thî

now

_adv. _now. Q. sí. thî/hî << hî. >> hî****

thî

adverb. now

hî

now

_adv. _now. Q. sí. thî/hî << hî. >> thî****

hi

adverb. now

_ adv. _now. annon edhellen edro hi ammen! 'Elvish gate open now for us'.

hí

adverb. now

tî

row

tî (i dî, o thî) (line), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thî), coll. pl. tíath;

tî

row

(i dî, o thî) (line), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thî), coll. pl. tíath;

tî

line

(i** dî, o thî) (row), no distinct pl. form except with article (i** thî), coll. pl. tíath.

lîr

line

1) lîr (row), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. líriath. 2) tê (i dê, o thê) (way), pl. tî (i thî), coll. pl. ?teath, 3) tî (i dî, o thî) (row), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thî), coll. pl. tíath.

mên

way

1) mên (i vên, construct men, in compounds -ven) (road), pl. mîn (i mîn), 2) lend (journey), pl. lind, coll. pl. lennath. Note: a homophone means ”tuneful, sweet”, 3) #pâd (construct pad), i bâd, pl. paid (i phaid). Isolated from Tharbad ”Crossroad”. 4) tê (i dê, o thê) (line), pl. tî (i thî), coll. pl. ?teath.

tilias

line of peaks

(i** dilias, o thilias), pl. tiliais (i** thiliais), coll. pl. tiliassath.

tê

way

(i dê, o thê) (line), pl. tî (i thî), coll. pl. ?teath.

tê

line

(i dê, o thê) (way), pl. tî (i thî), coll. pl. ?teath

si

now

si (lenited hi)

hin

adverb. now

lîr

noun. row, range

lîr

noun. line, line, [N.] row

men

noun. way, road

othlonn

noun. paved way

pâd

noun. way

si

adverb. now

sí(r)

adverb. now

sîr

adverb. now

tharbad

noun. cross-way

anc

row of teeth

(jaw), pl. ainc, coll. pl. angath.

falas

line of surf

(pl. felais) (beach, shore, coast, strand, foaming shore; the word was especially used of the western seaboard of Beleriand). *(VT42:15)*****

lend

way

(journey), pl. lind, coll. pl. lennath. Note: a homophone means ”tuneful, sweet”

lîr

line

(row), no distinct pl. form, but coll. pl. líriath.

mên

way

(i vên, construct men, in compounds -ven) (road), pl. mîn (i mîn)

nothlir

family line

(family tree); no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. nothliriath.

pâd

way

(construct pad), i bâd, pl. paid (i phaid). Isolated from Tharbad ”Crossroad”.

si

now

(lenited hi)

taeg

boundary line

(i daeg, o thaeg) (limit, boundary), no distinct pl. form except with article (i thaeg).

tî

noun. line, row

lhîr

noun. row

lhîr

noun. row, range

othlon

noun. paved way

othlond

noun. paved way

rada-

verb. to make a way, find a way

tê

noun. line, way

îdô

adverb. now

A word translated “now” in the Lament of Akallabêth (SD/247). In the final manuscript version, this is the only form of the word, but in the final typescript version and in all earlier versions, it sometimes appears in the form îdôn.

Some authors have suggested this variation occurs when îdô appears before words beginning in a vowel or semi-vowel (AL/Adûnaic, NBA/12), but this seems unlikely to me. Carl Hostetter, Patrick Wynne and Andreas Moehn instead suggested (VSH/18, AAD/16, LGtAG, EotAL/DAW) that îdôn is a subjective inflection of the word îdô, being used as a noun. The key evidence supporting this second theory is that where the form îdon appears, its gloss is always “now (is)” rather than simply “now”. As discussed elsewhere (SD/429), the subjective inflection can function as the verb “to be”.

I tend to agree with this theory of Hostetter, Wynne and Moehn, but I think the actually development is somewhat more complex. In the first draft version of the Lament of Akallabêth, this form of the word appears twice as īdōn “lo! now is”. As noted by Mr. Moehn (LGtAG), this version of the Lament used a predicate suffix -n “is” in several places: burodan “heavy-is”, rōkhī-nam “bent-are”. It seems likely that draft form īdōn “lo! now is” is another variation of this earlier syntax.

The draft predicate suffix -n differed from the later subjective case in that it applied to the predicate of a clause instead of the subject. Compare these changes from the draft to final versions:

• agannūlo burudan “death-shade heavy-is” >> agannâlô burôda “death-shadow [is] heavy”

• batānī rōkhī-nam “ways bent-are” >> batîna lôkhî “ways (are) bent”

In both draft sentences, the subject is uninflected and the predicate has the predicate suffix -n/-nam. Conversely, in the later sentences the subject is inflected into the subjective case while the predicate is uninflected. This demonstrates the functional shift in the use of the predicate suffix -n in these drafts to the later use of the subjective inflection.

In both the second draft and final typescript versions of the Lament, the form îdôn was retained in all the sentences where it appeared in the first draft. This means that it could have been a remnant of this earlier syntax. The form îdôn could be reinterpreted as the sentence’s subject, but this is also problematic, since îdô is certainly neuter and its subjective form should be ✱îdôwa, not îdôn.

