han

root. add to, increase, enhance, enrich, honour (especially by gift); give

This root did not explicitly appear until very late in Tolkien writing, in 1969-1970, but there were a few earlier precursors. Wynne, Smith, and Hostetter suggested the preposition Q. han “beyond” from Quenya prayers of the 1950s might be connected to this root. I think another precursor might be √ƷAN “long” or “extend” given as a variant of √YAN around 1959; Tolkien was considering √ƷAN as the basis for a new etymology of Q. anda/S. and “long” (PE17/40, 155), though there are no clear indications he carried through with this idea.

The root √ƷAN reappeared in 1968 notes with the gloss “adorn” serving as the basis for Q. antil, a word for the middle finger, perhaps being the place where rings were usually worn (VT47/26). As pointed out by Patrick Wynne this use of √ƷAN indicates it was from the period in the late 1960s where Tolkien was playing around with the form and phonetic developments of the ancient velar spirant [h] or [ɣ] (ʒ); see the discussion in the entry on how [[aq|initial [ɣ] became [h]]] in Ancient Quenya; this was one of the more common phonetic developments Tolkien used, but he vacillated a great deal on the subject.

√ƷAN reappeared again in 1969 notes on Quenya verbs with the gloss “give”, but here it was revised to √HAN (PE22/163). Tolkien then elaborated on the meaning of √HAN, saying that its actual sense was “enhance, enrich, add to”. In this note h- was preserved in Quenya and Telerin but lost in Sindarin, and the Quenya verb anta- “give” was influenced by but not directly derived from √HAN; in Sindarin the influence was more direct. We know that √HAN reappeared at least one more time in some notes from 1970 with the gloss “add to, increase, enhance, honour (espec. by gift)” (VT43/14) but this note remains unpublished so we don’t have the full context.

Sorting through all these variations is quite difficult, especially since they are intertwined with Tolkien’s shifting notions of the initial developments of ancient ʒ- and h-, but I think the basic conceptual development is (1959) √ƷAN “extend” >> (1968) √ƷAN “adorn” >> (1969) √ƷAN “give” >> (1969-70) √HAN “add to, increase, enhance, enrich, honour”.

Outside of its influence on “give” and “gift”, √HAN has no real attested derivatives, but it has long been theorized that it is basis for the Q. hantalë “thanksgiving” in Q. Eruhantalë (UT/214). This in turn serves as the basis for the most common Neo-Eldarin words for “thanks” and “to thank”, a pretty important word for polite conversation. These words, and their role in Neo-Eldarin, have been exceptionally contentious, giving this otherwise obscure root an outsized role in debates about Tolkien’s languages.

lā̆

preposition/adverb. beyond

san-

pronoun. that

han

preposition. beyond

A word for “beyond” in the final version of the Átaremma prayer of the 1950s in the phrase Átaremma i ëa han Eä, equivalent to “our Father who art in Heaven” but more literally “✱who is beyond Creation” (VT43/12). This word also appeared with the gloss “beyond” in notes from around 1970 as a derivative of √HAN “add to, increase, enhance, honour (espec. by gift)” (VT43/14).

han

beyond

han prep. "beyond" (compare the _postposition pella of similar meaning) (VT43:14)_

han-

prefix. *back as an answer or return by another agent

átaremma i ëa han eä

our Father who art in Heaven

The first line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word Átaremma “our Father” is atar “father” with the 2nd-person-plural-exclusive suffix -mma consistent with the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings (after the 2nd edition of The Lord of the Rings, this suffix would be -lma).

The remainder of the phrase i ëa han Eä “who art in Heaven” is a circumlocution, literally meaning “✱who is beyond Creation [the Material Universe]”. This allowed Tolkien to avoid an explicit name for Heaven, though he did use Eruman for “Heaven” in the fifth line of the prayer.

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

> Átar-emma i ëa han Eä = “✱Father-our who is beyond Creation [the Material Universe]”

Conceptual Development: The form Ataremma for “our Father” appears in all versions of the prayer, sometimes preceded by the interjection a or Ai “O”. Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested that the long Á of Átaremma in versions V to VI of the prayer may be a coalescense with this interjection (VT43/13).

In versions I-IV, Tolkien use menel for the word “Heaven” in various configurations, most involving an assimilated locative, such as meneldea “in Heaven”. In other writings, Tolkien said that menel referred to the dome of the sky or “the firmament”, and therefore was not proper for “Heaven” (MR/387, PE17/152). Perhaps because of this, in version V he switched to the circumlocution i ëa pell’ Eä, with an assimilated form of the preposition pella “before”. In version VI he changed the preposition to han, as above.

In the earliest version (I), Tolkien used the word na for “is”, added at the end of the phrase, but it was omitted later.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| | |A|Ai| | |Ataremma|Átaremma| | |i| |i| |{menellea >>}|menelzea|meneldea|ëa pell’ ëa|ëa han ëa| |na| |

pella

beyond

pella "beyond", apparently a postposition rather than a preposition: Andúnë pella "beyond the West", elenillor pella "from beyond the stars" (Nam, RGEO:66, Markirya) In one version of the Quenya Lord's Prayer, Tolkien used pell' (evidently an elided form of pella) as a _preposition, but this version was abandoned (VT43:13)_

tana

that

A word for “that” appearing in a list of demonstratives from 1968, an adjectival form of ta “that” (VT49/11). This adjective also appeared in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/135). Similarly formed ᴹQ. tana appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/85, 104-105) where it could also be used both adjectivally (“that”) and substantively (“that fact”). ᴹQ. tana “that” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s but in that document Tolkien said it was “anaphoric” (Ety/TA), as opposed to later when Q. sana was used for anaphoric that (PE16/97; PE23/104).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. táma was “this” rather than “that” (QL/87). The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had ᴱQ. {santa >>} sanda “that” (PE14/55), but drafts of the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930 seem to have tanda for “that” (PE16/56-57, 60).

