úra

large

úra (2) adj. "large" (UR), probably obsoleted by #1 above

úra

evil, nasty

úra (1) adj. "evil, nasty" (VT43:24, VT48:32)

úra

adjective. nasty

úra

adjective. torrid, sultry, unpleasantly hot

urra

adjective. nasty, bad

úro

evil

úro noun "evil" (VT43:24); Tolkien may have abandoned this form in favour of ulco, q.v.

mal ámë etelehta ulcullo: násië

but deliver us from evil: Amen

The tenth line of Átaremma, Tolkien’s Quenya translation of the Lord’s Prayer. The conjunction mal “but” is followed by a combination of imperative particle á and the pronoun me “us”. This is followed by the aorist form of the verb etelehta “deliver” and ulcullo “from evil”, the ablative form of the noun ulco (perhaps a noun form of ulca). The final word násië, corresponding to English “Amen”, seems to be a Quenya word meaning “✱be it thus”.

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

> mal á-më ete-lehta ulcu-llo: násië = “✱but (imperative)-us out-free evil-from: amen”

Conceptual Development: The tenth line underwent more changes than any other line in the prayer. In version III of the prayer, this phrase was first written as a near match to the phrase in version IIb, but was radically altered to a form that persisted to version IV. The analysis below designates these two variations of version III as IIIa and IIIb.

In earlier versions of the prayer, the word for “but” was mostly ono (IIa-IV), though in version I it was {anat >>} one, and it was elided to on’ in version IIIa.

The earlier imperative element was either na (I-IIa) or a (IIIb-IV), and it appeared either before the verb (I-IIa, IIIb-IV) or in the middle of the verb (IIb-IIIa) as et·a·rúna.

The object pronoun me consistently appeared immediately after the verb in the versions I-IV of the prayer rather than before the verb as in version V-VI.

The early versions (I-IV) used a different verb et(e)rúna for “deliver”, still in the aorist tense but in (IIIb-IV) with an embedded imperative et·a·rúna, as noted above.

Tolkien earlier considered several words for “evil”: olca (I deleted), ulca (I), ulco (IIa) and úro (IIa-IV), the last of these possibly a noun form of úra “nasty”. These appeared either with the allative suffix -llo (I) or the preposition va “(away) from” (IIa-IV). In versions IIIb-IV only, the prepositional phrase va úro appeared before the verb rather than after.

Quenya words corresponding to “Amen” appeared only in a few versions: san na (IIa), násan (IIb) and násië (VI), each meaning something like “✱be it thus” or “✱be it so”.

| |  I  |IIa|IIb|IIIa|IIIb|IV|V|VI| |{anat >>}|one|ono|on’|ono|mal| |na etrúna me|et·a·rúna me|va úro|ám’ etelehta|áme etelehta| |{olcallo >>}|ulcallo|va ulco|{var-úra >>} va úro|aly’ eterúna me|ulcullo| | |san na|násan| |násie|

va

from

va prep. "from" (VT43:20; prefixed in the form var- in var-úra "from evil", VT43:24). In VT49:24, va, au and o are quoted as variants of the stem awa "away from".

-va

from

-va possessive ending, presumably related to the preposition va "from". In Eldaliéva, Ingoldova, miruvóreva, Oroméva, rómeva, Valinóreva (q.v. for references), Follondiéva, Hyallondiéva (see under turmen for references). Following a consonant, the ending instead appears as -wa (andamacilwa "of the long sword", PE17:147, rómenwa *"of the East", PE17:59). Pl. -vë when governing a plural word (from archaic -vai) (WJ:407), but it seems that -va was used throughout in late Exilic Quenya (cf. miruvóreva governing the plural word yuldar in Namárië). Pl. -iva (-ivë*), dual -twa, partitive pl. -líva**.

