Quenya for "Lady's Favour" or "Lady's Token"

david wendelken #2900

For the proper mindset, think of a token, typically of cloth with a badge or coat of arms upon it, that a lady would give to her champion to wear as a token of her esteem, perhaps woven with charms of protection for its bearer.

I'm looking for a term that suits this object.

In addition, consider that this token was given by a noted lady harpist/singer, and that might be included in the term if appropriate (or just punny).

Here are some words I've found that might be useful:

Lanya weave

Tanna token

Lantana banner

*Tanwa token

Lindissë woman (root words mean song-woman)

Ní woman (very old usage)

(N)dissë woman

Heri lady

Anna gift

Long ago, before nifty online dictionaries like this existed, I came up with:

Lanní, which was a shortening of Lanya and ní.

I suspect that's not up to snuff. :)

I really don't understand how to distinguish, in Quenya or Sindarin, the difference between: (1) a Token that's considered female, (2) a Token given by a Lady, or (3) a Token belonging to a Lady.

I hope I've been clear that I'm looking for option #2.

And I get confused by word order. Is Quenya a green dragon or dragon green kind of language?

Thanks!

david wendelken #2911

Tanna disseo -- Token of the woman

Tanna herio -- Token of the lady

Tanna lindisseo -- Token of the song-woman (from a noted harpist/musician

david wendelken #2922

Comments?

Tamas Ferencz #2923
  • [d] as a sound does not occur on its own^ in Quenya, always in combination with n, l, or r, so disse is an incorrect form; the word "woman" is attested as nís, nis, or nisse (the short forms also have the stem form niss- when receiving suffixes) (^ there is one exception to the rule, the title Aldudénie which is considered an anomaly)

  • by default Quenya is a "green dragon" type of language as Tolkien described it to be the natural word order of adjective-noun phrases, but "dragon green" also occurs and is permissible, especially in poetry

  • concerning the three expressions you're asking about, (1) Quenya does not have gender so "token that is considered female" does not occur; the only feminisation occurs in proper names applied to persons; (2) "token given by the lady" is expressed with genitive: tanna herio "token of (originating from) the lady"; and (3) "token belonging to the lady" is usually expressed with the possessive-adjectival case: tanna heriva. It must be noted though that as time passed the genitive case came gradually to express both (2) and (3)

david wendelken #2924

Thanks!