Quenya

Quenya
Project author	JRR Tolkien
speaker	People in the fantasy world of Middle-earth
Linguistic ; classification	Constructed language Fictional languages Elven languages from Tolkien's world ; Quenya ;
particularities	The extra form of the dual in pronouns.
Language codes
ISO 639 -1	-
ISO 639 -2	art (other constructed languages)
ISO 639-3	qya

Tolkien's world
characters
Regions and places
Languages and scripts
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A variety of fictional languages are mentioned in JRR Tolkien's writings on Middle-earth . The best known are Quenya and Sindarin , spoken by the elves who live there. It is not entirely clear whether Tolkien first invented the language and then immortalized it in his stories, or whether it was his original intention to enrich the stories with the languages.

Emergence

The Quenya was not the first language Tolkien invented (he had previously about an evolution of the Gothic tried), she was but the first of those languages, which he later integrated into its mythology. In 1912, Tolkien discovered the Finnish language for himself. He was so impressed by the experience of reading the Finnish national epic Kalevala that he decided to invent his own language based on Finnish phonetics , which he found particularly beautiful. "Basically," wrote Tolkien, "you could say that it is composed on a Latin basis, with two other (main) ingredients that give me a 'phonesthetic' pleasure: Finnish and Greek."

Linguistic advancement

Linguistic advancement takes place over a very long period in Tolkien's created world. First there is Ur-Elvish, the first language spoken by the Elves, which is also called Primitive Quendish . When the Elves followed the call of the Valar to join them in the West, however, their language split into the dialects of the three Elven races (Vanyarin, Noldorin, Telerin). The Quenya of the Noldor Elves developed from one of these dialects in the west, while Sindarin developed in Middle-earth. Most of the time Sindarin was spoken in Middle-earth as early as the First Age. In the Third Age, Quenya was used almost exclusively for ritual purposes or in written form, as was Latin in Europe in the Middle Ages or Sanskrit in India. This is how, for example, the directory of the names of kings was drawn up in Quenya. Sindarin, on the other hand, was the spoken language of the Elves; therefore, many geographical terms and names in the Lord of the Rings are also in Sindarin. The names of many elves or the kings of the people of Númenor, however, mostly come from Quenya. In addition, there is the forest elbish, which also developed from the original Elvish. It was spoken in Lothlórien as well as in Mirkwood and in the Elven Kingdom of King Thranduil.

A phrase from Quenya reads:

“Elen síla lúmenn 'omentiëlvo. A star shines over the hour of our meeting. "

- JRR Tolkien : Frodo's greeting to the Elven Gildor.

The language is similar to Finnish in sound and grammar in some ways , but not in vocabulary. Tolkien has by far the best documented Quenya of all his invented languages; it is therefore relatively easy to reconstruct.

Quenya is referred to by the Elves as the Old Language , the High Language of the West or High Elvish and refers to its status as a learned language.

Characteristic

In contrast to its successor Sindarin , Quenya can be described as an inflectional language that is inspired by Finnish. It knows nine to ten (the respective is usually not used) cases and four numbers and thus has a more pronounced system of declination than the Indo-European original language . With five tenses , without a distinct passive and with modes only indicated syntactically or by particles , the verb morphology is - compared to Indo-European - severely restricted.

Phonology

"Ah, the leaves fall like gold in the wind, for years, long and countless, like the branches of trees!"

Quenya knows 32 letters, 20 consonants and ten vowels.

Consonants

		labial		Alveolar			Palatal	Velar				Glottal
		labial		normal		lab.		normal		lab.
		stl.	sth.	stl.	sth.	lab.		stl.	sth.	stl.	sth.
nasal			m [ m ]		n [ n ]	nw [ nʷ ]	ny [ ɲ ]		ng [ ŋ ] ¹		ngw [ ŋʷ ] ¹
Plosives		p [ p ]	b [ b ]	t [ t ]	d [ d ]		ty [ c ]	c [ k ]	g [ ɡ ]	qu [ kʷ ]
Fricative		f [ f ]	v [ v ]	s [ s ]			hy [ ç ] ²	h [ x ]				h [ h ]
Vibrant					r [ r ]
Approximant	Lateral				l [ l ]		ly [ ʎ ]			hw [ hʷ ]	w [ w ]
Approximant	central						y [ j ]

^{1 In} addition, “ñ” is used less often for “ng”.

^{2 In} addition, only "h" is used less often instead of "hy".

