vanima adj. "beautiful, fair" (BAN, VT39:14) (glossed "proper, right, fair" in early "Qenya", LT1:272, though a later source says the word is used "only of living things, especially Elves and Men", PE17:150); nominal pl. vanimar "beautiful ones", partitive pl. genitive vanimálion, translated "of beautiful children", but literally meaning *"of [some] beautiful ones") (LotR3:VI ch. 6, translated in Letters:308). Arwen vanimalda "Beautiful Arwen", literally "Arwen your beauty" (see -lda for reference; changed to Arwen vanimelda in the second edition of LotR; see vanimelda).
Quenya
vanima
adjective. beautiful, fair, beautiful, fair, *handsome; [ᴱQ.] proper, right, as it should be, fair
vanima
beautiful, fair
vanima
noun. beautiful one, fair one
vanima
adjective. beautiful
vanimalda
your beautiful
vanimalda adj. with suffix *"your beautiful"; Arwen vanimalda "Arwen your beauty = beautiful Arwen" (WJ:369, cf. PE17:55).The ending for sg. "your" normally appears as -lya rather than -lda (which according to late sources is rather the ending for plural "your", here inappropriate). Originally Tolkien seems to have intended vanimalda as an inflected form of vanima "beautiful", the ending -lda expressing comparative, superlative or simply "exceedingly" (PE17:56: vanimalda = "exceeding fair"). However, since this ending was later revised out of existence, Tolkien reinterpreted the word. The Second Edition of LotR changes one letter to arrive at the reading vanimelda, q.v. for Tolkiens new explanation.%
vanimelda
the highest word of praise for beauty
vanimelda adj., said to be "the highest word of praise for beauty", with two interpretations that were apparently considered equally valid and simultaneously true: "beautiful and beloved" (vanima + melda, with haplology), i.e. "movingly lovely", but also "elven-fair" (fair as an Elf) (vanima + elda). The word was also used as the second name of Arwen. (PE17:56, Second Edition LotR1:II ch. 16).
vanimalda
adjective. most beautiful, exceeding fair; thou beautiful, thou beautiful; most beautiful, exceeding fair
alima
fair, good
alima adj. "fair, good" (also alya) (PE17:146)
vanya
fair
vanya (1) adj. "fair" (FS), "beautiful" (BAN), a word referring to beauty that is "due to lack of fault, or blemish" (PE17:150), hence Arda Vanya as an alternative to Arda Alahasta for "Arda Unmarred" (ibid., compare MR:254). Nominal pl. Vanyar "the Fair", the first clan of the Eldar; the original meaning of this stem was "pale, light-coloured, not brown or dark" (WJ:382, 383, stem given as WAN), "properly = white complexion and blonde hair" (PE17:154, stem given as GWAN); stems BAN vs. WAN discussed, see PE17:150.
úvanima
not fair, ugly
úvanima noun "not fair, ugly" (VT39:14). Negated form of vanima.
-ima
fair
-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)
-lda
your
-lda (1) "your", 2nd person pl. possessive suffix (VT49:16). Onnalda *"your child" (VT49:42). In an earlier manuscript, this ending was used for singular "you" instead, attested in the phrase Arwen vanimalda "Arwen your beauty", sc. "O beautiful Arwen", and in meletyalda "your majesty" (WJ:369) Arwen vanimalda was however changed to Arwen vanimelda in the second edition of LotR, Tolkien reinterpreting the last word (see vanimalda). The ending for singular "your" appears as -lya elsewhere. (LotR1:II ch. 6)
-lda
-lda
[-lda] (2) in some versions of Quenya a comparative or augmentative suffix, later abandoned by Tolkien (PE17:55, 56). See vanimalda.
