Quenya 

vilya

air, sky

vilya noun "air, sky", also name of tengwa #24. Older wilya. (Appendix E). Early "Qenya" has Vilya (changed from Vilna) "lower air" (LT1:273); also vilya "air" (MC:215)

vilya

noun. air, sky

A word for “air” or “sky” appearing Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings from older †wilya, serving as the name of tengwa #24 [n] (LotR/1123). It is clearly a derivative of the root ᴹ√WIL (Ety/WIL). It has an abnormal plural form wilyar with initial w- in the 1950s version of the Nieninquë poem in the phrase yan i wilyar antar miquelis “✱to whom the air gives kisses” (PE16/96).

Conceptual Development: The notion of the “lower air” as a region dates all the way back to the earliest Lost Tales, where the innermost layer of air was called ᴱQ. Vilna (LT1/65). However, in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the term was ᴱQ. Vilya “air (lower)” as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√VILI (QL/101). The word vilya “lower air” appeared English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s but was deleted (PE15/68), and this term appeared as both the singular “air” and plural “airs” in version of Nieninqe and its drafts circa 1930: yan/yar i vilya(r) anta miqilis “to whom the air(s) give kisses” (MC/215; PE16/90, 92).

In the Ambarkanta of the early 1930s, the lower air was {Wilwa >>} Vista (SM/236, 240 note #1), but it was Wilwa again in the earliest tales of Númenor from the 1930s (LR/12) and was ᴹQ. {vilwa >>} wilma in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√WIL “fly, float in air” (Ety/WIL). Q. vilya “air, sky” in Appendix E seems to be the last iteration in this chain.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I think vilya refers mainly to air as the region above the ground, as opposed to ᴹQ. vista “air (as a substance)”. You breath vista, but birds fly through vilya, and breezes flow through vilya like ripples in a lake.

Derivations

  • ᴹ√WIL “fly, float in air”

Element in

Variations

  • wilya ✧ LotR/1123 (wilya)
Quenya [LotR/1123; PE16/096] Group: Eldamo. Published by

vilya

proper name. (Ring) of Air

One of the three Elvish rings of power, the Ring of Air (S/288). It might simply be vilya “air” used as a name. However, given the pattern of names for the other Elvish rings, I think it is more likely to be an adjectival formation combining the root ᴹ√WIL and the adjectival suffix -ya.

Elements

WordGloss
WIL“fly, float in air”
-ya“adjective suffix”
Quenya [LotRI/Vilya; S/288; SDI1/Vilya; SI/Vilya; UTI/Vilya] Group: Eldamo. Published by

vaiya

envelope

vaiya < waiya (also vaia, waia) noun "envelope", especially of the Outer Sea or Air enfolding the world within the Ilurambar or world-walls (WAY, capitalized Vaiya under GEY; the latter entry was struck out). In a "Qenya" text in MC:214, vaiya is simply translated "sky". In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, vaiya (/ waiya) was also the name of a tengwa letter that does not appear in Tolkien's later table, but which was apparently intended to have the value w > v, like the letter wilya > vilya in the later, canonical system (VT46:21). According to Arden R. Smith, the form of the pre-classical letter is a variant of #21, which letter Tolkien would later call vala (VT46:32).

vilwa

air, lower air

[vilwa < wilwa] noun "air, lower air" (distinct from the 'upper' air of the stars, or the 'outer') (WIL; in one place vilwa was not struck out, VT46:21) According to VT46:21, Tolkien considered vilda < wilda as a replacement form, but rejected it.

wilya

wilya

wilya see vilya

wilya

noun. air, sky

waiya

envelope

waiya > vaiya (also vaia, waia) noun "envelope", especially of the Outer Sea or Air enfolding the world within the Ilurambar or world-walls (WAY)

wilma

air, lower air

wilma noun "air, lower air" (distinct from the 'upper' air of the stars, or the 'outer') (WIL)

vaia

envelope

vaia < waia (also vaiya < waiya) noun "envelope", especially of the Outer Sea or Air enfolding the world within the Ilurambar or world-walls (WAY). Cf. váya.

winga

foam, spray

winga noun "foam, spray" (Markirya). Also wingë.

waia

envelope

waia > vaia noun "envelope", especially of the Outer Sea or Air enfolding the world within the Ilurambar or world-walls (WAY) (also vaiya, waiya)

fallë

foam

fallë noun "foam" (PHAL/PHÁLAS)

lindë

air, tune, singing, song

lindë noun "air, tune, singing, song" (SA:gond, (LIN2, [GLIN]); lindelorendor "music-dream-land"; see laurelindórenan lindelorendor... _(LotR2:III ch. 4, cf. Letters:308). _Also compare lindi- in lindimaitar, q.v. (but the other compounds here cited do not give a lindë a stem-form lindi-).

wingë

foam, crest of wave, crest

wingë noun "foam, crest of wave, crest" (WIG); "foam, spindrift" (LT1:273). In the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, wingë was also the name of tengwa #24, which letter Tolkien would later call wilya > vilya instead. - Also winga (so in Markirya).