Volume 17 Number 3 Article 4 Spring 3-15-1991 The Elves at Koivienéni: A New Quenya Sentence Christopher Gilson Patrick Wynne Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore Part of the Children's and Young Adult Literature Commons Recommended Citation Gilson, Christopher and Wynne, Patrick (1991) "The Elves at Koivienéni: A New Quenya Sentence," Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: Vol. 17 : No. 3 , Article 4. Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol17/iss3/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Mythopoeic Society at SWOSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature by an authorized editor of SWOSU Digital Commons. An ADA compliant document is available upon request. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To join the Mythopoeic Society go to: http://www.mythsoc.org/join.htm Mythcon 51: A VIRTUAL “HALFLING” MYTHCON July 31 - August 1, 2021 (Saturday and Sunday) http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-51.htm Mythcon 52: The Mythic, the Fantastic, and the Alien Albuquerque, New Mexico; July 29 - August 1, 2022 http://www.mythsoc.org/mythcon/mythcon-52.htm Abstract Reprinted from Vinyar Tengwar 14 (Nov. 1990). Analysis of a Quenya I (previously unpublished) from a Tolkien manuscript at Marquette University. Points out ambiguities in the manuscript and relates the grammar of the sentence to published examples of Quenya. Additional Keywords Tolkien, J.R.R.—Languages; Tolkien, J.R.R.—Languages—Quenya This article is available in Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature: https://dc.swosu.edu/mythlore/vol17/iss3/4 CPgTHLORC Issue 65 - SpRing 1991 Page 23 <ar Kolvlenfel A Nam Quenya Scnrencc Analysed 6y ChrasropheR Qilson and Rimlck (Uynne The collection of J. R. R. Tolkien's manuscripts at Mar­ beneath the final e, and to the immediate left of this n is a quette University in Milwaukee is well known as an abun­ symbol shaped like an I. The vertical stroke of this symbol dant source of information for those interested in the study stands midway between the original ni in the word so that of Tolkien's Elvish languages. One of the more intriguing its upper horizontal stroke touches the pair of them, while items to be found there is an unpublished sentence in the lower one aligns with the bottom of the additional n. Quenya, accompanied by an English translation, telling of The textual situation suggests two varying interpreta­ the coming of Orome to Koivieneni, the Waters of tions. One is that this I is a symbol by which Tolkien meant Awakening. This sentence does not occur in connection to indicate that the adjacent n should be inserted between with the text of any story. According to Taum Santoski it the ni above it, emending the form of the last word to is written on a tom sheet of paper, ong side of which bears erenekkoitannie. The alternate interpretation we must the sentence and much other linguistic material,1 the op­ consider is that we actually have the word In here, written posite side bearing part of a draft from "The Riders of on the page before Tolkien composed the Koivieneni sen­ Rohan." tence, and that its juxtaposition is entirely an accident with The sentence and translation are as follows: no further significance for the text. Eldar ando kakainen loralyar Any choice between these interpretations requires con­ Koivienenissen tnennai Orome tanna sideration of the larger context of the manuscript. The lende i erenekkoitan[n]ie. English translation is written below (and slightly to the left of) the Quenya sentence. At the end of the third line of this The elves w ere lon g lyin g asleep at translation, directly below the In, there is a word scored Koivieneni until Orome came thither through and difficult to read except that it begins with an that he m ight aw ake them . u (Text © copyright 1990 the Tolkien Trust) elaborate capital D . We know this word was written before the English text, because in that text the last word "them " The Manuscript was written beneath "awake" in order to avoid running Our preliminary study of the Koivieneni sentence was into this deleted word. conducted using a transcription provided by Taum. In This and other aspects of the arrangement of forms on order that we might verify the transcription and transla­ the fairly crowded manuscript page suggest that the tion of the text before publication, Jorge Quinonez re­ Koivieneni sentence and its translation were written after quested a photocopy of the part of the manuscript contain­ (and fit into the spaces between and to the left side of) a ing the sentence, and this was provided by Charles B. running sequence of lingustic notes each of which Tolkien Elston, Archivist at Marquette University Library.2 The left incomplete, and two of which began with the words photocopy confirmed the essential accuracy of Taum's "In" and "D -". For this reason we remain hesitant about transcription, but it has also raised three issues regarding the reading of the last word in the sentence and have given the proper interpretation of the manuscript: the ambivalent spelling erenekkoitanlnjie. 