ehtyar

noun. spearman

an-

prefix. intensitive prefix, intensive, intensive prefix, plu-, plus, intensive, superlative, intensive

fairë

noun. †radiance, phantom, disembodied spirit when seen as a pale shape, spirit (disembodied), phantom, spirit (in general), spirit as a kind of being [independent of a body], spirit; †radiance

aina eruontarië

Holy Mother of God

The eleventh line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is aina “holy” followed by Eruontarië, a name of Mary as the genetrix (female begetter) of God. As pointed out by Wynne, Smith and Hostetter, this word is used to translate Latin “genetrix”, where as Latin “mater” is translated by amil(lë) (VT44/8).

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

> Aina Eruontarië = “*Holy God-genetrix”

ala-²

verb. to deny

hosta

noun. large number

nillë

noun. silver glint, Valinorian imagines [images of real stars]

airë¹

noun/adjective. holy, sanctity, holiness

nel(e)quë

cardinal. thirteen

with syncope, Quenenya form would be *nelquë, as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (QQ/nelequë)

ranya

noun. erratic wandering

hanwa

noun. seat

sa

pronoun. inanimate, it, it, it (inanimate), that

alassë

noun. happiness, *[ᴹQ.] joy, *merriment

naina-

verb. to lament

noa

noun/adjective. former, yesterday, tomorrow

-ndë

suffix. feminine agent

aite[?] kestallen

now, suppose, you ask me

cúma

noun. arch, crescent

á

particle. imperative particle

airë maría eruo ontaril

Holy Mary, Mother of God

The fifth line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first word airë “holy” is either an adjective or a form of address applied to the second word, María: the Quenyarized form of “Mary”. The third word Eruo “of God” is the genitive form of Eru “God”. The last word ontaril “mother” seems to be a feminine form of ᴹQ. ontaro “begetter, parent” (as suggested by the Wynne, Smith and Hostetter, VT43/32). If so, Eruo ontaril more literally means “*genetrix (female begetter) of God”.

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

> Airë María Eru-o ontaril = “*holy Mary God-of genetrix”

Conceptual Development: In the second version of the prayer, Tolkien used {Aini >>} aina (II) for “holy” instead of aire (I, III-IV). In the first two versions of the prayer Tolkien used Eruamillë (I-II) for “Mother of God”, a compound of Eru “God” and amil(lë) “mother”.

|  I  | II |III|IV| |Aire|{Aini >>} Aina|Aire| |María| |Eruamille|Eruo| | |ontaril|

heren

noun. order

laica

adjective. green

parca

adjective. naked (of persons)

palla

preposition/adverb. far beyond

ava

adverb/adjective. outside, beyond, outer, exterior

a aina fairë, eru órava (o)messë

God, the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us

The eighth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by aina fairë = “holy spirit”. The fourth word Eru is Tolkien’s usual Quenya name for God. The phrase órava (o)messe “have mercy on us” is essentially the same as in the first line; see that entry for discussion.

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

> a Aina Fairë, Eru órava (o)me-sse = “*o Holy Spirit, God have-mercy us-on”

Conceptual Development: As in the first line, Tolkien first used the dative ómen for “on us” before revising it to the locative (o)messe (VT44/12, notes on line 8).

a aina neldië eru er órava (o)messë

Holy Trinity, one God, have mercy on us

The ninth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by aina Neldië = “holy Trinity”. The fourth word Eru is Tolkien’s usual Quenya name for God. The fifth word is er “one”, emphasizing the one-ness of the Trinity. The phrase órava (o)messe “have mercy on us” was abbreviated o.o. in the original, but presumably was the same as in earlier lines of the prayer; see the entry for the first line for discussion.

