-itë

suffix. adjectival ending; [with verbs] capable of doing, generally (and naturally) doing

A suffix for adjective formation, dating all the way back to Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s. When used with verbs, it has the more specific meaning “capable of doing, generally (and naturally) doing”, as in active cenítë “able to see” vs. passive cénima “visible, able to be seen”, both from cen- “to see”. The verbal use of this suffix was first described in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/111), and was described again in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/155).

When used with a verb, the suffix was preceded by the base vowel of the verb: i, e, a, o, u. This produced various diphthongs, and in the case of ei usually had [[q|[ei] becoming [ī]]]. The basic examples Tolkien gave were tirítë “watchful, vigilant, ✱apt to watch”, cenítë “able to see”, caraitë “active, busy, ✱apt to do”, coloitë “capable of bearing, tolerant (of), enduring”, and yuluitë “drinking (as a habit), ✱aquatic”.

Conceptual Development: As a general adjective suffix, there was a variant ᴱQ. -voite that was quite common in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, also appearing in ᴹQ. hanuvoite “✱masculine” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/INI), but not thereafter. In Tolkien’s earlier writings, -itë had no specific verbal function, and ᴱQ. -alka, -elka, -olka was the suffix meaning “able to” in notes on The Qenya Verb Forms from the 1920s (VT14/33). This earlier verbal suffix also varied in form depending on the base vowel of the verb.

-nwa

passive suffix

-nwa is said to be "a passive suffix" irregularly occurring in the word vanwa "lost" (PE17:63), the word seems to be irregular since the underlying root means "go away" and so vanwa is in a sense a past active participle, *"having gone". Compare PE17:68.

-nwa

suffix. passive suffix; active participle (intransitive verbs), passive suffix; active participle (intransitive verbs); [ᴹQ.] perfective participle

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)

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.