1. It looks very much like the final n of Koivienenissen 3. Tolkien apparently gives alternate endings for both is a later addition. The n is written much smaller than the the sentence and its translation. Beneath the words "that surrounding letters, and it leaves a significantly narrower he might" is written "-to-", and beneath that is a symbol space between Koivienenissen and m ennai than the spaces resembling that used for proportional variation, i.e. not between .words elsewhere in the sentence. This could unlike "«>" with the left side open. If Tolkien intended this simply be the correction of an oversight, or it could indi­ as an indication for replacement, then the latter part of the cate that the final n in this inflected form (where it is the translation would read "...until Orome came thither to plural marker) is redundant, since the i in neni 'waters' is awake them." Following the word erenekkoitan[n]ie in the itself a plural marker. In other words, perhaps the form third line of the sentence (and separated from it by a space Koivienenisse was grammatically correct in the sentence somewhat wider than those within the sentence) is the but Tolkien decided that Koivienenissen was "more cor­ phrase na senekkoita, which has been underlined. Since rect." na can mean 'to' in Quenya, there seems to be a logical 2. Tolkien first wrote erenekkoitanie as the last word in connection between this phrase and the change in the the Quenya text. The manuscript shows another « written English. And if we take this to be an alternate form of the Page 2 4 Issue 65 - Spuing 1991 CPgTHLORe Elvish the result would seem to be... mennai Orottte tanna sense 'at that future time' (cf. LR-399: "whereas en yonder letide na sen ekkoita. [EN] of time points to the future"), and o io 'everlastingly7 It is difficult to say exactly what Tolkien intended by derives from o ia 'everlasting7 (LR-379). these variant endings; na senekkoita and "-to-" may have been emendations of the text, but neither i erenek- kakain en : "were . lying". The element k a i- at the koitan[n]ie nor "that he might" are crossed out. We do not heart of this word derives from the base KAY- Tie down' seem to be dealing with the correction of grammatical given in The Etymologies. The verb forms k a ire 'lay7 in the errors or a change in Tolkien's conception of Quenya earliest version of Oilima Markirya and c a ita 'lies' in grammar, since i erenekkoitan[n]ie 'that he might awake Namarie must also be closely related. Reduplication of the them' and na senekkoita 'to awake them' both appear to initial consonant and vowel of a verb stem was one of the be grammatically valid but slightly varying means of ex­ means by which Quenya formed frequentatives (cf.fifiru- pressing the same concept in both English and Quenya. 'slowly fade away7 <fir- 'die, fade,' MC-223), and one of Until such time as further information becomes available, the functions of the frequentative is to indicate an action we can merely note the existence of alternate endings to taking place over an extended period of time.7 This seems the text as first written. to be the application in kakain en , and the reason it is translated by the progressive past tense 'were lying7 rather The Text than the simple past lay.' This extended or progressive W e now proceed with a discussion of the grammar of sense is further specified by the adverb an do 'long.' the sentence and its relation to the rest of the Quenya corpus. We will use the following abbreviations, with page The suffix -ne is used in Quenya to mark the past tense references to the Houghton Mifflin hardcover editions: of certain verbs, e.g. ortan e '(she) lifted up,' past tense of I = The Fellowship of the Ring orta- 'to rise, raise' or m em e pa.t. of m ere <MER- 'wish' III = The Return of the King (LR-373). The past tense of k a k a i- 'to be lying' could then L = The Letters ofJ.R.R . Tolkien be k a ka in e 'was lying78 with plural form kakain en 'were LR = The Lost Road lying.' The use of n as a plural marker in verbs is not LT = The Book o f Lost Tales, Part One unknown in Quenya.