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

> a Aina Neldië Eru Er órava (o)me-sse = “*o Holy Trinity, God one have-mercy us-on”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien first wrote an adjectival form Erea before changing it to Er as a way of emphasizing the one-ness of the Trinity (VT44/17).

a eruion mardorunando, eru órava (o)messë

God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us

The seventh line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by Eruion, a name for Christ as the “Son of God”. The third word Mardorunando seems to be a translation of “Redeemer of the World”. The fourth word Eru is Tolkien’s usual Quenya name for God. The phrase órava (o)messe “have mercy on us” is essentially the same as in the first line; see that entry for discussion.

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

> a Eru-ion Mard-o-runando, Eru órava (o)me-sse = “*o God-son world-of-redeemer, God have-mercy us-on”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien began two incomplete forms Io >> Yón before settling on Eruion. As in the first line, Tolkien first used the dative ómen for “on us” before revising it to the locative (o)messe (VT44/12, notes on line 7).

a hrísto órava ómessë

Christ, have mercy on us

The second line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by a Quenyarization of the name of Christ: Hrísto. The phrase órava ómessë “have mercy on us” is essentially the same as in the first line; see that entry for discussion.

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

> a Hrísto órava (o)me-sse = “*o Christ have-mercy us-on”

Conceptual Development: Tolkien first wrote Elpino as the translation of Christ (VT44/15-6). He revised this to an incomplete form Hiris before settling on Hrísto (VT44/16). As in the first line, Tolkien first used the dative ómen for “on us” before revising it to the locative ómesse (VT44/12, notes on line 2).

aicanáro

masculine name. Fell Fire, Sharp Flame

The mother-name of Aegnor, from which his Sindarin name was derived (PM/346-7). Tolkien gave two distinct interpretations of this name: “Sharp Flame” (MR/323) and “Fell Fire” (PM/347). In both cases, the second element of the name was nár “fire, flame”, but the interpretation of the initial element aica shifted between “sharp” and “fell”. It is hard to say which of these two interpretations was preferred by J.R.R. Tolkien himself and Christopher Tolkien included both translations in the published version of The Silmarillion. See the entry for S. Aegnor for one possible interpretation.

Conceptual Development: In some late notes (VT41/14), J.R.R. Tolkien wrote this name as Ekyanāro “sharp flame” (S. Eignor). As suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT41/19, note #19), Tolkien seems to have (temporarily) shifted aica “sharp” (from the root ᴹ√AYAK) to ekya “sharp” (from the root ᴹ√EK), from which ᴹQ. ehte “spear” was also derived. This was perhaps a reversion to the earlier name N. Egnor (also derived from ᴹ√EK). However, Tolkien apparently abandoned these changes.

ainu

noun. holy one, spirit, *angelic spirit (m.), *[ᴱQ.] (pagan) god

alahen

adjective. eyeless

alamen

noun. good omen on departure

ceníte

adjective. seeing

lemba

adjective. left behind

liantë

noun. spider

aite[?] kestuvallen, tuluvanye

now supposing you asked me, a thing unlikely {or ridiculous} to suppose...

voro

adverb. ever, continually

ailin

noun. a large lake, *(large) lake, *[ᴹQ.] pool

aina

adjective. holy, revered, numinous, **divine, *[ᴱQ.] worshipful

airefëa

proper name. Holy Spirit

A Quenya name for the Holy Spirit in Alcar i Ataren, Tolkien’s unfinished Quenya version of the Gloria Patri prayer (VT43/36). It is a compound of airë “holy, holiness” and fëa “spirit”.

lepende

noun. middle finger

nassë

noun. nature, true-being, person, individual

-lte

suffix. [Plural] 3, 3rd person plural, they

[?it/itē] kestallen, tuluvanye

if you ask me, I shall come

aistana elyë imíca nísi

blessed art thou amongst women

The third line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. This is a declarative statement. The first word aistana “blessed” is the predicate. The second word elyë “thou” is the subject, the emphatic form of the pronoun lye “you (polite)”. The last two words are the prepositional phrase imíca nísi “among women”, the latter being the plural of nís “woman”. As in the second line, there is no Quenya equivalent of the English word “are (art)” in the final version of the prayer.

