quenya word for “feather” and the name of tengwa #4 [z] (LotR/1122).
Conceptual Development: Some similar words appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QASA: ᴱQ. qasil “arrow-feather, arrow” and ᴱQ. qasilla “tuft, nodding spray, tassel, plume” (QL/76); quasil was only glossed “arrow” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/76). ᴹQ. qesse “feather” first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KWES (Ety/KWES), already the name of tengwa #4 (EtyAC/KWES). It was also the name of this tengwa in notes on the Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 1940s (PE22/22, 51, 61), and remained so into the published version of The Lord of the Rings.
Cognates
- ᴺS. pess “feather”
Derivations
- ᴹ√KWES “*feather”
Element in
- Q. niquessë “frost-patterns; snowflake, ice-flake; (lit.) chill feather” ✧ PE17/168; WJ/417
- Q. quessetéma “kw-series”
- Q. súriquessë “species of grass, (lit.) wind feather”
Variations
- quesse ✧ LotR/1122; PE17/123; PE17/168; WJ/417
súru
wind
súru noun "wind" (MC:213, 216, 220; this is "Qenya"; Tolkien's later Quenya has súrë)
súrë
wind
súrë noun "wind", stem súri- because of primitive form sūrǐ- (PE17:62),hence the instrumental form súrinen "in the wind" or more literally "by the wind" (Nam, RGEO:66,Markirya, J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator p. 197); Súrion masc.name, "Wind-son" (Appendix A). Early "Qenya" has súru (MC:213, 216, 220). See also súriquessë.
vailë
noun. wind, [strong] wind, *gale
An obscure word for “wind” in notes from December 1959 (D59) derived from the root √WAYA and appearing in various forms: vëa, vaiwe, and vaile, the last of these with an adjectival form vailima “windy” (P17/189). A similar set of Quenya derivatives of √WAY appeared in notes from 1957, but there most of the forms were rejected: {vaiwe, view-, vaive, víw}, along with unrejected váva (PE17/33-34). Tolkien considered all these as possible cognates of S. gwae “wind”.
Conceptual Development: Precursors include ᴱQ. ’wā “wind” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√GWĀ (QL/102), ᴱQ. vá or vanwe “wind” from Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1930s (PE16/142) and ᴹQ. vaiwa “wind” from The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√WAIWA (Ety/WĀ). Thus the Quenya forms were much less stable than their Sindarin equivalent and its precursor, which were simply G. gwâ “wind” (GL/43; PE13/146) >> N./S. gwae(w) “wind” (Ety/WĀ; NM/237; PE17/33-34, 189).
Neo-Quenya: Of the various forms, I prefer Q. vailë since (a) it is later, (b) has an adjectival form and (c) has a possible direct cognate S. gwael “✱wind”, also from around the same time. Q. súrë is the usual word for “wind” and is thus preferable for most uses, but I think vailë might be used for a strong wind or gale, since elsewere in Quenya derivatives of √WĀ seem to be tied to stronger winds: hwarwa “violent wind”, vangwë “storm” (NM/237).
Changes
waiwe→ vaiwe ✧ PE17/189Cognates
- S. gwae “wind” ✧ PE17/189
Derivations
Element in
- Q. vailima “windy” ✧ PE17/189
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √WAYA > vëa [waja] > [wea] > [βea] > [vea] ✧ PE17/189 ✶waiwa(y) > vaiwe [waiwai] > [βaiwai] > [vaiwai] > [vaiwe] ✧ PE17/189 ✶waile > vaile [waile] > [βaile] > [vaile] ✧ PE17/189 Variations
- vëa ✧ PE17/189
- vaiwe ✧ PE17/189
- vaile ✧ PE17/189
- waiwe ✧ PE17/189 (
waiwe)
wai
wind, weave
wai (what the primitive element ¤wei "wind, weave" became in Quenya; therefore confused with the stem WAY "enfold") (WEY)
vailë
wind
vailë noun "wind" (PE17:189)
vaiwë
wind
vaiwë noun "wind" (PE17:189)
vaiwë
noun. wind
wailë
wind
wailë noun "wind", later form vailë, q.v. (PE17:189)
vëa
wind
vëa (4) noun "wind" (PE17:189)
vëa
noun. wind
vaiwa
wind
vaiwa noun "wind" (WĀ/WAWA/WAIWA)
waiwa
wind
waiwa noun "wind" (WĀ/WAWA/WAIWA)
wá
wind
wá (actually spelt wâ) noun "wind" (LT1:266). Cf. wáya-.
súriquessë noun "wind feather" (referring to a "tuft of radiating grass" in a drawing by Tolkien) (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 197)