Vowels

	front		central		back
	long	short	long	short	long	short
closed	í [ iː ]	i [ ɪ ]			ú [ uː ]	u [ ʊ ]
medium	é [ eː ]	e [ ɛ ] ¹			ó [ oː ]	o [ ɔ ]
open			á [ ɑː ]	a [ a ]

¹ At the end of the word “-ë” is written instead, so that the pronunciation is not confused with the mute E in English words (e.g. mad e ) or the Schwa in German words (e.g. Tann e ).

pronunciation

Phoneme table of Quenya
Spelling	According to ( IPA )	Example word		pronunciation	annotation
a	[⁠ a ⁠]	A rwen	[ Ɑ rwɛn]	roughly the sound, as in engl. f a ther [ˈf ɑ ːðə (r)]
ae	[ aɛ̯ ]	Ann ae l	[ˈAnn aɛ̯ l]	as in dt. Ae rodynamik or French. Aé robic	is not identical to ai , there is no equivalent in English for this sound combination
ai	[ aɪ̯ ]	l ai re	[ˈL aɪ̯ rɛ]	as in German egg , M ai , M ei se
ouch	[ aʊ̯ ]	au ta	[ Aʊ̯ ta]	as in German au s	in unstressed syllables often dulled to o or u .
c	[⁠ k ⁠]	c elma	[ K ɛlma]	as in dt. k lar , engl. c rop or French c o q [ k ɔ k ]	spoken breathlessly
cy	[ kj ]	cy erme	[ Kj ɛrmɛ]	as in skd. kj orld	has no independent characters, it will likely be through the Tengwar for c "calma" and two dots above it ̈ shown.
d	[⁠ d ⁠]	nu d a	[ˈNu d a]	as in dt. d ann	d never appears at the beginning of a word, but often occurs in the sound combinations ld , nd or rd or after vowels.
e	[⁠ ɛ ⁠]	e r e d	[ Ɛ r ɛ d]	as in German B e tt or Engl. w e r e [w ɛ ə̯]
egg	[ eɪ̯ ]	l ei approx	[ˈL eɪ̯ ka]	as in tight. gr ey	ei is less common; ai is usually preferred
f	[⁠ f ⁠]	f alas	[ F alas]	as in German Ha f t
G	[⁠ ɡ ⁠]	si g il	[ˈSi ɡ il]	as in dt. G ott	g never occurs at the beginning of a word but often occurs in the sound combinations lg , ng , ngw , rg or after vowels.
H	[⁠ x ⁠] → [⁠ h ⁠]	H ator	[ H atɔr]	as in German H from	is always pronounced
St.	[ hːl ]	hl aiwa	[ HL aɪ̯wa]		occurs only at the beginning of the word, originally it was used like a breathed h , it survived in some dialects of Aman .
Mr	[ hr ]	hr omen	[ HR ɔmɛn]		occurs only at the beginning of the word, originally it was used like a breathed h , it survived in some dialects of Aman.
ht	[ hːt ]	ra ht e	[ˈRa hːt ɛ]		occurs only within or at the end of the word, never at the beginning of the word.
hw	[ hʷ / ʍ ] ???	hw inde	[ H indɛ]	as in engl. sw ing or as voiceless w ???	the consonant combination hw has its own Tengwar character " hw esta" in the spelling .
hy	[⁠ ç ⁠] → [⁠ h ⁠]	hy apat	[ Ç apat]	as in German me	The spelling of the consonant combination hy has its own Tengwar character “ hy armen”.
i	[⁠ i ⁠]	i mlad	[ I mlad]	as in German M i tte
ie , ië	[ iɛ̯ ]	morn ië	[ˈMɔrn iɛ̯ ]	similar to German D iä t	is always pronounced as a sequence i - e , never like dt. ie .
y	[⁠ j ⁠]	y aime, Quen y a	[ J aɪ̯mɛ], [kʷɛn j A]	as in dt. j a	is a consonant in Quenya ( a vowel in Sindarin )
k	[⁠ k ⁠]	k anu	[ K anʊ]	as in dt. k lar , engl. c rop or French c o q [ k ɔ k ]	Spoken bare, k only occurs in older words, usually it has become c .
l	[⁠ l ⁠]	l just	[ L ɛbɛn]	as in German L atte
lb / lv	[ lv ]	a lb e / a lv e	[ˈA lv ɛ]	as in Ha lv a, A lv eolen or He lv etia	lb is always pronounced like lv
ld	[ ld ]	a ld a	[ˈA ld a]	as in German forest	the consonant combination ld has its own Tengwar character "a ld a" in the spelling .
m	[⁠ m ⁠]	M oria	[ M ɔria]	as in dt. M atte	there is often an m instead of b
