se (2), also long sé, preposition "at, in" (VT43:30; compare the "locative prefix" se- possibly occurring in an early "Qenya" text, VT27:25)
Quenya
se
he, she, it
se
at, in
se
pronoun. him, her; he, she, it (animate)
se
preposition. at, in
se - hye - hye -
he [A] struck him [B] and he [B] fled
-së
suffix. he, she, it
i héru aselyë
the Lord is with thee
The second line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. This is a declarative statement. The first two words i Héru “the Lord” are the subject. The third word aselyë “with thee” is the predicate, a combination of the preposition as “with” and the pronoun lye “you (polite)”. As noted by the editors of the “Aia María” texts, the “to be” copula is often omitted in Quenya (VT43/30), so there is no Quenya equivalent of the English word “is” in the final version of the prayer.
Decomposition: Broken into its constituent elements, this phrase would be:
> i Héru ase-lye = “✱the Lord [is] with-you”
Conceptual Development: The first version of the prayer did have the Quenya word for “is”: na, but it omitted the word for “the”. Tolkien considered several different prepositional elements for English “with”: ó (I-II) and ca(r) (III) before settling on as (IV).
| |  I  | II |III|IV| |{héru na >>}|na héru|i Héru| |{le se >> lese >>}|olesse|carelye|aselyë|
Rauros(se)
noun. roaring-rain
roaring-rain, name of a loud waterfall
céquenus(se)
noun. candidacy
A neologism for “candidacy” coined by Luinyelle posted on 2025-03-10 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), an abstract noun based on céquen “candidate”.
nos(së)
noun. kindred, family, kindred, family, [ᴹQ.] clan, ‘house’, [ᴱQ.] folk, kin, people
sissë
adverb. here
The words sís and sissë “here” appeared in a list of demonstratives from 1968 (VT49/18), combinations of si “this” and the locative suffix -ssë. Similarly formed ᴹQ. sisse “here” appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948, also with a short variant sis (PE23/108, 111). It also had a longer variant {sinas(se) >>} sinis(se).
-ssë
at
-ssë (1) locative ending (compare the preposition se, sé "at", q.v.); in Lóriendessë, lúmessë, máriessë, yalúmessë (q.v. for reference); pl. -ssen in yassen, lúmissen, mahalmassen, símaryassen, tarmenissen, q.v. Pronouns take the simple ending -ssë, even if the pronoun is plural by its meaning (messë "on us", VT44:12). The part. pl. (-lissë or -lissen) and dual (-tsë) locative endings are known from the Plotz letter only.
arfanyarassë
place name. High Shining White Peak
A variant or close equivalent of Taniquetil (WJ/403), this name is glossed “High Shining White Peak” (WJ/416) and seems to be a compound of ar(a)- “high”, fanya “cloud; white and shining [thing]” and rassë “horn (of animals and mountains)”. It is attested only in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60; the name Taniquetil is much more common.
raurossë
place name. Roaring-rain
rossë
noun. rain; foam, (fine) rain; [ᴹQ.] dew; *spray, shower; [Q.] foam
An element meaning “foam” (or perhaps “✱spray”) in the name Q. Elerossë “Star Foam” cognate of S. Elros in notes from the late 1960s (PM/349), or “rain” in the name of the waterfall Q. Raurossë “Roaring-rain” cognate of S. Rauros in notes probably from the 1950s (PE19/99). A form rosse “rain” appeared in Eldarin Pronouns, Demonstratives, and Correlatives (EP2) from the early 1950s (PE23/123); in context this form seems to be Primitive Eldarin, but it could be Quenya since the expected primitive form would be ✶rossē (Let/282). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien gave ᴹQ. rosse “fine rain, dew” as a derivative of the root ᴹ√ROS “distil, drip” (Ety/ROS¹).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume this word means a light rain or a continuous spray of water, or the remnants of such water in the form of dew, in other words any persistent collection of small droplets of water either in the air or on the ground, for example from light rain, morning dew or falling mist off a waterfall. This seems to be in keeping with most of its attested glosses.
For more ordinary or heavier rain, I’d use ulo instead, or for a drizzle I’d use mistë, and would reserve rossë only for a light mist-like rain. For a floating mist or fog, I’d use hísë or (if thicker) hiswe. Thus of precipitation, I’d have ulo > mistë > rossë > hísë in decreasing ranks of density, where hísë “mist” is light and/or cold enough not to longer fall. But I think rossë can also refer to “already fallen” droplets in the form of dew.
Raccoon suggested this word may also have the extended meaning “shower”, as posted on 2024-05-03 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), including the sense “instance of taking a shower”.
car-
verb. to do, make, to do, make, *act [take action]; [ᴹQ.] to build
Car- is the Quenya verb for “do, make”, derived from the root √KAR of the same meaning, and was very well established in Tolkien’s mind. ᴱQ. karin “I do, make” dates back all the way to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/45), and appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writings thereafter. Tolkien frequently used car- in examples of conjugating basic verbs, so the inflections of car- are pretty representative of Tolkien’s evolving notations of the Quenya verb system.
