anon noun "son" (PE17:170), possibly intended by Tolkien as a replacement for yondo.
Quenya
Yón
son
anon
son
anon
noun. son
A transient word for “son” in Notes on Names (NN) from 1957, written of above the more common yon-do (PE17/170).
vó
son
vó (actually spelt vô), also vondo, noun "son" (LT2:336; in Tolkien's later Quenya yondo)
yondo
son
yondo noun "son" (YŌ/YON, VT43:37); cf. yonya and the patronymic ending -ion. Early "Qenya" has yô, yond-, yondo "son" (LT2:342). According to LT2:344, these are poetic words, but yondo seems to be the normal word for "son" in LotR-style Quenya. Yón appears in VT44, 17, but Tolkien rewrote the text in question. In LT2:344, yondo is said to mean "male descendant, usually (great) grandson", but in Tolkien's later Quenya, yondo means "son", and the word is so glossed in LT2:342. Dative yondon in VT43:36 (here the "son" in question is Jesus). See also yonya. At one point, Tolkien rejected the word yondo as "very unsuitable" (for the intended meaning?), but no obvious replacement appeared in his writings (PE17:43), unless the (ephemeral?) form anon (q.v.) is regarded as such. In one source, yondo is also defined as "boy" (PE17:190).
onna
noun. child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature
A word for “child” appearing in various late notes and phrases (NM/31; PM/391; VT49/42), derived from the root √NŌ/ONO “beget, be born” and once appearing in a variant form onwe (PE17/170). Giving its derivation, its actual meaning may be closer to “✱offspring”, as first suggested to me by Tamas Ferencz.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. onna was instead glossed “creature”, though it was still derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO).
Derivations
- √NŌ/ONO “beget, give birth to; be born, beget, give birth to; be born; [ᴱ√] become” ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170
Element in
- Q. Aulëonnar “Children of Aulë” ✧ PM/391
- ᴺQ. heconna “child born out of wedlock, bastard”
- Q. nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya “*may your (sg.) child be blessed throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
- Q. nai calambar onnalda ter coivierya “*may your (pl.) child be light-fated throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
- Q. Onnalúmë “Time of the Children”
- Q. Onnarië “Time of Children”
- Q. onya “my child”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ON/NO > onwe [onwe] ✧ PE17/170 √ONO/NŌ > onna [onna] ✧ PE17/170 Variations
- onwe ✧ PE17/170; PE17/170; PE17/170
onwë
child
onwë noun "child" (PE17:170)
onwë
noun. child
onya
my child
onya noun "my child", "my son" (not the normal word for "son", however [cf. yondo] onya seems to be derived from the stem ONO "beget") This may be a shortened form of *onnanya (see onna), like hinya "my child" (q.v.) is shortened from hinanya. It may be, then, that onya (like hinya) is only used in vocative. (UT:174)
onya
noun. my child
An affection term for “my child”, a reduction of the 1st sg. possessive form onnanya of onna “child” (PE17/170; UT/174-5).
Elements
Word Gloss onna “child, child, *offspring; [ᴹQ.] creature” -nya “my”
sén
noun. child
Element in
- Q. Erusēn “Children of God” ✧ MR/423
- Q. Melkorsēni “Children of Melkor”
- Q. senya “*my child”
yondo
noun. son, boy, son, boy; [ᴱQ.] male descendant, (great) grandson
The usual Quenya word for “son”, derived from the root √YON of similar meaning (PE17/170; VT43/37; Ety/YŌ).
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but in that document ᴱQ. yondo meant “male descendant, usually (great) grandson” based on (archaic) ᴱQ. †yó “son” (QL/106). It seems the ordinary word for “son” in this period was ᴱQ. hilmo (QL/40, 106). These yo(n)- forms were also related to the Gnomish prefix G. go- “son of”, which showed the usual Gnomish sound change of initial y into g, but in the Gnomish Lexicon Tolkien changed {go- >>} G. bo- “son of” and introduced Qenya forms vô and vondo to match (GL/23, 40-41).
These early vacillations stabilized in the 1920s, since ᴱQ. yondo appeared with the gloss “son” in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/45, 75) and various word lists from this period (PE13/144; PE15/77; PE16/135). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien also gave ᴹQ. yondo “son” under the root ᴹ√YŌ or ᴹ√YON of the same meaing (Ety/YŌ). Yondo was used to refer to the “Son” of the holy trinity in Quenya Prayers of the 1950s (VT43/36-37).
However, in notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien flirted again with replacing yondo. In one note he said “delete entirely yondo = ‘son’, very unsuitable”, perhaps because it conflicted with the root √YON “wide, extensive” introduced in those notes (PE17/43), but here Tolkien reversed himself and instead changed {√YON >>} √YAN “wide, large, extensive” (PE17/42). In a note from 1957 he wrote anon above yon-do as a possible replacement, and in another note he wrote “Q[uenya] wanted son, daughter” but without deciding on any new words (PE17/170). In yet another note from this period Tolkien gave yondo the gloss “boy” as well as “son” (PE17/190).
These vacillations again seem to have been mostly transient. In notes on Elvish Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s Tolkien gave Q. yonyo as a finger name for the middle finger, variously glossed “big boy” (VT47/10), “son” (VT47/16) or “boy, son” (VT47/27). Thus it seems the sense “son” was restored to √YON, but with an alternate sense “boy” added.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d limit yondo to mean “son” and use ᴹQ. seldo for an unrelated “boy”.