mb	[ mb ]	i mb e, ha mb a	[ˈI mb ɛ], [ˈha mb a]	as in German Nove mb er	the consonant combination mb has its own Tengwar character (letter) "u mb ar" in the spelling .
mp	[ mp ]	ha mp a	[ˈHa mp a]	as in German La mp e or Engl. la mp	The spelling of the consonant combination mp has its own Tengwar symbol "a mp a".
n	[⁠ n ⁠]	n impe	[ N impɛ]	like in German n ass
nc	[ nk ]	la nc a	[ˈLa ŋk a]	as in German bla nk	The spelling of the consonant combination nc has its own Tengwar character “a nc a”.
nd	[ nd ]	a nd a	[ˈA nd a]	as in German a nd ers	the consonant combination nd has its own Tengwar character "a nd o" in the spelling .
ng	[⁠ ŋ ⁠]	I ng	[ˈI ŋ ]	as in German hang	the consonant combination ng has its own Tengwar character "a ng a" in the spelling .
ngw	[ ŋʷ ]	I ngw e	[ˈI ŋʷ ɛ]	as in German I ngw er	the consonant combination ngw has its own Tengwar character "u ngw e" in the spelling .
nqu	[ nkʷ ]	ta nqu e	[ˈTa ŋkʷ ɛ]		the consonant combination nqu has its own Tengwar character "u nqu e" in the spelling .
nt	[⁠ n ⁠]	te nt a	[ˈTɛ nt a]	as in German ha nt el	The spelling of the consonant combination nt has its own Tengwar character “a nt o”.
ny	[⁠ ɲ ⁠]	ni ny a	[ˈNi ɲ a]	as in Spanish ni ñ o [ˈni ɲ o]	has no independent character, it is represented by the Tengwar symbol for n “númen” and two dots ̈ above it.
O	[⁠ ɔ ⁠]	o r o d	[ Ɔ r ɔ d]	as in dt. o ffen or Engl. f o r
oe , oë	[ ɔɛ̯ ]	l oe nde, l oë nde	[ˈL ɔɛ̯ ndɛ]	as in German P oe t, Engl. p oe m or French noë l	is not the same as oi , ö or eu .
p	[⁠ p ⁠]	p alme	[ P almɛ]	as in German P rall	in combination with h ( ph as f sound), there is often a p instead of b
ph	[⁠ f ⁠]	a ph arch	[ˈA ff arx]	as in dt. Sym ph onie	If there is an h behind p through the composition , the resulting ph is mutated and pronounced as a short [ f ] or a long [ ff ]
qu	[ kʷ ]	Qu enya	[ K ɛɲa]	as in dt. Qu elle	the letter combination qu has its own Tengwar character " qu esse"
r	[⁠ r ⁠]	R au r os	[ R au r ɔs]	as in engl. me rr y	Tolkien has two allophone variants in his own pronunciation : [ɾ] between vowels, [r] in most other cases (and [ɹ] as a weak level).
approx	[ rd ]	a rd a	[ˈA rd a]	as in German Pfe rd	the consonant combination rd has its own Tengwar character "a rd a" in the spelling .
s	[⁠ s ⁠]	s igil	[ S igil]	as in German Nu ss	the older spelling th was generally changed to s in Quenya
t	[⁠ t ⁠]	t accol	[ T akːɔl]	as in German al t
ty	[⁠ c ⁠]	ty elpe	[ C ɛlpɛ]	similar to Low German tj in Ma tj es	does not have a separate character, it is represented by the Tengwar character for t "tinco" and two dots ̈ underneath .
u	[⁠ u ⁠]	u ngol	[ U ŋɔl]	as in German N u ss
ui	[ uɪ̯ ]	f ui	[f uɪ̯ ]	as in German pf ui
v	[⁠ v ⁠]	v erya	[ V ɛrja]	as in engl. ha v e [hæ v ]	v instead of b , similar to the difference between German ha b en and English ha v e
w	[⁠ w ⁠]	Ar w en	[ˈAr w ɛn]	as in engl. w ind	became v at the beginning of the word , but in compositions there is still the w as in Arwen from Ar- (high. sublime) and -wen (woman).

grammar

noun

Quenya knows four numbers, which are all formed by adding suffixes: the singular , the "normal" plural , the partitive plural , which presumably can mean both some and many, and the dual , which stands for two things of something .

