13.54 Cardinal Number
- Q. canta num. “four”
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The Quenya word for “four” derived from the root √KANAT of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT42/24; VT48/6; Ety/KÁNAT).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. kanta “four” dates all the way back to the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82), but in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “four” was ᴱQ. nelde (QL/65), which in Tolkien’s later writings meant “three”.
- Q. enquë num. “six”
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The Quenya word for “six” derived from the root √ENEK of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT48/7-10; Ety/ÉNEK). The modification of ancient *enek- to *enekwē was a Quenya-only innovation, influenced by minquë “eleven” and yunquë “twelve” (VT48/7).
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. enqe “six” dates all the way back to the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, but there it had a variant enekse (PE14/49, 82). The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. ende “six” under the early root ᴱ√ENE² of the same meaning (QL/35).
- Q. lempë num. “five”
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The Quenya word for “five” derived from the root √LEPEN via the Quenya syncope and metathesis: ✶lepene > lepne > lenpe > lempe (PE17/95; VT42/24; VT47/10; VT48/6; Ety/LEP).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. lemin “five” under the early root ᴱ√LEH [LEǶE] “half”, and Q. lempe was “ten” in this 1910s document (QL/52). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, the word lempe was “five” (GL/53). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (EQG), lemin “five” reappeared and ᴱQ. lempe was “half” (PE14/49, 82, 84). Beginning with The Etymologies of the 1930s the usual Quenya word for “five” was lempe (Ety/LEP), but occasional variants like lemne and lemen continued to appear (PE17/95; VT48/6).
- Q. minquë num. “eleven”
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The Quenya word for “eleven” dating all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (PE17/95; VT48/6-8; Ety/MINI; PE14/49, 82; QL/61). In notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (HFN) from 1968 Tolkien said it was a combination √MIN “first” and √KEWE “new, fresh”, so originally meaning “the start (first) of a new decade, another min” (VT48/7).
- Q. nertë num. “nine”
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The Quenya word for “nine” derived from the root √NETER of the same meaning (PE17/95; VT42/26; VT48/6; Ety/NÉTER).
Conceptual Development: The Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s had ᴱQ. {huo >>} hue “nine” (PE14/49, 82), and the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. olme(t) “nine” under the early root ᴱ√OLO¹ “tip” (QL/69).
- Q. otso num. “seven”
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The usual Quenya word for “seven” was otso dating all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (PE17/96; VT47/42; VT48/6; Ety/OT; PE14/49, 82; QL/71), though it had occasional variants like otos (PE17/95) or {oxo >>} osko (VT47/42). Its root form was √OTOS or √OTOK, the latter producing S. odog “seven”.
- Q. quëan num. “ten”
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Notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (HFN) from 1968 had the words quëan and quain for “ten” (VT48/6). The latter was used in adjectival quainëa “tenth” (VT42/25), and on this basis I believe quain is the form used in compounds, while quëan is its form as an independent word. Its primitive form is ✶kwayam based on the root √kwaya originally referring to the whole (√KWA) set of ten fingers (VT42/24).
Conceptual Development: Tolkien introduced this word for “ten” fairly late in his life. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “ten” was ᴱQ. lempe, related to ᴱQ. lemin “five” and appearing under the early root ᴱ√LEH [LEǶE] (QL/52). In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, the base word for “ten” was ᴱQ. kai, already referring to the ten fingers (PE14/51, 84). In combination with other numbers it used its partitive form ᴱQ. kainen “ten” as in ᴱQ. yukainen “twenty” = “*two of ten”, ᴱQ. otsokainen “seventy” = “*seven of ten”, and so forth (PE14/49, 82-83). It had an adjectival variant ᴱQ. kea also used in the “teen” numbers: ᴱQ. kankea “fourteen” (PE14/49, 82).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s the partitive form became the normal form ᴹQ. kainen “ten” under root ᴹ√KAYAN of the same meaning (Ety/KAYAN). The form cainen “ten” continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings (PE17/95; CPT/1296) along with a shorter form cëa. This short form kea(n) appeared in rough notes associated with HFN from 1968, replacing kainen to avoid confusion with cainen “I lay”. Ultimately in this document Tolkien settled on quëan/quain as mentioned above.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I use quëan “ten” as an independent word and quain in compounds such as ᴺQ. yuquain “twenty” = “two tens”.
- ᴹQ. -rasta suf. “twelve”
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A suffix appearing in [ᴹQ.] yurasta “twenty four” in notes from the 1930s, probably meaning “*double twelve” (PE14/17 note #6). Thus -rasta means “twelve”, as further evidenced by ᴹ√rasat “twelve” on the same page. This word seems to be the basis for a duo-decimal numbering system, with -rasta taking the same role as -cainen “ten”; compare yucainen “twenty” = “*double ten”. Presumably there are larger numbers like *nelerasta “thirty six = triple twelve” and *cantarasta “forty eight = quadruple twelve”, the duodecimal equivalents of thirty, forty, etc.
- Q. toldo num. “eight”
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The Quenya number “eight” derived from the root √TOLOD, probably from primitive *✶tolodō, with the middle vowel lost due to the Quenya syncope.
Conceptual Development: The earliest attested Qenya word for “eight” was ᴱQ. {ungo >>} umna in the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s (GL/75), but when Tolkien composed the number lists in the Early Qenya Grammar from the 1920s, it was revised to ᴱQ. tolto (PE14/49, 82). In The Etymologies from the 1930s it remained ᴹQ. tolto from the root ᴹ√TOLOT (Ety/TOL¹-OTH/OT).
When Tolkien revisited the Elvish number system in the 1960s, he first used tolto (VT47/32), but he later changed the t to a d in both the Quenya form and the root (VT48/6).
Neo-Quenya: I personally prefer toldo as the Quenya word for “eight”, but some Neo-Quenya writers use the older (and perhaps better known) tolto. It seems Tolkien had considerable trouble deciding on the primitive root for “eight”, so any of these forms could be valid (VT47/31).
- Q. yunquë num. “twelve”
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The ordinary Quenya word for “twelve”, whose use dates back to at least the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82). In notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (HFN) from 1968, Tolkien said its primitive form ✶yūnekē was an elaboration of √ENEK “six” meaning “two (or both) sixes” (VT47/41; VT48/9-10). In Quenya it then picked up a w so that k > kw, either under the influence of minquë “eleven” (VT48/7) or from dual we (VT48/10). Compare also suffixal [ᴹQ.] -rasta “twelve” in duodecimal counting words like yurasta “twenty four” = “*two twelves”.