epë

before

epë prep. "before" ("in all relations but time", VT49:32), though the word was glossed "after" when first published (VT42:32; Bill Welden, the writer of the article in question, later presented this correction in VT44:38). The preposition can indeed express "after" when used of time, since the Eldar imagined future time (time that comes after the present) as being "before" them (VT49:12, 32); epë is in this respect a variant of apa, q.v. (Cf. VT49:22.) Compare epessë, q.v. Epë "before" may also be used in comparison (PE17:56, 57), apparently in much the same way as lá #2 (q.v.) (VT42:32)

nó

before

nó (3) prep. "before" (of time, compare nóvo), "at back" (of spatial relationships). In other conceptual phases, Tolkien also let the word have the opposite meaning "after" (of time) or "in front" (of space). (VT49:32).

epeni

conjunction. before, *after; before

opo

preposition. in front (of place), before; after (of time)

A word appearing as opo, pō, pono, poto- “in front, of place” in notes from the mid-1950s (VT49/32) and as opo, pō “before, in front of” in notes from 1969 associated with the Ambidexters Sentence (VT49/32). In the latter notes, Tolkien said these were used to mean “after (of time)” in potai “therefore” from the first and third versions of the Ambidexters Sentence, but by the fourth and later versions this had become epetai (VT49/6-8). The root √OPO also appeared in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 with the glosses “before of place” (PE22/167 note #22) and “before, ahead, in front of place” (PE22/168).

Conceptual Development: As pointed out by Patrick Wynne (VT49/32), in Tolkien’s earliest writings ᴱQ. pote meant “after, behind (of place)” based on the early root ᴱ√POT-I (QL/72). At some point in the intervening decades (O)PO flipped from “behind” to “in front”. It thus had a form similar to epë, which likewise kept flipping between “before” and “after”.

Neo-Quenya: It is possible that opo was supplanted by epë, but I prefer to assume it was a variant used only for position in space but not time: “in front”. See also apa, another similar form that I assume is used only of time.

merin sa haryalyë alassë nó vanyalyë ambarello

I hope that you have happiness before you pass from the world

This sentence appeared in a letter from Tolkien to a girl (woman?) named Dorothy. This sentence was first described publicly by Michael Dawson in 1999 on the Tolkien mailing list. The date of the original letter is unknown, since it was only described indirectly in another letter from Dorothy to Dawson’s (deceased) mother, dated 1968 (see Tolklang/34.99), but it seems likely that it was written after The Lord of the Rings was published. In the literature, this phrase is usually referred to as the “Merin Sentence”.

The sentence was first analyzed by Helge Fauskanger (Tolklang/35.02) and Ales Bican posted a short description of the sentence on the Elfling website. Based on its use of vanya-, Helge Fauskanger suggested the sentence was probably written before the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, since in that essay the base verb form auta- (WJ/366, Tolklang/35.02). When first published, there was some question on the validity of the sentence, but later independent confirmation of the existence of the Quenya word nó “before” supports its authenticity (as discussed by Bill Welden, VT49/32 note #12).

In the original description of the phrase, the first word is given as meriu, but there is a general concensus is that this is probably a misreading of merin “I hope”, the aorist 1st-singular form of the verb mer- “to hope”. The second word sa “that” is used here as a relative pronoun. The third word haryalye “you have” is the aorist 2nd-singular-polite form of the verb harya- “to have”.

The fourth word is alassë “happiness” followed by nó “before”. The sixth word vanyalye “you pass” is the aorist 2nd-singular-polite form of the verb vanya- which appeared in The Etymologies (Ety/WAN); in late writings this verb is usually given as auta- “to pass away”. The last word Ambarello “from the world” is the ablative form of the noun Ambar “World”.

nóvo

previously, before

nóvo adv. "previously, before" (?) _(PE15:35). _Compare nó #3.

opo

before, in front of

opo prep. "before, in front of" (of spatial relationships); "after" (of time), also pó, po or pono, poto (VT49:12, VT44:36, evidently a variant of apa).

po

before, in front of

po, pó prep. "before, in front of" (of spatial relationships) "after" (of time), also opo or pono, poto- (VT49:12, 32, VT44:36; evidently a variant of apa)

fai

adverb. *before of time

epë

preposition. after (of time), following; before (in all relations but time)

nó

before (of time); at back (of place), before (of time); at back (of place); [ᴹQ.] yester-; [ᴱQ.] after (of place), behind; after (only of time); than

a anamelda na epë b

A is dear before B

eru fai, sî, euva

*Eru (was) before, (is) now, will be (after)

fai; afea

adverb. before (of time)

opo

before, ahead, in front of

potai

conjunction. *therefore, (lit.) before which

pó

preposition. before, in front (of place); after (of time)

nópata-

verb. to precede, (lit.) to walk before

phā/apha

root. before of time

A root appearing in a list of roots for spatial and temporal directions from 1969, with an unglossed (primitive?) derivative ✶afar and the Quenya form fai with variant afea, apparently meaning “before” in the phrase Eru fai, sî, euva “✱Eru (was) before, (is) now, will be (after)” (PE22/147). Later in the same set of notes Tolkien seems to have reverted to earlier roots for these functions (PE22/168).