Quenya knows nine to ten cases:

Nominative
Genitive Partitive (denotes the origin or property of an object)
Genitive possessive (describes the owner of an object)
dative
accusative
Locative (denotes the place of the action)
Allative (denotes the direction / destination)
Ablative (denotes the place of origin)
Instrumentalis (denotes the means used for the action)
Respectively (probably a second locative in Quenya)

The cases are formed by adding suffixes. Here the nouns are divided into different classes, which are mainly divided into the vowel and consonant classes. The nouns of one group end in vowels (-a, -ë, -ië, -i, -o or -u) and those of the other group on consonants. In addition, there are nouns that have a special form in the nominative singular that is not - as is usually the case - the same as the stem. An example of this is the word "olos". It means dream in German. If it is now set in the nominative plural, for example, the "s" changes to an "r" ( Rhotazism ): "olori", the dreams. The stem “olor-” is also used for all other forms.

The purest vowel declinations are the -u- and -ië declinations. They have exactly the same forms, apart from the stem vowel. All other vowel declinations deviate more or less strongly from these "model declinations".

The u-declination: "quendu" (Elbenmann)
case	Singular	dual	Plural	Partitive plural
Nominative	quendu	quendut	quendur	quenduli
Genitive partitive	quenduo	quenduto	quenduron	quenduron
Genitive possessive	quenduva	quendutwa	quenduiva	quendulí
dative	quendun	quendunt	quendurine	quendurine
accusative	quendú	quendút	quendui	quendúli
Allative	quendunna	quendunta	quendunnar	quendunnar
ablative	quendullo	quendulto	quendullor	quendullor
locative	quendussë	quendutsë	quendussen	quendussen
Instrumental	quendunen	quendunterten	quenduinen	quenduinen

The a-declination: "alda" (tree)
case	Singular	Plural	in German	recognition
Nominative	alda	aldar	the tree	who or what is it
Genitive partitive	aldo	aldaron	of the tree	whose (is it)
Genitive possessive	aldava	aldaiva	the tree	Whose is this
dative	aldan	aldain	the / for the tree	to whom / for whom or what is it
accusative	alda	aldai	the tree	what do I see
Allative	aldanna	aldannar	towards the tree	where, where am I going
ablative	aldallo	aldallor aldallon	from the tree	where from, where do I come from
locative	aldasse	aldassen	on / in the tree	where or when was it
Instrumental	aldanen	aldainen	by means of the tree	with what, with what it happened
Comitative	aldas	aldais	with the tree	with whom or what in common

Two other possible locatives are

aldë, pl. aldië 'inside the tree / trees'
aldala pl. aldaila 'on the tree (s)'

The a-declination using the example of "cirya" (ship)
case	Singular	dual	Plural	Collective plural
Nominative	cirya	ciryat	ciryar	ciryali
Genitive partitive	ciryo	ciryato	ciryaron	ciryalion
Genitive possessive	ciryava	ciryatva	ciryaiva	ciryalíva
dative	ciryan	ciryant	ciryain	ciryalin
accusative	cirya	ciryat	ciryar	ciryali
Instrumental	ciryan	ciryants	ciryainen	ciryalínen
Allative	ciryanna	ciryanta	ciryannar	ciryalinar (r)
locative	ciryasse	ciryatse	ciryassen	ciryalisse (n)
ablative	ciryallo	ciryalto	ciryallor / n	ciryalillo (r / n)

A word with consonant roots that shows no deviations from the normal consonant declination is, for example, "coron", ball.

The consonant declination: "coron" (ball)
case	Singular	dual	Plural	Partitive plural
Nominative	coron	coront	coroni	coroneli
Genitive partitive	corono	coronto	coronion	coronion
Genitive possessive	coronwa	corontwa	coroniva	coronelí
dative	corons	coronten	coronin	coronin
accusative	corón	corónt	coroni	coróneli
Allative	coronenna (coronna)	coronenta	coroninnar	coroninnar
ablative	coronello	coronelto	coronillor	coronillor
locative	coronessë	coronetsë	coronises	coronises
Instrumental	coronens	corontenen	coronins	coronins

In contrast to the -u declination, whose stem-u is maintained throughout the declination, the vowels, which are only connecting vowels, change in the consonantic declination. The “e” is often used in the singular and dual and “i” in the plural if a vowel is necessary. The allative singular is not entirely clear. It could be that the ending has contracted with the stem, which would result in the -n declination being a separate declination.

