13.37 Second
- Q. attëa adj. “second”
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The usual Quenya word for “second”, an adjectival form of atta “two” (VT42/25).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. potsina appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with the glosses “rearward, back, rear, hinder”, and based on ᴱQ. pote “after, behind (of place)” under the early root ᴱ√POT-I (QL/75). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s it had the added meaning “second” along with “next, following” (PE14/51, 82).
The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. neuna “second” derived from ᴹ✶ndeu̯na under the root ᴹ√NDEW “follow, come behind” (Ety/NDEW). Neuna was thus likely semantically similar to ᴱQ. potsina where “second” = “*following”. The word neuna has a variant nyûna that Tolkien marked with a “?” (EtyAC/NDEW).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use attëa as the usual word for “second”, but I would retain neuna for “second” in the sense “*immediately following, next”.
- ᴹQ. enatwa adj. “the second (of two)”
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A word meaning “the second (of two)” appearing in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 as a combination of demonstrative en with atwa “either” (PE23/107 and note #83). Presumably when given an either/or choice, enatwa would be used when you choose the second option.
- Q. †tatya adj. “second”
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An archaic word for “second”, replaced in modern Quenya by attëa (VT42/25). The archaic word appeared as the ancient name of the tribe of the Noldor: Tatyar “Seconds” (WJ/380, 420). There was another variant atya appearing in a few archaic names like Atyarussa “Second-russa” (VT41/10) and (probably) Atyamar “*Second Home” (NM/51).
- S. tadui adj. “second”
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The Sindarin word for “second”, an adjectival form of tâd “two” in notes from the late 1960s using the adjectival suffix -ui (VT42/25).
Conceptual Development: Earlier in these same 1960s notes, Tolkien had tadeg as the colloquial word for “second” but this word was deleted (VT42/10).
Sometime around 1950, the King’s Letter from the unpublished epilogue to The Lord of the Rings had a word edwen “second” in the phrase egor ben genediad Drannail erin Gwirith edwen “or in the Shire-reckoning the second day of April” (SD/129). The preceding phrase had dolothen “eighth”, clearly a mutated form of tolothen which was an adjectival form of toloth “eight” with the adjectival suffix -en rather than later -ui. The same suffix can be seen in edwen, and its initial element might be related to adu (adw-) “double”.
The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. obin “second, next” based on G. ob “after, close behind” (GL/62).
- S. taid adj. “supporting, second in command”
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An archaic Sindarin word that used to mean “second”, the equivalent of Q. tatya. For this meaning, it was displaced in modern Sindarin by tadui. The word taid remained in use only for the more limited sense “supporting, second in command” (VT42/25).