The English verb “do” has many specialized functions, such as in the formation of questions like “do you want to go?”. Quenya car- does not share many of those functions. Quenya car- serves as a “generic action” verb, in some sense acting like verbal pronoun, which can be substituted for a more specific verb. For example, in phrases like A carnë ta yallë B (carnë) “A did that as / like B (did)” (PE17/74) or ecuva nin carë sa nöa “I may do that tomorrow” (VT49/20), the verb car- is a placeholder for the specific action done, in the same way that ta and sa is a pronominal placeholder for the action as a noun.
The English verb “do” often requires a generic object like “it”, but that is not the case for Quenya car-: consider English “don’t do it” [with object] vs. Quenya áva carë [without object] (WJ/371) or the Quenya phrase á carë ancárië “try harder” (PE17/94), more literally “✱do [it] with more doing”. When car- has a specific direct object, it generally has the sense “make” or “build”, as in ma caruvalwë ohta “shall we make war” (PE22/161) or i carir quettar ómainen “those who form [make] words with voices” (WJ/391).
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had ᴹQ. karin “I make, build” under the root ᴹ√KAR {“make, do” >>} “make, build, construct” (Ety/KAR), and in this period kar- was more often glossed “make” rather than “do”, such as in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948. It could be that in the 1930s and 40s this verb was more limited in sense than it was earlier and later.
Neo-Quenya: Orondil suggested this verb can probably also be used intransitively for “to act” [= “take action”], especially given the suffix -carë often used as “action”. For a more distinctive verb for “to act, take action”, see [ᴺQ.] carta-.
sina
this
A word for “this” appearing in Cirion’s Oath (UT/305). It also appeared in a list of demonstratives from 1968 as an adjectival form of si “this” (VT49/18), and appeared again in notes on the Common Eldarin Article (CEA) from 1969 (PE23/135). Similarly formed ᴹQ. sina appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/104-105) where it could also be used both adjectivally (“this”) and substantively (“this fact”).
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. táma for “this” rather than “that” (QL/87); compare ᴱQ. ena “that by you” (QL/34). The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had {qinta >>} ᴱQ. qinda “this” (PE14/55), but a sentence in contemporaneous Qenya Word-lists seems to have sinda for “this” (PE16/146).
-lto
they
-lto, "Qenya" pronominal ending "they"; see -ltë
-më
suffix. abstract noun
-më (2) abstract suffix, as in melmë "love" (cf. the verb mel-), #cilmë "choice" (possibly implying a verb *cil- "to choose"). According to PE17:68, primitive -mē (and -wē) were endings used to derive nouns denoting "a single action", which may fit the meaning of cilmë (but melmë "love" would normally be something lasting rather than "a single action").
-ntë
they
-ntë "they", pronomimal ending, inflexion of 3rd person plural when no subject is previously mentioned (CO; see also VT49:49). This ending competes with -ltë (q.v.) in Tolkiens conception (VT49:57; for "they do", both carintë and cariltë are attested, VT49:16 vs. 17). The corresponding pronominal possessive suffix appears as -ntya or -nta in various sources.
-ttë
they
-ttë (1) "they", dual 3rd person pronominal ending ("the two of them") (VT49:51), replacing (also within the legendarium) the older ending -stë (which was later used for the second person only). This older ending -stë corresponds to a possessive ending -sta "their" (VT49:16), but this was presumably likewise altered to *-tta as the new ending for dual "their" = "of the two of them".
essë
he
essë (2) pron? "he" (and also "she, it"?), possible emphatic 3rd sg. emphatic pronoun, attested in the sentence essë úpa nas "he is dumb" (PE17:126)
hí
adverb. here, here [ᴹQ.] (for both you and me), now
A word for “here” in notes from the late 1960s, derived from primitive ✶khĭn- (VT49/34). It seems to be part of an attempt to explain S. hí “now”.
Conceptual Development: Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 had a root √KHI that was a “demonstrative of 1st pers (b)”, that is “here by us” (PE23/96). It had a derived form ᴹQ. hi that could be used both spatially (“here by us”) and temporally (“now”). Primitive ✶khi was mentioned again in Eldarin Pronouns, Demonstratives, and Correlatives from the early 1950s, but the page where it appeared was deleted (PE23/131 note #31).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume Q. hí had a meaning similar to its 1948 sense “here by us”, as opposed to the more general word sissë for “here”. On the basis of this hí, I would also used the 1948 elaborations of ᴹQ. hi such as ᴹQ. hina “this (by us)” or ᴹQ. hillo “hence (from us)”.
si
here
si adv. "here" (VT49:33; this may be a root or "element" rather than a Quenya word; see sissë, sinomë)
ta
they, them
ta (3) pron. "they, them", an "impersonal" 3rd person pl. stem, referring "only to 'abstracts' or to things (such as inanimates) not by the Eldar regarded as persons" (VT43:20, cf. ta as an inanimate Common Eldarin plural pronoun, VT49:52). Compare te, q.v. The word ta occurring in some versions of Tolkien's Quenya Lord's Prayer may exemplify this use of ta as an "impersonal" plural pronoun: emmë avatyarir ta** "we forgive them" (VT43:8, 9; this refers to trespasses, not the trespassers). However, since Tolkien also wanted ta to mean "that" (see #1 above), he may seem to be somewhat dissatisfied with ta "they, them", introducing variant forms like tai (VT49:32) to free up ta as a sg. pronoun. In one document, tai was in turn altered to te (VT49:33), which could suggest that the distinction between animate and inanimate "they, them" was abandoned and the form te (q.v.) could be used for both. In some documents, Tolkien seems to use tar as the plural form (VT49:56 mentions this as an uncertain reading in a source where the word was struck out; compare ótar under ó**-).