It is difficult to divide the consonantic words into typical classes, as is done with the vowelic ones, because not only the final consonant of the word matters, but other irregularities can also occur, such as e.g. B. the already mentioned "two-stem". In addition, in many cases an ending can grow into the stem through assimilation of the final consonant, so that there would be separate exceptions for each consonant.

Those nouns of the vocalic declension that have a “d” or “t” in front of the final vowel and also those nouns whose stem ends with a “d” or “t” certainly have a special dual form. This continues through the entire dual declination. As a result, vowel and consonant words have the same endings. An example is the word "haryat", shoe. Here is its dual conjugation (the other forms follow the same pattern as "coron"):

The d- / t-stem: "haryat" (shoe)
case	dual
Nominative	haryatu
Genitive partitive	haryatuo
Genitive possessive	haryatuva
dative	haryatuen
accusative	haryátu
Allative	haryatunna
ablative	haryatullo
locative	haryatetsë
Instrumental	haryatuens

items

There is only one article “i”, the definite article. It is identical in singular and plural and is not inflected.

Verbs

Conjugation classes

A- conjugation (also A-verbs): Verbs of the A-conjugation are the verbs that end in "-a". So named because the stem ends in -a, e.g. B. lanta- fall or ranya- hike .

Consonantic conjugation (also stem verbs; simple verbs): Consonant conjugation verbs are the verbs that end in a consonant. So called because the stem ends in a consonant, e.g. B. quet- say , tul- come or tir- see .

Times

Verbs are conjugated using suffixes in the five different tenses of Quenya.

Aorist : (comparable with the English simple present , not the Greek aorist ) A-verbs simply add the endings (lantanye I fall , ranyalye you wander ). Stem verbs add -i- as a fugue vowel: quetinye I speak , tulitye you are coming , tirimme we see .

Present tense : (comparable to the English Present Progressive ) A-verbs replace their final -a with -ea and add the endings: lanteanye I fall , ranyeatye du wanderst . Stem verbs lengthen their vowels and add the personal endings after the fugitive vowel -a-: quétanye I say , túlamme we are coming , tíralve you see .

Past tense : A verbs add -ne and then the personal endings: lantanenye I fell , ranyanemme we wandered . Stem verbs on -r, -m or -n also add -ne: tirnetye du sahst . Root verbs on -l add -le to: tullenye I came . Root verbs on -p, -t or -c replace this last consonant with -mpe, -nte or -nce: quentelve ihr spracht .

Perfect : In all perfect forms, the stem vowel is placed in front of the stem as an augment. A verbs replace the final -a with -ie, A-verbs in -ya replace the entire ending: alantienye I fell , araniemme we wandered . Stem verbs also add -ie and lengthen their stem vowel: equétietye you said , utúlienye I came and itírielve you saw .

Future tense: The future tense is formed by adding -uva (again the final -a is lost in A-verbs): lantuvatye you will fall , quetuvanye I will say , tiruvamme we will see .

The negation is achieved either by the negative verb umë or by the particle lá .

Numbers; people

If the subject of the sentence is a noun , only the number is distinguished.

Originally, the plural in Elvish was formed by adding an "-i". For nouns that end in a vowel (a, o, u) in the stem, the plural ending in Quenya was changed to "-r". Only those nouns that end in an "-e" or a consonant therefore still form the plural form "-i".

Singular	Plural	Word meaning	Plural formation
alda	aldar	Tree / trees	+ r
Rína, Rianna	Rínar, Riannar	crowned queen (s)	+ r
noldo	noldor	Wise, wise	+ r
quendu	quendur	speaker	+ r
Aran	Arani	King (s), noblewoman (r)	+ i
Door	Túri	King (s)	+ i
Tar, Tár, Táro	Tari	King (s), tsar (s)	+ i
Rince	Rinci	crowned queen (s)	Conversion e to i
go, go	lossi	Snow, white petals	Conversion e to i, or + si
coron, corone, coronde	coroni, corondi	round hill, spherical shape (s)	Conversion e to i, or + i
Táre, Tári	Tári, Tárië	Queen (s), tsarina (s)	Conversion e to i, or + ë
tál, tale, tále	táli, talli	Foot feet	Conversion e to i, or + i, + li

Sometimes masculine nouns become feminine forms by adding "-e" or "-i", for example Tár = king, Táre, Tári = queen. In the form of "-i" it is no longer possible to differentiate between Tári = kings and Tári = queen (s), so this word would have to be translated as royal .