-úmë

large

-úmë (3) suffix "large" (of quantity)", as in liyúmë "host" (VT48:32)

alat-

large, great in size

alat- prefix "large, great in size". (ÁLAT, cf. VT45:5). In Alatairë.

alta

large, great in size

alta (1) adj. *"large, great in size" (root meaning)(ÁLAT). Alat- in Alatairë, q.v.

ho

from

ho prep. "from" (3O); cf. hó-

ló

from

ló, lo (2) prep. "from", also used = "by" introducing the agent after a passive construction: nahtana ló Turin *"slain by Túrin" (VT49:24). A similar and possibly identical form is mentioned in the Etymologies as being somehow related to the ablative ending -llo, but is not there clearly defined (VT45:28). At one point, Tolkien suggested that lo rather than the ending -llo was used with proper names (lo Manwë rather than Manwello for "from Manwë"), but this seems to have been a short-lived idea (VT49:24).

naxa

adjective. evil

naxa

noun/adjective. evil

nerdo

large, strong man

nerdo noun "large, strong man" (compare nér) (VT47:33)

o

preposition. from

A preposition for “from”, especially in the genitival sense “originating from”. For “from” in a positional sense, it is far more common to use the ablative suffix -llo.

Conceptual Development: The preposition ᴱQ. ô was first mentioned in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as the equivalent of G. a(n·) “from” which had an ablative sense (GL/17). In Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants written in 1936, Tolkien mentioned {o >> ho >>} o as a preposition based on primitive ᴹ✶ʒō̆ “away from, from among” (PE21/60 and note #48). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ho “from” appeared under the root ᴹ√ƷŌ̆ “from, away, from among, out of” (Ety/ƷŌ̆). This primitive form ʒō̆ was also the basis of the Quenya genitive suffix ᴹQ. -o.

In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, Tolkien mentioned the preposition Q. o “from” as a reduction of ancient ✶ăwă “away” (PE17/148). In Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) written in 1969 Tolkien again mentioned ō < ✶hō “from” with some difficult-to-read qualifications that seem to indicate this was “from” in the genitival sense, as opposed to ✶lō “from” in the positional/ablative sense (PE22/168).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya I would assume that o is a rarely used preposition, usually replaced by either genitive -o [originating from] or ablative -llo [moving from].

olca

evil, bad, wicked

olca adj. "evil, bad, wicked" (VT43:23-24, VT48:32, VT49:14, PE17:149). The root meaning implies "wickedness as well as badness or lack of worth" (PE17:170). Variant of ulca.

pol

large, big (strong)

pol (2) adj. "large, big (strong)". Since this would be the sole example of a monosyllabic Quenya adjective, it may be that Tolkien is here citing the root POL rather than a complete word. Cf. polda.

ulca

evil, bad, wicked, wrong

ulca adj. "evil, bad, wicked, wrong" (QL:97, VT43:23-24, VT48:32, VT49:14; compounded in henulca "evileyed", SD:68); variant olca, q.v. Compare noun ulco. The adj. ulca may also itself be used as a noun "evil", as in the ablative form ulcallo "from evil" (VT43:8, 10) and the sentence cé mo quetë ulca *"if one speaks evil" (VT49:19).

ulco

evil

ulco (stem #ulcu-) noun "evil", pl. *ulqui (VT43:23-24; the stem-form is attested in the ablative case: ulcullo "from evil", VT43:12)

ulco

noun. evil

úmëa

evil

úmëa (2) adj. "evil" (UGU/UMU). Obsoleted by #1 above? Possibly connected to úmëai in Narqelion, if that is a "Qenya" plural form.

