APPENDICES
Based on all published material (and then some), I have set out most of the information about Quenya that I feel we can infer with a minimum of confidence. These Appendices to the course proper will supply some extra information, but primarily they will be devoted to discussing certain features of Quenya that are not so well attested or understood that I felt able to construct any exercises touching on these matters. If more Quenya material is published in the future, I may also summarize the new information here (unless or until I work it into the existing lessons, or write additional lessons to cover the fresh info).

WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE PARTITIVE PLURAL?
In this course we have discussed three Quenya numbers: singular, plural, and dual. There is however also a fourth, called the partitive plural, ignored throughout this course because I feel its function is not well understood. Hence I am also unable to guarantee that Tolkien would not have used the partitive plural where I have used the "normal" plural in some of the exercises of this course.
	Before discussing the possible function of the partitive plural, we will discuss how it is formed. The basic ending is -li, derived from a root LI "many" which is also the source of the noun lië "people". The Plotz Letter points to lasseli, ciryali as the partitive plural forms of lassë "leaf" and cirya "ship". It is less than clear how -li can be added to nouns ending in a consonant, for this would normally result in impossible consonant clusters (only nouns ending in -l can receive the ending -li with no further ado, since Quenya does permit double ll). In one attested example, involving the partitive plural of Casar "dwarf" (based on Dwarvish Khazâd and an alternative to the native word Nauco), we see assimilation: instead of the impossible form **Casarli we have Casalli. The Etymologies likewise points to Telelli, not **Telerli, as the partitive plural of Teler (an Elf of the Third Clan); see WJ:388, LR:391. (The double asterisk ** is here used to mark wrong forms.)
Nouns ending in -s or -n may also assimilate this consonant to l before the ending -li, so perhaps the partitive plural of nouns like elen "star" or olos "dream" would be elelli, ololli. The behaviour of nouns ending in -t, like nat "thing", must remain a mystery for now. Either the impossible form **natli would have its consonants swapped around, producing nalti, or we must probably slip in some connecting vowel – perhaps resulting in a form like nateli (with the same extra vowel -e- as in Elendilenna "to Elendil", PM:401).
As for the various case forms as set out in the Plotz Letter, the archaic "Book Quenya" is to have the long ending -lí in the nominative and the accusative alike, but in later Quenya, this is shortened to -li as in the examples above. The ending -lí- with a long vowel is however still used before the endings -nen for instrumental and -va for possessive, so in these two cases, the partitive plural form ciryali appears as ciryalínen and ciryalíva respectively (and the long vowel of course receives the accent). The genitive simply adds the ending -on as in the normal plural, hence ciryalion. The dative adds the simplest dative ending -n, hence ciryalin.
In the locative, allative and ablative, it is optional whether one uses the simplest endings -ssë, -nna, -llo or their plural forms -ssen, -nnar or -llon (alternatively -llor). The ending -li- already indicates that the word is plural, so whether or not a second plural indicator follows at the end of the word is not important. Hence locative ciryalissë = ciryalissen, allative ciryalinna = ciryalinnar, ablative ciryalillo = ciryalillon (or ciryalillor). In Namárië in LotR, Tolkien used falmalinnar as the partitive plural allative of the noun falma "(foaming) wave", so writers who want to use a strictly LotR-style form of Quenya may opt for the forms with double plural marking.
	Listing the forms is easy; it is rather more difficult to tell precisely what their function is. If ciryar is simply "ships", how does the alternative plural form ciryali differ in meaning?
In English translation, Tolkien renders the "partitive plural" forms in -li as normal English plural forms (in -s): The allative phrase i falmalinnar in Namárië is translated "upon the foaming waves". However, in his interlinear translation of Namárië in RGEO:67, Tolkien broke this form of falma down as falma-li-nnar and indicated that the middle element means "many" – which as we have seen is also the meaning of the basic stem LI (LR:369). Furthermore, an Ent on one occasion used the word taurelilómëa, which in LotR Appendix F is said to mean "Forest-many-shadowed". Though this is not genuine Quenya as such, but merely "fragments of Elf-speech strung together in Ent-fashion", Tolkien is again seen to imply that the element -li connotes "many".
So inevitably and not without reason, many researchers have concluded that the forms in -li are examples of a so-called multiple plural. This plural form was thought to imply that there are many of the thing in question: Whereas ciryar is simply "ships" (few or many, but at least more than one), ciryali would imply "many ships". The example i falmalinnar "upon the foaming waves" in Namárië would agree well with this interpretation: Galadriel is singing about the waves of the wide ocean between herself and Varda – obviously a great multitude of waves.
However, I fear that this interpretation of the plural forms in -li is too simplistic; at least this can hardly be the whole story. Treebeard greeted Celeborn and Galadriel as a vanimar, vanimálion nostari, which greeting Tolkien translated as "o fair ones begetters of fair ones" (SD:73). Vanimálion "of fair ones" is the partitive plural genitive of vanima "fair (one)". Again, Tolkien translates a partitive plural form as a normal English plural, and there is nothing to suggest that the meaning "of many fair ones" is intended. (Unless Treebeard exaggerates to be polite, this would not agree very well with the facts either: Celeborn and Galadriel were the "begetters" of one known child, their daughter Celebrían. Even if we throw in their granddaughter Arwen as well, there are still only two "fair ones"; this can hardly count as "many".)
There is also an example of a partitive plural (this time in the locative case) in the Markirya poem, but it is not very helpful: Man cenuva rácina cirya ondolissë mornë, which question Tolkien rendered "who shall heed a broken ship on the dark rocks[?]" (MC:222, cf. 215, 220). So here we have ondolissë mornë = "on [the] dark rocks"; once again, a Quenya plural in -li is translated as a normal English plural in -s. While there is nothing that would preclude the possibility that the ship is described as being stranded on many "dark rocks", there is nothing that would confirm this interpretation, either.
Early material (far predating the LotR) provides yet more examples of plurals in -li. In the early versions of the Silmarillion narratives, the clan of the Noldor are referred to as the Noldoli (e.g. LT1:21). Here the ending -li may seem to be used as a kind of "generic plural", referring to the entire "race" of Noldorin Elves. Similarly, in the entry TELES in the Etymologies (LR:391), Tolkien may seem to virtually equate the form Telelli with the compound Telellië "Teler-folk" (Teler "Telerin Elf" + lië "people"; notice the regular assimilation rl > ll). However, when discussing various forms of Casar "Dwarf" in a much later (post-LotR) source, Tolkien seems to clearly distinguish between "the partitive plural" Casalli and "the race-name" Casallië (the latter evidently = "Dwarf-people", Casar + lië). See WJ:388. In the later narratives, Tolkien also abandons the form Noldoli and consistently refers to this people as the Noldor – a "normal" plural in -r, even though the reference is clearly to the entire clan of Noldorin Elves as a "people". The form Noldoli was certainly not obsolete as such, but perhaps its function was redefined.
In one passage in Letters, Tolkien makes some remarks that throw at least some light on the various plural formations, but he uses Sindarin examples:

The Eldarin languages distinguish in form and use between a 'partitive' or 'particular' plural, and the general or total plural. Thus yrch 'orcs, some orcs...' ... the Orcs, as a race, or the whole of a group previously mentioned would have been orchoth. (Letters:178)

If yrch "Orcs" is an example of a Sindarin "partitive" or "particular" plural, it must correspond to a Quenya plural in -li (though historically, yrch is rather descended from a plural in -i, which plural ending still survives in Quenya). We must then equate the "normal" Quenya plural in -i or -r with the "general or total plural". According to what Tolkien says, this plural would often be used of entire races (or of distinct groups previously identified). Indeed we see forms like Valar, Quendi, Eldar referring to the relevant "races" (does this obsolete the notion that the plural in -li can also have this meaning, and is this why Tolkien replaced Noldoli with Noldor in his narratives?) Of course, these plural forms can also have a more limited reference, pointing to some particular group rather than the entire "species" of the thing in question. Treebeard addresses Galadriel and Celeborn as a vanimar "o fair ones"; they are obviously just a couple of fair (beautiful) persons, not by themselves constituting the entire "race" of fair people in the world.
	Perhaps the system works something like this: If you refer to a group using the "normal" plural in -r or -i and do not insert the definite article before the plural noun, the noun may often have generic reference unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Cf. a Tolkien-made example like Valar valuvar, "the will of [all] the Valar [Gods, Powers] will be done" (WJ:404). Valar is here a "general or total" plural; it does not refer to "some" gods or Powers, but to the entire "race" of Valar. If you want to introduce some Valar as opposed to the entire race of gods, it would perhaps be appropriate to use the partitive plural: Valali. (Cf. Tolkien's implication that "some orcs" is a possible rendering of the Sindarin partitive plural yrch.) The very term partitive plural would then suggest that we are dealing with a sub-group, a part of the total group of Valar in the world. But once these Valali have been established as "a group previously mentioned", we would switch back to the "total" plural, that now refers to the total of the aforementioned sub-group. Now it would be appropriate to speak of this sub-group as i Valar (with the definite article: the particular gods we are considering here).
	When Treebeard addresses Galadriel and Celeborn as a vanimar "o fair ones", he naturally uses the "particular" plural since he is addressing two particular "fair" people. But when he goes on to describe them as vanimálion nostari "begetters of fair ones", he switches to the "partitive" plural to make it clear that Galadriel and Celeborn are the (grand)parents of some "fair ones" as opposed to all the fair ones in the world. (Perhaps Treebeard's wording could also be taken to mean that some, but not all of Galadriel's children were "fair" or beautiful. However, the context, as well as general courtesy, would indicate otherwise.) As for the ship that is stranded ondolissë, it is simply described as being stranded on some rocks, certain rocks, a number of rocks.
So in short, it may be that Quenya would typically use the plurals in -li where English would have "some" + a plural noun. Yet the older theory of the "multiple plural" may not be entirely wrong; the fact remains that the root LI originally signifies "many". Perhaps it is especially when plurals in -li are combined with the definite article that these forms may carry the idea of a great multitude, as in the Namárië phrase i falmalinnar "upon the [?vast ocean of] foaming waves". But generally, it may be just as wise to use a separate adjective to indicate "many" (in this course we used the adjective rimba pl. rimbë, by Tolkien glossed "numerous", to express this meaning).
	Since we have so few examples, these theories must remain tentative. As I said, I certainly cannot rule out the possibility that Tolkien would sometimes have used plurals in -li where I have used "normal" plurals in the exercises of this course. Much less can I tell whether he would have rejected the alternative wording as downright "wrong" or ungrammatical Quenya.

