tarquesta

high-speech

tarquesta ("q")noun "high-speech" (that is Lindarin [later Vanyarin, Tolkien revised the names], or Qenya [Quenya]) (TĀ/TA3)

tarquesta

noun. high language

high language, spoken Quenya

tarquesta

proper name. High Speech, High Language

A term for the spoken form of Quenya used by the Noldorin exiles, as opposed to the older and more formal Parmaquesta (PE18/75, PE19/68). This name is a compound of tar- “high” and the plural form of questa “speech”.

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies and the Lhammas from the 1930s, this term was given as ᴹQ. Tarqesta “High-speech” (Ety/TĀ, LR/172) where it was the form of the language spoken by the ᴹQ. Lindar of Valinor (later called the Q. Vanyar). The term also appeared in the other linguistic documents from the 1930s, along with a variant form Tarqenya (PE18/25, 74; PE19/29).

The term reappeared in linguistic documents from the 1950s (PE18/75, PE19/68), but as the form of Quenya spoken by the Noldorin exiles, since the earlier Noldorin language had become Sindarin, language of the Elves of Beleriand.

Elements

Word	Gloss
tar-	“high, high; [ᴹQ.] king or queen (in compounds)”
questa	“speech, language”

Variations

• Tarquenya ✧ PE18/074