si

pronoun. this, here

The basic demonstrative “this” in Quenya, as in carnen si “I did this”. See the entry on demonstrative pronouns for further discusion.

si

here

si adv. "here" (VT49:33; this may be a root or "element" rather than a Quenya word; see sissë, sinomë)

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.

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).

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).

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".

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.

sissë

here

sissë adv. "here" (VT49:18), also sís

si loa

adverb. this year

sí

adverb. now

sí ar lúmessë ya firuvammë: násië

now and at the hour of our death: Amen

The seventh line of Aia María, Tolkien’s translation of the Ave Maria prayer. The first few words are sí ar lúmessë “now and at [the] hour”, the last being a combination of the noun lúmë “time” (“hour”) and the locative suffix -ssë “at, in, on”. The next two words are a subordinate clause: ya firuvammë “✱when we will die”, the latter being future 1st-person-plural-exclusive form of the verb fir- “to die”. The last word, násië “Amen”, is also used by Tolkien in the Quenya prayer Átaremma.

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

> sí ar lúme-ssë ya fir-uva-mmë: násië = “✱now and time-at when die-(future)-we: amen”

Less literally: “✱now and at the time when we will die”.

Conceptual Development: The first few words sí ar lúmesse are the nearly same in all versions of the prayer, except (a) the accents are omitted from si and lumesse in version I and (b) Tolkien considered and rejected a variant form are for ar “and” (as he did in line four).

In the first two versions of the prayer Tolkien used a Quenya word for “of our death”: fíriemmo (I) and effíriemmo (II). In both cases, the noun is (ef)fírie “death” with the first person plural exclusive possessive suffix -mma “our” and the genitive suffix -o “of”. In the version I, these forms were preceded by some incomplete and difficult-to-decipher forms; for details see VT43/27, 34-35.

The word násië “Amen” appears only in the last two versions of the prayer (III-IV).

| |  I  | II |III|IV| |si|sí| |ar|{are >>} ar|ar| |lumesse|lúmesse| |{urtulm >> urt >> menya >>}|i fíriemmo|effíriemmo|yá firuvamme|ya firuvamme| | |násie|

umbë nin i hríve nauva urra (si loa)

I have a feeling that winter will be bad (this year)

an sí varda, tintallë, elentári ortanë máryat oiolossëo ve fanyar

for now Varda, Star-kindler, Star-queen [has] lifted up her (two) hands from Mount Everwhite like (white) clouds

The 9th and 10th phrases of the prose Namárië, corresponding to the 9th and 10th lines of the poem. They are combined here for purposes of discussion because Tolkien moved words between the two lines. Tolkien dramatically reorganized the text from the poetic version as follows:

> an sí Tintallë Varda Oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat Elentári ortanë >>

an sí Varda, Tintallë, Elentári ortanë máryat Oiolossëo ve fanyar

Tolkien grouped together the three names of Varda (Varda, Tintallë, Elentári) as the subject of the phrase. He moved the object máryat “her (two) hands” immediately after the verb, which is the usual Quenya word order. He also moved the two modifying clauses, Oiolossëo “from Mount Everwhite” and ve fanyar “like (white) clouds”, to the end.

The revised Quenya ordering would match the poetic English translation quite closely if the phrase “from Mount Everwhite” were moved closer to the end:

> “for now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds” »»»

“✱for now Varda, the Kindler, the Queen of the Stars has uplifted her hands from Mount Everwhite like clouds”

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)”.

ista-

verb. know

ista- (2) vb. "know", pa.t. sintë (IS, LT2:339, VT48:25). This past tense Tolkien called "certainly irregular" (VT48:25, where an alternative pa.t. isintë is also mentioned, but sintë is said to be the older form; compare editorial notes in VT48:32. Ista- is also used for "can" in the sense of "know how to", as in istan quetë "I can speak (because I have learned (a) language)" (VT41:6) Passive participle sinwa "known, certain, ascertained" (VT49:68)

sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?

now who the cup for me will refill?

The 8th phrase in the prose Namárië, which is essentially the same as its poetic version, differing only in its more literal translation.

This phrase is interesting in that it places the direct and indirect objects of the phrase (i yulma nin “the cup for me”) in between the subject (man “who”) and the verb (enquantuva “will refill”). This indicates that even in ordinary speech, the normal Quenya subject-verb-object word order was somewhat free, with objects able to appear in other positions.

sís

here

sís adv. "here" (VT49:18, 23), also sissë

sí vanwa ná, rómello vanwa, valimar!

now lost is, [to one] from the East lost, Valimar!

The 15th phrase in the prose Namárië, which is essentially the same as its poetic version, differing only in its more literal translation. The phrase still seems somewhat poetic. In most (but not all) cases, the Quenya verb ná- “to be” appears at the end of the phrase. Hypothetically, a more “normal” rendering might be:

> ✱sí Valimar vanwa Rómello ná “now Valimar lost from-the-East is

sí man i yulma nin enquantuva?

who now shall refill the cup for me?

Eighth line @@@

sís

adverb. here

sí vanwa ná, rómello vanwa, valimar!

now lost, lost to those from the east is Valimar!

Fifteenth line @@@

an sí tintallë varda oiolossëo ve fanyar máryat elentári ortanë

for now the Kindler, Varda, the Queen of the Stars from Mount Everwhite has uplifted her hands like clouds

Ninth and tenth lines @@@

hí

here

hí adv. "here" (VT49:34)

ista

verb. know

sír

adverb. now