wen noun "maid, girl" (*wend-), in early "Qenya" also wendi (Tolkien's later Quenya form wendë occurs in MC:215 and in Etym, stems GWEN, WEN/WENED). (LT1:271, 273)
Quenya
imi
preposition. in, in, [ᴱQ.] inside
mi
preposition. in, in, [ᴹQ.] within
Cognates
- S. mi “*in”
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Aina Wendë mi Wenderon “Holy Virgin of virgins” ✧ VT44/18
- Q. aistana elyë imíca nísi “blessed art thou amongst women” ✧ VT43/30; VT43/30
- Q. alcar mi Tarmenel na Erun “glory [be] to God in the highest” ✧ VT44/34
- Q. ar mi cemen rainë i hínin “and on earth peace, good will toward men” ✧ VT44/34; VT44/34
- Q. Átaremma i ëa han Eä “our Father who art in Heaven” ✧ VT43/13
- ᴺQ. micol- “to import”
- Q. mina “into, in, into, in, [ᴹQ.] to the inside”
- ᴺQ. minomë “instead, in place of, in exchange of”
- Q. mi oromardi lissë miruvóreva “of the sweet mead in lofty halls” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. lissë miruvóreva mí oromardi “of sweet nectar in the high-halls” ✧ RGEO/58
- Q. mirröanwë “incarnate”
- Q. Mírondina “Incarnate”
- Q. nai tiruvantes i hárar mahalmassen mi Númen “in the keeping of those who sit upon thrones of the West” ✧ UT/305
- Q. sanomë tarnë Olórin, Aracorno, Eomer, Imrahil, mi mísë, mi telepta yo morna, mi laiqua yo ninquë, mi luinë, ta Gimli mi lossëa “There stood Gandalf, Aragorn, Eomer and Imrahil in grey, in silver and black, in green and white, and in blue, and also Gimli in white” ✧ PE17/071; PE17/071; PE17/071; PE17/071; PE17/071
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶mī > mĭ [mi] ✧ PE17/092 √mi > imi [imi] ✧ VT43/30 √mi > mi [mi] ✧ VT43/30 ✶mī > mĭ [mi] ✧ VT47/30 Variations
- mĭ ✧ PE17/092; VT47/30
- mī ✧ RGEO/58; VT49/35
- imi ✧ VT43/30
- mil ✧ VT43/30 (
mil)
mi
in, within
wen
maid, girl
wendi
maid, girl
wendi noun "maid, girl" (LT1:271), "young or small woman, girl" (VT48:18); see wendë
imi
in
imi prep. "in"; see mi (VT43:30)
wendë
maid
wendë noun "maid" (GWEN), wendë > vendë "maiden" (WEN/WENED, VT45:16, VT47:17). Sana wendë "that maiden" (PE16:96 cf. 90). According to VT47:17, this word for "maiden" is "applied to all stages up to the fully adult (until marriage)".Early "Qenya" also had wendi "maid, girl" (LT1:271); this may look like a plural form in Tolkiens later Quenya. On the other hand, VT48:18 lists a word wendi "young or small woman, girl". It is unclear whether this is Quenya or a Common Eldarin form, but probably the former: PE17:191 displays the word for "maiden" as wendē, so the Quenya stem form is probably *wende- rather than wendi*-, the stem-form that would result from Common Eldarin wendi). In his Quenya translation of the Sub Tuum Praesidium, Tolkien used Wendë/Vendë to translate "virgin" with reference to the Virgin Mary. Here the plural genitive Wenderon appears in the phrase Wendë mi Wenderon "Virgin of Virgins"; we might have expected Wendion instead (VT44:18).If the pl. form of wendë is wender rather than wendi, as the gen.pl. wenderon suggests, this may be to avoid confusion with the sg. wendi** "girl".
mi prep. "in, within" (MI, VT27:20, VT44:18, 34, VT43:30; the latter source also mentions the variant imi); mí "in the" (Nam, RGEO:66; CO gives mi; the correct forms should evidently be mi = "in" and mí = mi i "in the"; VT49:35 also has mí with a long vowel, though the gloss is simply "in"). Used in PE17:71 (cf. 70) of people clad "in" various colours, e.g. mi mísë "in grey". Allative minna "to the inside, into" (MI), also mina (VT43:30). The forms mimmë and mingwë seem to incorporate pronominal suffixes for "us", hence ?"in us", inclusive and exclusive respectively. The pronoun -mmë denoted plural inclusive "we" when this was written, though Tolkien would later make it dual instead (see -mmë). Second person forms are also given: mil or milyë *"in you" (sg.), millë "in you" (pl.) (VT43:36). A special use of mi appears in the phrase Wendë mi Wenderon "Virgin of Virgins" (VT44:18); here mi appears superfluous to achieve the desired meaning, but this combination of singular noun + mi + plural genitive noun may be seen as a fixed idiom expressing that the initial noun represents the most prominent member of a class.