Q. epë prep. “after (of time), following; before (in all relations but time)” (Category: After)
A word that was generally used to refer to “after (of time)” (PE22/168; PM/339; VT42/32; VT49/8) and “before (in all relations but time)” (PE17/56; VT42/32; VT49/12). 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”; and those originally meaning “in front, ahead” = “after” (NM/162).
Tolkien’s arrangement of “before” and “after” words went through many revisions, however, and there were texts where epe meant “before (of time)” and “after (of place)” (CPT/1296; PE22/168). See apa and opo for words of similar form and meaning to epe, and my essay on Before and After in Elvish for a more extensive discussion.
References ✧ PE17/56-57; PE22/168; VT42/32; VT49/8, 12; VTE/42
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| ep’ | elided | ✧ PE17/56; PE17/57 |
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Q. opo prep. “in front (of place), before; after (of time)” (Category: In Front)
A word appearing as opo, pō, pono, poto- “in front, of place” in notes from the mid-1950s (VT49/32) and as opo, pō “before, in front of” in notes from 1969 associated with the Ambidexters Sentence (VT49/32). In the latter notes, Tolkien said these were used to mean “after (of time)” in potai “therefore” from the first and third versions of the Ambidexters Sentence, but by the fourth and later versions this had become epetai (VT49/6-8). The root √OPO also appeared in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 with the glosses “before of place” (PE22/167 note #22) and “before, ahead, in front of place” (PE22/168).
Conceptual Development: As pointed out by Patrick Wynne (VT49/32), in Tolkien’s earliest writings ᴱQ. pote meant “after, behind (of place)” based on the early root ᴱ√POT-I (QL/72). At some point in the intervening decades (O)PO flipped from “behind” to “in front”. It thus had a form similar to epë, which likewise kept flipping between “before” and “after”.
Neo-Quenya: It is possible that opo was supplanted by epë, but I prefer to assume it was a variant used only for position in space but not time: “in front”. See also apa, another similar form that I assume is used only of time.
References ✧ VT49/12, 32
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ᴱQ. pote (potsi-) adv. “after, behind (of place)” (Category: Behind, At the Rear)
References ✧ PE13/139; QL/75
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| poti- | stem | ✧ QL/75 |
| potsi- | stem | ✧ PE13/139 |
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| ᴱ√POT-I > pote | [boti] > [bote] > [pote] | ✧ QL/75 |