Quenya 

tenna

until, up to, as far as

tenna prep. "until, up to, as far as" (CO), "unto" (VT44:35-36), "to the point", "right up to a point" (of time/place), "until", "to the object, up to, to (reach), as far as" (VT49:22, 23, 24, PE17:187), elided tenn' in the phrase tenn' Ambar-metta "unto the ending of the world" in EO, because the next word begins in a similar vowel; cf. tennoio "for ever" (tenna + oio, q.v.) The unelided form appears in PE17:105: Tenna Ambar-metta.

tenna

noun. thought

thought, notion, idea

Quenya [PE 19:97] Group: Mellonath Daeron. Published by

tenna

noun. letter (epistola)

Changes

  • tennatenna “a letter, sign” ✧ PE19/086

Derivations

  • teknā “a letter (epistola)” ✧ PE19/086
    • TEK “make a written mark, sign, write, make a written mark, sign, write, [ᴹ√] write or draw (signs or letters)” ✧ PE19/086

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
teknā > tenna[teknā] > [tegnā] > [teŋnā] > [teŋna] > [tenna]✧ PE19/086

Variations

  • tenna ✧ PE19/086 (tenna); PE19/086 (tenna)

tenna

noun. thought, notion, idea

Derivations

  • TEÑ “indicate, signify, show, represent, betoken, mark, to point at, indicate, signify, show, represent, betoken, mark, to point at; [ᴱ√] know, understand” ✧ PE19/097

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
TEÑ > tenna[teŋna] > [tenna]✧ PE19/097

Variations

  • tenna ✧ PE19/097

tenna

preposition. until, up to, as far as, to the point, to reach

Cognates

  • ᴺS. naden “until, up to, as far as”

Derivations

  • TEN “direction; point (toward); end (in sense of point aimed at)” ✧ PE17/187; VT49/23; VT49/24; VT49/24

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
TEN > tenna[tenna]✧ PE17/187
ten- > tenna[tenna]✧ VT49/23
ten > tenna[tenna]✧ VT49/24
ten > tenna[tenna]✧ VT49/24

Variations

  • tenna ✧ PE17/103; PE17/103; PE17/187; UT/317; VT44/35 (tenna); VT49/23 (tenna); VT49/24; VT49/24
  • Tenna ✧ PE17/105
Quenya [LotR/0967; NM/239; PE17/103; PE17/105; PE17/187; PE22/147; UT/317; VT44/35; VT44/36; VT49/23; VT49/24] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mennai

until

mennai prep. "until" (VT14:5; in Tolkien's later Quenya rather tenna)

enne

noun. thought, purpose

Quenya [PE 22:51n] Group: Mellonath Daeron. Published by

tennoio

for ever

tennoio adv. "for ever" (CO); see tenna

leuta

noun. finger

Derivations

  • lepetā “thumb, ‘picker’; finger” ✧ PE19/084
    • LEP “pick up/out (with the fingers); finger” ✧ VT47/27

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
lepta > leꝑta > leu̯ta[lepta] > [leɸta] > [leuta]✧ PE19/084

Variations

  • leu̯ta ✧ PE19/084

leper

finger

leper (pl. leperi given) noun "finger" (VT44:16, VT47:10, 14, 24, VT48:5; an older source gives the word for "finger" as lepsë, q.v.)

leper

noun. finger

The Quenya word for “finger” appearing in various notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from 1968, derived from the root √LEP “pick up” (VT47/10; VT48/5).

Conceptual Development: The Quenya “finger” words went through quite a few conceptual changes, but they were always based on the root √LEP. The earliest of these was ᴱQ. let (lept-) “finger” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√LEPE with plural form lepsi (QL/53). In Qenya word lists of the 1920s, however, this became ᴱQ. lepta “finger”, still with the plural lepsi (PE15/72; PE16/137).

The form was ᴹQ. let (leps-) in the Declension of Nouns of the early 1930s (PE21/19, 26), expanded to ᴹQ. lepse “finger” in The Etymologies written around 1937, based on the root ᴹ√LEPET of the same meaning (Ety/LEPET). This form demonstrated the 1930s sound change whereby pt became ps (PE19/44 note #44). Tolkien revised this sound change so that the result remained pt (PE19/44), and in 1940s drafts to The Lord of the Rings Tolkien used the word ᴹQ. rakkalepta “✱claw-fingered” in Treebeard’s description of orcs (SD/68), though in the published version this word only appeared in English.

In the Outline of Phonology from the 1950s (OP1) Tolkien considered restoring the sound change pt > ps (PE19/84 note #75), and Q. lepsë appeared in notes from the late 1950s or early 60s on the tree name S. lebethron, so named because “its leaves (like chestnut) [were] shaped like a fingered hand” (PE17/89). However, he again abandoned this, clarifying that the actual result of [[q|[pt] was a spirantal [ɸt]]] (spelled pt to represent the bilabial pronunciation), and that in Tarquesta pronunciation (Exhilic Quenya of the first age) the [ɸ] vocalized to [u̯] so that ✶lepta > leꝑta > Q. leu̯ta “finger” (PE19/84). Q. lepta appeared in several words in the 1960s: Q. leptafinya “clever-fingered” (PE17/17) and Q. Tyelpelepta “✱silver-fingered” (VT47/27).

In drafts of the 1968 notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals, lepta reappeared as an independent word, but with the gloss “thumb” (VT47/27). In the final versions of these notes, however, Tolkien used leper for “finger”, as noted above.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use leper for “finger”, but would retain lepta as an adjective meaning “fingered”, especially in compounds like [ᴹQ.] raccalepta “claw-fingered”.

Cognates

  • S. leber “finger” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/24; VT48/05
  • T. leper “finger” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/24; VT48/05

Derivations

  • leper “finger” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/24; VT48/05
    • LEP “pick up/out (with the fingers); finger” ✧ VT44/16
    • lepero “finger” ✧ VT47/13; VT47/24
    • LEP “pick up/out (with the fingers); finger” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/24

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
leper- > leper[leper]✧ VT47/10
leper- > leper[leper]✧ VT47/24
leper > leper[leper]✧ VT48/05
Quenya [VT47/03; VT47/04; VT47/10; VT47/24; VT48/05] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lepsë

finger

lepsë noun "finger" (LEP/LEPET; see leper). According to VT45:27, Tolkien derived lepsë from primitive ¤lepti; if so, lepsë should have the stem-form *lepsi-. However, Tolkien struck out the ancestral form lepti, so we cannot be sure whether this idea was maintained or not. In later sources, the word for "finger" appears as leper.

sanwë

thought, an act of thinking

sanwë noun "thought, an act of thinking" (VT39:23, 30; VT41:5, 13, PE17:183)

tenca

noun. letter (epistola)

Cognates

  • ᴺS. tain “letter, epistle, missive”

Derivations

  • teknā “a letter (epistola)”
    • TEK “make a written mark, sign, write, make a written mark, sign, write, [ᴹ√] write or draw (signs or letters)” ✧ PE19/086
Quenya Group: Eldamo - neologism/adaptations. Published by