alcarin adj. "glorious, brilliant" (shorter form of alcarinqua, q.v.) (PE17:24), hence Alcarin masc. name (or title) "the Glorious", title taken by Atanatar II of Gondor, also name of one of the Kings of Númenor (Appendix A).
Quenya
alcarin
proper name. Glorious
alcarin
glorious, brilliant
alcar
alkar
alcar (so spelt in CO, VT43:37-38, and VT44:32/34; otherwise "alkar")noun "glory, radiance, brilliance, splendour" (WJ:369, CO, VT43:37-38, VT47:13, AKLA-R; the latter source also lists an alternative longer form alcarë, also occurring in VT44:7/10) Compare Alcarin, Atanalcar.
alcarinquë
proper name. Glorious
A star (S/45) or possibly the planet Jupiter (MR/435). Its name is simply the noun form of the adjective alcarin(qua) “glorious”.
alcarin vendë ar manaquenta
O glorious and blessed Virgin
The fourth line of Ortírielyanna, Tolkien’s translation of the Sub Tuum Praesidium prayer. The first word is the adjective alcarin “glorious” modifying Vendë “Virgin”. It is followed by ar “and” and the second adjective manaquenta “blessed”.
Decomposition: A more literal translation of this phrase would be:
> alcarin Vendë ar manaquenta = “✱glorious Virgin and blessed”
Conceptual Development: Tolkien revised this sentence three times (VT44/7). Unfinished forms appearing before the first version indicate that Tolkien was uncertain whether the word for “virgin” should begin with a v or a w. He settled on Venë in the first version, revised to Venë’ in the second and Vendë in the third. He similarly revised the adjectives “glorious” (alcarinqua >> alcare >> alcarin) and “blessed (incomplete manque... >> manquenta >> manaquenta).
The first and second versions began with what appears to be the imperative particle á, but I think it is more likely to be a stressed form of the vocative a “O”. The second version had Véne’ alcare, which Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested might have its adjective and noun functions switched: “✱Virginal glory” instead of “glorious Virgin”, with Véne’ being an elided form of an unattested adjective vénëa (VT44/10). As further evidence of this, the word order switched in the final versions to alcarin Vénde. The form Véne’ was not deleted, so perhaps Tolkien still considered it to be a valid alternative.
|I|II|III| |á Véne|á Véne’|alcarin| |alcarinqua|alcare|Vénde| |ar| |manque...|manquenta|manaquenta|
alcarinqua
radiant, glorious
alcarinqua adj. "radiant, glorious" (AKLA-R [there spelt "alkarinqa"], WJ:412, VT44:7/10), "glorious, brilliant" (PE17:24), noun Alcarinquë, "The Glorious", name of a star/planet (SA:aglar - there spelt "Alkarinquë", but the Silmarillion Index has "Alcarinquë". The celestial body in question seems to be Jupiter, MR:435). Cf. also Alcarin, q.v.
Alcarinquë
jupiter
Silindo "Jupiter" (LT1:265; this planet is called Alcarinquë in Tolkien's later Quenya)
alcarin(qua)
adjective. glorious, brilliant, glorious, brilliant, [ᴹQ.] radiant
Alcarinquë
Alcarinquë
Alcarinquë (or Alkarinque) is a Quenya name meaning "The Glorious", likely derived from the Quenya adjective alcarinqua ("glorious").
-inqua
glorious
-inqua adjectival ending, seen in alcarinqua "glorious" (WJ:412) from alcar "glory". Etymologically, -inqua means "-full", like "glory-full" in this case. A variant *-unqua is implied in WJ:415 (only referred to in archaic form -unkwā). "The forms using u were mainly applied to things heavy, clumsy, ugly or bad", whereas -inqua (in the same source derived from -inkwā) is neutral.
Tar-Alcarin was the 17th ruler of Númenor (LotR/1035, UT/222). His name is simply the shortened form of alcarin(qua) “glorious”. Alcarin “Glorious” was also a sobriquet for Atanatar II, the 16th king of Gondor (LotR/1038, 1045).