órë (1) noun "heart" (inner mind), also name of tengwa #21 (Appendix E), "premonition" (VT41:13), "nearest equivalent of 'heart' in our application to feelings, or emotions (courage, fear, hope, pity, etc.)" (VT41:13). The órë apparently defines a person's personality, cf. the description of Galadriel in PM:337, that "there dwelt in her the noble and generous spirit (órë) of the Vanyar". Órenya "my heart" (VT41:11).
Quenya
órë
noun. heart (inner mind); warning, caution, (pre)monition, heart (inner mind), *conscience; warning, caution, (pre)monition
órë
heart
órë
rising
órë (2) noun "rising", anarórë "sunrise" (ORO). Cf. early "Qenya" órë "the dawn, Sunrise, East" (LT1:264). See under Melkor concerning the final element of Melkórë.
óressë
in morning
óressë noun "in morning" (MC:214), evidently the locative of órë # 2 above.
órë
óre
In the manuscript "Notes on Óre", óre ("heart (inner mind)") derives from the Common Eldarin root ƷOR. The word is also said to be associated with the root OR, although probably not "semantically connected". In the Etymologies, the word óre ("rising") derives from root ORO.
númenórë
place name. Westernesse, (lit.) West-land
The island-continent where the Edain settled after the fall of Beleriand (LotR/1035, S/261), often appearing in its shorter form Númenor. It is generally translated as “Westernesse” (LotR/194, S/261) but more literally means “West-land” (Let/224, RC/778). It is a compound of númen “west” and nórë “land” (Let/361).
Conceptual Development: In the very first draft of the Fall of Númenor, this name was given as ᴹQ. Númar or ᴹQ. Númenos (LR/11), but in the next draft these became the name its capital city, and the name Númenor emerged as the name of the land (LR/14). The full form ᴹQ. Númenóre appeared in The Etymologies, already with the derivation discussed above (Ety/NDŪ). It also appeared in an adjectival form Númenórea in linguistic notes from the 1930s (PE22/19).
-nya
my
-nya pronominal suffix, 1st person sg. possessive, "my" (VT49:16, 38, 48), e.g. tatanya "my daddy" (UT:191, VT48:17), meldonya "my [male] friend" (VT49:38), meldenya "my [female] friend" (Elaine inscription), omentienya "my meeting" (PE17:68), tyenya "my tye" (tye being an intimate form of "you"), used = "dear kinsman" (VT49:51, 56). This ending seems to prefer i as its connecting vowel where one is needed, cf. Anarinya "my sun" in LR:72, so also in hildinyar "my heirs". It was previously theorized by some that a final -ë would also be changed to -i- before -nya, but the example órenya "my heart [órë]" indicates that this is not the case (VT41:11).
Melkor
mighty-rising
Melkor (spelt Melcor in VT49:6, 24, MR:362), masc. name: the rebellious Vala, the devil of the Silmarillion mythos. Older (MET) form Melkórë "Mighty-rising" (hence the interpretation "He that arises in power"), compare órë #2. Oldest Q form *mbelekōro (WJ:402). Ablative Melkorello/Melcorello, VT49:7, 24. Compounded in Melkorohíni "Children of Melkor", Orcs ("but the wiser say: nay, the slaves of Melkor; but not his children, for Melkor had no children") (MR:416). The form Melkoro- here occurring may incorporate either the genitive ending -o or the otherwise lost final vowel of the ancient form ¤mbelekōro. For Melkors later name, see Moringotto / Moricotto (Morgoth) under mori-.
Númen(n)órë
people of the west
Númen(n)órë noun "people of the west", confused with Númendor "land of the west" (SA:dôr); hence Númenor as the name of the great isle given to the Edain by the Valar (FS, LR:56); full form Númenórë (LR:47, SD:247, NDŪ); allative númenórenna "to Númenor" (LR:56)
Númendor
land of the west
Númendor noun "land of the west", confused with and replaced by Númen(n)órë "people of the west" (SA:dôr)
númen
west, the way of the sunset
númen noun "west, the way of the sunset" (SA:andúnë, cf. NDŪ, MEN; capitalized Númen under SA:men and in CO), "going down, occudent" (Letters:361), also name of tengwa #17 _(Appendix E). _According to VT45:38, the word is actually cited as "nú-men" in Tolkien's Etymologies manuscript. Allative númenna "Westward" (LR:47, SD:310, VT49:20, capitalized Númenna, VT49:22; numenna with a short u, VT49:23); adj. númenquerna "turned westward" (VT49:18, 20). See also númenyaron, númessier. - In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, "nú-men" was intended as the name of tengwa #21, to which letter Tolkien at this stage assigned the value n (VT45:38). However, this tengwa was later given the Quenya value r instead and was renamed órë.