tai
they, them
tai (2) pron. "they, them", 3rd person pl., used with reference to inanimates rather than persons or living things (VT49:32, see ta #3 above). Perhaps to avoid the clash with tai "that which", the pronoun tai "they, them" was altered to te in at least one manuscript (VT49:33), so that it would merge with the pronoun used of living beings and the distinction between animate and inanimate would be abandoned (see te).
te
they, them
te pron. "they, them", 3rd person pl. (VT49:51, LotR3:VI ch. 4, translated in Letters:308). The pronoun te represents an original stem-form (VT49:50). Dative ten, téna or tien "for them, to them" (q.v.) Stressed té (VT49:51). Ótë "with them", q.v. VT43:20 connects te "them" with a discussion of Common Eldarin pronominal stems (ca. 1940s), where te is the "personal" 3rd person pl. stem, referring to persons rather than abstracts or inanimates (which are denoted by ta instead; see, however, the entry ta #3 regarding the problems with this form, and the hints that te may possibly be used with reference to inanimates as well)). Also consider the reflexive pronoun intë "themselves", the final element of which is apparently this pronoun te; see also tú for the dual form.
tú
they, them
tú pron. "they, them", 3rd person dual ("the two of them"), both "personal and neuter" (the pronoun can be used of persons and things alike). (VT49:51) Tolkien also considered tet for the same meaning, listing it alongside tú in one source (VT49:56), but this form was apparently abandoned.
aranus
kingship
aranus (#aranuss-), also aranussë, noun "kingship" (PE17:155)
meles
love
meles, melessë noun "love" (LT1:262; rather melmë in Tolkien's later Quenya)
sissë
here
sissë adv. "here" (VT49:18), also sís
sís
here
sís adv. "here" (VT49:18, 23), also sissë
-s(së)
suffix. he, she, it; him, her, it
aranus(së)
noun. kingship
incánussë
noun. mind mastership
táris(së)
noun. queenship
-ya
suffix. adjective suffix
ahtarulas(së)
noun. responsibility, (lit.) aptitude to react
imas(së)
adverb. in/at the same place
parmalas(së)
noun. page, (lit.) leaf of book
-ltë
they
-ltë, 3rd person pl. pronominal suffix, "they" (VT49:51; cariltë "they do", VT49:16, 17). It alternates with -ntë in Tolkiens manuscripts (VT49:17, 57). In his early material, the ending also appears as -lto, occurring in Fíriel's Song (meldielto "they are beloved" and cárielto "they made"), also in LT1:114: tulielto "they have come" (cf. VT49:57). Compare -lta, -ltya as the ending for "their".
-ltë
suffix. they
-ntë
suffix. they
-ro
he
-ro pronominal ending "he", in antaváro, q.v. In Tolkiens later Quenya, the ending -s covers both "he", "she" and "it".
-s
suffix. he, she, it
hí
here
hí adv. "here" (VT49:34)
lambelë
language
lambelë noun "Language" (especially with reference to phonology), *"phonetics" (VT39:15)
melmë
love
melmë noun "love" (MEL)
nyérë
grief
nyérë noun "grief" (LT1:261), "sorrow" (GL:60)
sina
this
sina demonstrative "this" (following its noun in our sole example: vanda sina "this oath"). (CO, VT49:18; in the latter source, sina _is called an adjective). _This word would, like Sindarin hen, be derived from primitive ¤sĭnā (VT49:34). Cf. sin #1.
sís
adverb. here
tengwelë
language
tengwelë noun "Language" (in all its aspects), a general word for the grouping and composing of tengwi (linguistic "signs", phonemes) into a linguistic system (VT39:16)
tengwestië
language
tengwestië noun "Language" as abstract or phenomenon (WJ:394)
tengwië
language
#tengwië noun "language" in the compound mátengwië "language of the hands" (VT47:9). Compare tengwë, tengwesta.
toi
they
toi pron. "they" (FS; replaced by te in LotR-style Quenya?)
nyérë
noun. grief
se (1) pron. "he, she, it" also object "him, her, it", 3rd person sg. Used "of living things including plants" (VT49:37; the corresponding inaimate pronoun is sa). The pronoun comes directly from se as the original stem-form (VT49:50). Stressed form sé, VT49:51, attested in object position in melin sé "I love him" (VT49:21). Ósë "with him/her", VT43:29; see ó-. Long dative/allative sena "[to/for] him" or "at him", VT49:14, allative senna "to him/her" (VT49:45, 46). Compare the reflexive pronoun insë *"himself, herself".