illumë

always

illumë adv. "always" (VT44:9)

illumë

adverb. *always

A word for “always” appearing in the Ortírielyanna prayer of the 1950s (VT44/9), a combination of il- “all” and lúmë “time”.

Conceptual Development: The word ᴹQ. qá “always, at all times, ever” appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948, a vowel-lengthened form of ᴹQ. qa(qe)- “all” along with alternates qañqe, ᴹQ. qan(an) and ᴹQ. qallume (PE23/110), the last two with suffixal -n(an) and -llume respectively. There was a deleted variant qáqen (PE23/110 note #122)

ono alyë eterúna me illumë ilya raxellor

but deliver us always from all dangers

The third line of Ortírielyanna, Tolkien’s translation of the Sub Tuum Praesidium prayer. The first word is the conjunction ono “but”. The second word alyë is 2nd-person-polite form of the imperative particle á. The third word eterúna is the aorist/infinitive form of the verb eterúna- “to deliver”. The fourth word is the pronoun me “us”.

The fourth word is the adverb illumë “always”, while the fifth word is the adjective ilya “all”. The last word raxellor “from dangers” is the ablative (-llo “from”) plural form of raxë “danger”. The final -r marks it as plural (“dangers”), so it is odd that the preceding adjective is not also plural, but it seems to be the rule that adjectives are not declined into the plural when they modify a noun that is itself in a noun case; see the discussion on Quenya adjectives.

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

> ono a-lye eterúna me illume ilya raxe-llo-r = “✱but do-thou deliver us always all danger-from-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: The verb was first written eterunna >> eteruńna, which Wynne, Smith and Hostetter concluded was a slip for eterúna, the form of the verb as it appeared in the Átaremma prayer (VT44/9). The pronoun “us” changed from dative men >> uninflected me (VT44/5). Tolkien consider two other forms for “always”: vora >> vore before settling on illumë. The word for “from dangers” was first written raxalellor >> raxellor, apparently changing the underlying noun raxalë >> raxë (VT44/9).

í(qua), illume, iquallume

conjunction. when, whenever

voro

ever, continually

voro, voro- adv. "ever, continually" (BOR, Narqelion) Compare vor. (Focusing on the gloss "continually", post-Tolkien writers have sometimes used voro for "still, yet", but for this sense the term en is available.) The variants vora, vorë were used for "always" in drafts for a Quenya version of the Sub Tuum Praesidium, but Tolkien eventually replaced such forms with the unrelated word illumë (VT44:9). Compare vórë, vórëa.

vorë

adverb. *always

ia

ever

[ia adv. "ever" (GEY, EY); replaced by oia.]

oi

ever

oi adv. "ever" (OY)

vor

ever

vor, voro adv. "ever" (BOR, LT1:250, 273 [only voro_ in the Etymologies]; also in Narqelion)_

vora

always

vora, vorë adv. "always"; see voro

yá

when

yá (2) conj. "when" in the sentence yá hrívë tenë, ringa ná "when winter comes, it is cold" (VT49:23). Compare írë #2.

yá

conjunction. when

A relative conjunction “when” appearing in various phrases in Tolkien’s writings of the 1950s and 60s, a vowel-lengthened form of the relative pronoun ya.

Conceptual Development: Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 had ᴹQ. í glossed “(relative) at the time mentioned, at the same time”, a vowel-lengthened form of the relative pronoun ᴹQ. i (PE23/109). This was also given the gloss “when, whenever” in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from this same period (PE22/121). Earlier still, ᴹQ. íre was used as the relative conjunction “when” in Fíriel’s Song of the 1930s. In the Early Qenya Grammar it seems ᴱQ. yan “when” served this function (PE14/59).

írë

when

írë (2) conj. "when" (subordinate conjunction, not question-word: írë Anarinya queluva, "when my sun faileth") (FS). Compare yá #2.

úlumë

ever

úlumë adv. "ever", at all times (in a series or period) (PE17:156). Cf. ullumë.

malumë

adverb. when

ui

adverb. ever

oio

adverb. ever

him

adverb/adjective. ever, ever, [N.] enduring, continually; steadfast, abiding

ir

conjunction. (?) when

This word is not translated. It could be related to Quenya íre "when". Some scholars also consider that it could be the form taken by the article i before a vowel, on a pattern similar to ah . To this respect, it might be interesting to note the ir was the allative/dative form of the article in the old Gnomish lexicon, PE/11:9

ui

adverb. ever

ui-

prefix. ever

io

conjunction. when

A neologism coined by Röandil as io “when” posted on 2024-03-19 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), the Sindarin equivalent of Q. yá “when”. In stressed positions, this conjunction might remain iaw. Both of these forms conflict with existing Noldorin words: [N.] io “ago” and [N.] iau “corn”, but that doesn’t preclude their use.

ir

when

?ir (not used in questions but to indicate time, as in ”when I saw you, I was glad”). This is one of several possible interpretations of the word, which occurs in a Sindarin poem untranslated by Tolkien (ir Isil ammen Eruchín…síla, ?”when the Moon shines for us Children of Eru…”, The Lays of Beleriand p. 354). By another interpretation, ir is simply a variant of the definite article.(relative pronoun), see THAT

ir

when

(not used in questions but to indicate time, as in ”when

ir

i

is simply a variant of the definite article.

ui

ever

ui (always); also used as adj. ”everlasting, eternal”. Also as prefix, as in *uidafnen ”ever-closed) (WJ:341, where the spelling ”uidavnen” is used), pl. uidefnin

ui

ever

(always); also used as adj. ”everlasting, eternal”. Also as prefix, as in ✱uidafnen ”ever-closed) (WJ:341, where the spelling ”uidavnen” is used), pl. uidefnin

ui

always

ui (ever); also used as adj. ”everlasting, eternal”.

ui

always

(ever); also used as adj. ”everlasting, eternal”.

uilos

always snow-white

(name of Mount Taniquetil, or Oiolossë)