attalyar

collective name. Bipeds, (lit.) The Two-footed

A Quenya translation of S. tad-dail, a name given to the Petty Dwarves before the Elves realized they were people (WJ/389). It is the plural of the otherwise unattested adjective attalya “biped”, used as a collective noun.

attalya

noun/adjective. biped, *(lit.) two-footed

A noun or adjective meaning “two-legged”, attested only in its (noun) plural form attalyar (WJ/389). It is a combination of atta “two” and tál “foot”, with the adjective suffix -ya.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s, there were similar words for “biped”: the noun ᴱQ. attalin and the adjective ᴱQ. attalaite (QL/88) based on ᴱQ. tala “foot” with the prefix ᴱQ. at- “bi-, twi-”. The form attala- also appeared under the early root ᴱ√ATA with a note saying “see s.v. tala”, and this was probably a reference to these “biped” words (QL/33).

attalaitë

biped

attalaitë adj. "biped" (having two feet) (VT49:42, PE12:88)

atta

cardinal. two

atta (1) cardinal "two" (AT(AT), Letters:427, VT42:26, 27, VT48:6, 19). Elen atta "two stars" (VT49:44); notice how a noun is indeclinable before this numeral, and any case endings are "singular" and added to the numeral rather than the noun, e.g. genitive elen atto "of two stars" (VT49:45). Attalyar "Bipeds" (sg. *Attalya) = Petty-dwarves (from Sindarin Tad-dail) (WJ:389). A word atta_ "again" was struck out; see the entry _TAT in Etym and cf. ata in this list.

satto

cardinal. two

satto, "Qenya" numeral "two" (in Tolkiens later Quenya atta) (VT49:54)

atta

cardinal. two

This is the usual Quenya counting number for “two”, derived from √ATATA (VT42/27; VT48/19), which in turn is based on √AT “bi-, double, again (a second time)” (PE17/148, 166). It may be contrasted with yúyo “both” referring to both elements of a pair.

Conceptual Development: There was no word for “two” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s. In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, ᴱQ. yúyo meant “two” and ᴱQ. {satta >>} satto meant “both” (PE14/49, 82). By The Etymologies of the 1930s, these meanings were reversed with ᴹQ. atta “two” appearing under ᴹ√ATTA and ᴹQ. yúyo “both” appearing under ᴹ√YŪ (Ety/ATTA, YŪ).