Vanar or Vani pl. noun, = Valar (LT1:272)
Quenya
Vala
power, god, angelic power
vala
noun. (Angelic) Power, ‘God’, Authority, (Angelic) Power, Authority, God
Cognates
- S. Balan “Vala, Vala, [N.] Power, God” ✧ PE17/048; SA/val
Derivations
- √BAL “power; powerful, mighty; have power” ✧ PE17/048; PE17/048; SA/val
Element in
- Q. lan i Valaron arcanwar tauvar “*while the thrones of the Valar endure” ✧ PE22/147; PE22/147
- Q. Nasser ar Cenime Cantar Valaron ar Maiaron “The Natures and Visible Shapes of the Valar and Maiar” ✧ PE17/175
- Q. Pelóri Valion “Mountains of Valinor” ✧ MR/018
- Q. Valacar “*Vala Helm” ✧ PE17/114
- Q. Valacirca “Sickle of the Valar” ✧ S/048; SA/val
- Q. Valandil “Lover of the Valar” ✧ Let/386
- Q. Valandor “Land of the Valar”
- Q. Valandur “*Servant of the Vala”
- Q. Valanya “*Friday, Vala-day”
- Q. Valaquenta “Account of the Valar” ✧ SA/val
- Q. Valar ar Maiar fantaner nassentar fanainen ve quenderinwe coar ar larmar “Valar and Maiar cloaked their true-being in veils, like to Elvish bodies and raiment” ✧ PE17/174; PE17/175
- Q. Valarauko “Demon of Might” ✧ SA/val
- Q. Valarin
- Q. Valaróma “Horn of Oromë, *(lit.) Vala-horn”
- Q. Valar valuvar “the will of the Valar will be done” ✧ WJ/404
- Q. Valimar “Dwelling of the Valar” ✧ PE17/074; SA/val
- Q. Valinórë “Land of the Valar” ✧ Let/198; PE17/074; SA/val
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √BAL > Valar [balar] > [βalar] > [valar] ✧ PE17/048 √BAL > Vala [bala] > [βala] > [vala] ✧ PE17/048 √bal- > val- [bala] > [βala] > [vala] ✧ SA/val Variations
- vala ✧ LotR/1123
Vanar
vanar
vala-
verb. to have [divine] power
Cognates
- S. bal- “*to have power”
Derivations
- √BAL “power; powerful, mighty; have power”
Element in
- Q. á vala Manwë “may Manwë order it!” ✧ WJ/404
- Q. Valar valuvar “the will of the Valar will be done” ✧ WJ/404
Variations
- vala ✧ WJ/404
valya
having (divine) authority or power
valya adj. "having (divine) authority or power" (BAL; this word is of course etymologically connected to the Valar and should not be used with reference to the divinity of Eru.)
-a
it is said
-r nominative plural ending regularly used on nouns ending in -a, -i, -ië, -o, -u, e.g. Ainur, Valar, tier. Occasionally it is added also to nouns ending in -ë (that normally take the ending -I in the pl.). This seems to regularly happen in the case of nouns in -lë (see #fintalë, mallë, tyellë), sometimes also otherwise (see Ingwë, wendë, essë #1). This plural ending was ("it is said") first used by the Noldor (PM:402).
Aino
god
Aino noun "god", within Tolkien's mythos a synonym of Ainu (but since Aino is basically only a personalized form of aina "holy", hence "holy one", it could be used as a general word for "god") (PE15:72)
aino
noun. god
Cognates
- ᴺS. aenor “god”
Derivations
- √AYA(N) “blessed; treat with awe/reverence, blessed; treat with awe/reverence; [ᴱ√] honour, revere”
Element in
Elements
Word Gloss aina “holy, revered, numinous, holy, revered, numinous, *divine, [ᴱQ.] worshipful”
Vala (1) noun "Power, God, angelic power", pl. Valar or Vali (BAL, Appendix E, LT2:348), described as "angelic governors" or "angelic guardians" (Letters:354, 407). The Valar are a group of immensely powerful spirits guarding the world on behalf of its Creator; they are sometimes called Gods (as when Valacirca, q.v., is translated "Sickle of the Gods"), but this is strictly wrong according to Christian terminology: the Valar were created beings. The noun vala is also the name of tengwa #22 (Appendix E). Genitive plural Valion "of the Valar" (FS, MR:18); this form shows the pl. Vali, (irregular) alternative to Valar (the straightforward gen. pl. Valaron is also attested, PE17:175). Pl. allative valannar *"to/on the Valar" (LR:47, 56; SD:246). Feminine form Valië (Silm), in Tolkiens earlier material also Valdë; his early writings also list Valon or Valmo (q.v.) as specifically masc. forms. The gender-specific forms are not obligatory; thus in PE17:22 Varda is called a Vala (not a Valië), likewise Yavanna in PE17:93. Vala is properly or originally a verb "has power" (sc. over the matter of Eä, the universe), also used as a noun "a Power" _(WJ:403). The verb vala- "rule, order", exclusively used with reference to the Valar, is only attested in the sentences á vala Manwë! "may Manwë order it!" and Valar valuvar "the will of the Valar will be done" (WJ:404). However, Tolkien did not originally intend the word Valar to signify "powers"; in his early conception it apparently meant "the happy ones", cf. valto, vald- (LT2:348)_. For various compounds including the word Vala(r), see below.