14.36 Before (temporal)
- Q. nó prep. “before (of time); at back (of place); [ᴹQ.] yester-; [ᴱQ.] after (of place), behind; ⚠️after (only of time); than”
-
A preposition having to do with position in time and place with various meanings in Tolkien’s writings. It is perhaps best known for its appearance in the so-called “Merin sentence”: merin sa haryalyë alassë nó vanyalyë Ambarello “I hope that you have happiness before you pass from the world” (MS). The authenticity of this sentence was supported by the publication of notes where Tolkien said nō means “at back, of place” and “before, of time” (VT49/32). This arrangement of temporal and spacial meanings is consistent with the idea appearing in 1968 notes that “The Eldar regarded all that was past as behind them, their faces being towards the future. With reference to time therefore words with a basic sense ‘behind, at the back’ = ‘before’ (NM/162)”, a different spatial/temporal arrangement than English before and after.
Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor of this word seems to be ᴱQ. nóvo in the phrase ᴱQ. varúse qentier nóvo san i from the Sí Qente Feanor poem, untranslated but perhaps meaning “*in other manner than was said before” as suggested by Christopher Gilson (PE15/32). The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had the preposition ᴱQ. nō̆ “after (only of time)” under the early root ᴱ√NO(WO) “ahead, in front; after, of time; tomorrow”, a reversal of its earlier and later meanings (QL/66).
In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, no meant “after” (PE14/48, 81) and in the contemporaneous English-Qenya Dictionary Tolkien specified it meant “after of place” (PE15/68) and “behind” (PE15/70) as well as “than” (PE15/78), the last use limited to comparisons involving diminutives as described in EQG. In the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 nó- meant “yester-” [before] in ᴹQ. nóloa “yesteryear” (PE22/124), but in drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices it seems to mean “after” in month-names like ᴹQ. Nólaire “July” = “*After-summer” versus ᴹQ. Erlaire “June” = “*First-summer” (PM/135).
In Tolkien’s later writings, nó was used for “before (of time)” and “behind (of space)” as indicated above. In rough notes on monosyllables from the late 1960s Tolkien had primitive monosyllable ✶nō “behind”, but the section where it appeared was marked through (VT47/34 note #52).
All of this indicates considerable vacillation on Tolkien’s part for “before” and “after” words. See my essay on Before and After in Elvish for a more extensive discussion.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer nó for “before (of time)” and epë for “after (of time)”, but with reversed meanings spatially: nó = “behind, after (of place)” and epë = “before (of place)”.
- G. nui prep. and adv. “*before (of time); ⚠️[G.] afterwards, again, later”
-
The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. nui “afterwards, then, later” and G. no “then, next, again; then, after(wards)” (GL/61), both probably based on the early root ᴱ√NO(WO) “after of time” which had the preposition ᴱQ. nō̆ “after (only of time)” as a derivative (QL/66). The word G. no was used as a preposition/conjunction in the untranslated phrase G. inig bast no odog saith (GL/51), perhaps meaning “*little bread then great hunger”.
Neo-Sindarin: In Tolkien’s later writings, Q. nó often means “before (of time)”, so I would not use either of these Gnomish words to mean “after”. However, we have no good words for “before (of time)” in later Sindarin, so for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would use ᴺS. nui for such a meaning, assuming a reversal in Tolkien’s later conception similar to its Quenya equivalent. Admittedly this is a stretch, but I haven’t found any better alternatives.
14.37 After
- Q. apa prep. “after (of time)”
-
A prefix for “after” as an element in the word Apanónar “After-born” (S/103). It also appears in apacenyë “foresight”, perhaps meaning “*sight of what comes after” (MR/216). Similar prepositional forms appeared in Quenya prayers from the 1950s in yéni {apo >} pa yéni (VT46/33), perhaps meaning “*year after year” as suggested by Arden Smith (VT46/36). Roots APA/PĀ also appeared in notes from 1969 with meaning both “before of time” and “after (later than) of time”, but in this context they were replaced by other roots: √PHĀ/APHA for “before of time” and √KĀ/KATA for “after (later than) of time” (PE22/147 note #12 and #14; VT46/36).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I generally prefer epë to mean “after (of time)”, but I think apa might exist as a euphonic variant of it given Apanónar.
