anta-
verb. to give, present; †to add to
silumë
adverb. now, (lit.) at this time, now, at this time, *present
A word for “now, at this time (only referred to the present of the time of speech)” appearing in a list of demonstratives from 1968 (VT49/18), a combination of si “this” and lúmë “time”. Similarly formed ᴹQ. sillume “at that date/time” appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/110).
Neo-Quenya: The gloss “present” was suggested in ABNW (ABNW) from the early 2000s.
anna
noun. gift, (orig.) thing handed, brought or sent to a person, gift, (orig.) thing handed, brought or sent to a person, *present
A word for “gift”, also the name of tengwa #23 [h] (LotR/1123), derived from the root √ANA “motion to” and more precisely meaning “a thing handed, brought or sent to a person” (PE17/91).
Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was ᴱQ. an (and-) “gift” in the Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√ANA (QL/31). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon Tolkien gave ᴱQ. anō as the equivalent of G. ôn “gift” (GL/62). The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. anna “gift” under the root ᴹ√ANA “to, towards” (Ety/ANA¹). The word anna “gift” appeared among tengwar names in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 1940s, though in the former it was for double nn [5P] (PE22/23) and in the later was the name of a variant short vowel carrier [ゼ] not appearing in Tolkien’s later writing, and in any case the paragraph with this name was deleted (PE22/52 note #193).
In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 Tolkien had both anna “gift” and anwa “gift” (PE22/163), the latter perhaps derived from ✱(h)an-mā. Tolkien indicated that this version of the noun influenced by {√ƷAN >>} √HAN “enhance, enrich, add to”.
Use as a Tengwar Name: The application of anna as the name for tengwa #23 is quite mysterious. In Quenya this tengwa was originally used to represent a voiced velar spirant ʒ < g, and after that sound was lost was used only to represent consonantal y by adding a palatal marker [hÍ]. Since anna has nothing to do with either sound, my best guess is that the name anna comes from some “full mode” where tengwar #23 represents the vowel a, except that in most full modes it represents the vowel o.
Alternately, it may be that at some point Tolkien imagined the noun anna as being derived from ʒannā; see the [rejected] root √ƷAN in its 1969 etymology noted above. In the 1930s this tengwa was named Osse either as a vowel sign for o or as a derivation of ᴹ√GOS (PE22/22), and in the 1940s it was named {’anne >>} ’enne “thought, purpose” where the ’ indicates lost ʒ (PE22/51 and note #190).
-ëa
suffix. continuative present
silussë
noun. present tense, (lit.) here-and-now-tense
sinanwa
adjective. present, in a particular place, existing or occurring now
anta-
give
anta- (1) vb. "give" (ANA1, MC:215, 221), pa.t. antanë (antanen "I gave", VT49:14) or †ánë, perfect ánië (PE17:147, cf. QL:31). According to VT49:14, Tolkien noted that anta- was sometimes often with an "ironic tone" to refer to missiles, so that antanen hatal sena "I gave him a spear (as a present)" was often used with the real sense of "I cast a spear at him". Usually the recipient of the thing given is mentioned in the dative or allative case (like sena in this example), but there is also a construction similar to English "present someone with something" in which the recipient is the object and the gift appears in the instrumental case: antanenyes parmanen, "I presented him with a book" (PE17:91). The verb occurs several times in FS: antalto"they gave"; strangely, no past tense marker seems to be present (see -lto for the ending); antar a pl. verb translated "they gave", though in LotR-style Quenya it would rather be the present tense "give" (pl.); antaróta "he gave it" (anta-ró-ta "gave-he-it"), another verb occurring in Fíriel's Song, once again with no past tense marker. Also antáva "will give", future tense of anta- "give"; read perhaps *antuva in LotR-style Quenya; similarly antaváro* "he will give" (LR:63) might later have appeared as antuvas (with the ending -s rather than "Qenya" -ro for "he"). Antalë imperative "give thou" (VT43:17), sc. anta "give" + the element le "thou", but this was a form Tolkien abandoned. Apparently ana** was at one point considered as another imperative "give", but Tolkien rewrote the text in question (VT44:13), and the normal patterns would suggest *á anta with an independent imperative particle.
tanastë
noun. presentation
ëa
eä
ëa (1) (sometimes "eä")vb. "is" (CO), in a more absolute sense ("exists", VT39:7/VT49:28-29) than the copula ná. Eä "it is" (VT39:6) or "let it be". The verb is also used in connection with prepositional phrases denoting a position, as in the relative sentences i or ilyë mahalmar ëa "who is above all thrones" (CO) and i ëa han ëa "who is beyond [the universe of] Eä" (VT43:14). Eä is said to the be "pres[ent] & aorist" tense (VT49:29). The past tense of ëa is engë (VT43:38, VT49:29; Tolkien struck out the form ëanë, VT49:30), the historically correct perfect should be éyë, but the analogical form engië was more common; the future tense is euva (VT49:29). See also ëala. Eä is also used as a noun denoting "All Creation", the universe (WJ:402; Letters:284, footnote), but this term for the universe "was not held to include [souls?] and spirits" (VT39:20); contrast ilu. One version of Tolkien's Quenya Lord's Prayer includes the words i ëa han ëa, taken to mean "who is beyond Eä" (VT43:14). Tolkien noted that ëa "properly cannot be used of God since ëa refers only to all things created by Eru directly or mediately", hence he deleted the example Eru ëa "God exists" (VT49:28, 36). However, ëa is indeed used of Eru in CO (i Eru i or ilyë mahalmar ëa** "the One who is** above all thrones") as well as in various Átaremma versions (see VT49:36), so such a distinction may belong to the refined language of the "loremasters" rather than to everyday useage.
