There is no evidence that Tolkien consider monosyllabic nouns as a distinct class in his later writings, but such nouns are more likely to be irregular than other nouns, since they represent more basic concepts. For example, the noun má “hand” does not have a plural form *már or *mái,
Quenya Grammar P15: Consonantal Nouns
Tolkien generally referred to nouns ending in a consonants as “consonantal” nouns, for example on PE14/42 (1920s) and PE21/76 (1950s). As with all Quenya words, a noun can only end in one of the five valid final consonants: l, n, r, s, t. Consonantal nouns were often a reduction of
Quenya Grammar P14: E-nouns
One special subgroup of vocalic nouns are those that end in the vowel e, or “e-nouns”. Frequently these have inflection suffixes identical to those of other vocalic nouns, but they differ significantly in plural forms. In particular, they do not (normally) use the plural suffix -r, but instead form their
Quenya Grammar P13: Vocalic Nouns
Tolkien generally referred to nouns ending in a vowels as “vocalic” nouns, for example on PE14/42 (1920s) and PE21/76 (1950s). Nouns can end in any of the five vowels: i, e, a, o, u. Since many noun inflections begin with a consonant, such inflections simply add the suffix to the
Quenya Grammar P12: Noun Classes
Posted out of order because I wanted to write up noun cases before noun classes. Things will be in the correct order in the next Eldamo release. Most of the differences in how Quenya nouns are inflected depend on whether the noun ends in a vowel or consonant. Thus, Quenya
Quenya Grammar P34: Comitative
The comitative case is one that Tolkien abandoned in his later writings. Indeed, the function of this case is not entirely clear, though its name implies that it indicates an “accompanying” noun. In its first appearance, the comitative case used the suffix -iko (PE16/113), and in this form it may
Quenya Grammar P33: Similative
This noun is one that Tolkien abandoned in his later writings. In the Early Quenya Grammar (EQG) he called it the “Manner” case (PE14/46, 78), but in declension tables from the late 1920s through 1930s he often labeled it the “Adverb” case (PE16/113; PE21/4, 53) and in a couple places
Quenya Grammar P32: Instrumental
The Quenya instrumental is formed with the suffix -nen and is roughly equivalent to English “with, by (means of)”. It indicates the instrument or means by which an action occurred, and hence cannot be used for “with” in the English sense of “accompanying” or “by” in the sense of “beside”:
Quenya Grammar P31: Assimilated Locative
Although the adverbial suffixes often used a joining vowel when combined with consonantal nouns, in cases where the final consonant of the noun matched the first consonant of the suffix, the suffix was usually assimilated to the noun: Amanna “to Aman” (VT49/26), menello “from heaven (menel)” (VT43/13). In a set
Quenya Grammar P30: Locative
The locative suffix -sse indicates location at the specified place, and is variously glossed “at, in, on”. Sometimes Tolkien also used the term inessive (“in”) and adessive (“on”) to refer to this case (PE21/68); the exact meaning is contextual. Thus Lóriendesse “in Lórien” (RGEO/58), ondolisse “on rocks” (MC/222), mahalmassen “on