yesta

beginning

yesta (2) noun "beginning" (PE17:120). Also attested in the compound yestarë (see below), but cf. esta #2.

yesta

noun. beginning, beginning, *start

@@@ gloss “start” suggested by Robert Reynolds

esta

first

esta (2) adj. "first" (ESE/ESET); this entry was marked with a query. The word Yestarë (q.v.) "Beginning-day" in LotR suggests that Tolkien decided to change the stem in question to _YESE/YESET_. We could then read *yesta for esta (but later this became a noun "beginning" rather than an adj. "first", PE17:120) and also prefix a y to the other words derived from ESE/ESET (essë* > yessë, essëa > yessëa). Estanossë noun "the firstborn", read likewise Yestanossë** (*Yestanessi?) but in a later text, Tolkien used Minnónar (q.v.) for "the Firstborn" as a name of the Elves, and this form may be preferred. _(In the Etymologies as printed in LR, the word _Estanossë is cited as "Estanesse", but according to VT45:12, the second-to-last vowel is actually o in Tolkien's manuscript.)

yestarë

proper name. first day of the year

The first day of the year in the calendar of Imladris, the Númenórean calendar and the Steward’s Reckoning (LotR/1108-9), a compound of yesta “beginning” and ré “day”.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies from the 1930s, the first day of the year was ᴹQ. Minyen (Ety/YEN), a combination of the root ᴹ√MIN, which had derivatives like ᴹQ. minya “first”, and ᴹQ. yén “year”. In drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices from the 1940s, the first day of the year was initially given as ᴹQ. Vinyarië “Newyear’s Day” (PM/127), where its first element was ᴹQ. vinya “young, new”. Later in the drafts it was given as ᴹQ. Entare “Year’s beginning” (PM/134).

yesta-

desire

yesta- (1) vb. "desire" (YES, VT46:23; the latter source indicates that Tolkien did write yesta- with a final hyphen, indicating that this is "desire" as a verbal stem, not as a noun).

yestarë

beginning-day

yestarë noun *"beginning-day", the first day of the year (loa), immediately before the season of tuilë (Appendix D, PE17:120)

yesta-

verb. to begin, to begin, *start

@@@ gloss “start” suggested by Robert Reynolds

yestanyatsë

noun. prefixion

@@@ Discord 2022-06-02, cf. mestanyatsë, with loss of sta by haplology in ✱jesta-stan-jatsē, suffix or prefix -yatta (e.g. Q. mestanyatta)

yestië

noun. beginning

essë

beginning

essë (3) noun "beginning" (ESE/ESET). This entry was marked by a query in Etym, and a word in the appendices to LotR suggests that it was emended to *YESE/YESET; we may therefore read *yessë for essë. (See esta #2.) However, for the purposes of writing the form yesta "beginning" from PE17:120 may be preferred.

enna

first

[enna adj. "first" (VT45:12)]

fenta-

verb. to begin

inga

first

inga (2) adj. "first" (ING)

milmë

desire, greed

milmë noun "desire, greed" (MIL-IK)

minya

first

minya adj. "first" (MINI) (cf. Minyatur, Minyon); "eminent, prominent" (VT42:24, 25). Minyar "Firsts", the original name of the Vanyar (or rather the direct Quenya descendant of the original Primitive Quendian name) (WJ:380)

ná-

verb. to be, to be, [ᴱQ.] exist

The basic Quenya verb for “to be”, based on the root √NĀ (PE17/93). It was typically used as the copula equating a noun to another noun or an adjective:

> √NA joining adjs./nouns/pronouns in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have a certain quality, or to be the same as another (PE22/147).

In many circumstances this verb was optional:

> As a copula “be, is” is not usually expressed in Quenya where the meaning is clear: sc. in such expressions as “A is good” where the adjective (contrary to the usual order in Quenya of a qualifying adjective) follows: the normal Quenya for this is A mára (PE17/93).

For further discussion see the entry on the Quenya copula.

Conceptual Development: This verb dates back all the way to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where it was given as the early root ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). This verb and its root appeared regularly throughout Tolkien’s writings thereafter, but at times Tolkien considered alternative verbs for “to be”; see the entry ëa- for further discussion.

setta

first

[setta, setya adj. "first" (possibly also "primary", but Tolkien's gloss was not certainly legible) (VT46:13)]

írissë

desire

Írissë fem. name (PM:345), evidently connected to írë "desire".

írë

desire

írë (1) noun "desire". (ID). In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, írë was also the name of a long carrier with an i-tehta above it, denoting long í. (VT45:17).

írë

noun. desire, desire, [ᴹQ.] longing

yessë

noun. beginning

yeset Reconstructed

root. beginning

The root ᴹ√ESE(T) “precede” and ᴹ√SET “precede forward” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. esse “beginning”, ᴹQ. esta “first”, and N. seth {“first” >>} “forth”, but the ᴹ√SET forms were rejected and the ᴹ√ESE(T) forms marked with a “?”, being in conflict with ᴹ√ES “indicate, name” (Ety/ESE; EtyAC/SET). The appearance of Q. yesta “beginning” and Q. Yestarë “first day of the year” in later writings (LotR/1108-1109; PE17/120) indicate the root was probably revised to ✱√YESET.

minya

ordinal. first

iesta-

verb. to begin

aníra-

verb. to desire

aníra-

verb. to desire, to desire, *long for

glintha-

verb. to glance at

main

ordinal. first, (only in the sense of) prime, chief, pre-eminent

mein

ordinal. first, (only in the sense of) prime, chief, pre-eminent

mein

ordinal. first

minui

ordinal. first

minui

ordinal. first

na-

verb. to be

A verb for “to be” based on the root √NĀ of the same meaning. This verb is barely attested in the Sindarin language, and the general consensus is that [for purposes of Neo-Sindarin at least] Sindarin omits the verb “to be” in most phrases, such as in naur an edraith ammen “fire [be] for saving us” (LotR/299) or ✱orchal i adan “tall [is] the man”; see the entry on the copula for further discussion.

