Quenya/Old-Elvish influences

We have met the prefix an- for the superlative. We also said that this prefix can change under the influence of the beginning consonant of the adjective. But in all these cases the changes are in the prefix an- itself, the original adjective is not influenced.

With the Old-Elvish influences however we are getting the original forms of the adjectives back in the superlative. Most of these forms are analogous to the changes in the perfect tense.

Adjectives in mb-/nd-/ng-
Let’s first look at adjectives that started with the combinations mb-,  nd- and  ng- in Old-Elvish:
 * mb-:


 * marta "fated" &rarr; ambarta


 * merya "festive" &rarr; amberya


 * nd-:


 * nulla "obscure" &rarr; andulla


 * númenya "western" &rarr; andúmenya


 * ng-:


 * nóla "learned" &rarr; angóla


 * nwalca "cruel" &rarr; angwalca

Adjectives in d-
Also an l- that has evolved from d- has such influences:


 * laira "shady" &rarr; andaira


 * lára "flat" &rarr; andára


 * lómëa "gloomy" &rarr; andómëa


 * lóra "dark" &rarr; andóra


 * lumna "oppressive" &rarr; andumna

Adjectives in b-/w-
A large number of adjectives that begin in v- in Neo-Quenya, had a b- in Old-Elvish. Here we find that an +  v gives rise to the original  amb-:


 * vanya "beautiful" &rarr; ambanya


 * valaina "divine" &rarr; ambalaina


 * valya "powerful" &rarr; ambalya


 * vanima "fair" &rarr; ambanima


 * varna "safe" &rarr; ambarna


 * varnë "brown" &rarr; ambarnë


 * verca "wild" &rarr; amberca


 * verya "bold" &rarr; amberya


 * vorima "continual" &rarr; amborima


 * voronwa "enduring" &rarr; amboronwa

In some the v- evolved from w-:


 * vára "dirty" &rarr; anwára


 * vëa "manly" &rarr; anwëa


 * véra "personal" &rarr; anwéra


 * vindë "blue-grey" &rarr; anwindë

The adjective wenya "green, fresh" has evolved from 'gwen', so it has following superlative:


 * wenya "green, fresh" &rarr; angwenya

>> Neo-Quenya >> ../Adjectives/ >> ../Old-Elvish influences/