inga (2) adj. "first" (ING)
Quenya
inga
noun. top, highest point, top, highest point, [ᴹQ.] first
inga
first
inga
top, highest point
inga (1) noun "top, highest point" (PM:340), "only applied to shapes pointing upwards...[it] referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad". Compounded in the nouns aldinga "tree-top" (alda + inga) (VT47:28), ingaran "high-king" (PM:340)
ingalaurë
masculine name. *Top Gold
ingaran
high-king
ingaran noun "high-king" (PM:340), compounded from inga and aran
ingaran
noun. high-king
inca
idea
inca ("k")noun "idea" (VT45:18, where the word is cited with a final hyphen, though its gloss would indicate that it is a noun not a verb. Originally, the triple glosses "idea, notion, guess" were provided.)
ingëa
adjective. top
@@@ Discord 2022-05-23
ingwi
collective name. People of Ingwë, Chieftains
A name for the People of Ingwë, the first tribe of Elves, more commonly known as the Vanyar (PM/332, PE17/154-5). It is simply the plural form of the name for their leader: Ingwë.
Alternate Forms: In a few places in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s, this name appeared instead as Ingar (MR/230, 265). It also appeared in an alternate plural form Ingwer and genitive plural Ingweron (PM/340). This last example seems to be an irregular plural, since the plural of nouns ending in -e are usually formed by changing this vowel to an -i (WJ/361). See the entry for the Quenya plural nouns for further discussion.
Conceptual Development: This name first appeared as ᴱQ. Inwir (LT1/50) derived from the older name of their leader: ᴱQ. Inwe. At this stage the name referred only the royal house of the first tribe (QL/42). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, the form changed to ᴹQ. Ingwi, but still referred only to the royal house (LR/171). In Tolkien’s writing from the 1950s and later, the term expanded to include all Elves of the first tribe (MR/230; PM/332, 340).
cíta-
verb. to suppose
enna
first
[enna adj. "first" (VT45:12)]
esta
first
esta (2) adj. "first" (ESE/ESET); this entry was marked with a query. The word Yestarë (q.v.) "Beginning-day" in LotR suggests that Tolkien decided to change the stem in question to _YESE/YESET_. We could then read *yesta for esta (but later this became a noun "beginning" rather than an adj. "first", PE17:120) and also prefix a y to the other words derived from ESE/ESET (essë* > yessë, essëa > yessëa). Estanossë noun "the firstborn", read likewise Yestanossë** (*Yestanessi?) but in a later text, Tolkien used Minnónar (q.v.) for "the Firstborn" as a name of the Elves, and this form may be preferred. _(In the Etymologies as printed in LR, the word _Estanossë is cited as "Estanesse", but according to VT45:12, the second-to-last vowel is actually o in Tolkien's manuscript.)
minya
first
minya adj. "first" (MINI) (cf. Minyatur, Minyon); "eminent, prominent" (VT42:24, 25). Minyar "Firsts", the original name of the Vanyar (or rather the direct Quenya descendant of the original Primitive Quendian name) (WJ:380)
quista-
verb. to suppose
setta
first
[setta, setya adj. "first" (possibly also "primary", but Tolkien's gloss was not certainly legible) (VT46:13)]
A word have the same root (√ING) as the name Ingwë, giving a clue to the original meaning of that name. In a few places, the plural Ingar of this word was used as another name for the Vanyar (MR/230, 265), but Tolkien more frequently used the plural Ingwë for this purpose: see Ingwi.
In later writings, this word was generally presented as a noun meaning “top, highest point” (PM/340, VT47/28), but in The Etymologies, ᴹQ. inga was an adjective glossed “first”, as in “foremost” (Ety/ING).
Tolkien stated that “inga ... applied to shapes pointing upward” but also that it “referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad” (VT47/28). Therefore, inga referred to the highest level whether it was a single point or a plateau.