Quenya 

onna

noun. child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature

A word for “child” appearing in various late notes and phrases (NM/31; PM/391; VT49/42), derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born” and once appearing in a variant form onwe (PE17/170). Giving its derivation, its actual meaning may be closer to “✱offspring”, as first suggested to me by Tamas Ferencz.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. onna was instead glossed “creature”, though it was still derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).

Derivations

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

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ON/NO > onwe[onwe]✧ PE17/170
ONO/NŌ > onna[onna]✧ PE17/170

Variations

  • onwe ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170; PE17/170
Quenya [PE17/170; PM/391; VT49/42] Group: Eldamo. Published by

onna

creature

onna noun "creature" (ONO), "child" (PE17:170), also translated "child" in the plural compound Aulëonnar "Children of Aulë", a name of the Dwarves (PM:391), and apparently also used = "child" in the untranslated sentence nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya ("k") "be it that your child [will be] blessed thoughout his/her life" (VT49:41). The form onya (q.v.), used as a vocative "my child", is perhaps shortened from *onnanya.

onya

my child

onya noun "my child", "my son" (not the normal word for "son", however [cf. yondo] onya seems to be derived from the stem ONO "beget") This may be a shortened form of *onnanya (see onna), like hinya "my child" (q.v.) is shortened from hinanya. It may be, then, that onya (like hinya) is only used in vocative. (UT:174)

onya

noun. my child

An affection term for “my child”, a reduction of the 1st sg. possessive form onnanya of onna “child” (PE17/170; UT/174-5).

Elements

WordGloss
onna“child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature”
-nya“my”
Quenya [PE17/170; UT/174; UT/175] Group: Eldamo. Published by

onta-

beget, create

onta- (pa.t. ónë or ontanë) vb. "beget, create" (ONO, PE17:170)

Aulëonnar

children of aulë

Aulëonnar (sg. #Aulëonna) noun "Children of Aulë", a name of the Dwarves (PM:391). See onna.

onwë

child

onwë noun "child" (PE17:170)

onwë

noun. child

ónë

beget, create

ónë one pa.t. of onta- vb. "beget, create" (the pa.t. may also be ontanë) (ONO)

hína

child

hína noun "child", also hina used in the vocative to a (young) child (also hinya "my child", for hinanya) (WJ:403). Pl. híni (surprisingly not **hínar) in Híni Ilúvataro "Children of Ilúvatar" (Silmarillion Index); dative hínin in VT44:35. In compounds -hin pl. -híni (as in Eruhíni, "Children of Eru", SA:híni). According to one source, the word is hín(i) and solely plural (PE17:157), but this is obviously contradicted by some of the sources quoted above.

hína

noun. child

A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected ✱✱hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.

Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien occasionally used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form; this variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).

Cognates

  • Ad. -hin “child, patronymic”
  • S. hên “child” ✧ SA/híni; WJ/403

Derivations

  • KHIN “child” ✧ PE17/157
  • khīnā “child” ✧ WJ/403
    • KHIN “child” ✧ WJ/403

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
KHIN > hīn(i)[kʰīni] > [xīni] > [hīni]✧ PE17/157
khīnā/khinā > hína[kʰīnā] > [xīnā] > [hīnā] > [hīna]✧ WJ/403

Variations

  • hina ✧ WJ/403
Quenya [PE17/157; PE21/83; SA/híni; SI/Children of Ilúvatar; VT44/35; WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nosta-

beget

nosta- vb., variously glossed "beget" (SD:73) or passive "be begotten" (PE17:170); in earlier "Qenya" the gloss was "give birth" (LT1:272)

sén

noun. child

Element in

selda

child

selda adj.?noun? (meaning not clear, related to seldë "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter") and seldo "boy". Thus selda may be an adjective "childlike", since -a is a frequent adjectival ending. Alternatively, as suggested in VT46:13, selda may be a neuter noun "child", corresponding to masc. seldo "boy" and fem. seldë "girl" (before Tolkien changed the meaning of the latter to "child"). (SEL-D, cf. VT46:22-23)

seldo

child

seldo noun (meaning not quite clear, likely the masculine form of seldë "child", hence *"boy") (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23)

seldë

child

seldë noun "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter"; in his later texts the Quenya word for "child" is rather hína, and the final status of seldë is uncertain. See also tindómerel.) (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23) In one late source, Tolkien reverts to the meaning "daughter", but this may have been replaced by anel, q.v.