12.398 To, Towards
- Q. am(be)na adv. “nearer to”
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A word appearing as amna or ambena “nearer to” in notes from around 1967, an allative form of ambë “more” and more precisely meaning “to a further point in the motion towards an object” (PE17/91). It might be contrasted with ambela “further still beyond” or (hypothetical) *ambelo “further away from”.
- Q. an(a) prep. “to, towards, to a point near, alongside; ⚠️[ᴱQ.] until”
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A word meaning “to” or “towards”, the prepositional equivalent of allative suffix -nna. It dates back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. ana “to(wards)” appeared under the early root ᴱ√ANA (QL/31). In later writings it usually appeared as an or ana and had a similar derivation from √ANA (PE17/127; VT49/35; Ety/NĀ¹), but it also appeared as na (PE21/79; PE23/92; VT27/10). It is similar to but distinct from the conjunction/adverb an “for; furthermore”, because ana can serve a dative or allative function (PE17/147). For example: an i falmalī “upon the many waves” vs. more usual allative i falmalinna (PE17/127). In one place Tolkien said the inverted form na had the more precise meaning “towards, to a position near, alongside”, implying not only approach but arrival alongside (PE21/79).
- Q. ana- pref. “to, towards”
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A prefixal form of preposition an(a) from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/NĀ¹). It was mentioned as a verbal prefix {na- >>} ana- in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 (PE17/147), and while the paragraph where it appeared was rejected I think it likely the prefix itself was retain.
- Q. -nna suf. “(movement) to, towards, onto, at (arriving at a point); allative suffix”
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The Quenya allative suffix indicating motion towards; see that entry for discussion.
Conceptual Development: In Tolkien’s earlier writings, it had other forms like ᴱQ. -nta or -tta (PE14/46, 78).
- Q. tar(a) adv. “thither; ⚠️[ᴹQ.] beyond”
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An (archaic?) word for “thither” appearing in a list of demonstratives from 1968, a combination of primitive ✶ta with the ancient allative suffix ✶-da (VT49/11). The short form tar was mentioned a few times in Tolkien’s earlier writings (PE19/104; Ety/TA). In one phrase from the 1930s, tar was used in the sense “beyond”: enyáre tar i tyel, íre Anarinya qeluva “in that day beyond the end, when my Sun faileth” (LR/72).
- S. na prep. “to, towards; at”
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This was the preposition for “to(wards)” in Sindarin for relationships of both space and time, and was derived from the root √NA of similar meaning (PE17/146-147). Before consonants na used vocalic mutation and before vowels it was reduced to n’ (PE17/147). In the phrase ai na vedui Dúnadan “Ah! at last, Dúnadan!” it was used with the sense “at (a point of time or place)” (PE17/16). It is not clear whether this is a loose translation or an actual variant meaning.
Conceptual Development: The word G. ar {“at, by, beside” >>} “at” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, with the meaning “at, towards” when combined with the dative (GL/19). The word ar was glossed “at, to” in Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document (PE13/110).
Neo-Sindarin: The Gnomish precursor ar indicates that a simultaneous meaning of “at” and “to” is possible, but Gnomish distinguished the two by using a dative inflection that was not a feature of Sindarin. For Sindarin, I would assume basic sense of na is “to”, and the sense “at” is actually “arriving at” implied when the modified noun is a terminus in space or time: “to last > (arriving) at [the] last” or “to destination > (arriving) at [the] destination”. Compare compare Q. na in notes from the early 1950s that was used “with sense ‘to’, but this at nearest means ‘towards, to a position near, alongside’ (PE21/79)”.
See also an “to, for” used of more purely dative relationships.
- S. taw adv. “thither”
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A word for “thither” based on ✶tad = √TA “that” + ancient allative suffix ✶-da “motion towards”, where final [d] spirantalized and vanished (PE19/104). In the 1930s and 40s it appeared only in its Old Noldorin form tō (Ety/TA; PE19/52; PE21/58).