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

> aistana elyë imíca nís-i = “*blessed [art] thou among woman-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: The first two versions of the prayer used manna for “blessed” instead of aistana. Tolkien considered several different prepositional elements for English “among”: mil (I deleted), mi (I-II), mitta (III deleted), mika (III) before settling on imíca (IV).

In version I-II, he used another word for “women”: nínaron, apparently genitive plural of an otherwise unattested word nína. In version I, he considered and deleted many variants before settling on nínaron. I’ve omitted them from this discussion because they appear nowhere else, and including them would obscure the development of the phrase. For further details, see VT43/27, 31.

| |  I  | II |III|IV| | |elye|manna|aistana| |{manna na >>}|na manna|nalye|elye| |{mil >>}|mi|{mitta >>} mika|imíca| |[various >>]|nínaron|nísi|

ala-¹

verb. to plant, grow, *grow (of plants), **to thrive, *flourish

cesta-

verb. to seek, search for

oio

noun/adverb. an endless period, ever, ever, everlastingly

a laita tárienna

bless (or praise) [them] to the height

aia maría quanta eruanno

Hail Mary, full of grace

The first line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first word Aia is a variant of aiya “hail”, followed by a Quenyarized form of “Mary”: María. The third word quanta is attested elsewhere with the meaning “full, filled” (PE17/68). The last word Eruanno is a compound of Eru “God” and anna “gift”, in the genitive, so that quanta Eruanno literally means “*full of God’s gift”.

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

> Aia María quanta Eru-ann(a)-o = “*Hail Mary full God-gift-of”

Conceptual Development: This phrase was quite similar in earlier versions of this prayer, but the earlier versions used erulissenen instead of Eruanno. This word is a compound of Eru “God” and lissë “grace”, in the instrumental, so that quanta erulissenen literally means “*filled by God’s grace”.

|  I  |II|III|IV| |Aiya|Aia| |María| |quanta|erulissenen|quanta| |erulissenen|quanta|Eruanno|

acas

noun. neck (vertebrae), rock ridge, *neck [vertebrae], **spine

culuma

noun. orange (fruit)

hó

noun. spirit, shadow

niquis(së)

noun. frost-patterns, ice-flake, snowflake, petal (loose) of a white flower

airë²

noun. sea

ai²

adverb. supposing, suppose, maybe, **any

@@@ The gloss “any” was suggested by Tamas Ferencz and Robert Reynolds based on aiquen “if anybody, whoever”. NQNT also uses aiquen in the sense “anybody”.

a laita te, laita te

bless them

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|

ainas

noun. hallow, fane, **shrine, *holy place, *sanctuary

cuivië

noun. awakening

him-

verb. to adhere

laceníte

adjective. unseeing, blind

lindë

noun. air, tune, singing, song, singing, song, musical sound

macar

noun. swordsman, †forger

wenya

adjective. fair, beautiful

finë

noun. a hair, single hair, filament

aha

noun. rage

aian

noun. holy thing or object or place

aina wendë mi wenderon

Holy Virgin of virgins

The twelfth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is aina “holy” followed by Wende mi Wenderon “Virgin of Virgins”. The word wendë means “virgin”, appearing in both the singular and genitive plural wenderon “of virgins”. This genitive plural form is unusual. The normal genitive plural of a noun ending in -ë is -ion, which would produce *wendion. See the entry on the plural nouns for further discussion.

The function of the third word mi is unclear. Normally this word means “in”, but Wynne, Smith and Hostetter suggested that it is used here with the sense “among” (elsewhere usually Q. imbë) as a way of emphasizing the superlative nature of Mary’s virginity: “*virgin among all virgins” (VT44/18).

