vanya (1) adj. "fair" (FS), "beautiful" (BAN), a word referring to beauty that is "due to lack of fault, or blemish" (PE17:150), hence Arda Vanya as an alternative to Arda Alahasta for "Arda Unmarred" (ibid., compare MR:254). Nominal pl. Vanyar "the Fair", the first clan of the Eldar; the original meaning of this stem was "pale, light-coloured, not brown or dark" (WJ:382, 383, stem given as WAN), "properly = white complexion and blonde hair" (PE17:154, stem given as GWAN); stems BAN vs. WAN discussed, see PE17:150.
Quenya
vana
adjective. fair-haired (yellow to golden)
Vána
beautiful (one)
vanya
fair
vanya
adjective. fair, beautiful, unmarred; fair-haired (yellow to golden), fair, beautiful, unmarred; fair-haired (yellow to golden); [ᴱQ.] good (not evil), holy
Cognates
Derivations
- √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/056; PE17/149; PE17/150
- ✶wanya “fair-haired (yellow to golden)” ✧ PE17/150; PE17/150
- √(G)WAN “pale, fair” ✧ PE17/150
- √(G)WAN “pale, fair” ✧ PE17/154; PE17/165
- ✶banya “beautiful” ✧ PE17/165
- √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/165
Element in
- Q. Arda Vanya “Arda Unmarred” ✧ PE17/150
- Q. ilvan(y)a “perfect” ✧ PE17/150
- Q. úvana “marred” ✧ PE17/150
- Q. Vanya “Fair Elves, the Fair”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √BAN > vanya [banja] > [βanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/056 √ɃAN > vanya [banja] > [βanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/149 √BAN > vanya [banja] > [βanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/150 ✶wanya > vanya [wanja] > [βanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/150 ✶wana > văna [wanja] > [βanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/150 √GWAN > vanya [gwanja] > [ɣwanja] > [wanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/154 ✶banya > vanya [banja] > [βanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/165 √GWAN > wana [gwanja] > [ɣwanja] > [wanja] > [vanja] ✧ PE17/165 Variations
- văna ✧ PE17/150
- wana ✧ PE17/165 (wana)
- wanya ✧ PE17/165 (wanya)
vána
feminine name. Ever-young, *(lit.) Beauty
Valië of Spring and Happiness, spouse of Oromë, also called the “Ever-young” (S/29). Her name is a derivative of either √BAN “beauty” (PE17/150) or √WAN “fair” (WJ/383). She is the most perfectly beautiful being in form and feature, in the sense that she lacked any fault or blemish (PE17/150).
Conceptual Development: Her name was ᴱQ. Vána in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/67), and this name appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as a derivative of the root ᴱ√VANA along with other words having to do with “beauty” (QL/99). In Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, ᴹQ. Vana appeared with a short a (SM/79, LR/206), and it also appeared this way in The Etymologies as a derivative of √BAN, which was also the basis for words meaning “beautiful” (Ety/BAN).
The long á was restored in Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s (MR/146). The derivation from the root √WAN did not appear until the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60.
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √ɃAN > Vána [bāna] > [βāna] > [vāna] ✧ PE17/149 √BAN > Vána [bāna] > [βāna] > [vāna] ✧ PE17/150 √WAN > Vána [wāna] > [βāna] > [vāna] ✧ WJ/383 Variations
- Vana ✧ MRI/Vána
vanima
beautiful, fair
vanima adj. "beautiful, fair" (BAN, VT39:14) (glossed "proper, right, fair" in early "Qenya", LT1:272, though a later source says the word is used "only of living things, especially Elves and Men", PE17:150); nominal pl. vanimar "beautiful ones", partitive pl. genitive vanimálion, translated "of beautiful children", but literally meaning *"of [some] beautiful ones") (LotR3:VI ch. 6, translated in Letters:308). Arwen vanimalda "Beautiful Arwen", literally "Arwen your beauty" (see -lda for reference; changed to Arwen vanimelda in the second edition of LotR; see vanimelda).
vanima
adjective. beautiful
vanya-
verb. to pass, to pass, [ᴹQ.] go, depart, disappear
Element in
- Q. merin sa haryalyë alassë nó vanyalyë Ambarello “I hope that you have happiness before you pass from the world” ✧ MS/01
vanë
fair
vanë adj. "fair" (LT1:272; in Tolkien's later Quenya rather vanya)
vanë
adjective. fair, fair, [ᴱQ.] lovely
Derivations
- √BAN “beauty (due to lack of fault or blemish); fair, beautiful” ✧ PE17/056
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √BAN > vane [bani] > [bane] > [βane] > [vane] ✧ PE17/056 Variations
- vane ✧ PE17/056
alya
fair, good
alya (1) adj. "fair, good" (PE17:146), "prosperous, rich, abundant, blessed" (GALA). In a deleted entry in Etym, the glosses provided were "rich, blessed"; another deleted entry defined alya as "rich, prosperous, blessed". (GALA, [ÁLAM], VT42:32, 45:5, 14)
Valatári
vala-queen
Valatári noun "Vala-queen" (BAL; this entry of the Etymologies states that Vala has no feminine form except this compound, but Silm gives Valië as a feminine form). The word Valatári is apparently also the unchanged plural form, so used in this quote: "The Valatári were Varda, Yavanna, Nienna, Vana, Vaire, Este, Nessa, Uinen" (BAL; Tolkien later reclassified Uinen as a Maia, not a Valatári/Valië). Notice that the plural form of Valatar would apparently also be *Valatári.
alima
fair, good
alima adj. "fair, good" (also alya) (PE17:146)
calwa
beautiful
calwa ("k") adj. "beautiful" (LT1:254)
linda
fair, beautiful
linda adj. "fair, beautiful" (of sound) (SLIN, LIND; VT45:27), "soft, gentle, light" (PE16:96), "beautiful, sweet, melodious of sound" (PE17:150); for Linda as a noun, see Lindar.
mairëa
beautiful
mairëa adj. "beautiful" (of things made by art) (PE17:163). An alternative (and peculiar) form "mairia" is also implied in the source.
-ima
fair
-ima adjectival suffix. Sometimes it is used to derive simple adjectives, like vanima "fair" or calima "bright"; it can also take on the meaning "-able" (PE17:68), as in mátima "edible" (mat- "eat"), nótima "countable" (not- "count") and (with a negative prefix) úquétima "unspeakable" (from quet- "speak"). Note that the stem-vowel is normally lengthened in the derivatives where -ima means "-able", though this fails to occur in cenima "visible" (q.v., but contrast hraicénima, q.v.) and also before a consonant cluster as in úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176). "X-ima" may mean "apt to X" (when the ending is added to an intransitive verbal stem), as in Fírimar "mortals", literally "those apt to die" (WJ:387). The adj. úfantima "not concealable" (PE17:176) also appears as úfantuma (PE17:180), indicating the existence of a variant ending -uma (possibly used to derive adjectives with a "bad" meaning; compare the ending *-unqua next to -inqua, q.v.)
mírya
beautiful
mírya adj. "beautiful" (of work of art only) (PE17:165)
Vána fem. name, a Valië, the wife of Oromë (Silm, WJ:383); the Etymologies gives Vana with no long vowel (BAN). The apparent meaning is *"beautiful (one)", since she was "the most perfectly beautiful in form and feature…representing the natural unmarred perfection of form in living things" (PE17:150).