Quenya Exceptional stems
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Words with misguiding final letter
Following words look as words on -r but they are in fact words on -s:
- cár, cas- "head"
- cor, cos- "war"
- fandor, fandos- "monster"
- mar, mas- "home, dwelling"
- nier, nies "honey-bee"
They only have a final -r in the nominative singular, in all other cases they are declined as cos (see Quenya Declension Paradigms).
And these words look as words on -s but they are really words on -t:
- ceres, ceret- "earthenware"
- hes, het- "sibling"
- palis, palit- "sward, lawn"
They only have a final -s in the nominative singular, in all other cases they are declined as sarat (see Quenya Declension Paradigms).
Doubled t-stems
doubled stems in ts
When the words end in -t we don’t find a genuine doubling but rather an extra s:
- helet, helets- "fur-coat"
- henet, henets- "window"
- orot, orots- "cave"
- quelet, quelets- "corpse"
Also some words in -s belong to this group:
- aris, arits- "daughter"
- cangaris, cangarits- "weaver"
- fas, fats- "tassel"
- nos, nots- "damp"
- oaris, oarits- "mermaid"
And one exceptional word in -ë:
- vitë, vits- "sap"
These words have a special locative and possessive singular, and they all have a u-dual:
| singular | plural | dual | part. plural | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| nominative | helet | heletsi | heletsu | heletseli |
| genitive | heletso | heletsion | heletsuo | heletselion |
| possessive | heletwa | heletsiva | heletsuva | heletselíva |
| dative | heletsen | heletsin | heletsun | heletselin |
| ablative | heletsello | heletsillon(r) | heletsullo | heletselillo(n)(r) |
| allative | heletsenna | heletsinnar | heletsunna | heletselinna(r) |
| locative | heletsë | heletsissen | heletsussë | heletselisse(n) |
| instrumental | heletsenen | heletsinen | heletsunen | heletselínen |
| respective | heletses | heletsis | heletsus | heletselis |
doubled stems in tt
- calumet, calumett- "lamp"
- cehtecet, cehtecett- "cuckling"
- lat, latt-, "flap, lid"
- lequet, lequett- "joint"
- mat, matt- "meal"
- nat, natt- "thing"
- tecet, tecett- "letter"
These word are declined as henet, henets-.
doubled stems in ht
- cecet, ceceht- "pheasant"
- met, meht- "mark, aim"
- mut, muht- "dirt, filth"
- sarat, saraht- "plank"
- teret, tereht- "auger, gimlet"
- tet, teht- "spot, mark"
- welet, weleht- "boil, tumour"
- yat, yaht- "neck"
These word are declined as henet, henets-.
Vowel shortening
In some nouns a long vowel is shortened in the stem-form, but otherwise they are declined as if they didn't have that long vowel in the nominative singular.
- lár, lar- "ear"
- nén, nen- "water"
- nér, ner- "man"
- quén, quen- "person"
- tál, tal- "foot"
- yár, yar- "blood" ^
^ The normal word for blood is sercë.
The word yén "Elvish year" is an exception, as its stem-form also has a long é: yéni.
Vowel lengthening
In a few words we find the reverse situation. But they are all proper names:
- Eruhin, Eruhín- "Child of Eru"
- Valatar, Valatár- "Valar-king"
- Atanatar, Atanatár- "Forefather"
- Casar, Casár- "Dwarf"
Vowel changing
In some words the vowel completely changes. The most frequent words are the U-stems and the I-stems.
There are 2 words that have a stem-forms in –a but a nominative in –o:
- rauco, rauca- "demon"
- sundo, sunda- "root"
Note: rauco is in singular and dual a U-stem.
There are also 2 words on –a with a stem-form on –i:
- hína, híni- "child"
- ónona, ónoni- "twin"
Words with exceptional connecting vowels
As we have seen: when a case-ending that begins with a consonant, is applied to a noun ending in a consonant we add an –e– between the stem and the ending, e.g.
- macilen "to a sword" (dative)
- anarenna "to a king" (allative)
There are however four words that have a different connecting vowel:
With –o–
- tol, toll- "island"
- Mandos, Mandost- "Mandos"
- so we find e.g.
- tolossë "on an island" (locative)
- Mandostonna "to Mandos" (allative)
With –a–
- tál, tal- "foot"
- umbar, umbart- "fate"
- so we find e.g.
- talan "to a foot" (dative)
- umbartanen "with fate" (instrumental)
Irregular stem-forms
First a group of connected words: All words that denote a "room" end on –san. This is derived from sambë "room", e.g.:
- caimasan, caimasamb- "bedroom"
These two words also belong to this group:
- han, hamb- "ground"
- san, samb- "chamber"
But some words are totally irregular:
- cilapi, cilapinc- "robin"
- hyar, hyarm- "plough"
- las, lax- "snare"
- lencë, lenqu- "limb"
- nó, nów- "idea"
- oito, oiont- "lack"
- olos, olor- "dream"
- pat, papt- "small leaf"
- peltas, peltax- "pivot"
- piet, piecc- "pin"
- rá, ráv- "lion"
- sat, sapt- "hole"
- silit, siliqu- "flint"
- sincë, sinqu- "mineral, metal"
- taran, taramb- "buffet"
- telin, telimb- "roof, covering"
- tó, tów- "wool"
- tyus, tyux- "cud"
- ulun, ulump- "camel"
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