usquë ("q")noun "reek" (USUK). In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, usquë was also the name of tengwa #16, which at this conceptual stage had the value squ (VT46:20). Later, Tolkien would call this letter unquë, with the value nqu.
Quenya
usque
noun. dusk
usque
noun. dusk, twilight
usquë
reek
usquë
noun. dusk, dim light, [ᴹQ.] reek, *smoke; [Q.] dusk, dim light, [ᴹQ.] twilight; [ᴱQ.] fog
An Elvish noun Tolkien used for much of his life but with shifting meanings: 1910s “fog” >> 1930s “reek” (= smoke) >> 1940s-1950s “dusk”. This word first appeared as ᴱQ. usqe “fog” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√ṢQṢ (QL/98), also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as a cognate of G. usc “fog, mist” (GL/75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹQ. usqe “reek”, cognate of N. osp “smoke”, both derived from primitive ᴹ✶us(u)k-wē under the root ᴹ√USUK (Ety/USUK).
However, in both the first and second versions of the Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1: PE18/50) and 1950s (TQ2: PE18/100) usque had the same basic derivation but was glossed “dusk”. The word usqe “dusk, twilight” appeared in documents on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s (PE22/51) and in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s uskwe was given as the Q. derivative of √USUK “dusk, evening”. In the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s usque was glossed “dim light, especially of early dawn” (PE19/84).
Neo-Quenya: Although it is fairly clear Tolkien changed the meaning of this word from “reek” to “dusk”, many Neo-Quenya writers continue to use usque with its meaning from The Etymologies of the 1930s, since we have plenty of other “dusk” words but few words for “smoke”. The 1930s sense “reek” is a noun, and hence probably tied to Old English sense of the word, which was “smoke” before it had the later sense “stench”, so I’d use usque primarily as “✱smoke” and only secondarily as “reek” = “stench”.
Derivations
Element in
- ᴺQ. nisquë “incense, *(lit.) sweet smoke”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶uskwē > usque [uskwē] > [uskwe] ✧ PE18/100 ✶usukwē > uskwe [usukwē] > [uskwē] > [uskwe] ✧ PE21/71 Variations
- usque ✧ PE18/100; PE19/084
- uskwe ✧ PE21/71
histë
dusk
histë noun "dusk" (LT1:255)
hísë
dusk
hísë (2) noun "dusk" (LT1:255). A "Qenya" form possibly obsoleted by #1 above.
lómë
dusk, twilight
lómë noun "dusk, twilight", also "night"; according to SD:415, the stem is lómi- (contrast the "Qenya" genitive lómen rather than **lómin in VT45:28). According to PE17:152, lómë refers to night "when viewed favourably, as a rule, but it became the general rule" (cf. SD:414-415 regarding lōmi as an Adûnaic loan-word based on lómë, meaning "fair night, a night of stars" with "no connotations of gloom or fear"). In the battle-cry auta i lómë "the night is passing" (Silm. ch. 20), the "night" would however seem to refer metaphorically to the reign of Morgoth. As for the gloss, cf. Lómion masc. name "Child of Twilight [dusk]", the Quenya name Aredhel secretly gave to Maeglin _(SA). Otherwise lómë is usually defined as "night" (Letters:308, LR:41, SD:302 cf.414-15, SA:dú)_; the _Etymologies defines lómë as "Night [as phenomenon], night-time, shades of night, Dark" (DO3/DŌ, LUM, DOMO, VT45:28), or "night-light" (VT45:28, reading of _lómë uncertain). In early "Qenya" the gloss was "dusk, gloom, darkness" (LT1:255). Cf. lómelindëpl. lómelindi "nightingale" _(SA:dú, LR:41; SD:302, MR:172, DO3/DŌ, LIN2, TIN). _Derived adjective #lómëa "gloomy" in Lómëanor "Gloomyland"; see Taurelilómëa-tumbalemorna...
dusk