yanwë noun "bridge, joining, isthmus" (YAT, "joining", VT49:45, 46), changed by Tolkien from yanwa (VT46:22, VT49:34)
Quenya
yanwë
noun. joining, joining, [ᴹQ.] isthmus, bridge
yanwë
bridge, joining, isthmus
yaltë
bridge
yaltë noun "bridge" (GL:37); rather yanta in Tolkien's later Quenya
yanta
bridge
yanta noun "bridge", also name of tengwa #35 (Appendix E); in the Etymologies, yanta is defined as "yoke" (YAT)
yanta
noun. bridge
The Quenya word for “bridge” from The Lord of the Rings appendices, also the name of tengwa #35 [l] used in i-diphthongs (LotR/1123). ᴹQ. yanta “bridge” also appeared as the name of this tengwa in notes The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s (PE22/22, 51).
Conceptual Development: Earlier words for “bridge” include ᴱQ. penda “bridge” under the early root ᴱ√PENE (QL/73) and ᴱQ. ranta “arch, bridge” under the early root ᴱ√RAÞA (QL/79). See the entry for √YAN “join” for a discussion of the possible later development of yanta’s root.
This noun appeared as ᴹQ. {yanwa >>} yanwe “bridge, joining, isthmus” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√YAT “join” (Ety/YAT; EtyAC/YAT). Its primitive form was given as ᴹ✶yatmā, and Tolkien neglected to revise it to ✱yatmē when the final vowel of the Quenya form was updated. This etymology of the noun reflected the sound change of tm > dm > nw which Tolkien used in the 1930s-50s.
In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien had Q. yanwë “joining” derived from {✱yadme >>} √YAN (VT49/45). This change in derivation likely reflected Tolkien’s decision in the 1960s that tm > tw, as suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT49/46).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use this noun only for “joining, isthmus”. For “bridge” I would use Q. yanta from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1123). I prefer to retain Tolkien’s pre-1960s phonetic developments for tm, so I would assume the root was √YAT and this noun was derived from ✱yatmē > yadwe > yanwe.