er

adverb/adjective. one, alone, one, alone; [ᴱQ.] only, a single

The Quenya word for “one, alone” used for isolated or unique things and derived from the root √ER (PE23/142; Ety/ERE). This is contrasted min “one” used when counting: min, atta, neldë, etc. (VT48/6).

Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. er “one” dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it appeared under the early root ᴱ√ERE, but in that document it was revised to ᴱQ. er “only, but, still” (QL/36). The use of er for “one” was restored in the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, where it was already used for isolated things in contrast with ᴱQ. min “one” used for counting (PE14/49; PE14/82). Tolkien retained this usage throughout his later writings.

er

one, alone

er cardinal "one, alone" (ERE, VT48:6, VT49:54), in an early source also adv. "only, but, still" (LT1:269); Eru er "one God" (VT44:17; er was here emended by Tolkien from erëa, which seems to be an adjectival form *"one, single".)

er-

remain

#er- "remain", verb (LT1:269; given in the form erin and glossed "remains"; erin would have to mean "I remain" in Tolkien's later Quenya, if this word is to be adapted. However, the later synonym lemya- may be preferred.)

erëa

cardinal. one

erëa adj.? "one" or *"single", apparently an adjectival form (see er) (VT44:17)

erinqua

single, alone

erinqua adj. "single, alone" (VT42:10)

erya

single, sole

erya adj. "single, sole" (ERE)

a aina neldië eru er órava (o)messë

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us

The ninth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by aina Neldië = “holy Trinity”. The fourth word Eru is Tolkien’s usual Quenya name for God. The fifth word is er “one”, emphasizing the one-ness of the Trinity. The phrase órava (o)messe “have mercy on us” was abbreviated o.o. in the original, but presumably was the same as in earlier lines of the prayer; see the entry for the first line for discussion.

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

> a Aina Neldië Eru Er órava (o)me-sse = “✱o Holy Trinity, God one have-mercy us-on”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien first wrote an adjectival form Erea before changing it to Er as a way of emphasizing the one-ness of the Trinity (VT44/17).

e

pronoun. one, (neut[er]) it, a thing, one, (neuter) it; [ᴹQ.] he, she

min

cardinal. one, one, [ᴱQ.] one (in a series), the first; [adverb] first

The Quenya word for “one” used when counting: min, atta, neldë, etc. This is contrasted with er “one, alone” for an isolated thing (VT48/6).

Conceptual Development: This use of min “one” appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writings, dating back to the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82, 84), but there were occasional variations. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s instead had ᴱQ. mir “one” (QL/61), and The Etymologies of the 1930s had a variant form mine derived from the root ᴹ√MINI “stand alone, stick out” (Ety/MINI).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would also use min adverbially to mean “first”, as in carnes sa min “he/she did it first”, either before anyone else did so, or before he/she did anything else. Tolkien use min this way in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s. See [ᴱQ.] minyallumë “firstly” for further discussion. For adjectival or pronominal “first” I would use minya.

quén

one, (some)body, person, individual, man or woman

quén (quen-, as in pl. queni; as final element in compounds -quen) noun "one, (some)body, person, individual, man or woman", pl. queni = "persons", "(some) people", "they" with the most general meaning (as in "they [= people in general] say that..."). The element is combined with noun and adjective stems in old compounds to denote habitual occupations or functions, or to describe those having some notable (permanent) quality; examples include roquen, ciryaquen, arquen, q.v. Also in aiquen "whoever", ilquen "everybody" (WJ:361 cf. 360, 372).

rëa

adjective. single

An adjective appearing in a marginal note to Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 glossed “single” with an adverbial variant rië “only”, both derived from ✶rē “single item taken out of a (long) series” and hence related to ré “day” (PE22/158).

latin

open, free, cleared (of land)

latin, latina adj. "open, free, cleared (of land)" (LAT). According to VT41:5, the adjective latina "is used rather of freedom of movement, of things not encumbered with obstacles".

min

cardinal. one

min numeral "one", also minë (VT45:34, VT48:6)

minë

cardinal. one

minë numeral "one", also min (MINI, VT45:34)

mir

cardinal. one

mir (2) cardinal "one" (LT1:260; in LotR-style Quenya rather minë)

a

cardinal. one

lemya-

verb. remain, tarry

lemya- vb. "remain, tarry" (VT45:27)

láta

open

láta adj. "open" (VT39:23), "open, not closed" (PE17:159, VT41:5)

mo

one, someone, anyone

mo, indefinite pronoun "one, someone, anyone" (VT42:34, VT49:19, 20, 26)

panta

open

panta adj. "open" (PAT)

rea

adjective. single