Word combinations

[John P. Hanlon]

I have a question about combinations of Quenya words.
Quenya often patches together multiple words in order to make longer ones, Sometimes for the purpose of proper names, and sometimes to make new words which cannot come from a single root. In the Silmarillion, we have an excellent example of the former in Ainulindalë - The Music of the Ainur. This word consists of lindalë - singing or music, which is derived from linda - to sing, attached on the end of the singular Ainu,the entire word being literally Ainu-music. This form, and others, are patched together without any separating symbol like an english hyphen. I'm wondering then, if Quenya has any rules of what we may or may not do when combining words, since it seems that we can stick words together without an intermediary mark. If anyone could explain this I'd be very grateful.

[órerámar]

I have a question about combinations of Quenya words.
Quenya often patches together multiple words in order to make longer ones, Sometimes for the purpose of proper names, and sometimes to make new words which cannot come from a single root. In the Silmarillion, we have an excellent example of the former in Ainulindalë - The Music of the Ainur. This word consists of lindalë - singing or music, which is derived from linda - to sing, attached on the end of the singular Ainu,the entire word being literally Ainu-music. This form, and others, are patched together without any separating symbol like an english hyphen. I'm wondering then, if Quenya has any rules of what we may or may not do when combining words, since it seems that we can stick words together without an intermediary mark. If anyone could explain this I'd be very grateful.

Hello John,
Welcome to this Forum.

Compounded words in Quenya are closed forms without hyphen and are formed very much like English compounds as you can see from a great number of words. In English this way of compounding is frequent : wallpaper, toothpaste, airplane.....

To cite just a few more:
Aiwenor or Aiwenórë for Birdland
Eldalië for Elvenfolk

When the first word end in a vowel like in these two examples, there is no problem. However, when the word ends in a consonant, then changes will occur when two consonants fall together that are not allowed:
As an example: n + l will become ll
n + r = rr
n + s = ss
n + m = mm

Elen + míre will therfore yield Elemmíre or Númen + lóte will become Númellóte.

Or haplology may happen, like in calmacil : calma + macil , unless one considers that the first word consists only of the stem.

Does this answer your question?

[John P. Hanlon]

Hantanyel órerámar.
Yes, I think I understand now. The consonant changes are very useful to know about. This is an interesting aspect of Quenya, and I'm glad someone could clarify it for me.