A correlative appearing in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/109), a combination of interrogative ᴹQ. ma and ᴹQ. men- “aim”.
Quenya
manan
adverb. why
Sindarin
amman
adverb. why, (lit.) for what
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
Qenya
maro
adverb. why, for what reason
mámen
adverb. why, aiming at what
A correlative meaning “why, for what reason” appearing in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/112), a combination of interrogative ᴹQ. ma and ᴹQ. -ro “reason”. It replaced (dative?) forms main, maina (PE23/112 note #148).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I currently recommend maro as the Quenya interrogative for “why”. There is another word for “why” appearing in DRC of slightly different meaning ᴹQ. mámen “why, aiming at what”, but this uses the sense “aim” for ᴹQ. men- that was probably abandoned by the 1960s. Prior to the publication of PE23, I recommended using ᴺQ. manan “why = for what” created by Petri Tikka, a dative formation.