In addition to the singular and plural, Quenya has a dual form. A distinction is made between numerical duals (doubling) "-t" or "-at" and natural pairs (of the same or similar type) "-u". Often, however, the ending that sounds better in the sentence is used. Natural pairs are, for example, hendu 'eyes', quanu 'ears', tálu 'feet', but also napat , tolpat 'two fingers' or 'thumbs' and mapat 'two hands'.

A doubling is also achieved with a prefix yú-, yúyo is 'two-fold', as in the word yucale , which means 'twilight'. It is often used in the form atyucale , with the addition of the prefix at-, i.e. 'second twilight'. This means the evening. Originally, this name referred to the light of the two trees in Valinor, which alternately shone for twelve hours. When one tree got darker and the other lighter, twice a day this mixture of golden and silver light was formed. Further prefixes are “yo-”, “yó-” or “o-”, for example in the word yomenna- “ to come together” or omentië “ to get together”, but these can be more than two parties or people. These prefixes stand for one with each other or together with several, as in this example sentence .

If the subject of the sentence is a pronoun , a pronominal ending is added to the verb. These are explained in the following section.

pronoun

Personal pronouns:

	Singular	Plural
1st person	-nyë (me)	-lvë / -lmë / -mmë (we)
2nd person informal	-tyë (you)	-ccë (her)
2nd person formal	-lyë (you)	-llë (you)
3rd person	-ro (he) / -rë (she) / -ryë (he, she, it)	-ntë (she)

The following applies: -nye for 'I', -tye for 'you', -mme for 'we' and -lye for 'her'. There are various pronouns that Tolkien changed frequently and therefore have to be partially reconstructed. These are generally used, e.g. B. in Hungarian , appended as suffixes. It is noteworthy that Quenya differentiates between inclusive and exclusive "we" ( -lmë / -lvë ), (such as the Dravidian and Austronesian languages), as well as a dual "we" (= "[only] you and I “) knows ( -mmë ) (like the Filipino languages ).

Possessive pronouns (as endings on nouns):

	Empathic	Ending	example	Short
1st person sg.	ninya	- (i) nya	atarinya = my father	-n
dual	venyat	- (i) nqua	atarinqua = our (both) father (incl.)	-
dual	menyat	- (e) mma	ataremma = our (both) father (excl.)	-
2nd person sg.	tenya (†)	- (e) tya	ataretya = your / your father	-t
2nd person sg.	lenya	- (e) lya	atarelya = your / your father (formally)	-l
dual	lanyat (dual)	- (e) sta	ataresta = both of your father	-
3rd person sg.	senya	- (e) rya	ararerya = his / her / its father	-s
dual	tenyat (dual)	- (e) tta	ataretta = father of both	-
1st person pl.	venya, menya	- (e) lva	atarelva = our father
2nd person pl.	lenya	- (e) lda	atarelda = her father
3rd person pl.	tenya	- (e) nta	atarenta = your father

Adjectives

In Quenya, adjectives are usually placed before the noun . They are only put in the plural if necessary (also not in every case), so they do not show any KNG congruence . As in German, many adjectives are also formed from compound words, for example 'pure blood' or 'hochadlig'.

Examples of adjective formation:

Root AYA / AYAN / AYAR / AIN	holy	more precise meaning	English adjective
aina, ayan, ainima	holy, -ima very holy	it can be sacred on its own or has been declared sacred	holy, prayed, awful, revered
aira, airea	sanctified, adored, adored, revered	it is undoubtedly holy, it is venerated	prayerful, airing, prious, devout
aista, aistana	to be sanctified, adorable, to be praised	one has awe of these holy things or beings	holy, saintly, sacred, prayfully
aistalea	deferential, awesome, respectful	as one behaves towards the sacred	prayerful, airing, worshipful, respectful

An aina faire is accordingly a 'holy spirit', whereby the word faire is derived from a root PHAY / SPHAN / FAYA, which includes dying, separating , i.e. the soul of a deceased or a spirit that is not bound to the body. There are a variety of adjectives that often end in -a.