- Q. en adv. and conj. “then (soon), [ᴹQ.] consequently, in that (future) case; ⚠️there, yonder; look yon(der); far away; that, [ᴱQ.] that by you; thereupon”
-
An (archaic) marker of the future in Old Quenya in notes from the early 1950s, in phrases such as OQ. en i matinyë “I shall eat then soon” (PE22/131). It was replaced in modern Quenya by the future suffix -uva (PE22/132).
Conceptual Development: The earliest use of ᴱQ. en was as a demonstrative pronoun meaning “that by you” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√E (QL/34). It also had a demonstrative function in the Early Qenya Grammar where it was used to form emphatic demonstratives ᴱQ. enqi, ᴱQ. enke, and ᴱQ. enta (PE14/55). Similar forms appear in the so-called “Entu, Ensi, Enta Declension” (EEED) from the (early?) 1930s, probably also various demonstrative forms (VT36/8).
The Etymologies of the 1930s indicated that ᴹQ. en “there, look yon (yonder)” was a remote demonstrative based on the root ᴹ√EN “over there, yonder” (Ety/EN), which in time pointed to the future as opposed to ᴹ√YA pointing to the past (Ety/YA). In Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 en was added to demonstratives ya and ta to make them more emphatic when referring to space, but in Quenya for time it always referred to the future so that ta, ya referred to the near and remote past but enta, enya referred to the near and remote future (PE23/97). The word en “in that (future) case” was also a marker of the future in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948 (PE22/120). The Old Quenya future marker mentioned above is from Common Eldarin: Verb Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s (PE22/131).
In Tolkien’s later writings the root √EN typically used as a prefix meaning “again, go on doing”, but in rough notes from the late 1960s Tolkien hinted that this sense was originally based on an earlier meaning “further, beyond”, perhaps indicating its use a remote and future demonstrative may have survived in Tolkien’s later conception:
en- “again” as [in] enquantuva is prob[ably] [?] “further, beyond” [?in respect of time influenced by ? only in] Q. enta, only with verbs … (VT41/16 note #5).
Also note that in DRC, it seems en could be used as a conjunction meaning “in that future subsequent or consequent case, then, consequently” (PE23/109).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use en as an adverb/conjunction meaning “then, consequently” with an implication of near future: menuvan i ostonna en cenuvan i aran “I will go to the city then I will see the king”. In archaic/poetic speech I would use en to mark the (near) future as an adverb preceding the verb: en i matinye “then soon I [will] eat”.
I would not, however, use en as a remote spatial demonstrative; I would instead use [ᴹQ.] enta “that yonder” as a more emphatic form of ta “that, there”.
- ᴹQ. én adv. “then [in the future], next”
-
An adverb referring to “then, next” in the future, a vowel-lengthened form of en appearing in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/109). Compare to tá, a similarly formed adverb referring to “then” in the past. Originally ēn was preceded a short-vowel form en, but this was deleted (PE23/109 note #109) and then ĕn was given the more elaborate meaning “in that future subsequent or consequent case, then, consequently”, apparently used as a conjunction.
- ᴹQ. entallume adv. “*at that (future) time”
-
A correlative appearing in Demonstrative, Relative, and Correlative Stems (DRC) from 1948 (PE23/110), a combination of ᴹQ. enta “that yonder” and ᴹQ. -llume “time”.
- Q. epë prep. “after (of time), following; before (in all relations but time)”
-
A word that was generally used to refer to “after (of time)” (PE22/168; PM/339; VT42/32; VT49/8) and “before (in all relations but time)” (PE17/56; VT42/32; VT49/12). This arrangement of temporal and spacial meanings is consistent with the idea appearing in 1968 notes that:
The Eldar regarded all that was past as behind them, their faces being towards the future. With reference to time therefore words with a basic sense “behind, at the back” = “before”; and those originally meaning “in front, ahead” = “after” (NM/162).
