ter

preposition. through

The word ter was the common Quenya word for “through” for most (but not all) of Tolkien’s life. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. pen “through” under the early root ᴱ√PENE, a variant of ᴱ√PERE “go through, pierce; endure, undergo” (QL/73), so probably meaning “through” both spatially and temporally. In ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya drafts from around 1930, Tolkien instead had ᴱQ. ter “through” in the phrase ᴱQ. karnevaite úri kilde hīsen __ter__ nie nienaite (PE16/62, 72), translated “when the sky was red; the Sun gazed through a haze of tears” (PE16/68); this new preposition may have been based on the early root ᴱ√TEŘE [TEÐE] “pierce” (QL/91; PME/91).

Indeed, in The Etymologies from about 1937 Tolkien had ᴹQ. tere or ter “through” under the root ᴹ√TER “pierce” (Ety/TER). This ter “through” continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings from the 1950s and 60s, in phrases like et sillumello __ter__ yénion yéni tenn’ ambarmetta “✱from this hour, through years of years until the ending of the world” (VT44/33) and nai amanya onnalya __ter__ coivierya “✱may your child be blessed through his/her life” (VT49/41).

Most of the later uses for ter “through” seem to be temporal in nature, such as in the phrase vanda sina __termaruva__ Elenna·nóreo alcar enyalien “This oath shall stand in memory of the glory of the Land of the Star” (UT/305), where the verb termar- “stand” is more literally ter + mar- = “through-abide” (UT/317 note #43). However, it I think it is reasonable to assume ter “through” retained its spatial sense as well, given its 1930s connection to the root ᴹ√TER “pierce”, indicating a physical penetration.

ter

so

ter (2), also tér, prep. (?) ephemeral word for "so" (see ier), abandoned by Tolkien in favour of tambë (VT43:17)

ter

through

ter (1), also terë, prep. "through", "throughout" (Notes on CO, UT:317, TER/TERES, Narqelion, VT44:33, 35, VT49:41, 42). The preposition is used both with spatial and temporal reference: ter i·aldar "through the trees" (Narqelion, cf. VT49:42), ter coivierya "throughout his/her life", ter yénion yéni "through years of years" (VT49:42, VT44:33, 35)

tier

preposition. *so

termar-

verb. to stand, *endure, last, (lit.) through-abide

et sillumello ter yénion yéni tenn’ ambarmetta

*from this hour, through years of years until the ending of the world

nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya

*may your (sg.) child be blessed throughout his/her life

nai calambar onnalda ter coivierya

*may your (pl.) child be light-fated throughout his/her life

ter-

verb. to pierce

cemendë tambe erumandë

on Earth as [it is] in Heaven

The fifth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word cemendë “on Earth” is an assimilated locative form of cemen “earth”. The word tambë likely corresponds to “as”, while Erumandë “in Heaven” is an assimilated locative form of Eruman “Heaven”. The English words “it is” are not represented in the Quenya phrase.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> cemen-dë tambe Eruman-dë = “✱earth-on as [it is] Heaven-in”

Conceptual Development: In earlier versions of this phrase (I-V), Tolkien used menel for “Heaven”. Elsewhere, Tolkien said that menel referred to the dome of the sky or “the firmament”, and therefore was not proper for “Heaven” (MR/387, PE17/152), which is probably why he changed the word to Eruman in version VI of the prayer.

Tolkien experimented with various ways of comparing Earth to Heaven: ier ... ar tér (I), ier ... tier (IIa), ya(n) ... ar san (IIb) and san ... ya (III-IV), each probably meaning something like “as ... so ...”, as suggested by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT43/16-7). In versions V and VI Tolkien switched to a single word “as”: sívë (V) and tambë (VI).

The English words “it is” are only expressed in version III-IV, with the Quenya verb na, appearing at the end of the phrase as is typical of declarative statements.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |{yé >> ye >>}|ier|ya(n)|san| | |menelle|menelze|menelde|cemende| |ar tér|tier|ar san|ya|sívë|tambe| |{kemenze >>}|cemenze|cemende|menelde|Erumande| | |na| |

san

so

san (2) adv. ephemeral word for "so" (ya(n)...san "as...so"; san na "thus be" = let it be so, "amen"); this form was apparently quickly abandoned by Tolkien (VT43:16, 24, VT49.18)

ta

so, like that, also

ta (2) adv. "so, like that, also", e.g. ta mára "so good" (VT49:12)

tambë

so

tambë prep. (1) "so" or "as" (referring to something remote; contrast sívë). Sívë...tambë "as...so" (VT43:17).