ugrā

adjective. nasty

gō

preposition. from

uk

root. nasty

The root √OKO was mentioned a couple times in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 with glosses like “wicked, evil” and “evil, bad” serving as the basis for Q. olca/S. ogol “bad, wicked, evil” along with similar words (PE14/149, 170). In other notes from this period Tolkien said √OKO “evil” influenced the meaning of the Sindarin root √AK “hostile return” (PE17/167). In one of these 1959 notes, Tolkien wrote UK, UKLA below OKO with derivatives Q. ulca and S. ogl, all unglossed (PE17/149); Q. ulca was the word Tolkien used most frequently for “evil” in Quenya. In notes from 1968, Tolkien mentioned √UK “nasty” in passing, without giving any derivatives (VT48/25); Patrick Wynne suggested this form of the root may have been connected to 1969 √UG “dislike” (VT48/32 note #15; PE22/160).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer Q. ulca for “evil”, but I think √OKO “wicked” might coexist with it as variant to salvage other words from that root.

ăwă

preposition. from

ʒō

preposition. from

borg

adjective. large

A word for “large” in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s, in borg’ā “large ā” (PE23/26). Its etymology is unclear.

o

preposition. from, of (preposition (as a proclitic) used in either direction, from or to the point of view of the speaker)

According to WJ/366, the preposition "is normally o in all positions, though od appears occasionally before vowels, especially before o-". With a suffixed article, see also uin

-ô

preposition. from

A prepositional suffix translated “from” (SD/429). In a few places, the suffix appears with the glide-consonant v (pronounced [w]) between it and a preceding u-vowel (SD/247, 249). It is likely related to the Quenya genitive inflection Q. -o.

Conceptual Development: At an earlier conceptual stage, this suffix was a grammatical inflection, the draft-genitive -ō (SD/438).

ho

preposition. from

beleg

adjective. large

adj. large, great. Q. melek-.

beleg

adjective. large

adj. large, great, big. . This gloss was rejected.

iaun

adjective. large

adj. large, extensive, wide, vast, huge. Q. yāna-. >> -ion

o

preposition. from, of (preposition (as a proclitic) used in either direction, from or to the point of view of the speaker)

According to WJ/366, the preposition "is normally o in all positions, though od appears occasionally before vowels, especially before o-". With a suffixed article, see also uin

o

preposition. from

_ prep. _from, of. In older S. o had the form od before vowels. o menel aglar elenath ! lit. 'from Firmament glory of the stars !'.

o

preposition. from

_ prep. _from. . This gloss was rejected.

od

preposition. from, of (preposition (as a proclitic) used in either direction, from or to the point of view of the speaker)

According to WJ/366, the preposition "is normally o in all positions, though od appears occasionally before vowels, especially before o-". With a suffixed article, see also uin

oer

adjective. nasty

oer

adjective. nasty

rhû

evil

adj. evil, wicked. Q. hruo. >> Rhudaur

rhû

evil

_ adj. _evil, wicked. Q. hrúa, hrúya. >> rhu-, Rhudaur

daer

large

daer (great), lenited dhaer, no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means "bridegroom", but has a different lenited form.

daer

large

(great), lenited dhaer, no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means "bridegroom", but has a different lenited form.

duin

large river

(i dhuin), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nuin), coll. pl. duinath (Names:179, PM:54)

o

of

(od), followed by hard mutation. With article uin ”from the, of the” (followed by ”mixed” mutation according to David Salo’s reconstuctuons). (WJ:366). Not to be confused with o ”about, concerning”.

ogol

evil

1. ogol (wicked), pl. egyl (archaic ögyl) (VT48:32), 2) possibly also um (bad), pl. ym (or uim?) (David Salo would read *ûm with a long vowel. According to VT46:20, it may be that Tolkien intended um as a primitive base rather than as a ”Noldorin” word; the word ogol may therefore be preferred.)

ogol

evil

(wicked), pl. egyl (archaic ögyl) (VT48:32)

um

evil

(bad), pl. ym (or uim?) (David Salo would read ✱ûm with a long vowel. According to VT46:20, it may be that Tolkien intended um as a primitive base rather than as a ”Noldorin” word; the word ogol may therefore be preferred.)

ummas

noun. evil

úmarth

evil fate

(pl. úmerth).