12.394 Up, Above, Over
- Q. am- pref. “up, [ᴱQ.] upwards”
-
A prefix for “up”, very well attested and derived from √AM of the same meaning (Ety/AM²).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. am(u)- “up(wards)” reflecting the earliest form of the root ᴱ√AM(U) (QL/30), but by the 1920s the u was dropped (PE16/75), and it was only am- thereafter. In Tolkien’s later conception, it probably became ama- when seperation from a following consonant or cluster was needed (PE17/92), as in ᴹQ. amatikse “above dot” (Ety/TIK).
- Q. amba adv. “up(wards)”
-
An adverb for “up(wards)” derived from the root √AM “up” (PE17/157; Ety/AM²). In one place Tolkien said it “is generally limited to the qualification of words signifying or implying motion: especially ‘rise, ascend, climb, grow etc.’ (PE17/91)”, but that was not the case in (for example) Ambarussa “Top-russet” (PM/354), so this rule was not universal.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. amu “up(wards)” reflecting the earliest form of the root ᴱ√AM(U) (QL/30), but by the 1920s it was amba “up” (PE13/137; PE16/62), a form that was retained thereafter. In one place in the The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave it an alternate form ama beside amba (Ety/UNU), but since this was as an element in ᴹQ. amatikse “above dot” (Ety/TIK; EtyAC/UNU) I think it is more likely a variant of prefixal am- “up”.
- Q. or prep. “above, [ᴱQ.] upon; ⚠️on”
-
A preposition for “above” in the phrase ar i Eru i or ilyë mahalmar ëa tennoio “and of the One who is above all thrones for ever” (UT/305), clearly the Quenya equivalent of N. or “above” and thus based on the root √ORO “rise” (Ety/ORO).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s gave ᴱQ. or the gloss “on”, though it was already derived from the root ᴱ√ORO¹ at this early stage (QL/70). It was glossed “above” in English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/68), but was translated “upon” in Earendel Poem from around 1930 (MC/216). It has what appears to be an inverted form ro in a sentence in Early Qenya Word-lists from around this period: ᴱQ. sinda nekka ui sara ro sinda hyalin me sinda móro, untranslated but probably something like “*this pen is not writing [up]on this paper with this ink” (PE16/146).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use the word or for both “above [but not touching]” and “upon = above and touching”.
- Q. oro- pref. “up, aloft”
-
A prefix for “up, aloft” in oromar “lofty hall” (PE17/64), clearly related to or “above” and the root √ORO “rise”.
- ᴱQ. orta prep. “above”
-
The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. orta “above” under the early root ᴱ√ORO¹ (QL/70). The English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s had orta “above” as an adverb, plus atta/orta as prepositions, but these were all deleted.
Neo-Quenya: Luinyelle and Arael coined a neologism ᴺQ. orsa [þ] “upper, above” as an adjective, posted to the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) on 2022-05-23 and inspired by G. ortha and ᴺS. orth “upper”. As pointed out by Parmandil in 2024, this cannot be derived from *ortha since otherwise rth > rt, so it must be from or(o)thā; compare ursa [þ] “rage” < *ur(u)tha.
- Q. to prep. “on, above; ⚠️for; [ᴹQ.] in”
-
A preposition appearing as tŏ in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 with some difficult-to-read glosses, but apparently including “on” and “above” (PE22/168).
Conceptual Development: The preposition ᴹQ. to appeared in a sentence from around 1948 with the gloss “in”: ᴹQ. lairesse nihare to tarassi, yu unta hrívesse landannar “in the summer I live in the hills as a rule, and come down to the plains in the winter” (PE22/125), but this use of to might be a loose translation of “on”, since otherwise “hills” would just be in the locative. The preposition tó also appeared with a long ó in the second and third versions of the Löa Yucainen poem from the 1950s: ai tó sí ilyama menta hwirya hondoringe fúmenen istarion “Alas for now all begins to wither in the breath of cold-hearted wizards” (CPT/1297, 1298), but this use is harder to reconcile with to = “on, above”.
A similar preposition ᴱQ. tă “on, above” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TAHA, and with a long vowel tā was an adverb meaning “high above, high up” (QL/87). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, tá was again an adverb meaning “above”, but this was deleted (PE15/67). Elsewhere in this 1920s dictionary, ta was translated “beside, by, at side” (PE15/70) and “than” (PE15/78). In the contemporaneous Early Qenya Grammar this had the meaning “by, beside”, also used in comparisons where English would use “than” (PE14/48, 81).
Later to “on, above” might be a partial restoration of the 1910s meanings of ta.
- S. am adv. and pref. “up, [G.] upwards, ⚠️towards head of, above”
-
The basic Sindarin adverb and prefix for “up”, very well attested and derived from the root √AM of the same meaning. Since the m survives in this adverb, it must have been derived from amb- (PE22/35); compare its Quenya equivalent Q. amba.
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where G. am appeared as an adverb with the glosses “up, upwards, towards head of” (GL/19). In Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document, G. am was first glossed “above”, but was quickly revised to “above, up” (PE13/109). Starting with Early Noldorin word-lists of the 1920s and into The Etymologies of the 1930s, the gloss was only “up” (PE13/137, 159; Ety/AM²).
- N. or prep. and pref. “above; ⚠️[G.] onto, on top, on”
-
A preposition and prefix in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “above” and derived from the root ᴹ√ORO “up; rise; high” (Ety/ORO).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had adverb G. or “on, on top” which could be used as a preposition meaning “on, onto” (GL/63), clearly also derived from ᴱ√ORO¹. As a prefix, G. or- meant “on, onto, up, in addition to, etc.” (GL/62).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would only use or as an adverb/preposition/prefix for “above [not necessarily touching]”, while for “on [top of]” I would use S. po.
- G. ortha adj. “upper”
-
An adjective appearing as G. ortha “upper” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/63), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√ORO¹ having to do with things rising (QL/70). It had an adverbial equivalent G. orthi “up” (GL/63).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would adapt the adjective as ᴺS. orth “upper”, but for the adverb I would use later S. am “up”.
- S. po prep. “on”
-
A word for “on” in the Ae Adar Nín prayer of the 1950s, appearing only in its lenited form bo (VT44/21). Bill Welden suggested it might be related to primitive √apa “touch” (VT44/26), perhaps from primitive *pā.
Conceptual Development: Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. ó “to, on” derived from primitive ᴱ✶apa, with apa > aa > á > au > o when unstressed (PE13/151), though why the intervocalic p vanished isn’t clear.