#quenya — Public Fediverse posts

Today's date
Yavannië 7 (otso), 2026 (yuquain enquë yuquain), Ithilya
Yavanna-ness [September] 7 (seven), 2026 (twenty six twenty), Moon-day [Monday]

Word of the day
nostar — singular: parent, begetter
nostaru — dual: pair of parents, possibly used for parents of a common child, but may be best avoided in favor of ontaril. See below..
nostalli — partitive: some parents
nostari — plural: parents. Can be used for parents of a common child.

This is attested in The Lord of the Rings in the phrase Treebeard uses to address Galadriel and Celeborn: a vanimar, vanimálion nostari, which means "O beautiful ones, parents of beauttiful children". It has been suggested, though, that this might be a loose translation to produce phrasing more acceptable in English, because Galadriel and Celeborn had only one child, though through their child they had three grandchildren. In this case a better translation might be "ancestor".

On another note, there is an older term that Tolkien used in the 1930s, ontar, also meaning "parent" which he appears to have kept in some form, since he uses the derivative ontaril as the feminine version of this word to refer to Mary in his translation of the Ave Maria prayer from the 1950s.

The Tengwar
The twelfth letter of the tengwar is hwesta which is used for the letter combination HW. The word hwesta means "breeze".

#DailyElvish #Tolkien #Quenya

#DailyElvish #Tolkien #Quenya

You may be wondering where I get the information for these posts, so I will provide here a list of the references I am using. I have, myself, studied Quenya in the past, though I have forgotten much, and this project started as a way to encourage myself to take up the language once again.

The most definitive sources are the Tolkien linguistic journals Vinyar Tengwar and Parma Eldalamberon, which is where most of Tolkien's purely linguistical material was first published.

Vinyar Tengwar — https://elvish.org/VT/
Parma Eldalamberon — http://www.eldalamberon.com/index1.html

I am not sure if back issues of these journals are actually still available as I bought my copies decades ago when they were first published. However, their content, and more, has been summarized in many other places.

These next websites provide excellent references to the words as they existed in all stages of the development of the languages, as well as discussions and references to the original source material so that you can look things up for yourself.

Quetalli — https://quettali.org/silme/index.html
A very nice quick reference for finding words that also shows how the words are written in the tengwar script, and how the words are conjugated or declined according to the known rules of grammar.

Eldamo — https://eldamo.org/index.html
A more detailed site with discussions of the development of the words over time, as well as references to the source material. Also includes suggestions for Neo-Quenya — an attempt at fleshing out Tolkien's unfinished language to make it more complete and usable.

Amayë Tenceli — http://at.boktypografen.se/index.html
This site is dedicated purely to the tengwar and the sarati, writing systems that Tolkien invented for his Elvish languages.

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#DailyElvish #Tolkien #Quenya

Today's date
Yavannië 6 (enquë), 2026 (yuquain enquë yuquain), Anarya
Yavanna-ness [September] 6 (six), 2026 (twenty six twenty), Sun-day [Sunday]

Word of the day
amillë — singular: mother
amillet — dual: pair of mothers. See yesterday's post for a discussion of how the dual form might be appropriately used.
amilleli — partitive: some mothers
amiller — plural: mothers

The word for mother changed over time, but for most of Tolkien's life he use amil or amillë. The dimuniutive form ammë can be translated as "mummy" (or "mommy" in the USA).

The Tengwar
The eleventh letter of the tengwar is aha, later called harma, which is used for the letter h. The word aha means "rage", while harma means "treasure".

#DailyElvish #Tolkien #Quenya

Today's date
Yavannië 5 (lempë), 2026 (yuquain enquë yuquain), Elenya
Yavanna-ness [September] 5 (five), 2026 (twenty six twenty), Star-day [Saturday]

Word of the day
atar — singular: father
ataru — dual: pair of fathers. Since the dual is meant mostly for natural pairs, you might think this a strange form, but consider if you were speaking of a man and his son who also has a child. Both are fathers, and since they are themselves related, they might be regarded as a natural pair. Also, though Prof. Tolkien might have been shocked by the idea, a married gay couple with children might be referred to as the children's ataru as well.
atalli — partitive: some fathers
atari — plural: fathers

One famous place that Tolkien used this word, though not published in his lifetime, is in his translation of the Lord's Prayer, which begins: Átaremma i ëa han ëa, na aire esselya. "Our father who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name". A more literal word for word translation might be rendered as "Father-ours who is beyond the-Universe, is blessed name-yours". The Universe is referred to as Eä, the verb meaning to be. This is the word Eru Ilúvatar, God, spoke when he made the Universe.

The Tengwar
The tenth letter of the tengwar is formen which is used for the letter F. The word formen means "north".

#DailyElvish #Tolkien #Quenya