Q. yunquë num. card. “twelve” (Category: Cardinal Number)
The ordinary Quenya word for “twelve”, whose use dates back to at least the Early Qenya Grammar (EQG) of the 1920s (PE14/49, 82). In notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (HFN) from 1968, Tolkien said its primitive form ✶yūnekē was an elaboration of √ENEK “six” meaning “two (or both) sixes” (VT47/41; VT48/9-10). In Quenya it then picked up a w so that k > kw, either under the influence of minquë “eleven” (VT48/7) or from dual we (VT48/10). Compare also suffixal [ᴹQ.] -rasta “twelve” in duodecimal counting words like yurasta “twenty four” = “*two twelves”.
References ✧ PE17/95; VT47/41; VT48/6-10
Glosses
Related
Elements
| yu- | “both” | ✧ VT48/10 |
| enquë | “six” | ✧ VT48/10 |
Element In
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
| ✶yūneke > yunque | [jūneke] ? [juŋkwe] | ✧ VT47/41 |
| ✶yū-(e)nekē > yunke > yunque | [jūnekē] ? [juŋkwe] | ✧ VT48/8 |
| ✶yū(e)neke > yunekwe > yunque | [jūneke] ? [juŋkwe] | ✧ VT48/9 |
ᴱQ. yunqe num. card. “twelve” (Category: Cardinal Number)
References ✧ PE14/49, 82
Glosses
Element In