mairon

masculine name. Admirable

The original name of Sauron before his corruption by Melkor (PE17/183). Even after his corruption, he still called himself Mairon or Tar-Mairon sometimes, at least until he lost his beautiful form after the fall of Númenor (PE17/183). This name seems to be a masculinized form of the adjective maira “admirable”.

Elements

Word	Gloss
maira	“admirable, excellent, precious, splendid, sublime”

Variations

• Tar-mairon ✧ PE17/183

amya-

prefix. excellent, admirable

Cognates

• S. ein- “excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/172

Derivations

• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” ✧ PE17/163

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MAY > amya-	[amja-]	✧ PE17/163

Variations

• amya- ✧ PE17/163; PE17/172 (amya-)

mai-

prefix. excellent, admirable, excellent, admirable; *well, happily

Cognates

• S. mae “well; excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/172

Derivations

• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” ✧ PE17/163

Elements

Word	Gloss
mai	“well, well; [ᴱQ.] too much”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MAY > mai-	[mai-]	✧ PE17/163

Variations

• mai- ✧ PE17/162; PE17/163
• mai ✧ PE17/172 (mai)

maira

admirable, excellent, precious

maira adj. "admirable, excellent, precious"; "splendid, sublime" ("only of great, august or splendid things") (PE17:163, 172). Cf. Mairon.

maira

adjective. admirable, excellent, precious, splendid, sublime

Cognates

• S. maer “good, excellent, fair, good, excellent, fair; [N.] useful, fit, good (of things)” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/163; PE17/172

Derivations

• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/163; PE17/172

Element in

• Q. Mairen
• ᴺQ. mairië “excellence, splendor, sublimity, ‘perfection’”
• Q. Mairon “Admirable”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MAY > maira	[maira]	✧ PE17/163
√MAY > maira	[maira]	✧ PE17/163
√(A)MAY > maira	[maira]	✧ PE17/172

Mairen

well

Mairen fem. name(UT:210), initial element perhaps related or identical to mai "well". The second element is obscure; the root REN "recall, have in mind" (PM:372) could be related; if so the name may imply "well remembered", "(of) good memory" or something similar. It may also connect with the adj. maira, q.v. and compare the masc. name Mairon (PE18:163).

mandë

well

mandë (2) adv. "well" (VT49:26; this is "Qenya"). Rather mai in Tolkiens later Quenya.

mai

well

mai (1) adv. "well" (VT47:6), apparently also used as prefix (PE17:17:162, 163, 172)

mai

adverb. well, well; [ᴱQ.] too much

Cognates

• S. mae “well; excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/162

Derivations

• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” ✧ PE17/162
• √MAG “good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state, good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state; [ᴹ√] use, handle” ✧ PE17/162; VT47/06

Element in

• Q. mai- “excellent, admirable, excellent, admirable; *well, happily” ✧ PE17/162
• ᴺQ. maicámima “acceptable, (lit.) well-receivable”
• ᴺQ. maicarindo “benefactor”
• ᴺQ. maisinwa “well-known, notable, famous”
• ᴺQ. maitulië “welcome thing, happy arrival”
• ᴺQ. maitulya “welcome”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MAY > maie	[maje]	✧ PE17/162
√MAG > maie	[magje] > [maɣje] > [maije]	✧ PE17/162
√MAG > mai	[magje] > [maɣje] > [maije]	✧ VT47/06

Variations

• maie ✧ PE17/162 (maie); PE17/162 (maie)

tampo

well

tampo noun "well" (QL:93)

ehtelu-

verb. well, bubble out

tampo

noun. well

Derivations

• √TAM “construct, construct; [ᴹ√] knock, [ᴱ√] beat; smelt, forge”

ein-

prefix. excellent, admirable

Cognates

• Q. amya- “excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/172

Derivations

• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” ✧ PE17/163

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MAY > amya- > anya- > ein-	[amja-] > [anja-] > [ania-] > [enia-] > [eina-] > [ein-]	✧ PE17/163

mae

adverb. well

mae

adverb. well

adv. well. Ai na vedui Dúnadan. Mae g'ovannen. 'Ah! At last, Dúnadan ! Well met !'.

mae

well

_ adv. _well. >> mael

mae

adverb/adjective. well; excellent, admirable

Cognates

• Q. mai “well, well; [ᴱQ.] too much” ✧ PE17/162
• Q. mai- “excellent, admirable, excellent, admirable; *well, happily” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/172

Derivations

• ✶mai “well” ✧ PE17/016; PE17/017
  • √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right”
• √MAG “good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state, good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state; [ᴹ√] use, handle” ✧ PE17/162
• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” ✧ PE17/163