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

> Aina Wende mi Wende-r-on = “*holy virgin among virgin-(plural)-of”

aira

adjective. holy, sanctified, *[ᴱQ.] worshipful

aira

adjective. hallowed, holy, holy, sanctified

anto

noun. mouth

arma

noun. a ray of sunlight, ray of sunlight

arya

adjective. excelling, excelling, *better

au-

prefix. away, away (from), away from the speaker or the place of his thought

enta

adjective. another, one more

nië

noun. tear

sapta

noun. delved hole, pit

lehta-

verb. to loose, slacken

ríma

noun. edge, hem, border

a aina maria arca atarmë

Holy Mary, pray for us

The tenth line of Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Litany of Loreto prayer (VT44/12). The first word is the vocative a “O” followed by aina Maria = “holy Mary”. The fourth word is the aorist form of the verb arca- “to pray”. The fifth word atarme is the preposition atar “for” combined with the pronoun me “us”. A similar construction was used in version I of the sixth line of the Aia María prayer (VT43/26).

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

> a Aina Maria arca atar-me = “*o Holy Mary pray for-us”

alalvinórë

place name. Land of Many Elms

A name appearing only on PE17/153, probably a later version of ᴱQ. Alalminóre, though this place had not appeared in Tolkien’s stories for many years. The status of this location in later stages of the Legendarium is unknown. It is a compound of alalvëa “having many elms” and nórë “land”.

Conceptual Development: In these late notes, this name was first written as alalmi-nóre, identical in form to the Early Quenya name. This form was deleted and replaced by alalbinóre. Later still, the form alalvinore was written nearby in ballpoint (the omission of the accent over the ó probably an oversight).

linquë

noun. (leaf of a) hyacinth, grass, reed

@@@ per Helge Fauskanger, reference on PE17/62 may refer to plant or to the kind of reedy leaf that a hyacinth has

ló

preposition. (away) from, by agent [of]

nill[ë]

noun. small [woman]

ungwë

noun. spider’s web

-nta

suffix. 3rd person plural neuter, 3rd person plural possessive, theirs

ahtar-

verb. to do back, react, to requite, avenge

ahto

noun. wright, maker

airon

noun. ocean

airëa

adjective. holy (applied to persons)

lairë

noun. summer

raina

adjective. netted, caught in a net

runya

adjective. fiery red

ta⁴

adverb. there

tenca

noun. letter (epistola)

yanta

noun. bridge

álamë tulya úsahtienna

[and] lead us not into temptation

The ninth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The first word Álamë is a combination of the negative imperative particle ála “not” and the pronoun me “us”. It is followed by the aorist form of the verb tulya “lead” and the allative form úsahtienna “into temptation” of the noun úsahtië “temptation”. Thus, Álamë tulya úsahtienna is more literally “*imperative-not-us lead temptation-into”. In the final version of the phrase, there is no Quenya element representing the English word “and”.

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

> á-la-më tulya úsahtie-nna = “*do-not-us lead temptation-into”

Conceptual Development: The word ar “and” appears only in version I of the prayer. It was omitted from all later versions for unknown reasons.

The earliest version used a different negative imperative particle úa (I-IIa). Versions IIa-IV also suffixed the pronominal element lye “you (polite)” to the imperative element, as was also the case in line 6 of the prayer. In all early versions of the prayer (I-IV), the object pronoun me appeared after the verb.

The early versions (I-IV) used a different verb mittanya- for “lead”. Tolkien considered several words for “temptation”: terfantië (I deleted) and terpellië (I-IIa), insangarë and sahtië (V deleted), before settling on úsahtië (V-VI). All appear with the allative suffix -nna: “(in)to temptation”.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|III|IV|V|VI| |ar| | |{úna >>}|úa|úalye|alalye|Álalye|Álame| |mittanya|tulya| |{men >>}|me| | |{terfantie >>}|terpellienna|insangarenna|{sahtienna >>} úsahtienna|

(ai)que kestanellan, (ai) tullenye

if you had asked me, I should have come

aiya eärendil elenion ancalima

hail Eärendil, brightest of stars

inga

noun. top, top, highest point

A word have the same root (√ING) as the name Ingwë, giving a clue to the original meaning of that name. In a few places, the plural Ingar of this word was used as another name for the Vanyar (MR/230, 265), but Tolkien more frequently used the plural Ingwë for this purpose: see Ingwi.