Tolkien’s arrangement of “before” and “after” words went through many revisions, however, and there were texts where epe meant “before (of time)” and “after (of place)” (CPT/1296; PE22/168). See apa and opo for words of similar form and meaning to epe, and my essay on Before and After in Elvish for a more extensive discussion.
- ᴹQ. évea adj. “future”
-
An adjective appearing ᴹQ. évea “future” used only of persons and places based on the future form éva “will exist” of the verb [ᴹQ.] ea- “be, exist” (PE22/123). It referred to a remoter time than tulurya.
Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writings, the future of ëa- was euva, so for purposes of Neo-Quenya I would update this adjective to ᴺQ. euvëa, as in i euvëa aran “the future king”.
- ᴹQ. tulurya adj. “future, coming”
-
A word for “future, coming”, an imperfect/active participle of ᴹQ. tul- “come” using the suffix ᴹQ. -lya dissimilated to r after an l (PE22/107, 123). It has an implication of a nearer future, as opposed to ᴹQ. évea for remoter futures.
Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writing, the active participle suffix was -(i)la (PE22/154-155), but I think tulurya might be retained as an inceptive formation = “*beginning to come”, especially in reference to the near future. If you dislike this, you could instead use ᴺQ. tulya “coming, approaching, future”, a neologism proposed by Röandil in a 2023-02-28 post to the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS).
- †Q. uv- v. “*to be going to”
-
An Old Quenya verb, related to the future suffix -uva, surviving only as part of a periphrastic future-in-the-past formation {umneste >>} umbestë matë “he was going to eat” in notes from the early 1950s (PE22/132). A similar archaic future-past ending -umne appeared in notes from the 1940s, as in matumne[n] “I was going to eat” (VT48/32). In any case, none of these formations would be used in modern Quenya, probably replaced by a compound tense formation like matúvanes “he was going to eat”.
- S. ab prep. “after [of time]”
-
A prefix for “after” seen in words like Abonnen “After-born” and aphad- “follow” = ab + pad- “*After-walk” (WJ/387). S. ab is the equivalent of Q. apa of the same meaning.
Conceptual Development: A likely precursor is G. ob “after, close behind (time and place)” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/61), probably based on some form of the early root ᴱ√POT-I having to do with behind and after (QL/75). Drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendixes had a prefix eb probably meaning “*before” in the month names Ebloer >> Eblaer “*Before-summer” as opposed to Cadloer >> Cadlaer “*After-summer” (PM/135-136).
Neo-Sindarin: In Tolkien’s later writings, the Quenya equivalent epë was usually used for “after (of time)”, so I would not use S. eb for “before”. I would, however, use ab for “after” as both a prefix and preposition. Based on Quenya usage, S. ab is probably limited to “after” of time, not place.
- S. atha- vb. “will”
-
A verb appearing in notes on the future tense from 1969 meaning “will” and used to indicate agreement as in: linnathon? “will you sing?” answered athon “I will” (PE22/167). It is related to the future suffix -ath(a) and was based on the root √ÞĀ̆/AÞA “to be willing, consent, agree” (PE22/165). Tolkien said that “apart from this athon ‘yes, I will’ (or in plur. athof, athab) the verb atha- was no longer free”, indicating that this verb could only be used independently in statements of agreement: “I/we will [do so]”. Otherwise it was limited to its use as a future suffix.
- S. cad prep. “after”
-
A prefix appearing in drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendixes probably meaning “*after” in the month names like Cadloer >> Cadlaer “July” = “*After-summer” as opposed to Ebloer >> Eblaer “June” = “*Before-summer” (PM/135-136). ᴹQ. kata “after” appeared in notes from 1948 (PE22/124) and the root √KĀ/KATA “after (later than) of time” appeared in notes from 1969 (PE22/147), further supporting S. cad = “after”.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would use cad “after” as a prefix, adverb, and preposition.