nelquëa
cardinal. thirteen
nelquëa
ordinal. *thirteenth
This is apparently an adjective form of nelekwe “thirteen” and is thus probably an ordinal number “thirteenth” (VT48/21). Compare neldëa “third” vs. neldë “three”.
Conceptual Development: The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had ᴱQ. nelkaiya or {nelkeatya >>} nelkeanya “thirteenth” based on ᴱQ. nelkea “thirteen” (PE14/51, 82).
nelequë
cardinal. thirteen
?nelequë ("kw") cardinal "thirteen" (VT48:21). The spelling "nelekwe" occurring in the primary source could suggest that this is really a Common Eldarin form; if so, one could theorize that the Quenya form would be *nelquë with syncope of the middle vowel (the same source lists "minikwe" as a word for 11, and the Quenya form is known to be minque). Compare nelquëa*. On the other hand, "tolokwe" as a word for 18 is listed together with definite Quenya forms and is apparently an unorthodox spelling of toloquë** (as observed by the editor); here no syncope producing *tolquë occurs. Thus toloquë could support ?nelequë as the Quenya word (but because of the uncertainties, yunquentë may be preferred as the word for 13).
quainel
cardinal. thirteen
quainel, cardinal "thirteen" (but yunquentë may be preferred) (VT48:21)
yunquenta
cardinal. thirteen
yunquenta cardinal "thirteen" (12 and one more) (VT47:15), variant yunquentë (VT47:40), compare entë #1.
yunquentë
cardinal. thirteen
nelquëa, cardinal "thirteen" (?) (VT48:21). This looks like an odd form next to other cardinals that simply end in -quë (like lepenquë, enenquë, otoquë = 15, 16, 17), and the form "nelekwe" also listed may indicate another Quenya form nelequë (q.v.) or *nelquë (but because of the uncertainties, yunquentë may be preferred as the word for 13). By another theory, nelquëa* is the ordinal "thirteenth", corresponding to the cardinal nel(e)quë**.