In later writings, this word was generally presented as a noun meaning “top, highest point” (PM/340, VT47/28), but in the Etymologies, ᴹQ. inga was an adjective glossed “first”, as in “foremost” (Ety/ING).

Tolkien stated that “inga ... applied to shapes pointing upward” but also that it “referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad” (VT47/28). Therefore, inga referred to the highest level whether it was a single point or a plateau.

toa

noun. wood (as material)

ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen

ah! like gold fall the leaves in the wind

First line @@@

aiwë

noun. (small) bird

A noun meaning “(small) bird” (SA/lin¹, Ety/AIWĒ), appearing in Radagast’s Quenya name Aiwendil “Lover of Birds” (UT/401). It was derived from primitive ᴹ✶aiwē like its Sindarin cognate aew (Ety/AIWĒ).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, ᴱQ. aiwe appeared as the cognate of G. aigli “bird” (GL/17), but in Early Noldorin notes from the 1920s, the cognate of ᴱN. aiw “bird” was given as ᴱQ. oive (PE13/136, 158) or oi(we) (PE13/132). A similar form oio (stem oiw-) appeared in notes on the declension of the noun from the early 1930s (PE21/12). In The Etymologies from the mid-1930s, the form ᴹQ. aiwe was restored (Ety/AIWĒ), and this is the source of the derivation given above.

-n

suffix. dative

a carnë ta yallë b (carnë)

A did that as / like B (did)

aiquen

pronoun. if anybody, whoever, *[ᴺQ.] anybody

alalbë

noun. inflorescence

alalmë

noun. inflorescence

alalmë

noun. inflorescence

almarë

noun. blessedness, blessings, good fortune, bliss

cantëa

ordinal. fourth

lango

noun. a passage (physical), neck, neck, neck, (physical) passage

lár

noun. a league, league

peltas

noun. fence of fixed stakes, a ‘pale’

rista-

verb. to cut

verya-

verb. to marry (of husband and wife), be joined to

ála

particle. do not

írë

noun. desire

caita-

verb. to lie (down)

talda

adverb. to the bottom

forya

adjective. right (hand), dexter

a²

article. accusative definite article

talta

adjective. tottering, unsteady, sloping, tilted, leaning, inclined

aica

adjective. fell, terrible, dire, *[ᴹQ.] sharp

aistana

adjective. *blessed

alalvëa

adjective. having many elms

atalta-

verb. to collapse, fall in, fall down, slip down in ruin

ta⁵

conjunction. and also, then

yé

interjection. lo!, what a ..., what is more, lo, now see!, what a ...

vëa

adjective. adult, manly, vigorous

ilqua

noun. everything, all

vëo

noun. living creature

alahasta

adjective. unmarred

alanessë

noun. nicotiana, pipeweed

ham-

verb. to judge

landa

noun. a boundary, boundary

ostirion

noun. fort

quár(e)

noun. fist, (tightly closed) hand

nixë

noun. frost, ice-flake or snow-flake

aiya eldalië ar atanatári, utúlie’n aurë

Behold, people of the Eldar and Fathers of Men, the day has come!

hyar-

prefix. left-hand, south

isildurioni

collective name. Heirs of Isildur

A term for kings of Arnor as the descendants of Isildur (PM/191). This name is a compound of Isildur and the plural of the patronumic suffix -ion “-son”.

runda

adjective. smooth, polished

ráva

adjective. free, unfettered, uncontrolled, lawless

alalyë nattira arcandemmar sangiessemman

despise not our petitions in our necessities

The second line of Ortírielyanna, Tolkien’s translation of the Sub Tuum Praesidium prayer. The first word alalyë is 2nd-person-polite form of the negative imperative ála “[do] not”. The second word nattira is the aorist/infinitive form of the verb nattira- “to despise”.