i

pronoun. that

i, antevokaliskt in

conjunction. that

ne

that

ne (2) conj. "that" (as in "I know that you are here") (PE14:54), evidently replaced by i in Tolkiens later Quenya (see i #3).

or

preposition. above, above, [ᴱQ.] upon; on

A preposition for “above” in the phrase ar i Eru i __or__ ilyë mahalmar ëa tennoio “and of the One who is above all thrones for ever” (UT/305), clearly the Quenya equivalent of N. or “above” and thus based on the root √ORO “rise” (Ety/ORO).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s gave ᴱQ. or the gloss “on”, though it was already derived from the root ᴱ√ORO at this early stage (QL/70). It was glossed “above” in English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/68), but was translated “upon” in Earendel Poem from around 1930 (MC/216). It has what appears to be an inverted form ro in a sentence in Early Qenya Word-lists from around this period: ᴱQ. sinda nekka ui sara __ro__ sinda hyalin me sinda móro, untranslated but probably something like “✱this pen is not writing [up]on this paper with this ink” (PE16/146).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use the word or for both “above [but not touching]” and “upon = above and touching”.

sa

conjunction. that

sana

that

savin elessar ar <u>i</u> nánë aran ondórëo

that

i (3) conj. "that". Savin Elessar ar i nánë aran Ondórëo "I believe that Elessar really existed and that [he] was a king of Gondor" (VT49:27), savin…i E[lesarno] quetië naitë *"I believe that Elessars speaking [is] true" (VT49:28) Also cf. nai, nái "be it that" (see nai #1), which may seem to incorporate this conjunction.

ta

that, it

ta (1) pron. "that, it" (TA); compare antaróta** "he gave it" (FS); see anta-. The forms tar/tara/tanna "thither", talo/tó "thence" and tás/tassë* "there" are originally inflected forms of this pronoun: "to that", "from that" and "in that" (place), respectively. Compare "there" as one gloss of ta (see #4).

tana

that

tana (1) demonstrative "that" (said to be "anaphoric") (TA). According to VT49:11, tana is the adjective corresponding to ta, "that" as a pronoun.

tanya

that

tanya demonstrative "that" (MC:215; this is "Qenya", perhaps corresponding to later tana)

tar

beyond

tar (2) prep. "beyond" (FS)

yana

that

yana demonstrative "that" (the former) (YA)

han

that

pl1. hain _pron. _that, the thing previously mentioned. Tolkien notes "hain = heinn (< san-)" (PE17:42). Im Narvi hain echant 'I Narvi made them'.

athan

preposition. beyond

ha

it

han, hana. *(The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ha is the nominative, whereas han is the accusative. Hana could be an emphatic form. It may be that these pronouns as ”N” rather than Sindarin proper.)*

athar

beyond

1. *athar (across). Suggested correction of the reading "athan" in SD:62. As prep. probably followed by soft mutation. 2) (adverbial prefix) thar- (across, athwart, over)

athar

beyond

(across). Suggested correction of the reading &quot;athan&quot; in SD:62. As prep. probably followed by soft mutation.

san

pronoun. that

anha-

verb. to give

i

that

(+ soft mutation), basically in in the plural, but often loses the n which is then replaced by nasal mutation of the next consonant (e.g. gyrth i chuinar ”dead that live [cuinar]”, Letters:417). Sometimes i (+ soft mutation) is used in the singular as well. – The form ai (following by lenition) occurs in the phrase di ai gerir ✱”those who do” (VT44:23). Possibly it is a form of the relative pronoun that is used when the previous word ends in -i. Whether ai is both sg. and pl. is unclear; in its one attestation it is followed by a plural verb that is lenited.

or

above

(adj. pref.) or- (over, high)

or

above

(prep.) or (om), with article erin ”above the” (followed by ”mixed mutation” according to David Salos reconstructions). Erin represents archaic örin.

or

above

(over, high)

sa

pronoun. that

taw

that

(demonstrative pronoun) ?taw. _Only the ”Old Noldorin” form tó is actually given in LR:389 s.v. _

taw

pronoun. that

taw

that

. Only the ”Old Noldorin” form tó is actually given in LR:389 s.v.

thar

beyond

(across, athwart, over)

han-

verb. to give

athan

preposition. beyond

A word appearing in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s in the name N. Bronwe athan Harthad “Endurance beyond Hope” (SD/62). According to Christopher Tolkien, the form athan is very unclear and uncertain (SD/70 note #6). It might instead be athar, which would be more compatible with the root √THAR “across, beyond” (PE17/14; Ety/THAR).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. {athron “further, beyond” &gt;&gt;} adron “further, beyond, over, on other side” based on G. {athra “across, athwart” &gt;&gt;} adr(a) “lying athwart; situated on far side” (GL/17). This hints that later athan “beyond” may be based on N. ath- “across” (Ety/AT(AT)).

anna-

verb. to give

or

preposition. above, over

or

preposition/prefix. above, above; [G.] onto, on top, on

A preposition and prefix in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “above” and derived from the root ᴹ√ORO “up; rise; high” (Ety/ORO).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had adverb G. or “on, on top” which could be used as a preposition meaning “on, onto” (GL/63), clearly also derived from ᴱ√ORO. As a prefix, G. or- meant “on, onto, up, in addition to, etc.” (GL/62).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would only use or as an adverb/preposition/prefix for “above [not necessarily touching]”, while for “on [top of]” I would use S. po.

or-

prefix. above, over