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.
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 ✧ 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 | “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