-li
the elves
-li partitive pl. ending (simply called a plural suffix in the Etymologies, stem LI). The ending is used to indicate a plural that is neither generic (e.g. Eldar "the Elves" as a race) nor definite (preceded by article); hence Eldali is used for "some Elves" (a particular group of Elves, when they are first mentioned in a narrative, VT49:8). Sometimes Tolkien also lets -li imply a great number; in PE17:129, the form falmalinnar from _Namárië _is broken down as falma-li-nnar "foam wave-many-towards-pl. ending", and falmali by itself Tolkien translated "many waves" (PE17:73). A distinct accusative in -lī seems to occur in the phrase an i falmalī (PE17:127, apparently meaning the same as i falmalinnar, but replacing the allative ending with a preposition). Genitive -lion in vanimálion, malinornélion (q.v. for reference), allative -linna and -linnar in falmalinnar, q.v. The endings for other cases are only known from the Plotz letter: possessive -líva, dative -lin, locative -lissë or -lissen, ablative -lillo or -lillon, instrumental -línen, "short locative" -lis. When the noun ends in a consonant, r and n is assimilated before l, e.g. Casalli as the partitive pl. of Casar "Dwarf" (WJ:402), or elelli as the partitive pl. of elen "star" (PE17:127). It is unclear whether the same happens in monosyllabic words, or whether a connecting vowel would be slipped in before -li (e.g. ?queneli or ?quelli as the partitive pl. of quén, quen- "person").
vanë
adjective. fair, fair, [ᴱQ.] lovely
-cca
your
[-cca ("k") ?"your", apparently an abandoned 2nd person plural or dual possessive (VT49:49). Compare -lca.]
-lca
your
[-lca ("k") ?"your", apparently an abandoned 2nd person plural possessive (VT49:49). Cf. -cca.]
-sta
your
-sta (1) "your", dual 2nd person possessive pronominal ending: "of you two" (VT49:45, 16), cf. -stë (q.v.) Genitive -sto in veryanwesto "of your wedding" (VT49:45) and tengwiesto "of your reading" (VT49:47), allative -stanna in parmastanna "on your book" (VT49:47). An archaic ending of similar form could also be the third person dual "of the two of them" (but according to VT49:51, the corresponding subject ending was changed to -ttë, and then the ending for "their" would presumably become -tta)
-tya,
your, thy
-tya, pronominal ending, 2nd person sg. intimate/familiar "your, thy" (VT49:16, 38, 48); compare -tyë
alya
fair, good
alya (1) adj. "fair, good" (PE17:146), "prosperous, rich, abundant, blessed" (GALA). In a deleted entry in Etym, the glosses provided were "rich, blessed"; another deleted entry defined alya as "rich, prosperous, blessed". (GALA, [ÁLAM], VT42:32, 45:5, 14)
calwa
beautiful
calwa ("k") adj. "beautiful" (LT1:254)
linda
fair, beautiful
linda adj. "fair, beautiful" (of sound) (SLIN, LIND; VT45:27), "soft, gentle, light" (PE16:96), "beautiful, sweet, melodious of sound" (PE17:150); for Linda as a noun, see Lindar.
mairëa
beautiful
mairëa adj. "beautiful" (of things made by art) (PE17:163). An alternative (and peculiar) form "mairia" is also implied in the source.
mírya
beautiful
mírya adj. "beautiful" (of work of art only) (PE17:165)
vanë
fair
vanë adj. "fair" (LT1:272; in Tolkien's later Quenya rather vanya)
A word for “beautiful, fair” derived from the root √BAN of similar meaning (PE17/55, 143, 150, 165). Tolkien specified that this word was used “only of living things, especially Elves or Men” (PE17/150). Tolkien further stated that this would did not mean only “fair (blond)”, because it was applicable to Arwen who had dark hair (PE17/165). Thus it applied to any physically beautiful living creature.
Conceptual Development: The first appearance of this word was in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where ᴱQ. {vana >>} vanĭma was glossed “proper, right, as it should be, fair” under the early root ᴱ√VANA (QL/99). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹQ. vanima “fair” under the root ᴹ√BAN (Ety/BAN). In this document it was the basis for ᴹQ. Vanimo “the Beautiful”, indicating that by the 1930s its base meaning had shifted from “proper” to “beautiful”.
Neo-Sindarin: In the “Neologism of the Day” (NotD) series on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server as posted 2023-05-30, Delle pointed out that this word was not specifically feminine, so could also mean “✱handsome” when applied to males.