ab

preposition. after

ab-

prefix. after, later

ab

after

#ab (only attested as a prefix, as in:)

ab

after

(only attested as a prefix, as in:)

abonnen

afterborn

pl. Ebennin (archaic "Eboennin" = Ebönnin, WJ:387), Elvish name of Men as the "Secondborn" of Eru. – If ab can be used as an independent preposition, it is probably followed by soft mutation.****

Hiro hyn hîdh ab 'wanath

May they find peace after death.

This is a phrase that Legolas, Aragorn, And Gimli think that the hobbits are dead.

ab(a)sene-

verb. ab(a)sene-

abta-

verb. refuse, deny, say no

bā/aba

root. refuse, forbid, prohibit, say nay (in refusal or denial), refuse, forbid, prohibit, say nay (in refusal or denial), [ᴹ√] deny; away, go away, depart

The invertible root √BA or √ABA was principally connected to refusal, and its best known derivative was Avari, the group of Elves that refused to travel to Valinor. When Tolkien first introduced the root ᴹ√AB in The Etymologies of the 1930s and other contemporaneous writings on Ancient Quenya, he gave this root the meaning “go away, depart” (Ety/AB; PE19/045); in this sense it may have been a replacement for the early root ᴱ√AVA “go away, depart, leave” (QL/33). Indeed, the first application of Avari was to the Elves that left for Valinor, “the Departing”, rather than those that stayed behind (LR/169-170). But the sense “away” was soon transferred to ᴹ√AWA (Ety/AWA) and √AB was revised in The Etymologies to mean “refuse, deny, say no” (Ety/AB), a sense it retained thereafter.

Tolkien wrote about this root at great length in the 1959 when he decided that √BA was part of the Eldarin system of negation, distinguishing negation of volition (I will not) from negative of fact (it is not so). Tolkien seems to have introduced this notion at the same time he decided to abandon la-negation, so the corresponding negation of fact was the root √Ū (PE17/143). Even when Tolkien considered restoring la-negation in the late 1960s, √BA still retained a role as the negation of volition (PE22/161).

One peculiar feature of √BA is that it represented refusal from the perspective of the speaker. Thus in 1st person, √BA meant “I will not” (refusal), but in 2nd person or 3rd person it meant “do not” (forbiddance). Tolkien discussed this topic at some length in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (WJ/370-2). In 1st person this was Q. ván(ye)/S. avon “I won’t” and Q. vamme/S. avam “we won’t” [using the circa-1960 pronominal suffix -mme; with later pronouns this would be valve and avof]. In 2nd person this used the interjection Q. vá/S. baw “don’t”, or the negative imperative particle Q. áva/S. avo, as in Q. áva care/S. avo garo “don’t do [it]”.

When Tolkien revisited his ideas for negation in 1969, he still kept this notion of 1st person refusal vs. 2nd/3rd person forbiddance (PE22/161-3), so that the system of √BA negation remained more or less the same (barring changes like new pronouns).

galab

root. flower

apa

after

apa (1) prep. "after" (VT44:36), attested as a prefix in apacenyë and Apanónar, q.v. Variant ep- in epessë, q.v.; see epë for futher discussion. (According to VT44:36, apa was glossed "after" and also "before" in one late manuscript, but both meanings were rejected.) See also apa # 2 below. For Neo-Quenya purposes, apa should probably be ascribed the meaning "after", as in our most widely-published sources (compare Apanónar, "the After-born", as a name of Men in the Silmarillion). Variants pa, pá (VT44:36), but like apa these are also ascribed other meanings elsewhere; see separate entry. Apo (VT44:36) may be yet another variant of the word for "after".

ala

after, beyond

ala (5) prep. "after, beyond" (MC:221, 214; however, LotR-style Quenya has han and pella "beyond" and apa "after")

apo

after

apo prep. ?"after" (see apa #1) (VT44:36)

cata

after

epe

after