Cognates
- S. ion(n) “son, son, *boy”
Derivations
Element in
- Q. alcar i Ataren ar i Yondon ar i Airefëan “glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” ✧ VT43/37
- Q. -ion “-son, masculine patronymic”
- Q. mélima yondion, lenna antanyes mélio cenwa “*dear [one] of sons I give it to be read with love” ✧ Minor-Doc/1955-CT
Variations
- yon-do ✧ PE17/170
seldo
child
seldo noun (meaning not quite clear, likely the masculine form of seldë "child", hence *"boy") (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23)
yonyo
son, big boy
yonyo noun "son, big boy". In one version, yonyo was also a term used in children's play for "middle finger" or "middle toe", but Tolkien may have dropped this notion, deciding to use hanno "brother" as the alternative play-name (VT47:10, 15, VT48:4)
yonyo
noun. (big) boy, son
A name for the middle finger in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, variously glossed “big boy” (VT47/10), “son” (VT47/16) or “boy, son” (VT47/27). As a finger name, it was revised to hanno “brother”, but it seems likely it could still be used as an ordinary (though possibly diminutive/affectionate) word for “boy” or “son”.
Changes
- yonyo → hanno “big boy” ✧ VT47/26
Derivations
- √YON “son”
morion
son of the dark
morion noun "son of the dark" (LT1:261). In Fíriel's Song, Morion is translated "dark one", referring to Melko(r); this may be a distinct formation not including the patronymic ending -ion "son", but rather the masculine ending -on added to the adjective morë, mori- "dark".
Nólion
son of knowledge
Nólion (ñ?), second name of Vardamir Nólion (UT:210). Perhaps "son of knowledge", nólë (q.v.) + -ion "son", which ending displaces a final -ë (compare Aranwion "son of Aranwë", UT:50 cf. 32)
meles
love
meles, melessë noun "love" (LT1:262; rather melmë in Tolkien's later Quenya)
melmë
love
melmë noun "love" (MEL)
-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").
hína
child
hína noun "child", also hina used in the vocative to a (young) child (also hinya "my child", for hinanya) (WJ:403). Pl. híni (surprisingly not **hínar) in Híni Ilúvataro "Children of Ilúvatar" (Silmarillion Index); dative hínin in VT44:35. In compounds -hin pl. -híni (as in Eruhíni, "Children of Eru", SA:híni). According to one source, the word is hín(i) and solely plural (PE17:157), but this is obviously contradicted by some of the sources quoted above.
hína
noun. child
A word for “child” derived from the root √KHIN (PE17/157; WJ/403), most notably an element in Eruhíni “Children of God”, a term for Elves and Men as the children of Eru. This word illustrates that hína has an abnormal plural form: híni rather than the expected ✱✱hínar. A variant hina with a short i was “only used in the vocative addressing a (young) child, especially in hinya (< hinanya) ‘my child’ (WJ/403)”.
Conceptual Development: The term Êruhîn “Children of God” first appeared as an Adûnaic word in the 1940s (SD/247-8, 358), later adapted as Quenya Eruhíni and Sindarin Eruchîn, which seems to be the source of Q. hína and S. hên “child”. At one point Tolkien coined masculine and feminine variants Q. hindo and Q. hindë, but they were deleted (PE17/157). Tolkien occasionally used an alternate Quenya form sén (MR/423; UT/274), perhaps out of a desire to have a Sindarin form Eruhîn that was closer to the original Adûnaic form; this variant continued to appear as late as 1969, where sén was written below Eruhíni as a variant form in Late Notes on Verbs (LVS: PE22/158).
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. ar mi cemen rainë i hínin “and on earth peace, good will toward men” ✧ VT44/35; VT44/35; VT44/35
- Q. Eruhin “Child of Eru (God)” ✧ SA/híni
- Q. Híni Ilúvataro “Children of Ilúvatar” ✧ PE21/83; SI/Children of Ilúvatar
- Q. Melkorohíni “Children of Melkor”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √KHIN > hīn(i) [kʰīni] > [xīni] > [hīni] ✧ PE17/157 ✶khīnā/khinā > hína [kʰīnā] > [xīnā] > [hīnā] > [hīna] ✧ WJ/403 Variations
- hina ✧ WJ/403
selda
child
selda adj.?noun? (meaning not clear, related to seldë "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter") and seldo "boy". Thus selda may be an adjective "childlike", since -a is a frequent adjectival ending. Alternatively, as suggested in VT46:13, selda may be a neuter noun "child", corresponding to masc. seldo "boy" and fem. seldë "girl" (before Tolkien changed the meaning of the latter to "child"). (SEL-D, cf. VT46:22-23)
seldë
child
seldë noun "child" (meaning changed by Tolkien from "daughter"; in his later texts the Quenya word for "child" is rather hína, and the final status of seldë is uncertain. See also tindómerel.) (SEL-D, VT46:13, 22-23) In one late source, Tolkien reverts to the meaning "daughter", but this may have been replaced by anel, q.v.
Yón (1) noun "Son" (VT44:12, 17, referring to Jesus. Tolkien rewrote the text in question. Normally the Quenya word for "son" appears as yondo, which also refers to Jesus in one text.)