THE APPLICATION OF CASE ENDINGS INCLUDING T
As we recall, there are two Quenya endings denoting dual number: -u and -t (e.g. Aldu "two trees", ciryat "two ships"). Which ending is used depends on the shape of the noun it is added to. 

In the Plotz Letter, Tolkien listed various case endings also including the dual element -t-: genitive -to, dative -nt, allative -nta, ablative -lto, locative -tsë, instrumental -nten. Obviously, these are mere variations of the simplest case endings, normally associated with the singular: -o, -n, -nna, -llo, -ssë, -nen. The corresponding dual endings are derived simply by squeezing in a -t- and (where necessary) adapting the result to fit Quenya phonology. So the question is: since -t is obviously the dual marker here, are case endings including -t- to be attached only to nouns with nominative dual forms in -t, like ciryat? Maybe nouns that in the nominative receive the other dual marker, -u, should not take case endings including -t-?

This is a question I briefly discussed in many of the lessons, and as I indicated, there is no certain answer available. Yet we may form a plausible theory if we can figure out how the case endings including -t- originally arose in the language. Perhaps Tolkien imagined that initially, the case endings were simply added to the simplest dual form in -t.

Thus, starting from the simple nominative ciryat "two ships, a couple of ships":

ciryat + -o for genitive = ciryato
ciryat + -n for dative = ciryatn
ciryat + -nna for allative = ciryatnna, simplified to ciryatna
ciryat + -llo for ablative = ciryatllo, simplified to ciryatlo
ciryat + -ssë for locative = ciryatssë, simplified to ciryatsë
ciryat + -nen for instrumental = ciryatnen

However, the group tn came to be disliked, so the consonants underwent metathesis; that is, they were swapped around to produce nt instead. Thus the dative ciryatn, the allative ciryatna and the instrumental ciryatnen turn into the actual forms listed in Plotz: ciryant, ciryanta, ciryanten. Likewise, tl is swapped around to lt, so that the ablative changes from ciryatlo to the attested Plotz form ciryalto. Only the genitive ciryato and the locative ciryatsë persisted as they were, with no metathesis – giving away that originally, the case endings were suffixed directly to the simplest dual form in -t.
	If this is so, we have every reason to assume that the same case endings were suffixed to dual forms in -u as well, for instance like this (using Aldu "Two Trees" as our standard example):

Aldu + -o for genitive = Alduo
Aldu + -n for dative = Aldun
Aldu + -nna for allative = Aldunna
Aldu + -llo for ablative = Aldullo
Aldu + -ssë for locative = Aldussë
Aldu + -nen for instrumental = Aldunen

