aira (2) adj. "holy"; see airë #1
Quenya
aina
holy
aira
holy
airë
holy
airë (1) adj. "holy", #Airefëa "the Holy Spirit" (VT43:37, dative airefëan on the previous page), airetári or Airë Tári "holy queen" (a title of Varda, PM:363), genitive aire-tário "holy-queen's" (Nam, RGEO:67). However, according to PM:363, airë is the noun "sanctity", while aira is the adjective "holy". VT43:14 refers to an etymological note of "Sept.-Oct. 1957" where airë is said to be a noun "sanctity, holiness", and the adjective "holy" is given as airëa. However, the verb #airita- "hallow" seems to be formed from an adjective airë, airi- "holy". Evidently airë can function as both adjective ("holy") and noun ("holiness"); if so airë as adj. could represent a primitive adjective gaisi, whereas airë as noun may descend from gaisē. The former but not the latter would have the stem airi- (as observed in the derived verb #airita-), and compounds like airetári (rather than *airitári) would seem to contain properly the noun "holiness".
airëa
holy
airëa adj. "holy"; see airë.
aista
holy
aista (1) adj. "holy" (VT43:37)
aista
adjective. *holy
airefëa
proper name. Holy Spirit
A Quenya name for the Holy Spirit in Alcar i Ataren, Tolkien’s unfinished Quenya version of the Gloria Patri prayer (VT43/36). It is a compound of airë “holy, holiness” and fëa “spirit”.
airë maría eruo ontaril
Holy Mary, Mother of God
The fifth line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first word airë “holy” is either an adjective or a form of address applied to the second word, María: the Quenyarized form of “Mary”. The third word Eruo “of God” is the genitive form of Eru “God”. The last word ontaril “mother” seems to be a feminine form of ᴹQ. ontaro “begetter, parent” (as suggested by the Wynne, Smith and Hostetter, VT43/32). If so, Eruo ontaril more literally means “✱genetrix (female begetter) of God”.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> Airë María Eru-o ontaril = “✱holy Mary God-of genetrix”
Conceptual Development: In the second version of the prayer, Tolkien used {Aini >>} aina (II) for “holy” instead of aire (I, III-IV). In the first two versions of the prayer Tolkien used Eruamillë (I-II) for “Mother of God”, a compound of Eru “God” and amil(lë) “mother”.
|  I  | II |III|IV| |Aire|{Aini >>} Aina|Aire| |María| |Eruamille|Eruo| | |ontaril|
alcar i ataren ar i yondon ar i airefëan
glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit
The first line of Alcar i Ataren, Tolkien’s translation of the Gloria Patri prayer. The first word is alcar “glory” followed by dative clauses: i Ataren “for the Father” (atar dative), ar i Yondon “and for the Son” (yondo dative), ar i Airefean “and for the Holy Spirit” (Airefëa dative).
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> alcar i Atar-en ar i Yondo-n ar i Aire-fea-n = “✱glory [be] Father-to and the Son-to and the holy-spirit-to”
Conceptual Development: Before airefean, Tolkien first wrote and rejected faire aistan, the first word meaning “spirit” and the second a dative form of the adjective aista “holy”.
Ainu
holy one, angelic spirit
Ainu noun "holy one, angelic spirit"; fem. Aini (AYAN, LT1:248); "one of the 'order' of the Valar and Maiar, made before Eä"; pl. Ainur is attested. Adopted and adapted from Valarin ayanūz(WJ:399). In the early "Qenya Lexicon", ainu was glossed "a pagan god", and aini was similarly "a pagan goddess", but as Christopher Tolkien notes, "Of course no one within the context of the mythology can call the Ainur 'pagan' " (LT1:248). Ainulindalë noun "Music of the Ainur" (SA:lin #2), the First History (WJ:406), the Song of Creation (AYAN)
a aina fairë, eru órava (o)messë
God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us
The eighth 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 fairë = “holy spirit”. The fourth word Eru is Tolkien’s usual Quenya name for God. The phrase órava (o)messe “have mercy on us” is essentially the same as in the first line; see that entry for discussion.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> a Aina Fairë, Eru órava (o)me-sse = “✱o Holy Spirit, God have-mercy us-on”
Conceptual Development: As in the first line, Tolkien first used the dative ómen for “on us” before revising it to the locative (o)messe (VT44/12, notes on line 8).
a aina maria arca atarmë
Holy Mary, pray for us
The tenth 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 Maria = “holy Mary”. The fourth word is the aorist form of the verb arca- “to pray”. The fifth word atarme is the preposition atar “for” combined with the pronoun me “us”. A similar construction was used in version I of the sixth line of the *Aia María* prayer (VT43/26).
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> a Aina Maria arca atar-me = “✱o Holy Mary pray for-us”
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).
aian
holy thing or object or place
aian noun "a holy thing or object or place", later form of áyan (PE17:149)
aina-
verb. to hallow, bless, treat as holy
aina- (1) vb. "to hallow, bless, treat as holy" (PE17:149)
aina eruontarië
Holy Mother of God
The eleventh line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is aina “holy” followed by Eruontarië, a name of Mary as the genetrix (female begetter) of God. As pointed out by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter, this word is used to translate Latin “genetrix”, where as Latin “mater” is translated by amil(lë) (VT44/8).
