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√YĒ 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 ní; 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 | |||||||
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 | |||||||
ní | [← ni] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
thie | [← the] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
meldielto | “They are ... beloved” | [← melda] | 3rd-pl | ✧ LR/72 | |||||
ñwiet | [← #ñwe] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
kiet | [← ke] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
liet | [← le¹] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
miet | [← me] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
túyet | [← te] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
thúyet | [← the] | 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 | |||||
ñwier | [← #ñwe] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
kier | [← ke] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
lier | [← le¹] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
mier | [← me] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
hier | [← he] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
thier | [← the] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 |
Examples (stative-past) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
éne | [← e] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
kéne | [← ke] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
léne | [← le¹] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
níne | [← ni] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
théne | [← the] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
ñwénet | [← #ñwe] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
kénet | [← ke] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
lénet | [← le¹] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
ménet | [← me] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
túnet | [← te] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
thúnet | [← the] | dual | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
ñwéner | [← #ñwe] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
kéner | [← ke] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
léner | [← le¹] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
méner | [← me] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
héner | [← he] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 | ||||||
théner | [← the] | plural | ✧ PE22/123 |
Examples (stative-future) | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
kéva | [← ke] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
léva | [← le¹] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
níva | [← ni] | ✧ PE22/123 | |||||||
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 |