Quenya 2-letter words
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Quenya has a number of words that end in a long vowel, but they all have only two letters:
- cú "crescent, arc"
- hó "owl"
- lú "moment"
- má "hand"
- pé "lip"
- ré "day (of 24 hours)"
- sú "rushing (of the wind)"
The following words also have this form, but in modern Quenya they sound old-fashioned, so they are replaced most of the time with the word next to them:
- cá "jaw", better: anca
- ló "night", better: lómë
- ní "woman", better: nís
- sá "fire", better: uru
- wá "wind", better: vaiwa
- yó "son", better: yondo
They have some special features:
- When the case ending contains a double consonant, the vowel is shortened:
- ressë "on a day" (locative)
- i mannar "to the hands" (allative)
- In the u-duals the –u joins with the final vowel to make a diphtong:
- mau "a pair of hand"
- peu "a pair of lips"
- (cau) "(a pair of jaws)"
- In the plural the –i- also joins with the final vowel:
- cuinen "with arcs" (instrumental)
- maiva "of hands" (possessive)
- In the words in –é this gives us the diphtong –ei– that is very rare in Quenya:
- pein "to lips" (dative)
- The genitive singular is not known for most nouns. Only words on -é don't give any problems because éo is acceptable:
- ré "day" → réo
- pé "lip" → péo
The complete declination for hó "owl" can be found in next table:
| singular | plural | dual | part. plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | hó | hór | hót | hóli |
| genitive | - | hóron | hóto | hólion |
| possessive | hóva | hoiva | hotwa | hólíva |
| dative | hón | hoin | hont | hólin |
| ablative | hollo | hollon(r) | holto | hólillo(n)(r) |
| allative | honna | honnar | honta | hólinna(r) |
| locative | hossë | hossen | hotsë | hólisse(n) |
| instrumental | hónen | hoinen | honten | hólínen |
| respective | hós | hois | hótes | hólis |
The u-duals in this group are declined as follows (we use pé "lip"):
- Nom. peu, Gen. peuo, Poss. peuva, Dat. peun,
- Abl. peullo, All. peunna, Loc. peussë, Instr. peunen, Resp. peus.
The behaviour of the final long vowel before possessive endings is discussed on the page about Quenya Possessive pronouns.
>> Languages >> Quenya >> Quenya Nouns >> Quenya 2-letter words