These forms would undergo no further changes, since they are all acceptable Quenya as far as phonology goes. By this theory, the dual case endings -nt, -nta, -lto, -tsë and -nten should only be suffixed to nouns with nominative dual forms in -t. Nouns with nominative dual forms in -u would merely add the simplest case endings -o, -n, -nna, -llo, -ssë, -nen. The sole uncertainty would relate to the dative form. It could be Aldun as suggested before, but as we demonstrated in Lesson Thirteen, Tolkien used the longer ending -en in one attested example dating from the period when -(e)n was still the genitive rather than the dative ending: Veruen as the genitive of the dual form veru "married pair, spouses" (Etym,. entry LEP, cf. BES). If this formation survived as such, irrespective of Tolkien's re-defining of this case ending, the dative of Aldu should be Alduen.
	As for the possessive-adjectival case form, no dual endings are attested anywhere. We have theorized that it should have the ending -twa in the case of dual forms in -t (ciryatwa "of a couple of ships"), but if the theory set out above is correct, the ending should simply be -va in the case of dual forms in -u (Alduva "of [the] Two Trees"). 

INFINITIVES WITH PREFIXED A-
The Markirya poem includes two examples of a special infinitive that is marked with the prefix a-. (Tolkien first wrote na-, then changed it to a-, perhaps suggesting that this was a grammatical feature that arose spontaneously in his mind as he worked out the later version of this poem.) The relevant couple of consecutive lines go like this:

	Man cenuva lumbor ahosta "Who shall see [the] clouds gather,"
	Menel acúna... "the heavens bending...[?]"

The verbs involved are the A-stems hosta- "to gather" and cúna- "to bend". What is the function of the a-prefix here occurring?
Tolkien provided a brief, rather obscure note about it: "When the bare stem of the verb is used (as after 'see' or 'hear') as infinitive [a-] is prefixed if the noun is the object not the subject" (MC:223). There are at least two possible interpretations of this, but the "traditional" interpretation – reflected in many post-Tolkien texts – goes like this: Following sense-verbs (like "see", "watch", "hear" etc.) we will typically find some noun that is the object of the sense-verb in question. In the examples above, lumbor "clouds" and Menel "the heavens" are the objects (not the subjects!) of the verb cenuva, "shall see". Nonetheless, these verbs are also the logical subjects of the verbs "to gather" and "to bend": The clouds gather, the heavens bend. So to express what an object is itself doing while it is the subject of another verb, you use an infinitive with a prefixed a-. In other words, man cenuva lumbor ahosta is the Quenya way of saying "who shall see [the] clouds as they gather". But unlike "gather" in this English circumlocution, ahosta remains an infinitive, as is clearly seen by the fact that it does not receive the plural ending -r even though its logical subject (lumbor "clouds") is plural.
We may wonder how the prefix a- would be added to a verbal stem beginning in a vowel, especially in a-. As suggested by Nancy Martsch in her Basic Quenya, it may sometimes be best to slip in a hyphen, for instance in a sentence like cennen i nís a-anta [?] i seldon parma, "I saw the woman give the boy a book".
It is also uncertain how the prefix a- would be added to primary verbs. A verb like (say) mat- "to eat" would probably include the ending -ë in its "stem" form, just as it does when it functions as an infinitive. Of course we may prefix a- and build a sentence like tirnen i Naucor amatë = "I watched the Dwarves eat" (= "I watched the Dwarves as they ate"). However, a form like amatë would be accented on the first syllable, on the prefix itself. Perhaps we should ignore the normal stress rules and let the accent fall on the syllable following the prefix (the spelling a-matë could be employed to suggest this)? Actually, the Markirya poem contains a relevant example involving the verb cir- "to sail", but in this example, the prefix a- is not used at all. Correcting some likely misreadings (a in Tolkien's manuscript thrice being misread as e), this line would go: Man cenuva fána cirya métima hrastallo círa = "Who shall see a white ship sail from the last shore[?]" (Tolkien's poetic translation in MC:214 reads "who shall see a white ship leave the last shore" – but it is clear what the literal meaning is.) The overall construction is very similar to the examples cited above; the "white ship" is the object of the verb cenuva = "shall see", but it is also the logical subject of the verb cir- "to sail". The latter is here simply constructed as a "continuative" stem, similar in form to the "present" or "continuous" tense: círa. So we must assume that "I watched the Dwarves eat" could similarly be expressed as tirnen i Naucor máta, and I think I would prefer this construction to the uncertain amatë-form.
Of course, we may then ask why a simple "continuative" stem cannot replace the infinitive with prefixed a- everywhere. The verbs hosta- "to gather" and cúna- "to collect" would presumably produce the forms hostëa and cúnëa. Why, then, cannot "who shall see the clouds gather, the heavens bending?" be expressed as man cenuva lumbor hostëa, Menel cúnëa? Why did Tolkien use the forms ahosta, acúna instead? Of course, for all we know, both constructions could be equally possible, and Tolkien simply picked the one that came into his head first, or the one that fit the meter of his poem better.
However, "Gildor Inglorion" has suggested a new interpretation of the function of the a- prefix that would allow us to explain all the attested forms. We have already quoted Tolkien's note that "when the bare stem of the verb is used (as after 'see' or 'hear') as infinitive [a-] is prefixed if the noun is the object not the subject" (MC:223). Does he mean: when the "noun" (that is, the object of the main verb of the sentence) is the logical object – not the subject – of the infinitive itself? If so, it is obvious why the a-prefix is not used in a sentence like "who shall see a white ship sail...", for the ship is the logical subject of the verb "sail", not the object. This interpretation would mean that the verbs hosta- "gather" and cúna- "bend" are actually transitive in the examples where the a- prefix occurs, not intransitive as in the English translation: "Who shall see the clouds gather, the heavens bending?" In English, it is just the clouds themselves that "gather" or assemble, and the heavens themselves that "bend"; they don't "gather" or "bend" something else.
Yet hosta- is also glossed "collect", which is clearly transitive. Of course, this verb could be both transitive and intransitive, just like at least one other verb in -ta (orta- = transitive "raise" or intransitive "rise"). But if hosta- is taken as meaning "gather" in the transitive sense of "collect", and the prefix a- indicates that the "noun" next to the infinitive is "the object not the subject" of this verb, then man cenuva lumbor ahosta[?] actually means "who shall see the clouds being gathered?" Similarly, man cenuva...Menel acúna would actually mean "who shall see...the heavens being bent?" By this interpretation of the a- prefix, our home-made example tirnen i Naucor amatë would not mean "I watched the Dwarves eat", but rather "I watched the Dwarves being eaten"! The prefix a- would indicate that the noun in front of the infinitive is actually to be taken as "the object not the subject" of the eating concerned.