adjective	root	meaning	where is the property found
istya	IS / ITH	knowing	you have the knowledge yourself, you are wise
inwisti	INK / INIK / WIS / GWIS	knowing	in the knowledge, in the knowledge of, one knows or has heard of it
laica	LAIK / LAK / LAIKA	penetrating, sharp	relating to hearing or eyesight or sound
laica	LÂYAK / LAS / LAWA / LAYA	greening, thriving	it is visible, the trees are unfolding their leaves

Although the adjective laica has an identical spelling, it has two different roots and therefore has several meanings.

laicahenya means 'sharp-eyed', 'sharp-sighted' or 'with piercing gaze', hendu are 'two eyes'.

laicalassea or lasselaica is 'green- leafed ', 'green-leaved' or 'leaf-green', 'leaf-green'. But it can also be 'sharp-sighted' because the word lasse / laste also means 'sight'.

Laicahlastea , on the other hand, can also be called 'sharp-eared' or 'pointed-eared', since the LAS root belongs to both the leaf and the ear.

Therefore, some word meanings often only arise from the context of sentences or they describe entire groups of properties. When speaking of the Elf Laicolas, Laicalasse (Quenya spelling of the name Legolas), he can be characterized in many ways by this word, for example. He is astute when it comes to his eyes, ears and his mind, but also a friend of the green foliage (wood elf) and possibly a little green behind the ears, so a relatively young elf. And all of that summed up in one word.

The adjective can often be increased by adding the suffix '-ima' or the prefix 'an-, am-'.

adjective	Prefix an-	Suffix -ima	Prefix + suffix
calya	ancalya	calima	ancalima
bright	more luminous, very bright	shining, shining brighter	shining brightest, brightest

This can be seen in Frodo's exclamation "Aiya Earendil Elenion Ancalima!" - "See, Earendil, the star of the brightest!"

Elvish names

There are several types of Elvish names .

Ataresse - father's name that the father chooses for the child and which is usually also used as a first name.
Amilesse, Mamilesse, Emilesse - mother names, which are also called the name of foresight or knowledge, because they say something about the later character or properties.
Epesse, Anesse - names of honor, attribute names, surname or nickname for example the graceful or the great .
Yalme, Yame - nicknames, nicknames.
Cilmesse - choice names that you choose yourself.

In addition, there is a naming system that is structured as follows:

Essecarme - the creation or creation of a name, for example a combination of words.
Essecilme - the naming or choice of name.
Essecenta - name recognition or name recognition that applies particularly to mother names.

If a name like Ambarto 'redhead' is chosen for a child , as the sixth son Feanáros (Sindarin Feanor) was called by his mother's name, he is prophesied of an eventful future, because this word also means' the fateful ', which is why he also called Umbarto ' uncertain fate ' was called. That is why he was usually called by his father's name Pityafinwe 'smallest finwe' or ' the redhead' in Sindarin Amrod , so as not to challenge fate. Twins usually have names with an identical meaning, his brother was called Ambarussa or Ambartan (Sindarin Amras), which also means 'redhead'. His father's name was Telufinwe 'Last Finwe'. Of course they both had red hair.

literature

JRR Tolkien: Letters. Published by Humphrey Carpenter . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1991, ISBN 3-608-93650-5 .
Helmut W. Pesch : Elvish. Grammar, writing and dictionary of the Elven language by JRR Tolkien. Bastei Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2003, ISBN 3-404-20476-X .
Helmut W. Pesch: Elvish learning and exercise book of Elben languages by JRR Tolkien. Bastei Lübbe, 2004, ISBN 3-404-20498-0 .
JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings. Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 978-3-608-93830-2 .
Helmut W. Pesch: The large Elvish book - grammar, writing and dictionary of the Elven language JRR Tolkien with appendices to the languages of the dwarfs and orcs. Bastei-Lübbe, Bergisch Gladbach 2009, ISBN 978-3-404-28524-2 .

Web links

Wiktionary: Quenya - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

German site that deals with Quenya (includes a Quenya course for self-study and a German-Quenya word list)
PONS online dictionary German-Elvish with results in Sindarin and Quenya

