Q. nó¹ prep. “before (of time); at back (of place)” (Category: Before (temporal))
A preposition having to do with position in time and place with various meanings in Tolkien’s writings. It is perhaps best known for its appearance in the so-called “Merin sentence”: merin sa haryalyë alassë nó vanyalyë Ambarello “I hope that you have happiness before you pass from the world” (MS). The authenticity of this sentence was supported by the publication of notes where Tolkien said nō means “at back, of place” and “before, of time” (VT49/32). This arrangement of temporal and spacial meanings is consistent with the idea appearing in 1968 notes that “The Eldar regarded all that was past as behind them, their faces being towards the future. With reference to time therefore words with a basic sense ‘behind, at the back’ = ‘before’ (NM/162)”, a different spatial/temporal arrangement than English before and after.
Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor of this word seems to be ᴱQ. nóvo in the phrase ᴱQ. varúse qentier nóvo san i from the Sí Qente Feanor poem, untranslated but perhaps meaning “*in other manner than was said before” as suggested by Christopher Gilson (PE15/32). The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had the preposition ᴱQ. nō̆ “after (only of time)” under the early root ᴱ√NO(WO) “ahead, in front; after, of time; tomorrow”, a reversal of its earlier and later meanings (QL/66).
In the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s, no meant “after” (PE14/48, 81) and in the contemporaneous English-Qenya Dictionary Tolkien specified it meant “after of place” (PE15/68) and “behind” (PE15/70) as well as “than” (PE15/78), the last use limited to comparisons involving diminutives as described in EQG. In the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 nó- meant “yester-” [before] in ᴹQ. nóloa “yesteryear” (PE22/124), but in drafts of the Lord of the Rings appendices it seems to mean “after” in month-names like ᴹQ. Nólaire “July” = “*After-summer” versus ᴹQ. Erlaire “June” = “*First-summer” (PM/135).
In Tolkien’s later writings, nó was used for “before (of time)” and “behind (of space)” as indicated above. In rough notes on monosyllables from the late 1960s Tolkien had primitive monosyllable ✶nō “behind”, but the section where it appeared was marked through (VT47/34 note #52).
All of this indicates considerable vacillation on Tolkien’s part for “before” and “after” words. See my essay on Before and After in Elvish for a more extensive discussion.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer nó for “before (of time)” and epë for “after (of time)”, but with reversed meanings spatially: nó = “behind, after (of place)” and epë = “before (of place)”.
References ✧ MS/1; VT49/32
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ᴹQ. #nó¹ prep. “yester-, *after” (Category: Before (temporal))
References ✧ PE22/124; PM/135
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| #nó- | prefix | “yester-” | ✧ PE22/124 |
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ᴱQ. nó prep. “after (of place), behind; after (only of time); than” (Category: After)
References ✧ PE14/48, 81; PE15/32, 68, 70, 78; QL/66
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| ᴱ√NŌ/NOWO‽/NONO‽ > nō̆ | [nō] | ✧ QL/66 |
ᴱQ. nóvo adv. “*before” (Category: Before (temporal))
Reference ✧ PE15/32 ✧ nōvo “*before”
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