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> Aina Eruontarië = “✱Holy God-genetrix”
aina wendë mi wenderon
Holy Virgin of virgins
The twelfth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is aina “holy” followed by Wende mi Wenderon “Virgin of Virgins”. The word wendë means “virgin”, appearing in both the singular and genitive plural wenderon “of virgins”. This genitive plural form is unusual. The normal genitive plural of a noun ending in -ë is -ion, which would produce ✱wendion. See the entry on the plural nouns for further discussion.
The function of the third word mi is unclear. Normally this word means “in”, but Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested that it is used here with the sense “among” (elsewhere usually Q. imbë) as a way of emphasizing the superlative nature of Mary’s virginity: “✱virgin among all virgins” (VT44/18).
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> Aina Wende mi Wende-r-on = “✱holy virgin among virgin-(plural)-of”
ainima
blessed, holy (of things)
ainima adj. "blessed, holy (of things)" (PE17:149)
ortírielyanna rucimmë, aina eruontari
we fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God
The first line of Ortírielyanna, Tolkien’s translation of the Sub Tuum Praesidium prayer. The first word Ortírielyanna “to thy patronage” is 2nd-person-polite (-lya “thy”) ablative (-nna “to”) form of ortírië “patronage”. The second word rucimmë “we fly” is the 1st-person-plural-exclusive inflection (-mmë “we”) of the verb ruc- “flee”. The third word is aina “holy” and the last word is Eruontari, a name of Mary as the genetrix (female begetter) of the Son of God.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> ortírie-lya-nna ruci-mme, Aina Eru-ontari = “✱patronage-thy-to flee-we, Holy God-genetrix”.
Conceptual Development: The first word was initially written Ortírielyanne (with final e instead of a), but Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested this is probably a slip (VT44/5). The third word was initially written Aini >> Aina. Tolkien considered several different Quenya translations for “Mother of God”; ignoring incomplete forms, the development was Eruamillë >> Eruontarië >> Eruontari.
yána
holy place, fane, sanctuary
yána (2) noun "holy place, fane, sanctuary" (YAN). Compare ainas in a post-LotR source.
áyan
holy thing or object or place
áyan (later form aian) noun "a holy thing or object or place" (PE17:149)
ómaryo lírinen airetário
in [by means of] her voice’s song, of the holy-queen
The 7th phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:
> ómaryo airetári-lírinen >> ómaryo lírinen airetário
Tolkien removed the element airetári “holy queen” from the compound and turned it into a separate genitive element airetário “holy queen’s, of [the] holy queen”. Presumably it modifies the noun lírë “song” in the instrumental phrase ómaryo lírinen “in [by means of] her voice’s song”.
The preceding genitive ómaryo “her voice’s” also modifies the noun lírë. The placement of the two genitives before and after the noun help clarify that they modify the same noun. In English, there isn’t a natural way of having two such distinct modifications of the same noun. This could help explain why the English poetic translation of this phrase is so different from the Elvish: “in the song of her voice, holy and queenly”.
On the other hand, it could be that this phrase is still semi-poetic, since Tolkien gave different “prose” translations of the phrase elsewhere (P17/76, PM/364).
aina
adjective. holy, revered, numinous, holy, revered, numinous, *divine, [ᴱQ.] worshipful
aina-
verb. to hallow, bless, treat as holy
ainu
noun. holy one, spirit, holy one, angelic spirit (m.); [ᴱQ.] (pagan) god
aira
adjective. holy, sanctified, holy, sanctified, [ᴱQ.] worshipful
airë
noun/adjective. holy; sanctity, holiness
aian
noun. holy thing or object or place
ainas
noun. hallow, fane, hallow, fane, *shrine, holy place, sanctuary
ainima
adjective. blessed, holy (of things)
airëa
adjective. holy (applied to persons)
airë tári
proper name. Holy Queen
lírinen ómo i·aire tário
by the song of the voice of the holy queen
lírinen ómo i·aire táríva
by the song of the voice of the holy queen
vanya
adjective. fair, beautiful, unmarred; fair-haired (yellow to golden), fair, beautiful, unmarred; fair-haired (yellow to golden); [ᴱQ.] good (not evil), holy
ómaryo airetári-lírinen
in the song of her voice, holy and queenly
Seventh line @@@
airalindë
noun. hymn, (lit.) holy song
airelinna
noun. hymn, (lit.) holy song
airemma
noun. icon, (lit.) holy image
@@@ from Discord 2022-02-25
-ima
suffix. -able, -ible, adjective suffix, apt to do
-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)
aina (2) adj "holy" (AYAN), derived from Ainu. Adopted and adapted from Valarin. According to VT43:32, the word is "obsolete, except in Ainur", apparently suggesting that airë or airëa (q.v.) was the normal term for "holy" in later Quenya. However, Tolkien repeatedly used aina in his translation of the Litany of Loreto: Aina Fairë "Holy Spirit", Aina Neldië "Holy Trinity", Aina Maria "Holy Mary", Aina Wendë "Holy Virgin". He also used Aina Eruontari for "holy Mother" in his rendering of the Sub Tuum Praesidium(WJ:399, FS, SA, VT43:32, VT44:5, 12, 17-18)