órenya quetë nin
my heart tells me
-nya
suffix. my
amaurëa
dawn, early day
†amaurëa noun "dawn, early day" (Markirya)
ambarónë
noun. dawn, dawn; [ᴹQ.] uprising, sunrise, Orient
elwen
heart
elwen noun "heart" (LT1:255; rather hón or enda in LotR-style Quenya)
enda
heart
enda noun "heart", but not referring to the physical organ; it literally means "centre" (cf. endë) and refers to the fëa (soul) or sáma (mind) itself. (VT39:32)
hón
heart
hón noun "heart" (physical) (KHŌ-N); hon-maren "heart of the house", a fire (LR:63, 73; this is "Qenya" with genitive in -en, not -o as in LotR-style Quenya read *hon-maro?)
indo
heart, mood
indo (1) noun "heart, mood" (ID), "state" (perhaps especially state of mind, given the other glosses) (VT39:23), "mind, region/range of thought, mood" (PE17:155, 179), "inner thought, in fea as exhibited in character or [?personality]" (PE17:189). In another post-LotR source, indo is translated "resolve" or "will", the state of mind leading directly to action (VT41:13). Indo is thus "the mind in its purposing faculty, the will" (VT41:17). Indo-ninya,a word occurring in Fíriels Song, translated "my heart" (see ninya). In the compound indemma "mind-picture", the first element would seem to be indo.
ninya
my
ninya _possessive pron _occurring in Fíriel's Song, evidently meaning "my"; see indo-ninya. It may be derived from the dative form nin "for me" by adding the adjectival ending -ya. Compare menya, q.v.
númë
noun. west
ortea
adjective. rising, ascendant
oryande
noun. arising
oryandë
noun. arising
ára
dawn
ára noun "dawn" (AR1). According to VT45:6, ára is also the name of the long vowel carrier of the Tengwar system; it would be the first letter of the word ára if spelt in Tengwar.
The meaning of the Quenya word órë is quite subtle, and does not have a direct equivalent in English. In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien translated the word as “heart (inner mind)” (LotR/1123), but elsewhere he said that this was a poor translation of the word (VT41/11; NM/220). Tolkien wrote a lengthy essay on the nature of this word, first published in the year 2000 (VT41/11-19) and again in 2021 (NM/219-225). In this essay Tolkien described it as the source of wisdom and moral impulses that informed one’s judgement, so perhaps the closest English equivalent is “conscience”. This is still not quite right, however, since the órë could be the source of negative impulses as well, particularly among Men (VT41/13; NM/223). Furthermore, divine powers such as the Valar could sometimes (but not always) communicate subtly through one’s órë (VT41/15). Galadriel was described as having a particularly noble and generous órë (PM/337).
This word could also be used with the sense “warning, caution” (VT41/15) or even “premonition” (VT41/13). It seems that the órë and its urges was viewed as almost external to the mind itself, as indicated by the phrase órenya quetë nin “my heart tells me” = “I feel compelled to ...”, not unlike the pop-cultural “shoulder angel and devil” whispering into your ear. Tolkien said that in Quenya this word was associated with the sense of √OR “rise” and its urges were seen as rising up within the spirit (VT41/13). Compare this to the words for ordinary feelings, such as fëafelmë “✱(lit.) spirit-impulse”.
The word órë was also the name of tengwa #21 [6] used for a weak and untrilled medial r (LotR/1123), many of which originated from primitive intervocalic [z] or [d]. There is no sign that órë ever had such a consonant medially, however, and it seems this name was chosen simply because it had a medial r.
Conceptual Development: Possible precursors to this word in Tolkien’s earlier writings include ᴹQ. hóre “impulse” from The Etymologies (Ety/KHOR), as well as ᴱQ. ir (ird-) “interior, centre, inwards, inner parts” >> ᴱQ. hir (hird-) “inwards, interior, inside, heart” from Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s (PE13/144, 161).