rá Archaic

noun. lion

An archaic word for “lion” mentioned in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s, versus more common Q. rauro (PE19/99, 104).

Conceptual Development: This word has a lengthy history in Tolkien’s conception of Elvish, dating all the way back to ᴱQ. rau “lion” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a derivative of the early root ᴱ√RAVA (QL/79). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, Tolkien had rú “lion” (PE21/40). It appeared in The Etymologies from later in the 1930s as ᴹQ. rá “lion” derived from primitive ᴹ✶rāu [rāw] under the root ᴹ√RAW, with plural form rávi (Ety/RAW).

In the Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1940s Tolkien had (unglossed) rāva < rāwa (PE19/62), but in Notes for Qenya Declensions from this same period Tolkien had (unglossed) rāu < rắwă (PE21/69). The last clear mention in currently published materials is in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s, as discussed above.

rá

on behalf of

rá (1) [changed by Tolkien from hrá], prep. "on behalf of", followed by dative: rá men or contracted rámen "for us, on our behalf" (VT43:27, 28, 33). As these examples indicate, independent dative pronouns may be (but do not have to be) directly suffixed to rá. Nouns would presumably not be suffixed like this, e.g. *rá Eldan "for an Elf, on behalf of an Elf".

rá

lion

rá (2) noun "lion", stem #ráv- as in the pl. rávi (RAW). Compare rau.

rá

arm

rá (3) noun "arm" (LT2:335, there spelt râ; probably obsoleted by # 2 (and # 1) above. In Tolkien's later Quenya, "arm" is ranco)

rá

preposition. *for, on behalf of

rá†

noun. lion

lion

á hyamë rámen úcarindor

pray for us sinners

The sixth line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first word á is the imperative particle, indicating that the verb form hyamë “pray” is an imperative. The third word rámen “for us” is combination of the preposition rá “for” (lit. “✱on behalf of”) and the dative men of the pronoun me “us”. The last word úcarindor “sinners” is the plural of úcarindo “sinner”.

Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:

> á hyamë rá-me-n úcarindo-r = “✱do pray for-us-(dative) sinner-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: In the first two versions of the prayer Tolkien suffixed the pronoun lye “you (polite)” to the imperative particle a: alye (I-II). He also used the verb arca (I-II) instead of hyamë (III-IV) for “pray”. He used several different words for the preposition “for”: atar (I), meter (II), hrá (III deleted) and rá, always followed by the pronoun me “us”, sometimes dative (men) and sometimes not (me).

Tolkien considered several words for “sinners”: ulcarindor (I deleted), naicandor (I), naicor (I replacement), naici (II deleted) and úcarindor (IV). In version II of the prayer, Tolkien replaced “sinners” with a subordinate clause: i naici nar “✱[those] who are sinners” (II deleted) >> i naiquear “✱[those] who sin” (II).

Wynne, Smith and Hostetter analyzed the word naiquear as an adjective used as a plural noun: “sinners” (VT43/34). However, since it replaced a verbal phrase, I think it is likelier to be the present tense of an otherwise unattested verb naiqua- “✱to sin”.

| |  I  | II |III|IV| |{arca >>}|alye|á| |{alye >>}|arca|hyamë| |{atarmen >>}|atarme|meterme|{hrá >>} rá men|rámen| |{ulcarindor >>}| naicandor [>> naicor]|i {naici nar >>} naiquear|úcarindor|