Quenya
vanima
adjective. beautiful, fair, beautiful, fair, *handsome; [ᴱQ.] proper, right, as it should be, fair
Derivations
- √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/149; PE17/150; PE17/165
Element in
- Q. úvanima “not fair, ugly; hard to call beautiful, hideous” ✧ PE17/143; PE22/156; VT39/14
- Q. úvanimo “monster, corrupt or evil creature” ✧ PE17/150
- Q. vanimelda “beautiful and beloved, elven-fair” ✧ PE17/056; PE17/057
- Q. vanimalda “most beautiful, exceeding fair; thou beautiful, thou beautiful; most beautiful, exceeding fair” ✧ PE17/055 (
vanimalda)Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ɃAN > vanima [banima] > [βanima] > [vanima] ✧ PE17/149 √BAN > vanima [banima] > [βanima] > [vanima] ✧ PE17/150 √BAN > vanima [banima] > [βanima] > [vanima] ✧ PE17/165 Variations
- vanima ✧ PE17/055 (vanima); PE17/056; PE17/057; PE17/143; PE17/149 (vanima); PE17/150; PE17/165 (vanima); VT39/14
- vănĭmā ✧ PE17/057
- vănima ✧ PE22/156
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 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.