The third word arcandemmar “our petitions” is the 2nd-plural-exclusive-possessive (-mma “our”) plural form of arcandë “petition”. The last word sangiessemman “in our necessities” is the 2nd-plural-exclusive-possessive (-mma “our”) locative (-ssë “in”) plural form of sangië “necessity”. In these two words, the final -r and -n mark the nouns as plural: “petitions” and “necessities”, respectively.

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

> a-la-lye nattira arcande-mma-r sangie-sse-mma-n = “*do-not-thou despise petition-our-(plural) necessity-in-our-(plural)”

Conceptual Development: The word arca·ndemmar was first written anarcandemman, ending with a plural marker -n instead of -r and with a prefix, possibly the intensive prefix an- (VT44/8). The order of the first three words was changed: anarcandemman alalye nattira >> alalye nattira arca·ndemmar (VT44/5). A seperator “·” appeared in the word arca·ndemmar, dividing the word arca·nde into is constituent elements: arca- “pray” and an abstract noun ending -ndë (VT44/8).

The form sangie-sse-mma-n is unusual in that it places the locative suffix -ssë (“in”) before the possessive suffix -mma (“our”). Elsewhere the possessive suffix usually preceded the case suffix. A similar construction appears in some rejected forms in Tolkien’s Átaremma prayer from the same time period (VT43/20): see the entry possessive pronouns on for discussion. This construction may explain the use of the plural marker -n instead of the more typical -r, since the plural of the locative suffix -ssë was -ssen (Plotz).

lamba

noun. physical tongue, tongue (physical)

lenda-

verb. to go free

nildë

noun. friend (f.)

orta-

verb. to raise, cause to rise, lift (up), to rise

alasaila ná lá carë tai mo nave mára

it is unwise not to do what one judges good

kelu-

verb. to (begin to) flow, spring forth (of water)

úmëa

adjective. abundant, swarming, teeming

hala

noun. a cast shadow, cast shadow

al(a)-¹

prefix. in-, un-, not, †-less, without

má

noun. hand

tar

affix. high, king or queen (in compounds)

turo

noun. master, victor, lord

nan-

prefix. back (again), back or again, backwards

ai! lassi lantar laurië súrinen

ah! leaves fall golden in [by means of] the wind

The 1st phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

> ai! laurië lantar lassi súrinen >> ai! lassi lantar laurië súrinen

Tolkien moved the subject lassi “leaves” to be before the verb lantar “fall (pl.)”, consistent with the usual subject-verb word order of Quenya. However, for reasons unclear, he also moved the adjective laurië “golden (pl.)” after the verb, keeping it separate from the noun it modifies. Ordinally, adjectives in Quenya preceed the noun they modify (PE17/93, PM/346). It seems to me to be more natural to keep the adjective back in its original position.

> ai! lassi lantar laurië súrinen »»» ai! laurië* lassi lantar súrinen

One possible explanation for this unusual placement is that Tolkien may have considered laurië to be an adverb (“like gold”) instead of an adjective (“golden”). This is consistent with English transalation of this phrase in the poetic Namárië: “like gold fall the leaves in the wind”.

There are several places in the corpus where Tolkien designated the word laurië as an adverb (PE17/58, 61, 62). However, in the commentary on the Namárië poem (RGEO/62), Tolkien explicitly states that the word laurië is the plural form of the adjective laurëa. Since laurië is the form of both the plural adjective and the adverb derived from the noun laurë “gold (light or colour)”, perhaps Tolkien was playing with this ambiguity in his choice of word order.

