A noun for “envelope” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with forms vaia or vaiya, and derived from ᴹ✶wāyā under the root ᴹ√WAY of similar meaning (Ety/WAY). It was used “especially of the Outer Sea or Air enfolding the world within the Ilurambar or world-walls”. It was also the name of a tengwar consisting of a circle with line leading from its bottom out horizontally to the right (EtyAC/WAY), but this tengwar did not appear in The Lord of the Rings.
Qenya
vaiya
proper name. Outer Sea, Enfolding Ocean
vai(y)a
noun. envelope
Name for the Outer Sea appearing in the Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/209, SM/236). It is vai(y)a “envelope” used as a proper name (Ety/WAY,GEY).