13.34 First
- Q. eteminya adj. “prominent, *eminent”
-
A word for “prominent” in notes from the late 1960s, a combination of et(e)- “out” and minya “first” (VT42/24).
- ᴹQ. héra adj. “chief, principal, *main”
-
A word for “chief, principal” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, an adjective form of ᴹQ. heru “master” under the root ᴹ√KHER “rule, govern, possess” (Ety/KHER).
Neo-Quenya: Tamas Ferencz suggested héra may also mean “*main” in the 1000 Words project (1000W), for example: [ᴺQ.] héramat “main course, (lit.) chief meal”.
- ᴹQ. minda adj. “prominent, conspicuous”
-
An adjective for “prominent, conspicuous” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√MINI “stand alone, stick out” (Ety/MINI).
- Q. minya adj. “first; eminent, prominent”
-
The usual Quenya word for “first” dating all the way back to the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, based on the word min “one” used when counting (PE14/51, 82; Ety/MINI; PE23/134; VT42/10). In notes from the late 1960s Tolkien said it could also mean “eminent, prominent” (VT42/24), but there are also more distinctive words for “prominent” such as eteminya or [ᴹQ.] minda.
- ᴱQ. minyallume adv. “firstly, *first time”
-
An adverb appearing as ᴱQ. minyallume “firstly” in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s as a combination of ᴱQ. minya “first” and ᴱQ. -llume “time”, so more literally “*first time” (PE14/84). Tolkien said this word was “rare except … in enumerating the heads of an argument”, much how English might use “in the first place”. The more usual way of expressing “first” as an adverb was to use ᴱQ. min “one (in counting)”, as in ᴱQ. hu·karne ha min “he did it first (i.e. either before anyone else did so, or before he did anything else)”.
Neo-Quenya: Since both minya “first” and ᴹQ. -llume “time” survive in Tolkien’s later writings, I would retain ᴺQ. minyallumë “firstly” for purposes of Neo-Quenya. I would also retain the use of min used as an adverb “first”, though the example phrase would become carnes sa min “he/she did it first” in Tolkien’s later system of pronouns.
- ᴱQ. qeluva adj. “original”
-
A word in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as ᴱQ. {qĕlūva >>} qĕlŭva “original” under the early root ᴱ√QEL+U as an adjective form of ᴱQ. qelu “source” (QL/76).
Neo-Quenya: Since I update qelu to ᴺQ. celu “source, origin” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would update the adjective to ᴺQ. celuva “original” as well.
- Q. tolya adj. “prominent, *noticeable, standing out”
-
A word for “prominent” in notes on numbers from the later 1960s, clearly based on √TOL “stand up, stick out” (VT47/16). I would use it for “prominent” in the sense “*noticeable, standing out”, as opposed to eteminya for “prominent” = “eminent, superior”.
- G. caithonwed adj. “original”
-
A word appearing as G. caithonwed “original” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, an adjective related to G. caithos “causation” and G. caith “cause, reason, motive” (GL/24).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would update this to ᴺS. caetheb “original” based on ᴺS. caeth “cause, reason, motive” as an updated form of G. caith.
- S. main adj. “prime, chief, pre-eminent”
-
A word for “prime, chief, pre-eminent” appearing in notes from the late 1960s derived originally from mein < ✶minya “first” but drifting in meaning (VT42/25). The word for “first” became minui.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had adjective G. thegin “leading, chief” related to the noun G. thegor “chief” (GL/72).
- S. minui adj. “first”
-
The ususal Sindarin word for “first” appearing in notes from the late 1960s, replacing more archaic †mein that was a direct cognate of Q. minya “first” (VT42/10, 25). It is a combination of min “one” and the adjectival suffix -ui.
Conceptual Development: The word N. ereg “first” appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s as the initial version of the river-name S. Erui (TI/312). The Etymologies of the 1930s had various rejected words for “first” tied to variations on Firstborn as a title of the Elves: N. edhen “first” under rejected entry ᴹ√EDE or ᴹ√EDEL “precede, come forward” (EtyAC/EDE) and N. seth “first” {>> “forth”} under rejected ᴹ√SET “precede forward” (EtyAC/SET). The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. thegra “first, foremost” related to G. thegor “chief” (GL/72).
- S. ned n. “*one more; ⚠️first; *during”
-
This word replaced the preposition uin “of the” in the third version of the King’s Letter, appearing in the phrase nelchaenen ned Echuir “the thirty-first day of Stirring”. Both Carl Hostetter (VT31/30) and David Salo (SG/229) theorized that this replacement has a similar prepositional function, from either √NOT “count” or √NED “middle”. Fiona Jallings suggested it might be a temporal preposition, with sense “during” (FJNS/349).
On VT47/40, note 67, Patrick Wynne suggested that this word might be a cognate of the newly published Quenya word net(ë) “one more”. This theory is supported by the most likely interpretation of nelchaenen. This word seems to mean “thirtieth” rather than “thirty-first”, and Patrick Wynne suggested that nelchaenen ned means “thirtieth and one more” = “thirty-first”. I find this theory the most compelling, and use it here.