The clearest attestation of the verb na- is its imperative form no “be!” in the phrase no aer i eneth lín “hallowed be thy name, (lit.) ✱be holy the name your”, from the Sindarin translation of the Lord’s Prayer from the 1950s (VT44/21). This imperative form was preceded by some hard-to-read deleted forms, perhaps {dôd >> dád >> hae >>} no (VT44/22). The d-forms might be eroded/mutated variants of na-. Compare đa in the phrase inn đa v’im “a mind there is in me = I have a good mind (to do so)” in notes from the late 1960s (PE22/165), where đa could be another eroded form of na-. This phrase was first written as inn no v’im (PE22/165 note #108); see the entry for đa for further discussion.

Another clear attestation of na “be” is an apparent future form natho in the untranslated phrase Sí il chem {na} en i naugrim en ir Ellath {natho} thor den ammen in the so-called “Túrin Wrapper” from the late 1950s (VT50/5). This future[?] form natho was deleted and replaced by thor, and a deleted {na} also appears earlier in the phrase, possibly a false start. Carl Hostetter suggested this phrase might mean something like “✱now all (?hands) of the Dwarves and Elves will be (?against) us” (VT50/22-25). If so, it seems the future of na- “be” was constructed from the bare future suffix (a)tha-, manifesting as tho “✱will be”.

Neo-Sindarin: As noted above, for purposes of Neo-Sindarin the general consensus is that this verb is barely used, and is omitted from most “to be” phrases as in the example orchal i adan given above. The verb’s one widely accepted use is as an imperative, such as in no mae “be well”. Based the Túrin Wrapper, I posit that tho can also be used for a future form “will be”, as in i adan tho orchal “the man will be tall”. I likewise posit a (purely hypothetical) past form [ᴺS.] nî “was”, based on the primitive past-tense element ✶-nē with [[os|long [ē] becoming [ī]]], as in i adan nî orchal “the man was tall”. Neither tho or nî are widely accepted Neo-Sindarin, however.

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had the verb G. na- “is” (GL/58), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√NĀ “be, exist” (QL/64). This irregular Gnomish verb had some inflected forms: plural nain, participle ol· and past form {ni >>} thi, the last of these being another inspiration for Neo-Sindarin nî “was”.

ned

noun. first, *one more; first; *during

This word replaced the preposition uin “of the” in the third version of the King’s Letter, appearing in the phrase nelchaenen ned Echuir “the thirty-first day of Stirring”. Both Carl Hostetter (VT31/30) and David Salo (SG/229) theorized that this replacement has a similar prepositional function, from either √NOT “count” or √NED “middle”. Fiona Jallings suggested it might be a temporal preposition, with sense “during” (FJNS/349).

On VT47/40, note 67, Patrick Wynne suggested that this word might be a cognate of the newly published Quenya word net(ë) “one more”. This theory is supported by the most likely interpretation of nelchaenen. This word seems to mean “thirtieth” rather than “thirty-first”, and Patrick Wynne suggested that nelchaenen ned means “thirtieth and one more” = “thirty-first”. I find this theory the most compelling, and use it here.

aníra

desire

(vb.) aníra- (i aníra, in anírar);

aníra

desire

(i aníra, in anírar);

erui

first

(single, alone). No distinct pl. form. Some would argue that Tolkien abandoned erui as a word for ”first”.

glind

glance

(noun) !glind (i **lind), no distinct pl. form except with article (in glind), coll. pl. glinnath**. (WJ:337; the spelling used in the primary source is ”glinn”.)

glind

glance

(i ’lind), no distinct pl. form except with article (in glind), coll. pl. glinnath. (WJ:337; the spelling used in the primary source is ”glinn”.)

minui

first

1) minui (lenited vinui; no distinct pl. form), 2) mîn (lenited vîn; no distinct pl. form) (isolated, towering). Note: homophones include the noun ”peak” and the number ”one”; 3) erui (single, alone). No distinct pl. form. Some would argue that Tolkien abandoned erui as a word for ”first”.

minui

first

(lenited vinui; no distinct pl. form)

mîn

first

(lenited vîn; no distinct pl. form) (isolated, towering). Note: homophones include the noun ”peak” and the number ”one”

tîr

glance

(noun) tîr (i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (looking, glance) (view, looking), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. ?tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

tîr

glance

(i dîr, also -dir at the end of compounds) (looking, glance) (view, looking), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thîr), coll. pl. ?tíriath. Note: a homophone means ”straight, right” (adj.)

îr

sexual desire

(VT46:23)

edhen

adjective. first

ereg

place name. First

Earlier name for the river S. Erui from Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, apparently a Noldorin word meaning ereg “first” (TI/312, WR/436).

ereg

adjective. first

îr

noun. sexual desire

minya

ordinal. first