12.397 Beyond
- Q. ambela adv. “further still beyond, far away beyond”
- A word glossed “further still beyond, far away beyond” in notes from around 1967, a combination ambë “more” and lá “beyond” (PE17/91).
- Q. haila adv. “far beyond”
- A word for “far beyond” in notes from 1965, a combination of ᴹ√KHAY “far” and lá “beyond” (PE17/65). In this note it was a “more remote” variant of palla.
- Q. han prep. “beyond”
- A word for “beyond” in the final version of the Átaremma prayer of the 1950s in the phrase Átaremma i ëa han Eä, equivalent to “our Father who art in Heaven” but more literally “*who is beyond Creation” (VT43/12). This word also appeared with the gloss “beyond” in notes from around 1970 as a derivative of √HAN “add to, increase, enhance, honour (espec. by gift)” (VT43/14).
- Q. lá prep. and adv. “beyond, across, athwart, over”
- A preposition for “beyond” and an element in better-known pella of similar meaning. Tolkien described it extensively in some notes from around 1965 trying to determine why pella was used as post-position (PE17/65). Tolkien first considered making lá a deictic (demonstrative) element referring to something like “far away [there]”, so that lá was also used as a post-position as in Andúne lá “beyond (distant) Andúne”, while pella had a more elaborate meaning as in Andúne pella “beyond the boundary fixed in or by Andúne”.
Tolkien was dissatisfied with this derivation, however, because of its similarity to French là = “there”. He instead decided that lā was a preposition or adverb meaning “across, over, beyond” based on √LAŊ. He decided pella should be modified to palla where the initial element was √PAL “broad, wide” also seen in palan “far”. This revision of pella >> palla did not appear elsewhere, however.
In this 1965 note Tolkien said that lá was static and had different moving forms like allative lanna, as in caitas lá i sír “it is [lies] beyond the river” vs. lendes lann’ i sír “he came [went] to a point beyond the river”.
The word lá “beyond” reappeared in notes on comparison from around 1967, where it was the normal way of saying “A is brighter than B”: A (ná) kalima lá B, more literally “A is bright beyond B” (PE17/90). In this note Tolkien derived lá from √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond” similar to the conclusion of the 1965 note above (PE17/91), but in 1967 its elaboration was once again pella “beyond the boundary” (PE17/92).
Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor of this word was probably ᴱQ. la “before” appearing in the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/70). In the contemporaneous Early Qenya Grammar, this word was used in comparisons to mean “than” (PE14/48, 81). Contrast this with a 1957-59 document where epë “before” was used for comparison (PE17/56), and the 1967 document mentioned above where lá was again used for comparison but in its later sense “beyond” (PE17/90-92).
In drafts of the Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930, the similar word ᴱQ. ala appeared, first with the sense “before” (PE16/62, 68) and then with the sense “after” (MC/221). The final version of the Oilima Markirya presented in the “A Secret Vice” essay circa 1930 had ala with the translation “beyond” (MC/214). This last instance was the likely precursor to later lá “beyond”, and the version of Markirya poem from the 1960s used post-position pella instead of preposition ala.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume lá is a preposition or adverb meaning “beyond” or “across” in the sense “past or on the other side of”: i coa hare lá i síre “the house sits beyond/across/on the other side of the river (either close or far)”. It can be used of both physical and metaphorical position, and in this metaphorical sense can be used for comparison: Aragorn (ná) halla lá Gimli “Aragorn is tall beyond Gimli” = “taller than Gimli”. Lá can be used in the sense “over” as in “over there”, but for “over = above” I would instead use Q. or. In English “beyond” sometimes has a connotation of great distance due to its connection to “yonder” but that is not the case for simple lá in Quenya; “far beyond” would instead be haila.
- Q. pella prep. and adv. “beyond (boundary or limit)”
- A word for “beyond” in the Namárië poem as well as the 1960s version of Markirya poem, in both cases uses as a post-position in the phrases Andúnë pella “beyond the West” (LotR/377) and elenillor pella “[from] beyond the stars” (MC/222) respectively. It was also used in the second-to-last version of the Átaremma prayer from the 1950s, appearing as a preposition in the phrase Átaremma i ëa pell’ Ëa “*our father who is beyond existence” with pell’ revised to han in the final version of the prayer (VT43/12).
Tolkien specified that the more precise meaning of pella was “beyond the borders of” (RGEO/58) and that it was “only used of structures, natural or artificial, forming a fence or wall or a boundary” (PE17/92).
Possible Etymology: In Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien derived pella from ✶peth-la (PE17/64). In notes from around 1965, Tolkien tried to explain why pella was used as a post-position. He first considered making its second element lá a deictic (demonstrative) element meaning “far away”, and made its initial element be √PEL “edge, bound, fence, limit”, so meaning something like “*far away there past the boundary”. But he became dissatisfied with this derivation due to similarities with French là “there” (PE17/65).
He then decided that lá was an ordinary preposition meaning “across, over, beyond”, and the initial element should be √PAL as seen in palan “far”, resulting in a new form palla, saying that its use as a post-position in Namárië was poetical rather that normal grammar (PE17/65). However, this new form palla was not applied in the second edition of The Lord of the Rings, and in the “prose” version of Namárië from The Road Goes Ever On published in 1967 pella was still used a post-position (RGEO/58).
Finally, in notes from 1967, Tolkien said that the original formation was Andúne pelo lá as in “beyond the West fence”, which was then reduced to Andúne pella and reinterpreted as “beyond the boundary of the West” (PE17/92).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume pella is a preposition or adverb meaning “beyond the boundary of”, useable only of things that form boundaries like mountain ranges, fences, and rivers. For “beyond” in a more general sense, use Q. lá. I would further assume that due to quirks of its origin (pelo lá > pella) it tends to be used as a post-position, but can be used as a preposition as well.
- N. athan prep. “beyond”
- A word appearing in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s in the name N. Bronwe athan Harthad “Endurance beyond Hope” (SD/62). According to Christopher Tolkien, the form athan is very unclear and uncertain (SD/70 note #6). It might instead be athar, which would be more compatible with the root √THAR “across, beyond” (PE17/14; Ety/THAR).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. {athron “further, beyond” >>} adron “further, beyond, over, on other side” based on G. {athra “across, athwart” >>} adr(a) “lying athwart; situated on far side” (GL/17). This hints that later athan “beyond” may be based on N. ath- “across” (Ety/AT(AT)).