Q. stative grammar.

Q. stative grammar.

In ᴹQ. Fíriel’s Song from the 1930s there are signs of a “stative” verb inflection, though I don’t know who coined this term for this particular Quenya construction. This song has nouns and adjectives with the verb “to be” directly attached in the form of the suffix -ie (LR/72):

In these examples, there is either (a) no subject as már(a)-ie = “it is good”, (b) a pronominal subject suffix as meld(a)-ie-lto = “they are beloved” or (c) an implied subject from another phrase as ilqa yéva nótina, hostainiéva “all are counted, [all] numbered”. As seen in this last example, where the subject is explicit and not a pronoun, the “to be” verb (yéva) is expressed separately as a joining verb between the subject and predicate; this is true elsewhere in the poem as well.

An earlier version of this system appeared in Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s, as the suffix -ya added to adjectives and participles: márea = mára + ya “is good”, qalinya “is dying”, narkea “is dead”, ninqia “is white”; all of these are connected to a root ī “be” (PE16/140). A variant suffix -nye was used for the past tense (PE16/141). The later version of the stative suffix appearing in Fíriel’s Song is probably connected to an updated version of the root, ᴹ√ or ᴹ√Ī from The Etymologies, as suggested by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (VT46/22).

Something resembling the stative appears in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of the late 1940s:

Coalescent forms: used where neither pronoun nor verb are specially emphasized.
Sg. 1. nie or ; 2a. kie, b. lie; 3a. ie, b. thie ... (PE22/123 note #130).

These examples are the pronoun + ye, also with plural forms (mier = me + ye + r), past forms (níne = ni + ne) and future forms (níva = ni + va). But this entire section was rejected when Tolkien changed the “to be” verb from ye- to ea- (PE22/122). It is hard to be sure if these are properly “statives”, since in QVS pronominal subject prefixes were the norm. There is no sign of the stative after this.

Neo-Quenya: Both the verb ye- and this specific construction were abandoned in later writing, make this inflection inappropriate for Neo-Quenya.

Element In


ᴹQ. stative grammar.

Examples (stative)
ie [← e] ✧ PE22/123
háye “ that is (so), yes” [← ha] ✧ PE23/85
thie [← †the] ✧ PE22/123
kie [← ke] ✧ PE22/123
lie [← le¹] ✧ PE22/123
Man-ie “What is it?” [← man] ✧ LR/59
márie “it is good” [← mára] ✧ LR/72
nie [← ni] ✧ PE22/123
[← ni] ✧ PE22/123
meldielto “They are ... beloved” [← melda] 3rd-pl ✧ LR/72
thúyet [← †the] dual ✧ PE22/123
kiet [← ke] dual ✧ PE22/123
liet [← le¹] dual ✧ PE22/123
miet [← me] dual ✧ PE22/123
túyet [← te] dual ✧ PE22/123
ñwiet [← nwe] dual ✧ PE22/123
númessier “They are in the West” [← númen] locative plural ✧ LR/72
talantie “He is fallen” [← talta-] past half-strong-past ✧ LR/72
thier [← †the] plural ✧ PE22/123
kier [← ke] plural ✧ PE22/123
lier [← le¹] plural ✧ PE22/123
mier [← me] plural ✧ PE22/123
hier [← he¹] plural ✧ PE22/123
ñwier [← nwe] plural ✧ PE22/123

Examples (stative-past)
éne [← e] ✧ PE22/123
théne [← †the] ✧ PE22/123
kéne [← ke] ✧ PE22/123
léne [← le¹] ✧ PE22/123
níne [← ni] ✧ PE22/123
thúnet [← †the] dual ✧ PE22/123
kénet [← ke] dual ✧ PE22/123
lénet [← le¹] dual ✧ PE22/123
ménet [← me] dual ✧ PE22/123
túnet [← te] dual ✧ PE22/123
ñwénet [← nwe] dual ✧ PE22/123
théner [← †the] plural ✧ PE22/123
kéner [← ke] plural ✧ PE22/123
léner [← le¹] plural ✧ PE22/123
méner [← me] plural ✧ PE22/123
héner [← he¹] plural ✧ PE22/123
ñwéner [← nwe] plural ✧ PE22/123

Examples (stative-future)
kéva [← ke] ✧ PE22/123
léva [← le¹] ✧ PE22/123
níva [← ni] ✧ PE22/123
níva [← ni] ✧ PE23/81
hostainiéva “is numbered” [← hosta-] passive-participle ✧ LR/72

Element In


ᴱQ. stative grammar.

Examples (stative)
márea “is good” [← mára¹] ✧ PE16/140
narkea “is dead” [← #narka²] ✧ PE16/140
ninqia “is white” [← ninqe] ✧ PE16/140
ninqea [← ninqe] ✧ PE16/140
qalinya “is dying” [← qalin] ✧ PE16/140
qalinya “is dead” [← qalin] ✧ PE16/140

Examples (stative-past)
maranye [← mára¹] ✧ PE16/141
qalindie [← qalin] ✧ PE16/141