-ni

suffix. feminine suffix

A common feminine suffix in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in words like varyani “foreigner (fem.)”, probably a suffixal form of ᴱQ. nî “woman” (GL/60) and often paired with its masculine equivalent ᴱQ. -nu.

ni

pronoun. this

ni

pronoun. I; 1st sg. pronoun

nî

noun. woman

-a

suffix. adjectival suffix

-ea

suffix. adjectival suffix

-ina

suffix. adjectival suffix

-ra

suffix. adjectival suffix

-si

suffix. feminine suffix

A feminine suffix in several words from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s such as ᴱQ. felusi “witch” (QL/38) and ᴱQ. varitsi “foreigner (fem.)” (QL/100).

-sse

suffix. feminine suffix

-tsi

suffix. feminine suffix

allu-

verb. to wash

A verb for “wash” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants allu, alnu-, both under the early root ᴱ√ALU “cleanse, dress” (QL/30).

alnu-

verb. to wash

anai

noun. woman

A noun in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s form “woman” with variants anai and anî, a feminine form ᴱQ. anu “a male” (QL/31).

an ni

give (it) me

an nir

give (it) me

anta-

verb. to give

anî

noun. woman

e-

verb. to be

ike

adjective. this

lómear

proper name. Child of Gloom

A name of the Dark Elves in drafts of the earliest Lost Tales, appearing in its plural form Lómearni (LT1/244). In the Qenya Lexicon, the name was glossed “Child of Gloom”, a combination of ᴱQ. lóme “gloom” (QL/55) and ᴱQ. ar “child”.

mat-

verb. to eat

mata-

verb. to eat

mára mesta an ni véla tye ento, ya rato nea

good-bye until I see you next, and I hope it will be soon

This is a sentence in the “Arctic” language written in a supposed letter from Santa from Tolkien to his children in 1929. In form, it resembles the Quenya of this time period, and most scholars consider it an example of that language, though perhaps somewhat simplified. @@@

na

preposition. for

nyél

noun. woman

A word for “woman” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s with stem form nyel-, as indicated by its accusative nyela (PE16/135). Its etymology is unclear; Patrick Wynne and Christopher Gilson suggested it might be connected to the early root ᴱ√NYEHE “weep” or later root ᴹ√NYEL “ring, sing”, but these both feel like stretches to me.

qi

pronoun. this

qin

noun. woman, female

A noun in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “woman, female” derived from the root ᴱ√QIMI (QL/77). In the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it appeared in its stem form qim- (PME/77). The word reappeared with the gloss “woman” in the English-Qenya Dictionary and Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE15/79; PE16/135), but seems to have been abandoned after that point.

qinda

adjective. this

qinqe

pronoun. this

qinya

adjective. female

si

pronoun. this

sovo-

verb. to wash

A verb appearing as ᴱQ. sovo- “wash” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√SOVO or ᴱ√SOW̯O “wash” (QL/86).

Neo-Quenya: In some Neo-Quenya writings (including earlier versions of this lexicon), ᴺQ. sov- is used as the neologism for “wash”. However, in 2024 the word Q. hwal- “wash” was published in PE23, and this is now preferable to sov- for this meaning. I am currently retaining sov- as a neologism for “✱bathe” instead, but may revisit this in future versions of this lexicon.

suni

noun. bitch, *female dog

ᴱQ. suni “bitch” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from ᴱ✶sẇǝnī́ under the early root ᴱ√SAẆA < sǝwǝ (QL/82). This word also appeared in the Qenya Phonology with a similar derivation (PE12/26), and appeared again in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/82).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d update this word to ᴺQ. húni “bitch, ✱female dog” using the later root ᴹ√KHUG that seems to have replaced ᴱ√SAẆA (Ety/KHUGAN).

táma

adjective. this

ó-

verb. to be