It is my belief that Tolkien eventually decided that the suffix -n could no longer be used in this context and removed it, switching to an uninflected îdô “now” everywhere in the text as is the case in the final manuscript version of the Lament. On the basis of this deduction, I also believe that the manuscript version was written after than the typescript version.

men

noun. way, way, *direction; [ᴹQ.] place, spot [only in compounds]

A noun or word element, most notably appearing in the four cardinal directions formen, hyarmen, númen, and rómen, which Christopher Tolkien translated as “way” in The Silmarillion appendix (SA/men). This is consistent with the later meaning of its root: √MEN “go, move, proceed”, and in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien had a primitive form ✶mēn- “a way, a going, a mov[ement]” (PE17/165) which might be the source of Christopher Tolkien’s translation of Q. men.

Conceptual Development: The situation in Tolkien’s earlier writings was different. In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. men was translated “place, spot” under the root ᴹ√MEN (Ety/MEN). In this document, it seems the literally meaning of direction words were “✱north-place”, “✱south-place”, etc., as opposed to later “✱north-direction, ✱south-direction”. This can be seen in other words Tolkien used in this period, such as ᴹQ. Ilmen “Place of Light” (SM/241).

This ambiguity continued into Tolkien’s later writings, as can be seen in a 1965 letter to Dick Plotz, where Tolkien translated númen “the direction or region of the sunset” (Let/361). Another example is menel “firmament, high heaven, the region of the stars”, which Tolkien said was “a Q. invention from men (direction, region) + el (the basis of many stars)” in The Road Goes Ever On as published in 1967 (RGEO/65). There are other Quenya words where men refers to a location rather than a direction: ruimen “fireplace, hearth” (PE17/183) and turmen “realm” = “✱mastered-region” (PE17/28), both from the mid-1960s.

However, some words are hard to explain as locations, such as alamen “a good omen on departure”, also from DLN of 1959 (PE17/162). Tolkien used men as an element in the terms coimen “life-year” and olmen “growth-year” in notes from around 1959, which are probably best explained as a “way” or “process” of life or growth (NM/84-85). However the stems of these words ended in mend-, so their element men may be different from what is seen in formen, etc. As another wrinkle, Tolkien regularly used nómë to mean “place” in his later writings, as in sinomë “in this place [= here]” (LotR/967) and tanomë “in that place [= there]” (VT49/11).

It is hard to determine how much of this variation is due to conceptual vacillation on Tolkien’s part. My best guess of the timelime is that:

• In the 1930s men meant “place, spot”, and the root ᴹ√MEN was not verbal (Ety/MEN).

• In the 1940s Tolkien decided that √MEN was verbal, meaning {“intend” >>} “go” (PE22/103).

• By the 1950s Tolkien reformulated men to mean “way, a going” in keeping with the new meaning of the root (PE17/165). In this period Tolkien also introduced nómë “place”.

• By the 1960s Tolkien partially reversed himself, deciding men could mean either “way, direction” and “place, region”, but without abandoning nómë.

Neo-Quenya: The word men is somewhat contentious in Neo-Quenya. The word men is a very popular element for “place” in many neologisms (especially older ones), such as ᴺQ. natsemen “website = ✱web-spot”, ᴺQ. tirmen “theater = ✱watch-place” and ᴺQ. mótamen “office = ✱work-place”. However, others feel that this sense has been entirely replaced by nómë, so that men in such compounds should be replaced by a suffix ᴺQ. -non (-nom-).

Given this ambiguity, I would use men only for “way, ✱direction” as a standalone word, and would instead use nómë = “place”. However, given Tolkien’s vacillations as described above, I would allow the use of men as “place, spot, region” in compounds [perhaps originally conceived of as a destination], though I think ᴺQ. -non “-place” is also fine.

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.

lé

way

lé (1) noun "way" = "method, manner" ("as in that is not As way"). Not to be confused with lé as a stressed form of le = plural "you"; Tolkien was himself dissatisfied with this clash (PE17:74).

men

way

men (2) noun "way" (SA) or "place, spot" (MEN)

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".

sí

adverb. now

sír

adverb. now

téma

row, series, line

téma noun "row, series, line" (pl. témar attested) (TEÑ, Appendix E)

vand-

way, path

vand- noun "way, path" (LT1:264; a final vowel would seem to be required, but in Tolkien's later Quenya, the words tië or mallë are to be preferred)

teg

root. line

Tolkien used a number of similar roots as the basis for “line” words throughout his life. The earliest of these appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as ᴱ√TEHE [teχe] “pull” (gloss marked with a “?” by Tolkien) with derivatives like ᴱQ. tea “straight”, ᴱQ. telya “attractive; importunate”, and ᴱQ. tie “line, direction, route, road” (QL/90), the last of these surviving more or less unchanged all the way into the published version of The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377). The early root ᴱ√TEHE also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. tê “mark, line; track; path”, G. tî or tion “straight”, and G. tîr “honest; esteem, regard, honour”, originally “straight, upright” (GL/69, 71). Primitive ᴱ✶tegna > ᴱQ. tína/ᴱN. tain “straight” from Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s may represent a shift in the form of the root to ✱ᴱ√TEGE (PE13/153, 165).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as {ᴹ√TEƷ >>} ᴹ√TEÑ “line, direction” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tie/N. tê “line, way” and ᴹQ. téra/N. tîr “straight, right” (Ety/TEƷ, TEÑ). In the Outline of Phonology Tolkien gave √TEG “line”, whereas √TEÑ was given as the basis for Q. tenna “a thought, notion, idea” and thus clearly with a different meaning; see the entry √TEÑ for further discussion. In any case it is clear that Tolkien considered various ancient velar consonants for the second consonant of this root, all ultimately vanishing in the child languages with similar vocalic effects: 1910s teχ-, 1920s teg-, 1930s {teʒ- >>} teñ- and 1950s teg-.