opo

root. before of place, ahead, in front

This primitive form was noted in the margins and rough notes from Late Notes on Verbs from 1969, glossed “before of place” (PE22/167) and “before, ahead, in front of place” (PE22/168). Primitive or Quenya forms opo/pō “before, in front of” and pōna/ompa “forward” appear in other late notes from this period associated with the Q. Ambidexters Sentence, as part of an explanation for Q. potai “therefore” (VT49/12), though this word was eventually revised to Q. epetai (VT49/8). Quenya or primitive forms opo, po, pono, poto “in front, of place” appeared in notes from the mid-1950s (VT49/32 note #12), and as suggested by Patrick H. Wynne might be a reemergence of the early root ᴱ√POT-I “after, behind (of place)” with a reversal in its meaning (QL/75). Other similar roots in the same semantic space are √APA and √EPE.

Neo-Eldarin: Tolkien’s treatment of “before” and “after” words was wildly inconsistent, but I generally prefer ✶epe for “after (of time); before (of space)” and ✶nō for its opposite. However, I think √APA and √OPO can serve as variants of √EPE, with √OPO more specifically referring to the front of things, especially given Tolkien’s use of √OP as a root referring to the front of the (open) mouth (PE17/126).

wā/awa

root. away (from); go (away), depart, pass away, move (from speaker); before (of time), ago, away (from); go (away), depart, pass away, move (from speaker); before (of time), ago; [ᴹ√] forth, out

This invertible root and ones like it were the basis for “away” words for much of Tolkien’s life. The earliest iteration was ᴱ√AVA “go away, depart, leave” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. au “away from” and ᴱQ. avanwa “going, passing, nearly gone” (QL/33). This early root remanifested as ᴹ√AB “go away, depart, leave” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but the gloss of that root was revised to “refuse, deny” (Ety/AB). As a replacement, Tolkien introduced ᴹ√AWA “away, forth; out” with derivatives like ᴹQ. ava “outside”; Tolkien also considered deriving a privative prefix ᴹQ. ava- from this root (Ety/AWA).

The root √AWA was mentioned many times in Tolkien’s later writings, along with its inverted variant √WĀ, usually with the sense “away (from)” or a verbal sense “go (away), depart, pass away”. Its most detailed description appeared in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said:

> The element ✱AWA ... referred to movement away, viewed from the point of view of the thing, person, or place left. As a prefix it had probably already developed in CE the form ✱au-. The form ✱awa was originally an independent adverbial form, but appears to have been also used as a prefix (as an intensive form of ✱awa-, ✱au-). The form ✱wā- was probably originally used as a verbal stem, and possibly also in composition with verbal stems (WJ/361).

In this same document Tolkien said of Sindarin that:

> The only normal derivative [of √AWA] is the preposition o, the usual word for “from, of”. None of the forms of the element ✱awa are found as a prefix in S, probably because they became like or the same as the products of ✱wō, ✱wo (WJ/366).

Indeed, most of the attested derivatives of this root are in Quenya, but there are a couple in Sindarin, such as the aforementioned S. o from AWA, as well S. gwanwen “departed” (WJ/378) and the verb S. gwae- “go”, probably only in the limited sense “depart” (PE17/148), both from WĀ.

In late notes from 1969 Tolkien gave the root √AWA the sense “before or ago (of time)” (PE22/167 note #117; PE22/168), but I suspect this was a transient idea.

afar

?. *before of time

khyar

?. *before, in front of place

khyā

root. before, in front of place

A root appearing in a list of roots for spatial and temporal directions from 1969, with a single unglossed (primitive?) derivative ✶khyar (PE22/147). Later in the same set of notes Tolkien seems to have reverted to earlier roots for these functions (PE22/168).

apha

root. before of time

nē

adverb. was; then, ago, before

eb

preposition. ?before

ebloer

noun. June, ?Before-summer

eb

preposition. ?before

eblaer

noun. June, ?Before-summer

nui

preposition/adverb. before (of time); [G.] afterwards, again, later

ob Reconstructed

preposition. fore, *before

A prepositional element only attested in the late (1968) word obroth “fore-cutting” (PM/376), referring to the wake before a boat, so perhaps meaning “✱before”. It appears only as a suffix, but in the earlier Adûnaic grammar of Lowdham’s Report from the 1940s, Adûnaic prepositions are used as suffixes (SD/435). This preposition also differs from the earlier phonetic rules of Lowdham’s Report, which allow only long [ō] in Adûnaic words. If this preposition were used in the grammatical and phonetic context of Lowdham’s Report (Middle Adûnaic), it might be the suffix ✱-ôb. See the entry on conceptual-changes-in-late-Adûnaic for further discussion.