Element in

• ᴺS. maedol “welcome”
• S. mae govannen “well met” ✧ Let/308; LotR/0209; PE17/016; PE17/017; PE17/157; PE17/158

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶măgē > maʒĕ > mae	[magē] > [mage] > [maɣe] > [mae]	✧ PE17/016
✶mai > mae	[mai] > [mae]	✧ PE17/017

Variations

• Mae ✧ Let/308; LotR/0209; PE17/017
• mae- ✧ PE17/163

mael

adjective. well

_ adj. _well. adjective << adverb. >> mae

mael

adjective. well

Derivations

• √MAG “good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state, good (physically); to thrive, be in a good state; [ᴹ√] use, handle” ✧ PE17/162

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√MAGA > mael	[magla] > [maɣla] > [maila] > [mail] > [mael]	✧ PE17/162

maer

adjective. excellent

_ adj. _excellent. Q. maira admirable, excellent, precious. >> maer-, maeron

al-

well

pref. #well. Q. al(a)-. . This gloss was rejected.

raud

excellent

_ adj. _excellent, noble, eminent.

mae

well

(adverb) mae (lenited vae).

mae

well

(lenited vae).

eithel

well

(= source) eithel (spring, issue of water), pl. eithil

eithel

well

(spring, issue of water), pl. eithil

mai

adverb. well

Derivations

• √MAY “excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right”

Derivatives

• S. mae “well; excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/016; PE17/017

Variations

• măgē ✧ PE17/016

may

root. excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right

A root appearing in Tolkien’s later writings with a variety of glosses: √MAY “make (in artistic sense as ποιήτης [Greek: make, create])” in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 (PE17/145, 163), {√MAGA >>} √(A)MAY “suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 but this note was crossed through (PE17/172), √MAY “excellent, admirable” elsewhere in DLN (PE17/172), again as √MAY “excellent, admirable” in notes contemporaneous to the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (PE17/150, 163) and finally as √MAY “beautiful” in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/18).

Two notable derivatives of √MAY were S. mae “well” (PE17/17, 163) and Q. Maia (PE17/163; VT47/18), but elsewhere these two words were derived from the root √MAG “good (useful)” (PE17/16, 162; PE19/46, 62, 75, 94). In the aforementioned notes from the late 1960s, however, Tolkien said “maga was distinct from maʒa and maya” (VT48/18). For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume the root √MAY was distinct from √MAG, having the meaning “excellent, admirable, beautiful” and by extension the creation of beautiful things such as art, to allow the retention of 1957 words like Q. maitar “artist” (PE17/163).

A possible precursor to this root is unglossed ᴱ√MAẎA from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. mai “too much” and ᴱQ. maira “excessive, strong” (QL/60); perhaps a more extreme version of its later sense “excellent”. The entry also included ᴱQ. mairu “(horse ?); mane, flowing hair”, but Tolkien marked this word with a “?”, perhaps indicating he was unsure it was from this root (QL/60).

Derivatives

• ✶mai “well”
  • S. mae “well; excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/016; PE17/017
• ✶Māya ✧ VT47/18
  • Q. Maia “(angelic) spirit, the Beautiful” ✧ PE19/075; PE19/094
• Q. mai “well, well; [ᴱQ.] too much” ✧ PE17/162
• Q. mai- “excellent, admirable, excellent, admirable; *well, happily” ✧ PE17/163
• Q. amya- “excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/163
• Q. Maia “(angelic) spirit, the Beautiful” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/163; PE17/163
• Q. maina “thing of excellence, treasure” ✧ PE17/163
• Q. maira “admirable, excellent, precious, splendid, sublime” ✧ PE17/163; PE17/163; PE17/172
• Q. mairë “work of high and beautiful art, the process of producing a work” ✧ PE17/163
• Q. mairëa “beautiful (of things made by art)” ✧ PE17/163
• Q. maitar “artist; poet” ✧ PE17/163
• S. ein- “excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/163
• S. mae “well; excellent, admirable” ✧ PE17/163
• S. maen “a treasure” ✧ PE17/163
• S. maer “good, excellent, fair, good, excellent, fair; [N.] useful, fit, good (of things)” ✧ PE17/162; PE17/163; PE17/163
• S. maeron “artist, poet” ✧ PE17/163

Element in

• Q. maita- “to make with art, design, compose” ✧ PE17/163

Variations

• (A)MAY ✧ PE17/146; PE17/172 ((A)MAY)
• maya ✧ VT47/18
• may ✧ VT47/18

mai

adverb. well

Element in

• N. mai govannen “well met” ✧ RS/194