Q. ëar n. “sea, great sea” (Category: Sea)
The most common Quenya word for “sea”, derived from the root √GAYAR (or sometimes √AYAR), where the vowel combination was the result of the frequent Quenya sound change whereby aya > ëa.
Note that Quenya does not use the definite article before unique individual things like the Sun and the Moon. Likewise ëar “the sea” is almost never used with the definite article, only in the case where one is indicating a specific definite sea among a group of seas already under discussion, which is a rare occurrence.
Conceptual Development: As an element in the name ᴱQ. Earendel, this word first appeared as ᴱQ. ea or ᴱQ. earen “eagle” (QL/34). But by the 1940s Tolkien changed the form and meaning of this name to ᴹQ. Earendil “Friend of the Sea” (SD/237), and the word ᴹQ. ear “sea” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of ᴹ√AYAR (Ety/AY). In The Notion Club Papers of the 1940s it had the form eare and the gloss “open sea” (SD/241, 305). The first appearance of the “sea” meaning of this word seems to be in a word-list associated with the Ambarkanta “Shape of the World” from the early 1930s, where ear had the glosses “water, sea” (SM/241), though in later writings only “sea” remained.
References ✧ CPT/1298; Let/386; LotR/967; MC/222; PE17/27, 103; PM/363; PMI/Eär; RGEO/65; SA/ëar; WJ/400, 413
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| Eärello | ablative | “of the Great Sea” | ✧ LotR/967 |
| eärello | ablative | “from the sea” | ✧ CPT/1298 |
| eärello | ablative | “of the sea” | ✧ PE17/103 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| √AYAR > ëar | [ajar] > [ear] | ✧ Let/386 |
| √GAY(AR) > ëar | [gajar] > [ɣajar] > [ɣear] > [ear] | ✧ PE17/27 |
| ✶Gayar- > Eär | [gajar] > [ɣajar] > [ɣear] > [ear] | ✧ PM/363 |
| ✶gayār > ëar | [gajār] > [ɣajār] > [ɣear] > [ear] | ✧ WJ/400 |
ᴹQ. ear n. “(open) sea; water” (Category: Sea)
References ✧ Ety/AY; LR/47, 56, 72; RC/671; SD/56, 241, 247, 305, 310; SM/241; SMI/Eär
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| Ëarello | ablative | “of the Great Sea” | ✧ SD/56 |
| eari | plural | “seas” | ✧ LR/56; LR/72 |
| ëari | plural | “seas” | ✧ LR/47; SD/247; SD/310 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ᴹ√ÁYAR > ear | [ajar] > [ear] | ✧ Ety/AY |
ᴱQ. ea(r) n. “(young) eagle” (Category: Eagle, Hawk)
A word appearing in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as ea “eagle” (QL/34), with the gloss “young eagle” in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/34). It was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as ea(r), a cognate of (archaic) G. †ior “eagle” (GL/51). It was also mentioned as ea “eagle” in the Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin (PE15/22).
References ✧ GL/51; LT1A/Eärendel; PE15/22; PME/35; QL/34
Glosses
Variations
Element In
Cognates
ᴱQ. earen (earend-) n. “eyrie, (young) eagle” (Category: Eagle, Hawk)
A word appearing as earen “eagle” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/34) and The Qenya Phonology (PE12/25), with the gloss “young eagle” in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/34). In the first two documents it was an element in the name ᴱQ. Earendel or Earendl, and the same was true in the Name-list to The Fall of Gondolin, but there earen was glossed “eyrie” (PE15/22).
References ✧ GL/51; LT1A/Eärendel; PE12/25; PE15/22; PME/35; QL/34
Glosses
Variations
Inflections
| earend- | stem | ✧ QL/34 |
Elements
| ea(r) | “(young) eagle” | ✧ QL/34 (ea) |
Element In
Cognates