Eldamo : Quenya : yén

Q. yén n. “Elvish long year (144 solar years)” (Category: Year)

Q. yén, n. “Elvish long year (144 solar years)” (Category: Year)

An Elvish “long year”, equivalent to 144 solar years (LotR/1107; PE17/62), more or less an Elvish century. Technically a yén is 52,596 days (LotR/1107), since the average length of a years is 365.25 days. It is the usual way of measuring the age of Elvish adults (NM/84-85). Given the long lifespan of Elves, a solar year (löa) is not really a great deal of time, so when an Elf wants to say “for years” meaning “a long time”, they use yéni as in the Namárië poem: yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron “long years numberless as the wings of trees” (LotR/377).

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√YEN “year”, but in that document referred to an ordinary solar year (Ety/YEN). Sometime around 1948 Tolkien introduced the word löa for a solar year (PE22/124), and in drafts of the The Lord of the Rings appendices lengthened a yén to 100 years (PM/126) and then later 144 years given the Elves fondness for numbers divisible by six and twelve. Tolkien briefly used yén for an ordinary year in the first draft of the Löa Yucainen poem from 1958, but soon revised it to löa (CPT/1296-1298).

In Tolkien’s earliest writings, the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. lúmen “year” under the early root ᴱ√LUHU having to do with time (QL/56) and ᴱQ. rin (rind-) “year, circle” under the early root ᴱ√RINI having to do with circles (QL/80). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s gave ᴱQ. latta as the cognate of G. lath “year” (GL/53).

References ✧ CPT/1296; LotR/377, 1107, 1115; MR/57, 471; NM/6, 10, 84-85; PE17/62, 119; PM/126; RGEO/58; VT44/36

Glosses

“144 years” ✧ PE17/119 (yēn)
“Elvish year, 144 sun-years” ✧ NM/84
“great year (of Elves = 144 sun years)” ✧ PE17/62 (yēn)
“long year” ✧ PE17/62
“Valian year, 144 mortal years” ✧ NM/10 (yên)
“year” ✧ LotR/1107; PM/126
“year equivalent to 144 Sun-years” ✧ MR/471

Variations

yén ✧ LotR/1107; MR/471; NM/84; PE17/62; PM/126; MR/57 (#Yén)
yên ✧ NM/6; NM/10
yēn ✧ PE17/62; PE17/119

yén “Elvish long year (144 solar years)” versus coranar “[sidereal] year, (lit.) sun-round”
yén “Elvish long year (144 solar years)” as opposed to Númenorean haranyë “century (100 years)”
yén “Elvish long year (144 solar years)” versus löa “(seasonal) year, (lit.) (time of) growth, blooming”

Inflections

Yénion	genitive plural	“years”	✧ CPT/1296
yénion	genitive plural	“*of ages”	✧ VT44/36
Yéni	plural	“years”	✧ LotR/377
Yēni	plural	“Years”	✧ RGEO/58
Yḗni	plural	“long years”	✧ RGEO/58
yéni	plural	“long years”	✧ LotR/377; PE17/62
yéni	plural	“long-years”	✧ LotR/1115
yéni	plural		✧ NM/85; PE17/62
yéni	plural	“*ages”	✧ VT44/36
yēni	plural	“years (long Elvish years)”	✧ RGEO/58
yḗni	plural	“long years”	✧ RGEO/58

Element In

ᴺQ. !yeniquanta “aged (with no connotation of weakness), long-lived, (lit.) year-full”
Q. yénië “annals”
Q. yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron “long years numberless as the wings of trees” ✧ LotR/377; RGEO/58
Q. et sillumello ter yénion yéni tenn’ ambarmetta “*from this hour, through years of years until the ending of the world” ✧ VT44/33
Q. löa yucainen avar Anduinë sí valútier “twenty years have flowed away down the Long River” ✧ CPT/1296
Q. yéni avánier ve lintë yuldar “years have passed away like swift draughts” ✧ RGEO/58
Q. yéni únótimë ve aldaron rámar “long-years not-countable as trees’ wings” ✧ RGEO/58
Q. yéni ve lintë yuldar avánier “the years have passed like swift draughts” ✧ LotR/377; RGEO/58
Q. Yénonótië “*Reckoning of Years” ✧ MR/57

Cognates

S. #în¹ “year”

Derivations

< ᴹ√YEN¹ “year”

ᴹQ. yén n. “year” (Category: Year)

References ✧ Ety/YEN; EtyAC/YEN; MR/200; PE23/108

Glosses

“year” ✧ Ety/YEN; PE23/108 (yen)

Variations

yén ✧ Ety/YEN; MR/200 (#yén)
yen ✧ PE23/108

Changes

yen- »» yéni ✧ EtyAC/YEN

Inflections

yéni	plural		✧ Ety/YEN
yēni	plural	“years”	✧ PE23/108

Element In

ᴹQ. Arendien “Midyear’s Day”
ᴹQ. Endien “Midyear (week)” ✧ Ety/YEN
ᴹQ. qantien “century, (lit.) full year” ✧ Ety/YEN
ᴹQ. yenya “last year”
ᴺQ. !atyenárë “anniversary”
ᴹQ. linyenwa “old, having many years” ✧ Ety/YEN
ᴹQ. malli yēni ista/ekēnie Túro “how many years knows/has Túro seen” ✧ PE23/108
ᴹQ. Minyen “first day [of year]” ✧ Ety/YEN
ᴹQ. yénie “annals” ✧ MR/200

Cognates

N. în “year” ✧ Ety/YEN

Derivations

< ᴹ√YEN¹ “year” ✧ Ety/YEN

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ√YEN > yén

[jēn]

✧ Ety/YEN

rind-	stem	“circle, year”	✧ PME/80
rind-	stem		✧ QL/80