14.18 Now
- Q. sí adv. “now”
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The Quenya word for “now” which is very well attested. In notes on demonstratives from 1968, it is a vowel-lengthened form of demonstrative si “this” (VT49/18) which seems to be a standard way of forming adverbs of time in Tolkien’s later writings; compare tá “then” (VT49/11) and yá “when” (VT49/23). This vowel-lengthening construction was explicitly described in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948: “The bare stems lengthened are used [for adverbs of time]” (PE23/109).
In Tolkien’s writings from the 1930s and 40s, he occasionally had sin or sín “now” with an n (Ety/SIN; LR/47; SD/247; SD/310). One working theory is that this is the form of sí when it appears before a vowel. However, in the aforementioned DRC from 1948, Tolkien had a variant form ᴹQ. sin(an) “now” using the suffix ᴹQ. -n(an), also used for adverbs of time.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. tyá “now” based on the early root ᴱ√KI “this by me” (QL/46, 49). In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) from the 1920s he had ᴱQ. qí or qin for adverbs of time based ᴱQ. qi “this”, hence = “*now”. However, the untranslated text Sí Qente Feanor from the 1910s seems to use sí = “now” (PE15/32, 34).
- Q. silumë adv. “now, at this time; *present”
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A word for “now, at this time (only referred to the present of the time of speech)” appearing in a list of demonstratives from 1968 (VT49/18), a combination of si “this” and lúmë “time”. Similarly formed ᴹQ. sillume “*at this time” appeared in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/110).
Neo-Quenya: The gloss “present” was suggested in Ales Bican’s New Words (ABNW) from the early 2000s, assuming this adverb can function as a noun as well.
- G. gui adv. “just, just now, only just, already”
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A word appearing in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as G. gui “just, just now, only just, already” based on the early root ᴱ√guı̯u̯ having to do with youth (GL/42).
Neo-Sindarin: I originally proposed that gui might be salvaged for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, rederived from the root √WIN “young” with the loss of final n. Röandil pointed out its Sindarin phonetic developments would produce ᴺS. gwí “just, just now, only just, already”, as posted on 2022-04-16 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS).
- S. hí adv. “now”
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The Sindarin word for “now”, most notably appearing in the phrase annon edhellen, edro hi ammen “Elvish gate open now for us”. The exact form of this word is difficult to determine, since it is tied to Tolkien’s vacillations on how soft mutation functions in Sindarin grammar.
As originally conceived this word may have been tied to ᴹ√SI from the 1930s (Ety/SI), cognate to Q. sí “now”. As evidence for this see the phrases from the so-called Túrin Wrapper, where sí appears unmutated at the beginning of the phrase sí il chem en i Naugrim en ir Ellath thor den ammen but mutated to hí in ach hí in Ellath îr ed epholar after the conjunction ach. However, in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 Tolkien had another demonstrative root ᴹ√KHI that (along with ᴹ√SI) “refers only to the actual present of the time of speaking” when used of time (PE23/96-97).
In notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings (WPP) from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien said: “S. sī̆ ‘in this place (of speaker), here’. In Quenya sí means ‘now’ (cf. Galadriel’s Lament); for which S. uses {hí >>} thí/hí” (PE17/27). In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien said: “S. hē̆n, pl. hī̆n may be from sĭnā with generalized mutation of initial or from khĭn-, which appears in Q. hí here (S. sî here, hî now)” (VT49/34). However, in another note from the late 1960s, Tolkien gave S. sîr, sî as cognates to Q. sí, sír “now” (PE22/147).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. cî {“now, at this moment” >>} “here” as an alternate to sî “here” (GL/26, 52), indicating the √SI vs. √K(H)I variations go back a long way.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I assume the normal form is hí “now” < √KHI(N), shortened to hi when unstressed. I further assume that adverbs do not mutate after verbs to explain why the form doesn’t mutate to chí.
14.19 Soon, Immediately
- ᴹQ. horme n. “urgency”
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A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed {“encouragement, comfort” >>} “urgency” under the root ᴹ√KHOR “urge on” (Ety/KHOR). Tolkien said it was often confused with orme “rushing”.
- Q. ron(go) adv. “soon”
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A Quenya word for “soon” appearing as ron, rongo, or rong[a?] in a marginal note to Common Eldarin: Verb Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s, derived from the root √ROÑ (PE22/132). It was followed by Q. rō with a nearly illegible gloss.
Conceptual Development: The so-called “Arctic Sentence” from 1929 included the word ᴱQ. rato “soon” (LFC/30).
- S. fergar adj. “soon done”
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A word in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 glossed “soon done”, a combination of the prefixal form fer- of fair “quick, ready, prompt” and a form of the verb car- “to do” (PE17/181).