Individual evidence

↑ ISO 639 code sets - qya on sil.org.
↑ JRR Tolkien: Letters. P. 233 (No. 144 To Naomi Mitchison ).
On the origin of Quenya, Carpenter: JRR Tolkien. P. 74 f.
↑ Helmut W. Pesch: Elbisch learning and exercise book of Elben-Sprachen by JRR Tolkien.
↑ The Lord of the Rings. Part 1, Chapter 3, p. 103.
↑ A text in Quenya, written in Tengwar and Latin letters. JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-608-93222-4 , Farewell to Lórien, p. 406 (Original title: The Lord of the Rings . Translated by Wolfgang Krege ).
↑ It only arises in word combinations such as Anna (gift) and el (star) = star gift.
↑ In the spelling then always as a long ó / ú, as in laur and lór (bright yellow, golden) or rauma- / rúma- (make noises, whisper, rumble)
↑ in word compositions there is the combination ch , which is unusual in Quenya , but which are always spoken like two individual letters; smelled walls [ro k h ande]
↑ Originally it stood for a sound like in German bach [ˈba x ], but it weakened over time to b .
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Feanoric notation
↑ The sound originally stood for a ch as in German Mil ch , but over time it became h (Das Große Elbischbuch. P. 219.)
↑ In the numerical spelling the Tengwar symbol is still given as k , in the spelling of Feanor this symbol stands for qu , in that of Beleriand for c .
↑ The Great Elvish Book. P. 77.
↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d Note: In Quenya there is no consonant b as in Sindarin, it corresponds to either m , p or v ; mar (S. bar), Parandol (S: Barandol) or verya- (S. bertha-, brenia-)
↑ ^a ^b Feanoric spelling or spelling of Beleriand
↑ In the Third Age it was shortened to n at the beginning of the word .
↑ In the Third Age it was shortened to nw at the beginning of the word . However, ñw was still used in the spelling .
↑ Whether it is pronounced as a long f depends on the composition of the word. In the Third Age, all long consonants may have been shortened.
^ Laurence J. Krieg: Tolkien's Pronunciation: Some Observations. Jim Allen (ed.): An Introduction to Elvish. Bran's Head Books, 4/1995, p. 158.
↑ Helmut W. Pesch: Elvish for beginners - learning and exercise book . In: Bastei Lübbe (Hrsg.): Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch . tape 17336 . Bastei Lübbe, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-404-17336-5 , p. 364 .

[1] ISO 639 code sets - qya on sil.org.

[2] JRR Tolkien: Letters. P. 233 (No. 144 To Naomi Mitchison ).
On the origin of Quenya, Carpenter: JRR Tolkien. P. 74 f.

[3] Helmut W. Pesch: Elbisch learning and exercise book of Elben-Sprachen by JRR Tolkien.

[4] The Lord of the Rings. Part 1, Chapter 3, p. 103.

[5] A text in Quenya, written in Tengwar and Latin letters. JRR Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings . Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 2000, ISBN 3-608-93222-4 , Farewell to Lórien, p. 406 (Original title: The Lord of the Rings . Translated by Wolfgang Krege ).

[6] It only arises in word combinations such as Anna (gift) and el (star) = star gift.

[7] In the spelling then always as a long ó / ú, as in laur and lór (bright yellow, golden) or rauma- / rúma- (make noises, whisper, rumble)

[8] word compositions there is the combination ch , which is unusual in Quenya , but which are always spoken like two individual letters; smelled walls [ro k h ande]

[9] Originally it stood for a sound like in German bach [ˈba x ], but it weakened over time to b .

[Tengwar_F-10] ↑ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j Feanoric notation

[11] The sound originally stood for a ch as in German Mil ch , but over time it became h (Das Große Elbischbuch. P. 219.)

[12] In the numerical spelling the Tengwar symbol is still given as k , in the spelling of Feanor this symbol stands for qu , in that of Beleriand for c .

[13] The Great Elvish Book. P. 77.

[b-14] Note: In Quenya there is no consonant b as in Sindarin, it corresponds to either m , p or v ; mar (S. bar), Parandol (S: Barandol) or verya- (S. bertha-, brenia-)

[Tengwar_FB-15] Feanoric spelling or spelling of Beleriand

[16] In the Third Age it was shortened to n at the beginning of the word .

[17] In the Third Age it was shortened to nw at the beginning of the word . However, ñw was still used in the spelling .

[18] Whether it is pronounced as a long f depends on the composition of the word. In the Third Age, all long consonants may have been shortened.

[19] Laurence J. Krieg: Tolkien's Pronunciation: Some Observations. Jim Allen (ed.): An Introduction to Elvish. Bran's Head Books, 4/1995, p. 158.

[20] Helmut W. Pesch: Elvish for beginners - learning and exercise book . In: Bastei Lübbe (Hrsg.): Bastei-Lübbe-Taschenbuch . tape 17336 . Bastei Lübbe, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-404-17336-5 , p. 364 .