en (1) interjection "there, look! yon (yonder)" (EN, VT45:12)
Quenya
en-
verb. again-
en-
prefix. re-, again
en
there, look! yon (yonder)
en
still
en (2), also ena, adv. "still"; quetir en "they still say" (PE17:167)
en
made
en (3) particle that may be inserted before a past tense form to indicate that it refers to a remote past (VT45:12), apparently twice attested in Fíriel's Song (LR:72), e.g. en cárë ("k") "made" (long ago). This particle may have been obsoleted by en "still" from a later source.
en
particle. in that (future) case; then, soon
en
adverb. then soon, then soon, [ᴹQ.] in that (future) case; there, yonder; look yon(der); far away; that, [ᴱQ.] that by you; thereupon
en(a)
adverb. still
@@@ is more frequently used to refer to future, not past
lungunta-
verb. to weigh [trans.], balance [on scales]; (lit.) to en-scale
A neologism coined by Paul Strack in 2025 specifically for Eldamo for “to weigh, balance [on scales]”, a verb form of lunguntë “scale”. In a post on 2025-12-08 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Parmandil and Vëannë suggested luhta-, a causative verb based on ᴹ√LUG “be heavy” inspired by G. luntha- “to weigh, balance”. Unfortunately, this luhta- conflicts with several other attested verbs of distinctly different meanings, so I prefer a different solution.
enquanta-
verb. to refill
A verb for “refill”, a combination of en- “re-” and quanta- “fill” (PE17/68, 167), appearing most notably in the Namárië poem in the phrase sí man i yulma nin __enquantuva__? “who now shall refill the cup for me?” (LotR/0377).
-ien
suffix. feminine ending; feminine patronymic, -daughter
A feminine suffix common in Quenya names, in one place given as a feminine patronymic (PE17/170), though there are no attested Quenya names in which it was used that way.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ien was given as a (suffixal?) variant of ᴹQ. yen(de) “daughter” (Ety/YŌ; EtyAC/YŌ), but again there are no actual names from this period using the suffix in that way.
endórë
place name. Middle-earth, (lit.) Middle Land
The Quenya word for “Middle-earth” (LotR/1115). It often appeared in its shorter form Endor (S/89), similar to Valinórë/Valinor and Númenórë/Númenor. Its initial element is endë “middle” and its final element is a blending of nórë and -ndor often seen in the names of lands (PE17/26).
Properly speaking, the word Endor applied only to the land mass containing Arnor and Gondor (and Beleriand before it was destroyed) where much of action of Tolkien’s tales took place. In his Nomenclature of the Lord of the Rings, Tolkien defined Middle-earth as “the inhabited lands of (Elves and) Men, envisaged as lying between the Western Sea and that of the Far East” (RC/774).
The informal use of the term “Middle-earth” for Tolkien’s entire fictional world came from the descriptions of his works by others rather than from Tolkien. Tolkien said that Middle-earth was “not a special land, or world, or ‘planet’ as too often supposed” (RC/774). Elsewhere, he said the Quenya word for the “World” (equivalent to “Earth”) was Ambar (LotR/967, WJ/402).
Conceptual Development: The term “Middle-earth” was inspired by Old English Middanġeard or Norse Midgard (RC/774). In Northern European mythology, Midgard referred to the Earth as the land of men between the Heaven(s) and Hell(s), but Heaven and Hell as realms above and below the world did not exist within Tolkien’s cosmology. The word Endor instead referred to the home of Elves and Men in the center of the world between the East and West.
The name ᴹQ. {Endon >>} Endor first appeared in maps and notes associated with Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, where it was given as the name for the “midmost point of Middle-earth” (SM/241, 254). It later appeared in The Etymologies with the translation “Middle-earth” (Ety/NDOR), also described as “centre of the world” (Ety/ÉNED).
In Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, this name also appeared in the (ultimately rejected) forms Endon, Endór and Endar (MR/70, 121, 126).
feren
beech, beech-tree
feren (stem fern-, as in pl. ferni) noun "beech, beech-tree". Also fernë. (BERÉTH, PHER/PHÉREN)
sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?
now who the cup for me will refill?
The 8th phrase in the prose Namárië, which is essentially the same as its poetic version, differing only in its more literal translation.