aina-

verb. to hallow, bless, treat as holy

aiya

interjection. hail, behold, lo

ai¹

interjection. ah, alas

alma

noun. flower

cas

noun. head

maxë

noun. handiness

nel-

prefix. tri-

sac-

verb. to close

taxë

noun. nail

yá

conjunction. when

úra

adjective. torrid, sultry, unpleasantly hot

aista

adjective. *holy

caia-

verb. [unglossed]

coron

noun. mound

hahta

noun. fence, hedge

lala-

verb. to laugh

lanwa

noun. within bounds, limited, finite, (well-)defined

manna

adjective. *blessed

nírë

noun. force

nótë

noun. number

ramba

noun. wall

ringë

noun. cold

russë

noun. head or pelt of red hair

silma

noun. crystal (white)

tambë

preposition. as, so

thar-

verb. [unglossed]

vinya

adjective. young, young, new

linga-

verb. to hang, dangle

(a)lá

interjection. yes

al(a)-²

prefix. well, happily

alasaila

adjective. unwise

cesta-

verb. to ask

hróva

adjective. dark, dark brown (of hair)

luhta-

verb. to bow

norima

adjective. running swiftly course

telima

adjective. final

tinga-

verb. go (for a long while), to go (for a long while)

yána

adjective. wide, vast, huge

quesso

noun. minstrel, reciter

What AQ. quenso would have developed into if it survived in later Quenya speech. Tolkien describe quenso as archaic (PE19/83) and it is likely it fell out of ordinary use.

lav-

verb. lick, to lick

ní

preposition. beneath, not touching, under

ungo

noun. cloud, dark shadow

yulmë

noun. drinking, carousal

tulca

adjective. firm, strong, immovable, steadfast

a¹

interjection. O, Oh

-(i)nquë

suffix. thou-and-I (dual)

si

adjective. this

ye

pronoun. who

axo

noun. bone

onna

noun. child

yú-

prefix. both

hwindë

noun. birch

lumba

adjective. gloomy

lumbë

noun. gloom, shadow

mundo

noun. bull

cúvima

adjective. concealable

* larma

noun. raiment

* quaista

fraction. one tenth

@@@ as suggested by Helge Fauskanger (QQ/quaista)

* aimo

noun. saint

* il-

prefix. all, every, every

* aipio

noun. cherry

* airimo

noun. priest

* phanto

noun. whale

This word only appears in the name of the Númenórean ship Turuphanto “Wooden-whale” (UT/191). The language of the name is unclear, but Carl Hostetter suggested (Tolklang/5.31) that the name is likely to be Quenya, since ᴱQ. turu meant “wood”. If so, the second element phanto might be Quenya for “whale”. This spelling is unusual, however. In Quenya, [f] was normally spelled “f”, while the spelling “ph” appeared only in languages like Sindarin or Adûnaic.

Conceptual Development: The only other attested words for “whale” are the very early G. uin and G. uimoth in the Gnomish Lexicon (GL/74).

* aitalë

noun. reverence, worship, religion

* aiwestë

noun. bird’s nest

* otsolë

noun. (seven-day) week

* ser-

verb. to sew

* úlima

adjective. pourable, liquid

* nac-

verb. to hew, cut, to hate, kill

* ahtar-

verb. to do back, react, to requite, avenge

* ahto

noun. wright, maker

* carya

adjective. doing

* sanda

noun. shield

* ruc-

verb. to feel fear or horror, to flee (to)

* alas

noun. marble

* ettul-

verb. to come out, issue

* airita-

verb. to hallow

* tel-

verb. to end, finish, to cease

* accal-

verb. to blaze, shine (suddenly and) brilliantly

* ahya-

verb. to change

* aita-

verb. to revere, worship

* a-

prefix. infinitive prefix

* cuv-

verb. to conceal

* rillë

noun. brilliance

* tyer-

verb. to worship

* pec

noun. nut

* aino

noun. god

* lónë

noun. ilse

* rindë

adjective. swift

* -a

suffix. adjectival suffix

This suffix is frequently used to create the adjective form of a noun, especially in the form -ëa for nouns ending in -ë. This function dates back to CE. ✶-ā.