aira

old

aira (3) adj. "old" (MC:214; this is "Qenya")

aira

eternal

[aira (4) adj. "eternal" (EY, VT45:13). Changed by Tolkien to oira.]

aira

holy

aira (2) adj. "holy"; see airë #1

aira

red, copper-coloured, ruddy

aira (1) adj. "red, copper-coloured, ruddy" (GAY)

aira

adjective. holy, sanctified, holy, sanctified, [ᴱQ.] worshipful

airëa

holy

airëa adj. "holy"; see airë.

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".

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)

oira

eternal

oira adj. "eternal" (OY)

íra

eternal

[íra adj. "eternal" (GEY, VT45:13; changed by Tolkien to oira, see OY)]

na airë esselya

hallowed be thy name

The second line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word na “be” is a subjunctive or imperative form, which is generally the case when this word appears at the beginning of a sentence (VT43/14). It is followed by airë “hallowed” and esselya “thy name”, the 2nd person singular polite form of essë “name”.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> na airë esse-lya = “✱be hallowed [holy] name-thy”

Conceptual Development: The words in this phrase remained the same in all versions of the prayer, changing only their word order. The one exception is in version III, where Tolkien considered and rejected aira for “holy” instead of airë. As suggested by the Wynne, Smith and Hostetter (VT43/14), this probably reflects Tolkien’s uncertainty as to the proper adjectival form of this word. Elsewhere, Tolkien stated that airë was a noun meaning “holiness, sanctity” while aira was the adjective (PM/363).

Tolkien experimented with different word orders for this phrase in different versions of the prayer. In versions I-IIba and V-VI he used copula-adjective-noun, while in the version IIa-IV he used noun-copula-adjective. The reasons for the different orders is unclear.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |na|esselya|na| |{esselya >>}|aire|na|aire| |{aire >>}|esselya|aire {aira in III}|esselya|

aista

holy

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

carne (carni-)

adjective. red

carnë

red

carnë adj. "red", "scarlet, red" (SA:caran, PE17:154, MC:214, KARÁN - spelt with a k in the two latter sources), not to be confused with the past tense of car- "do, make". Stem carni- as in Carnimírië, Carnistir.

enwina

old

enwina adj. "old" (Markirya)

enwina

adjective. old

linyenwa

old, having many years

linyenwa adj. "old, having many years" (YEN)

nasar

red

nasar adj. "red" (in Vanyarin Quenya only). Adopted and adapted from Valarin. (WJ:399)

oialëa

eternal

oialëa adj. "eternal" (PE17:59)

oialëa

adjective. eternal

yerna

old, worn

yerna adj. "old, worn" (GYER)

írë

eternal

[írë] (3) noun "eternal" (read "eternity", as suggested by Christopher Tolkien, but the word was in any case changed to oirë)(GEY, VT45:13)