nosta

birth, birthday

nosta noun "birth, birthday" (LT1:272; maybe not a valid word in Tolkiens later Quenya because the meaning of the corresponding verb was changed from "give birth" to "beget")

nosta-

verb. to beget, be begotten, to beget, [ᴱQ.] give birth to; [Q.] to be begotten, *be born [impersonal]; [ᴱQ.] to cause

A verb in Tolkien’s later writings glossed as either “to beget” (PE17/111) or “be begotten” (PE17/170), appearing in The Lord of the Rings as an element in the word nostar “parent” (LotR/981) and derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born”. The word ᴱQ. nosta- dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it was glossed “give birth to; cause” under the early root ᴱ√NŌ “become, be born” (QL/66), but then vanished for several decades where it was either replaced by or in competition with Q. onta- “beget” (PE17/170; Ety/ONO).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use this verb primarily in the sense “beget” = “give birth to”, as opposed to onta- “to beget” = “✱to conceive”. It might be used impersonally to have the sense “to be born”, as in nostane ni loar canquain né “[it] birthed me forty years ago = I was born forty years ago”.

Derivations

• √NŌ/ONO “beget, give birth to; be born, beget, give birth to; be born; [ᴱ√] become” ✧ PE17/111; PE17/170

Element in

• ᴺQ. nosta “birth, birthday”
• ᴺQ. nostalë “species, kind, *type, sort; nature”
• Q. nostar “parent, begetter, *ancestor; parent, begetter” ✧ SD/073

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√ONO > nosta	[nosta-]	✧ PE17/111
√ON/NO > nosta	[nosta-]	✧ PE17/170

Variations

• nosta ✧ PE17/111; PE17/170; SD/073

onta-

verb. to beget, to beget, *conceive (a child); [ᴹQ.] to create

A verb in Tolkien’s writings glossed “beget” and derived from the root √NŌ/ONO (PE17/170; Ety/ONO). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it had a second gloss “create” (Ety/ONO).

Conceptual Development: The Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s had the word ᴱQ. puita- “beget” (PE14/77), likely based on the early root ᴱ√PU(HU) “generate” (QL/75).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I’d use this verb primarily with the sense “beget = ✱conceive (a child)”, as opposed to nosta- “to beget = give birth to”. I’d use this verb irrespective of the gender of the parent. When used of non-living or abstract things, it would have the sense “create”: ontanen vinya parma lírion “I begat [= created] a new book of songs”.

Derivations

• √NŌ/ONO “beget, give birth to; be born, beget, give birth to; be born; [ᴱ√] become” ✧ PE17/170

Element in

• ᴺQ. enontië “rebirth, resurrection”
• Q. ontalë “descent, descent, *derivation, ancestry”
• Q. ontavalië “puberty, *(lit.) able to beget”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√ON/NO > onta	[onta-]	✧ PE17/170

Variations

• onta ✧ PE17/170

nosta

noun. birth, birthday

Cognates

• ᴺS. onnad “birth”

Element in

• ᴺQ. Ennosta “Renaissance”
• ᴺQ. Hristonosta “Christmas”
• ᴺQ. nostarë “birthday”

Elements

Word	Gloss
nosta-	“to beget, be begotten, to beget, [ᴱQ.] give birth to; [Q.] to be begotten, *be born [impersonal]; [ᴱQ.] to cause”

nónië

noun. birth

A neologism for “birth” coined by Helge Fauskanger for his NQNT (NQNT), an abstract noun form of Q. nóna “born”. I prefer to adapt the Early Qenya word nosta.

Elements

Word	Gloss
nóna	“born”

onnad

noun. birth

Cognates

• ᴺQ. nosta “birth, birthday”

Element in

• ᴺS. oronnad “birthday”
• ᴺS. Rhistonnad “Christmas”

Elements

Word	Gloss
onna-	“*to birth, give birth to”

edonna-

verb. to beget

A verb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “beget”, a combination of ed- “out” and a verb form of the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use this verb to refer primarily to the actions of the father, and use S. onna- “✱to give birth to” to refer to actions of the mother.

Cognates

• ᴹQ. onta- “to beget, create” ✧ Ety/ONO

Variations

• ed-onna ✧ Ety/ONO