This phrase is interesting in that it places the direct and indirect objects of the phrase (i yulma nin “the cup for me”) in between the subject (man “who”) and the verb (enquantuva “will refill”). This indicates that even in ordinary speech, the normal Quenya subject-verb-object word order was somewhat free, with objects able to appear in other positions.
enyal-
verb. to recall, to recall, *remember
-a
suffix. adjectival suffix
This suffix is frequently used to create the adjective form of a noun, especially in the form -ëa for nouns ending in -ë. This function dates back to CE. ✶-ā.
-nya
my
-nya pronominal suffix, 1st person sg. possessive, "my" (VT49:16, 38, 48), e.g. tatanya "my daddy" (UT:191, VT48:17), meldonya "my [male] friend" (VT49:38), meldenya "my [female] friend" (Elaine inscription), omentienya "my meeting" (PE17:68), tyenya "my tye" (tye being an intimate form of "you"), used = "dear kinsman" (VT49:51, 56). This ending seems to prefer i as its connecting vowel where one is needed, cf. Anarinya "my sun" in LR:72, so also in hildinyar "my heirs". It was previously theorized by some that a final -ë would also be changed to -i- before -nya, but the example órenya "my heart [órë]" indicates that this is not the case (VT41:11).
-nya
suffix. my
-on
name
-on gen.pl. ending (3O), in aldaron, aranion, elenion, Eldaron, #esseron, Ingweron, Istarion, Númevalion, Quendion, Silmarillion, Sindaron, tasarion (see Nan-Tasarion), Valion, wenderon, yénion. Normally the ending -on is added to the nominative plural, whether it ends in -i or -r, but some nouns in -ë that would have nominative plurals in -i seem to prefer the ending -ron in the genitive (hence #esseron as the gen. pl. of essë "name", though the nominative pl. is attested as essi and we might have expected the gen. pl. *ession; similarly wenderon, Ingweron).
-ya
suffix. adjective suffix
amil(lë)
noun. mother
Tolkien used a number of similar forms for “mother” for most of his life. The earliest of these are ᴱQ. amis (amits-) “mother” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s along with variants ᴱQ. ambi, âmi, amaimi under the root ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). An additional variant ammi appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/30). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱQ. ambe or mambe “mother” (PE16/135). This became ᴹQ. amil “mother” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√AM “mother” (Ety/AM¹).
This 1930s form amil appears to have survived for some time. It appeared in a longer form Amille in Quenya Prayers of the 1950s (VT43/26; VT44/12, 18), and as an element in the term amilessi “mother-names” in a late essay on Elvish naming (MR/217). In the initial drafts of Elvish Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s Tolkien used the form amilye or amye as an affectionate word for “mother”, and amaltil as the finger name for the second finger (VT47/26-27 note #34 and #35).
However, in those documents Tolkien seems to have revised the root for “mother” from √AM to √EM and the affectionate forms from amye to emya or emme (VT47/10; VT48/6, 19). The revised word for “mother” appears to be emil based on the 1st person possessive form emil(inya) (VT47/26).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer to retain the root √AM for “mother”, since that is what Tolkien used for 50 years, and ignore the very late change to √EM. As such, I would recommend amil(le) for “mother” and affectionate forms amme “mommy” and amya. However, if you prefer to use Tolkien’s “final” forms, then emil(le), emme and emya seem to be what Tolkien adopted in the late 1960s.
atalantë
proper name. Downfall(en)
A Quenya name of Númenor after its fall into the sea (S/281), it is simply the noun atalantë “collapse, downfall” used as a name (MC/223).
Conceptual Development: The name ᴹQ. Atalante appeared in the earliest tales of the fall of Númenor (LR/11, 25), usually in this form though at least once appearing as Atalantie (Let/347). Its resemblance to the name Atlantis was intentional (Let/347), created as part of the background for Tolkien’s (unfinished) time-travel story about Atlantis: “The Lost Road” (LR/36-104).
canta-
verb. ?
carina
participle. made
enenquë
cardinal. sixteen
enenquë cardinal "sixteen" (VT48:21)
en i matinye Archaic
I shall eat then soon
enya Archaic
adverb. then soon
esse
noun. name
essë
name
essë (1) noun "name", also later name of Tengwa #31, originally (MET) called árë (ázë). (Appendix E). With a pronominal ending esselya "thy name" (VT43:14). Pl. #essi in PM:339 and MR:470, gen.pl. #esseron "of names" in the compound Nómesseron (q.v.); we would rather have expected *ession, given the nom.pl. essi; perhaps #esser is a valid alternative plural form. Essecarmë noun "name-making" (MR:214, 470), Eldarin ceremony where the father announces the name of his child. Essecenta *("k") noun "Name-essay" (see centa) (MR:415); Essecilmë noun "name-choosing", an Eldarin ceremony where a child named him- or herself according to personal lámatyávë (q.v.) (MR:214, 471). The meaning Tolkien originally assigned to the word essë** in the Etymologies was "place" rather than "name" (VT45:12).
