telpina

of silver

telpina adj. "of silver" (KYELEP/TELEP). Compare telemna, telepta.

telpina

adjective. like silver (in hue or worth), like silver (in hue or worth), [ᴹQ.] of silver

An adjective implied by the name Q. Telpinquar “Silver-fist”, the Quenya equivalent of S. Celebrimbor in notes from the mid-1960s (PE17/42). In other writings Tolkien gave this name as (archaic) Tyelpinquar (PM/318; VT47/8). It is conceivable that this adjective is t(y)elpin, but both The Etymologies of the 1930s and the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien had ᴹQ. telpina (Ety/KYELEP) and ᴱQ. telpina “of silver” (QL/91), so I think the late form of this adjective is more likely telpina as a combination of telpë “silver” with the adjective suffix -ina “silver”.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon, ᴱQ. telpina was glossed “of silver” and had variants ᴱQ. telpea, telpia and {telpeksa}, the last of which was deleted (QL/91). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. telpina was equated to ᴹQ. telepsa “of silver”, but telepsa was deleted and no gloss was provided after these revisions (Ety/KYELEP). In the mid-1960s note mentioned above, Tolkien said of S. celebrin that it was “not implying ‘made of silver’ but ‘like silver’ in hue, or worth” (PE17/42), but it is not clear whether the same applies to Q. telpin[a].

Finally, there was a longer Quenya name Telperinquar for S. Celebrimbor in the mid-1960s note (PE17/42), implying a variant Quenya adjective telperin that was a more direct equivalent of S. celebrin. This alterate adjective form may be a loan for Telerin telperin since Quenya mostly uses -rin as a language suffix and not a general adjective suffix as in Telerin/Sindarin; hat-tip to Parmandil for this suggestion.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume telpina is a general adjective “silver” than can mean either “made of silver” or “like silver”, while longer telperin more specifically means “like silver in hue or worth”.

telperin

adjective. like silver (in hue or worth)

telemna

of silver

telemna adj. "of silver" (KYELEP/TELEP). Possibly this (like telpina and perhaps telepsa) describes something actually made of the metal silver, whereas telepta (q.v.) only refers to silver colour.%

telepta

silver

telepta adj. "silver" (as adj.: silvery) (LT2:347), used as noun in the phrase mi telepta of someone clad "in silver", where the context (involving other colour-words) shows that this adj. describes something of silver colour(PE17:71). Compare telemna, telepsa, telpina.

telepta

adjective. silver, silver, *silver-coloured

An adjective for “silver” appearing in the phrase Sanome tarne Olórin, Arakorno, Eomer, Imrahil, mi mīse, mi telepta yo morna, mi laiqua yo ninque, mi luini, ta Gimli mi losseä “There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil in grey, in silver and black, in green and white, and in blue, and also Gimli in white” in notes from the mid-1960s (PE17/71).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had unglossed ᴱQ. telepta under the early root ᴱ√TELEPE whose derivatives had to do with silver (QL/91). A similar form ᴹQ. telepsa “of silver” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KYELEP “silver”, which Tolkien equated to ᴹQ. telpina (Ety/KYELEP). This form telepsa may reflect the 1930s sound change whereby pt became ps; compare ᴹQ. lepse “finger” from ᴹ√LEPET (Ety/LEPET). Tolkien revised the entry for ᴹ√KYELEP, replacing telepsa with (unglossed) ᴹQ. telemna (Ety/KYELEP). The adjective telepta “silver” was restored in the 1960s (see above) after Tolkien abandoned the ps > pt sound change.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would use this word primarily for silver as a color.

telepsa

of silver

telepsa adj. "of silver" (KYELEP/TELEP).

telpë

silver

telpë noun "silver" (in one example with generalized meaning "money", PE14:54), telep- in some compounds like Teleporno; assimilated telem- in Telemnar and the adj. telemna (KYELEP/TELEP, SA:celeb, LT1:255, 268; also tyelpë, telep-, UT:266). The true Quenya descendant of primitive ¤kyelepē is tyelpë, but the Telerin form telpë was more common, "for the Teleri prized silver above gold, and their skill as silversmiths was esteemed even by the Noldor" (UT:266). In various names: Telperion the White Tree of Valinor; Telperien ("Telperiën"), fem. name including telp- "silver" (Appendix A); Telperinquar "Silver-fist, Celebrimbor" (SA:celeb - also Tyelperinquar); Telporno, Teleporno "Silver-high" = Sindarin _Celeborn(Letters:347, UT:266). _It seems that Teleporno is properly Telerin, Quenyarized as Telporno. Compare adjectives telemna, telpina, telepsa, telepta (q.v.)

telpë

noun. silver, silver; [ᴱQ.] money

This was the Quenya word for “silver” throughout Tolkien’s life. The word was derived from the root √KYELEP, which became †tyelpë in Quenya and S. celeb in Sindarin. However, the Quenya form of the word was influenced by Telerin telpë “because the Teleri in their lands, to the north of the Noldor, found a great wealth of silver, and became the chief silversmiths among the Eldar” (Let/426). The archaic Quenya form †tyelpë was retained for the name of the palatal series of tengwar consonants, the tyelpetéma (LotR/1120), but in ordinary use (and most names) the forms telpë or telep- (in compounds) were used.

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. telpe based on the early root ᴱ√TELEPE, but its Gnomish cognate was G. celeb (QL/91). Tolkien did not explain this difference in these early documents from the 1910s. In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s he had ᴱQ. telqe and ᴱN. celeb “silver” derived from primitive ᴱ✶kelekwé, explaining initial t in the Qenya form as the result of dissimilation away the kw (PE13/140).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien introduced a root ᴹ√KYELEP “silver” as an alternate to ᴹ√TELEP, with derivatives ᴹQ. telpe or tyelpe, N. celeb and ᴹT. telpe (Ety/KYELEP). He then said “Q telpe may be Telerin form (Teleri specially fond of silver, as Lindar of gold), in which case all forms may refer to KYELEP”. It seems that he stuck with this idea thereafter and abandoned ᴹ√TELEP.

Note that in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s Tolkien used ᴱQ. telpe for “money” (PE14/54), and I would give telpë this meaning for purposes of Neo-Quenya as well, much like the French word argent means both “silver” and “money”.

silma

silver, shining white

silma adj. "silver, shining white" (SIL), "crystal (white)" (PE17:23)

telempë

silver

telempë noun "silver" (LT1:268; in Tolkien's later Quenya telpë, which is actually also found in early "Qenya")

tyelpë

silver

tyelpë noun "silver" (KYELEP/TELEP), etymology also in Letters:426 and UT:266. Tyelpë is the true Quenya descendant of primitive ¤kyelepē, but the Telerin form telpë was more common, "for the Teleri prized silver above gold, and their skill as silversmiths was esteemed even by the Noldor" (UT:266). In the Etymologies, tyelpë is also the name of Tengwa #1 with overposed dots, this symbol having the value ty (VT45:25). Cf. tyelpetéma as the name of the entire palatal series of the Tengwar system.

tyelpë

noun. silver