sí
adverb. now
The Quenya word for “now” which is very well attested. In notes on demonstratives from 1968, it is a vowel-lengthened form of demonstrative si “this” (VT49/18) which seems to be a standard way of forming adverbs of time in Tolkien’s later writings; compare tá “then” (VT49/11) and yá “when” (VT49/23). This vowel-lengthening construction was explicitly described in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948: “The bare stems lengthened are used [for adverbs of time]” (PE23/109).
In Tolkien’s writings from the 1930s and 40s, he occasionally had sin or sín “now” with an n (Ety/SIN; LR/47; SD/247; SD/310). One working theory is that this is the form of sí when it appears before a vowel. However, in the aforementioned DRC from 1948, Tolkien had a variant form ᴹQ. sin(an) “now” using the suffix ᴹQ. -n(an), also used for adverbs of time.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. tyá “now” based on the early root ᴱ√KI “this by me” (QL/46, 49). In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) from the 1920s he had ᴱQ. qí or qin for adverbs of time based ᴱQ. qi “this”, hence = “✱now”. However, the untranslated text Sí Qente Feanor from the 1910s seems to use sí = “now” (PE15/32, 34).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would mostly use sí “now”, but I would also use sín or sin in cases where the results are more euphonic, particularly preceding a word starting with a vowel.
anna
gift
anna noun "gift" (ANA1, SA), "a thing handed, brought or sent to a person" (PE17:125), also name of tengwa #23 (Appendix E); pl. annar "gifts" in Fíriel's Song. Masc. name Annatar "Lord of Gifts, *Gift-lord", name assumed by Sauron when he tried to seduce the Eldar in the Second Age (SA:tar). Eruanna noun "God-gift", gift of God, i.e. "grace" (VT43:38)
anna, anwa
noun. gift
anwa
noun. gift
sin
now
sin (2) adv., a form of sí "now" (q.v.) often occurring before vowels; also sín (SI). However, sí itself (q.v.) may also appear before a vowel.
sí
now
sí adv. "now" (Nam, RGEO:67, LR:47, SD:310, VT43:34, VT49:18, PE17:94), sin (SI, LR:47) or sín _(SD:247, 310) _before vowels. Compare the distribution of a/an in English, though in his Quenya version of Hail Mary, Tolkien used sí also before a vowel (sí ar "now and", VT43:28). Si, a short (or incompletely annotated) form of sí (VT43:26, 34). In Fíriel's Song, sí is translated "here".
sí
adverb. now
sír
adverb. now
eä
Eä
Eä was the word spoken by Eru Ilúvatar by which he brought the universe into actuality.
The verb anta- was the basic Quenya word for “give” for much of Tolkien’s life, usually associated with the root √AN “towards”. ᴱQ. anta- “gives” first appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√ANA “give, send towards” (QL/31). In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. anta- “give” was derived from the root ᴹ√ANA “to, towards” and its primitive form ᴹ✶anta- was glossed “to present, give” (Ety/ANA¹). In this same document Tolkien considered deriving anta- from ᴹ√YAN “give” instead (EtyAC/YAN²).
In Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 anta- was again derived from √ANA/NĀ, but in that note the root and the verb had the extra (archaic?) sense “add to” in connection with the use of an- as the Quenya intensive prefix (PE17/146). In notes from around 1967 Tolkien said it was a blend of ✶an-tā “✱make go towards” and ✶am-tā “enlarge, increase” from √AMA; in this document am- was the intensive prefix (PE17/91). Tolkien seems to have gone back to an-intensives by 1969 (c.f. anírime “most beautiful”, PE23/133) and in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS) from 1969 anta- was again based on ✶antā- “cause a thing/person to go to an object, send”, but develop its sense “give” due the influence of √HAN “enhance, enrich, add to”.
In both the 1967 and 1969 notes, Tolkien indicated the object of the verb anta- could either be the thing given or the recipient. If the object was the thing given, the recipient was in the dative: antanen parma sen “I gave a book to him”. If the object was the recipient, the thing given was in the instrumental: antanenyes parmanen “I presented him with a book”. In other notes from the late 1960s Tolkien said that anta-:
> ... was also often used with an “ironic tone” to refer to missiles, so that the sentence antanen hatal sena “I cast a spear at him” might also [more literally] mean “I gave him a spear (as a present)” (VT49/14).
Tolkien often used the verb anta- as an example for verb inflections and the use of the direct and/or indirect objects, particularly in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 and the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, though the exact formations varied as Tolkien’s ideas of his languages evolved. Tolkien usually gave anta- a weak past tense antane “gave” (PE17/91; VT49/14), but also gave it an archaic strong past tense †áne which was the basis for its Sindarin past form S. ôn “gave” (PE17/147).