Eldamo : Quenya : löa

Q. löa n. “(seasonal) year, (lit.) (time of) growth, blooming” (Category: Year)

Q. löa, n. “(seasonal) year, (lit.) (time of) growth, blooming” (Category: Year): ᴱQ. ‽latta “year”; ᴱQ. lúmen “year, period”

The usual word for a “(seasonal) year” as a period of 365 days reflecting the turn of the seasons (LotR/1107; UT/327; MR/471). An Elvish löa begins in the spring (LotR/1107; PE17/159). It refers to the year “when the seasonal changes in vegetation were considered” (LotR/1107) may be contrasted with a coranar “sun-round” which is year in the astronomical terms. More accurately it means a “(time of) growth, blooming”, and is derived from the root √LAW “flourish [of plants]” (PM/126; PE17/159; VT42/10).

A löa may also be contrasted with a yén, which is an Elvish long year of 144 years. For an Elf, a single solar year would not be a great length of time, and the age of an Elf is only measured in löa during childhood. An adult Elf (of a few centuries in age) would count their age in yén, and when saying “for years” in the sense of “for a long time”, an Elf would say ýeni instead of löar.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. loa was derived from the early root ᴱ√LAWA also having to do with the growth of plants, but it meant “life” and was an alternate name of ᴱQ. Vána (QL/52). Its use for “year” did not emerge until notes from 1948 in words like elloa “next year” and nóloa “yesteryear” (PE22/124). See the entry for yén for earlier words that meant “(solar) year”.

References ✧ CPT/1296, 1298; LotR/1107, 1112; MR/426, 471; NM/6, 10, 84; PE17/120, 159; PE22/168; PM/126; UT/327; UTI/loa, tuilë, yestarë; VT42/10

Glosses

“Elvish solar year” ✧ UT/327 (loa); UTI/loa (loa); UTI/yestarë (loa)
“growing, blooming” ✧ PE17/159
“growth” ✧ LotR/1107 (loa)
“season[al] year” ✧ PE17/120 (loa)
“solar year” ✧ MR/471
“Sun-year” ✧ NM/10
“time of growth” ✧ PM/126 (loa)
“year” ✧ NM/6; PE22/168 (loa); VT42/10 (loa)
“years” ✧ CPT/1298 (Loä)

Variations

löa ✧ MR/471; NM/6; NM/10; NM/84; PE17/159
Loä ✧ CPT/1298
loa ✧ LotR/1107; LotR/1112; PE17/120; PE22/168; PM/126; UT/327; UTI/loa; UTI/tuilë; UTI/yestarë; VT42/10

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

Inflections

loar	plural	“years”	✧ CPT/1296; CPT/1296
loär	plural	“years”	✧ CPT/1298
loär	plural	“sun-years”	✧ NM/84
löar	plural		✧ MR/426; MR/471; NM/6

Element In

ᴺQ. !ellöare “anniversary, (lit.) next year day”
ᴺQ. !illöa(va) “annual, yearly, per annum (once every year)”
ᴺQ. !löacasta “season, (lit.) year-quarter”
ᴺQ. !löasta “season, (lit.) year-part”
ᴺQ. !qualöa(va) “annual, yearly, perennial (year as whole)”
Q. ai! löar yassen palantírienyë andavanwë yárier “ah years in which looking far away I saw ages long-passed” ✧ CPT/1296; CPT/1297; CPT/1298
Q. löa yucainen avar Anduinë sí valútier “twenty years have flowed away down the Long River” ✧ CPT/1297; CPT/1298
Q. loëndë “mid-year (Númenórean calendar), *(lit.) year-middle”
Q. i aluvar coivienyo ëarello nantulë “that never in my life will return from the Sea” ✧ CPT/1296
Q. umbë nin i hríve nauva urra (si loa) “I have a feeling that winter will be bad (this year)” ✧ PE22/168

Cognates

ᴺS. !lóran “seasonal year, (lit.) growth-cycle”

Derivations

< ✶lawā “growing, blooming” ✧ PE17/159; VT42/10 (lawa)
- < √LAW “flourish (green), grow” ✧ PE17/159

Phonetic Developments

✶lawā > löa	[lawā] > [loa]	✧ PE17/159
✶lawa > loa	[lawa] > [loa]	✧ VT42/10