-ya

suffix. adjectival suffix

-yā

suffix. present participle

-yā

suffix. causative

-yă

suffix. formative

-nyā

pronoun. my

-ā

suffix. adjectival

ya

root. *there, over there; (of time) back, ago, [ᴹ√] there, over there; (of time) back, ago

√YA was demonstrative and relative pronominal root with particular reference to the past for much of Tolkien’s life. Its first appearance was as ᴱ√YA “demonstrative pointing back” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√DYA, ᴱ√YE, ᴱ√DYE, appearing above the entry for ᴱ√DYĒ “behind, back (before of time)” (QL/105). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, ᴱQ. ya was given as an indeclinable relative pronoun (PE14/54), and it was used as such in the ᴱQ. Nieninqe poem from around 1930: ᴱQ. yar i vilya anta miqilis “to whom the air gives kisses” (MC/215).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√YA “there, over there; (of time) back, ago” with derivatives like ᴹQ. yá/N. io “ago”, ᴹQ. yana “that (the former)”, and ᴹQ. yára/N. iaur “ancient, old(en)” (Ety/YA; EtyAC/YA). Tolkien continued to use Q. yára/S. iaur “old” in later writings (RC/579; UT/384; WJ/192), but the only clear reference to the primitive form yā- in later writings (as currently published in 2021) was as the basis for extended roots √YAG “gap” and √YANA “wide” (PE17/42).

Tolkien continued to use Q. ya as a relative pronoun as well, most notably in the draft and final versions of the Q. Namárië poem (VT28/11; LotR/377), in Quenya prayers from the 1950s (VT43/27), and in the 1955 version of the Q. Nieninquë poem. Tolkien also had a personal variant of the relative pronoun: Q. ye in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/21). It is not clear whether the personal/impersonal relative pronouns ye/ya were directly derived from √YA, or if they were independent developments.

ya

pronoun. relative pronoun

wāya

verb. blow

-ni

suffix. adjectival suffix

Seen in lugni < LUG, luini < LUY and ninkwi < NIKW (with subsequent metathesis). Possibly a (rare) variant of -nā and/or -i.

-ntā

pronoun. their

-twā

pronoun. their (dual)

am

root. mother

For most of Tolkien’s life, the Primitive Elvish root for “mother” was √AM. This began with the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien gave the root as ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹ√AM with derivatives ᴹQ. amil and (archaic) N. emil “mother” (Ety/AM¹). In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, the word for mother was Q. Amille. In the last few years of his life, however, Tolkien toyed with the notion of changing this root to √EM. In notes associated with Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi written in the late 1960s, Tolkien first gave the root as am, but then wrote em next to it with a question mark, along with several new em-derivatives (VT48/19 note #16). The Q. affectionate word emme for “mommy” appeared in the main article, indicating Tolkien did, in fact, adopt this new root, at least for some period of time.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Quenya writing, I personally prefer to ignore this late change to the root for “mother” and stick with the √AM-forms Tolkien used for most of his life. However, the √AM-forms were less stable in the Sindarin branch of the languages, so I’d use √EM-forms like S. emel and emig, and would assume √AM and √EM were variants of the root, as they were on VT48/19 (see above).

amal

noun. mother

amas

noun. mother

amma

noun. mother

amme

noun. mother

as(a)

preposition. and

at(ar)

root. father

As the basis for “father” words, √AT and its extended form √ATAR date all the way back to Tolkien’s earliest ideas. The root itself did not explicitly appear in the Qenya or Gnomish Lexicons of the 1910s, but forms like ᴱQ. atar, G. †ador “father” indicate its presence (QL/33; GL/17). The root ᴹ√ATA “father” did appear in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. atar, N. adar (Ety/ATA) and the base √AT(AR) “father” was mentioned again in late 1960s notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (VT48/19). In this late period, the Elvish words for “father” remained Q. atar and S. adar (PM/324).

atar

noun. father

em

root. mother

emel

noun. mother

emer

noun. mother

makla

noun. sword

mā

noun. hand

wiw

root. blow