essë
noun. name
esta-
verb. name
hinna
adverb. still
i
article. the
in
the
i (1) "the", indeclinable definite article (I, Nam, RGEO:67, Markirya, WJ:369, WJ:398, MC:215, 216, 221). A variant in (q.v.) is also attested. Hyphenated i- in i-mar "the earth" (FS), i-Ciryamo "the mariner's" (UT:8), i-aldar "the trees" (Narqelion), attached with a dot in i·yulmar "the cups" (VT48:11), I·Eldanyárë "the History of the Elves" (LR:199), i·arya *"the best" (PE17:57), directly prefixed with no hyphen or dot in icilyanna = i cilyanna in SD:247, also ihyarma "the left hand" in VT49:22 (but i hyarma in other versions of the same text).
in
article. the
neldor
beech
neldor noun "beech" (LT2:343)
ninya
my
ninya _possessive pron _occurring in Fíriel's Song, evidently meaning "my"; see indo-ninya. It may be derived from the dative form nin "for me" by adding the adjectival ending -ya. Compare menya, q.v.
pahta
closed, shut, private
pahta (1) adj. "closed, shut, private" (VT39:23, VT41:6, PE17:171)
quainquë
cardinal. sixteen
quainquë, cardinal "sixteen" (but enenquë may be preferred) (VT48:21)
quetir en
they still say
sal-
verb. ?
sanda
name
[sanda, sandë] (þ) (2) noun "name" (VT46:16)
sanomë
there
sanomë adv. "there" (PE17:71). Cf. sinomë, tanomë.
sanomë
adverb. there
A word for “there” appearing in notes from mid-1960s in the phrase sanome tarne Olórin, Aracorno, Eomer, Imrahil “There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil” (PE17/71). A similar form ᴹQ. sanome(s) appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from the late 1940s, where it was based on ᴹ√NOM “spot, place” (PE23/112).
The word can be contrasted with tanome “there” in different notes from the late 1960s (VT49/11, 19), and also in DRC from the 1940s. DRC made the distinction between these two words clear, in that tanome was “demonstrative there” pointing to a place not previously mentioned, while sanome was “anaphoric there” referring back to a place mentioned before. So “go there” would be á mene tanome, but “I went to the city and found Aragorn there” would be mennen i ostonna ar hirnen Aracorno sanome.
Lokyt originally suggested this distinction to me in a Discord conversation from 2022, and was eventually proven right by the publication of DRC in 2024.
sanya
name
[sanya] (þ) (2) noun ?"name" (reading of gloss uncertain, VT46:16)
ta
there
ta (5) adv. "there" (VT49:33; this may be an Elvish root or "element" rather than a Quenya word; see tanomë; see however also tar, tara, tanna under ta #1).
tasse
there
tassë
there
tassë adv. "there" (VT49:11), short form tás. These seem to be properly locative forms of ta "that, it", hence "in that [place]". Compare allative tanna "thither" and ablative talo "thence".
tassë
adverb. there
The words tās and tasse “there” appeared in a list of demonstratives from 1968 (VT49/11), combinations of ta “that” and the locative suffix -ssë. Short form tas appeared in the phrase tas kennen nótime eldali “I saw a few elves there” in notes from 1969 (PE22/155). Similarly formed ᴹQ. tasse “there” appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948, also with a short variant tas (PE23/97, 111).
tás
there
tás adv. "there" (VT49:11); also tassë, q.v.
tás
adverb. there
vaimata-
verb. to [en]robe, *clothe; to get dressed, put on clothing
en- (4) prefix "again-", "re-" (PE17:68), in enquantuva "shall refill", entuluva, "shall come again", Envinyatar "Renewer", envinyanta "healed, *renewed", enyalië "to recall" (Nam, RGEO:67, LotR3:V ch. 8, VT41:16, MR:405, UT:317; as for the etymology of en-, see comments on Common Eldarin base EN "again, once more" in VT48:25)