√AYA(N) root. “blessed; treat with awe/reverence”
The root √AYA and its extended form √AYAN were associated with “holy” and “blessed” things all the way back in Tolkien’s earliest conception of the languages. It appeared as ᴱ√AY̯A “honour, revere” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. Ainu/Aini “god/goddess” and adjectives ᴱQ. aina or ᴱQ. aira “holy” (QL/34). Gnomish equivalents appeared in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. ain “god” and adjectives aistog “holy” or †air(in) (GL/18).
The Etymologies of the 1930s gave this root as ᴹ√AYAN with very similar derivatives ᴹQ. Ainu, Aini and aina (Ety/AYAN), except Ainu/Aini was translated “holy one, angelic spirit (m./f.)” reflecting Tolkien’s evolving conception of his Legendarium. In this period there was an unaugmented variant ᴹ√YAN with the derivatives ᴹQ. yána/N. iaun “holy place” (Ety/YAN). It is not clear whether the short form √AYA was valid in this period; there is nothing like aira “holy”, for example.
The root √AYA and √AYA-N reappeared in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, variously glossed “blessed” or “treat with awe/reverence” (PE17/147, 149). The (re)appearance of Q. airë “holy, holiness”, Q. aira “holy”, and S. aer “holy” in later writing beside Ainu/Aini further supports the reintroduction of the short form of this root. However, in the 1968 Shibboleth of Fëanor, Tolkien said the root for aira and aire was √GAY, gaining the sense “holy” due to the influence of Valarin ayanūz from which Ainu was derived (PM/363). In this scenario, √AYA would only have the sense “holy” in the Quenya language branch, and Sindarin words like aer (if they exist) would be loans from Quenya.
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to assume √AYA is a Common Eldarin root, perhaps a very early loan from Valarin, to allow the existence of (Neo) Sindarin words based on that root. The continued use of the root √AYA in Tolkien’s later writing might also justify the restoration of a number of religious words derived from the early root ᴱ√AYA in the 1910s.
References ✧ PE17/27, 145-146, 149; VT43/14
Glosses
Variations
Related
Inflections
| AYA-N | extension | “treat with awe/reverence” | ✧ PE17/149 |
| aya-n | extension | “treat with awe/reverence” | ✧ VT43/14 |
Derivatives
ᴹ√(A)YAN root. “*holy”
References ✧ Ety/AYAN, YAN; EtyAC/YAN
Variations
Changes
Inflections
| AYAN | augmentation | ✧ Ety/AYAN |
| ÁYAN | augmentation | ✧ Ety/YAN |
Derivatives
ᴱ√AYA¹ root. “honour, revere”
References ✧ GL/18; QL/34
Glosses
Variations
Changes
Derivatives