Ainu

holy one, angelic spirit

Ainu noun "holy one, angelic spirit"; fem. Aini (AYAN, LT1:248); "one of the 'order' of the Valar and Maiar, made before Eä"; pl. Ainur is attested. Adopted and adapted from Valarin ayanūz(WJ:399). In the early "Qenya Lexicon", ainu was glossed "a pagan god", and aini was similarly "a pagan goddess", but as Christopher Tolkien notes, "Of course no one within the context of the mythology can call the Ainur 'pagan' " (LT1:248). Ainulindalë noun "Music of the Ainur" (SA:lin #2), the First History (WJ:406), the Song of Creation (AYAN)

ainu

noun. holy one, spirit, holy one, angelic spirit (m.); [ᴱQ.] (pagan) god

ainulindalë

proper name. Music of the Ainur

The title of the opening story of The Silmarillion (S/15-22), clearly a compound of Ainu “Holy One” and lindalë “music”.

Conceptual Development: Although the story itself dates back to the earliest Lost Tales, this title only emerged in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s version (LR/156).

Aini

aini

Aini noun feminine form of Ainu(AYAN, LT1:248); see Ainu.

Aino

god

Aino noun "god", within Tolkien's mythos a synonym of Ainu (but since Aino is basically only a personalized form of aina "holy", hence "holy one", it could be used as a general word for "god") (PE15:72)

aina

holy

aina (2) adj "holy" (AYAN), derived from Ainu. Adopted and adapted from Valarin. According to VT43:32, the word is "obsolete, except in Ainur", apparently suggesting that airë or airëa (q.v.) was the normal term for "holy" in later Quenya. However, Tolkien repeatedly used aina in his translation of the Litany of Loreto: Aina Fairë "Holy Spirit", Aina Neldië "Holy Trinity", Aina Maria "Holy Mary", Aina Wendë "Holy Virgin". He also used Aina Eruontari for "holy Mother" in his rendering of the Sub Tuum Praesidium(WJ:399, FS, SA, VT43:32, VT44:5, 12, 17-18)

ainur

Ainur

The word Ainu is Quenya and is related to words for "holiness" such as aina; the female form (for beings like Melian or Árien, is given as Aini. Supposedly it is derived from the original Valarin word for Ainur which was Ayanûz. They are also referred to as Great Ones or Holy Ones.

Ainulindalë (song)

Ainulindalë (song)

Ainulindalë means "The Music of the Ainur" in Quenya (from Ainur = "Holy Ones" and the element lin = "song, music").

aino

noun. god

-a

it is said

-r nominative plural ending regularly used on nouns ending in -a, -i, -ië, -o, -u, e.g. Ainur, Valar, tier. Occasionally it is added also to nouns ending in -ë (that normally take the ending -I in the pl.). This seems to regularly happen in the case of nouns in -lë (see #fintalë, mallë, tyellë), sometimes also otherwise (see Ingwë, wendë, essë #1). This plural ending was ("it is said") first used by the Noldor (PM:402).

lindalë

music

lindalë noun "music". Cf. Ainulindalë "Music of the Ainur". (The word is cited as lindelë in the printed Etymologies, entry LIN2, but according to VT45:27, this is a misreading for lindalë in Tolkien's manuscript.) The word lindalë may argue the existence of a verbal stem #linda- "sing, make music".

lindelë

music

lindelë noun "music" (LIN2, LT1:258 lindalë in Ainulindalë). According to VT45:27, lindelë in the printed Etymologies (entry LIN2) is a misreading for lindalë in Tolkien's manuscript.

lindalë

noun. music

aira

holy

aira (2) adj. "holy"; see airë #1

airë

holy

airë (1) adj. "holy", #Airefëa "the Holy Spirit" (VT43:37, dative airefëan on the previous page), airetári or Airë Tári "holy queen" (a title of Varda, PM:363), genitive aire-tário "holy-queen's" (Nam, RGEO:67). However, according to PM:363, airë is the noun "sanctity", while aira is the adjective "holy". VT43:14 refers to an etymological note of "Sept.-Oct. 1957" where airë is said to be a noun "sanctity, holiness", and the adjective "holy" is given as airëa. However, the verb #airita- "hallow" seems to be formed from an adjective airë, airi- "holy". Evidently airë can function as both adjective ("holy") and noun ("holiness"); if so airë as adj. could represent a primitive adjective gaisi, whereas airë as noun may descend from gaisē. The former but not the latter would have the stem airi- (as observed in the derived verb #airita-), and compounds like airetári (rather than *airitári) would seem to contain properly the noun "holiness".

airëa

holy

airëa adj. "holy"; see airë.

aista

holy

aista (1) adj. "holy" (VT43:37)

aer

adjective. holy

Eru

god

(the One) #Eru, isolated from Eruchín** **"children of the One" (= Elves and Men; sg. *Eruchen).

aenor

noun. god

A neologism for “a god” opposed to “God” (Eru), based on Gnomish ain. A direct adaptation of the Gnomish form would be aen, but that conflicts with aen “should be”; Fiona Jallings suggested the extended form aenor in a Discord chat in August 2019.

eru

noun. God

eru

god

isolated from Eruchín "children of the One" (= Elves and Men; sg. ✱Eruchen).

gaer

holy

gaer (awful, fearful); lenited aear; no distinct pl. form. Note: homophones mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "sea".

gaer

holy

(awful, fearful); lenited ’aear; no distinct pl. form. Note: homophones mean "reddish, copper-coloured, ruddy" and also "sea".

iaun

holy place

(fane, sanctuary), pl. ioen, coll. pl. ionath

linnas

noun. music