atar noun "father" (SA; WJ:402, UT:193, LT1:255, VT43:37, VT44:12). According to the Etymologies (ATA) the pl. is atari, but contrast #atári in Atanatári "Fathers of Men" (q.v.); possibly the word behaves differently when compounded. Atarinya "my father" (LR:70), atar(inya) the form a child would use addressing his or her father, also reduced to atya (VT47:26). Diminutive masc. name Atarincë ("k") "Little father", amilessë (never used in narrative) of Curufinwë = Curufin (PM:353). Átaremma, Ataremma "our Father" as the first word of the Quenya translation of the Lord's Prayer, written before Tolkien changed -mm- as the marker of 1st person pl. exclusive to -lm-; notice -e- as a connecting vowel before the ending -mma "our". In some versions of the Lord's Prayer, including the final version, the initial a of atar "father" is lengthened, producing #átar. This may be a contraction of *a atar "o Father", or the vowel may be lengthened to give special emphasis to #Átar "Father" as a religious title (VT43:13). However, in VT44:12 Atar is also a vocative form referring to God, and yet the initial vowel remains short.
Quenya
átaremma
Átaremma
Elements
Word Gloss Átaremma i ëa han Eä “our Father who art in Heaven” na airë esselya “hallowed be thy name” aranielya na tuluva “thy kingdom come” na carë indómelya “thy will be done” cemendë tambe Erumandë “on Earth as [it is] in Heaven” ámen anta síra ilaurëa massamma “give us this day our daily bread” ar ámen apsenë úcaremmar “and forgive us our trespasses” sív’ emmë apsenet tien i úcarir emmen “as we forgive those who trespass against us” álamë tulya úsahtienna “[and] lead us not into temptation” mal ámë etelehta ulcullo: násië “but deliver us from evil: Amen”
atar
father
atar
noun. father
atar
noun. father
The Quenya word for “father”, derived from the root √AT(AR) (PM/324; WJ/402; VT48/19).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. atar “father” dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, though in that document it was “a more solemn word ... usually to 1st Person of the Blessed Trinity”, as opposed to more ordinary ᴱQ. attu “father” (QL/33). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, ᴱQ. atar was the ordinary word for “father”, but with variant archaic form †attar (PE15/72). ᴹQ. atar “father” reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√ATA of the same meaning (Ety/ATA). It appeared again in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s in various inflected forms (PE22/118-119). It continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s later writings. Thus this word was established early and retained its form throughout Tolkien’s life with only minor variations.
Cognates
- S. adar “father” ✧ PM/324
Derivations
Element in
- Q. alcar i Ataren ar i Yondon ar i Airefëan “glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” ✧ VT43/37
- Q. Atanatar “Father of Men” ✧ SA/atar
- Q. atar aranya “*royal father” ✧ UT/193
- Q. Átaremma i ëa han Eä “our Father who art in Heaven” ✧ VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13
- Q. Atarincë “Little Father”
- Q. Atar meneldëa Eru órava (o)messë “God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us” ✧ VT44/16
- Q. atartil “thumb [nursery rhymes]”
- Q. atya “daddy, (my) father”
- Q. Ilquendatar “Father of All Quendi”
- Q. Ilúvatar “Father of All” ✧ SA/atar; WJ/402
- Q. Návatar “*Dwarf-father”
- ᴺQ. atartur “patriarch, (lit.) master-father”
Variations
- atar ✧ PM/324; SA/atar; UT/193; VT43/37; WJ/402
- Atar ✧ VT44/16
Návatar
father
Návatar noun a title of Aulë referring to his position as the immediate author of the Dwarvish race, apparently including atar "father", but the first element cannot be related to any known term for "Dwarf" (PM:391 cf. 381)
-mma
our
-mma "our", 1st person dual exlusive possessive ending: *"my and one others" (VT49:16). At an earlier conceptual phase, Tolkien apparently intended the same ending to be plural inclusive "our" (VT49:55, RS:324), cf. Mélamarimma "Our Home" (q.v.) In the latter word, Tolkien slips in i as a connecting vowel before this ending; elsewhere he used e, as in Átaremma "our Father" (see atar).
atto
father, daddy
atto noun "father, daddy" (hypocoristic)(ATA, LR:49), supposedly a word in "actual 'family' use" (VT47:26), also used in children's play for "thumb" and "big toe" (VT47:10, 26, VT48:4, 6). The dual form attat listed in VT48:19 seems to be formed from the alternative form atta, though attat was changed by Tolkien from attot. - Compare atya.
-lma
our
-lma pronominal ending "our", 1st person pl. exclusive (VT49:16), also attested (with the genitive ending -o that displaces final -a) in the word omentielmo "of our meeting" (nominative omentielma, PE17:58). Tolkien emended omentielmo to omentielvo in the Second Edition of LotR, reflecting a revision of the Quenya pronominal system (cf. VT49:38, 49, Letters:447). The cluster -lm- in the endings for inclusive "we/our" was altered to -lv- (VT43:14). In the revised system, -lma should apparently signify exclusive "our".
menya
our
menya (pl. menyë is attested) possessive pron. "our", 1st person pl. exclusive independent possessive pronoun (VT43:19, 35). Evidently derived from the dative form men "for us" by adding the adjectival ending -ya. Compare ninya, q.v.
-lwa
our
-lwa, possessive pronominal ending, 1st person pl. inclusive "our" (VT49:16), later (in exilic Quenya) used in the form #-lva, genitive -lvo in omentielvo (see -lv-).
-ngwa
our
-ngwa "our", 1st person dual inclusive possessive pronominal ending: *"thy and my", corresponding to the ending -ngwë for dual inclusive "we" (VT49:16)
Tolkien’s translation of the Lord’s Prayer into Quenya, composed sometime in the 1950s (VT43/7), first published in the “Words of Joy (Part One)” article in Vinyar Tengwar #43. There are six versions of the prayer, labeled by Tolkien I-VI (VT43/8-12). Version II has two variations, which the editors labeled IIa and IIb. These revisions were apparently in two phases: I-IV and V-VI (VT43/5-6).
The version presented here is based on version VI (VT43/12) with a few minor changes:
In line 8, the more usual aorist form úcarir (appearing as a revision in version V of the prayer) is used instead of the form úcarer (version VI).
In line 9, the form úsahtienna (version V) is used instead of the form úsahtíenna (version VI), since the long í is likely a slip (VT43/23).
Tolkien did not provide an explicit translation, so the English text is from the common English translation of this prayer among Catholics. English words with no Quenya counterpart are in brackets.
Further discussion of the textual history can be found in the analysis of the individual phrases. My analysis largely follows that of the “Átaremma” section (VT43/8-26) of the “Words of Joy” article, though I also consulted Helge Fauskanger’s analysis of the prayer in his “Lord’s Prayer and Ave Maria” article.