Perhaps we shall never know with certainty which of these two interpretations is correct. It may very well be that the prefix a- (variant na-) was spontaneously invented when Tolkien worked out the latest version of the Markirya poem, and that it occurs nowhere else in his notes.

ELISION OF FINAL VOWELS
The greeting elen síla lúmenn' omentielvo "a star shines on the hour of our meeting" exemplifies a frequent, but not obligatory feature of Quenya phonology: When a word ends in a vowel and the next word begins in one, the former vowel may drop out. Thus the final -a of lúmenna "on [the] hour" is omitted before the initial o- of omentielvo "of our meeting". In Elendil's Oath occur the words tenn' Ambar-metta, "until the end of the world", the preposition tenna "until" being reduced to tenn' before the initial a- of Ambar-metta "World-end = the end of the world". Occasionally, this phenomenon may even result in new, seemingly unitary words, as when the same preposition tenna "until" and the noun oio "endless period" are contracted: tennoio (for tenn' oio) "forever" (UT:305, 317).
	When a vowel drops out like this, sounds and combinations not normally permitted finally may occur in this position: like the double -nn in lúmenn', or the "final" -m in ám' etelehta "deliver us" (VT43:12, where the full form ámë etelehta is also quoted).
	Naturally, such omission of final vowels is especially common when one word ends in a vowel that is similar or identical to the initial vowel of the next word (like the omission of -a before o- and a- in the examples above). In Fíriel's Song as printed in LR:72, there is a dot under some final vowels, which may be taken as a sign that they are to be elided. Replacing the dot with underlining and not otherwise altering the original spelling of this "Qenya" text, we may quote the relevant phrases like this: 1) Ilu Ilúvatar en káre eldain "Ilúvatar made the world for Elves"; here the final -e of káre "made" is apparently omitted before an identical vowel; 2) íre ilqa yéva nótina "when all is counted" and íre Anarinya qeluva "when my sun shall fail"; here we have omission of final -e before i and a, respectively; 3) enyáre tar i tyel "in that day beyond the end", which if we interpret Tolkien's intentions correctly is a unique example of a final vowel being elided before an initial consonant in the next word (tar). However, the last example has been questioned; the printed version may be in error when placing a dot under the final -e of enyáre. (See TolkLang message 13.75 by David Salo; thanks to Diego Seguí for bringing this to my attention.)
	Whatever the case, such omission of final vowels is clearly not necessary to produce correct Quenya, which is why we ignored it in the exercises of this course. The phrase lúmenn' omentielvo is twice attested in its full form lúmenna omentielvo (WJ:367, Letters:424). Our small corpus also contains examples of a final vowel persisting even where the next word begins in an identical vowel – as in the sentence aurë entuluva "day shall come again", cited in the Silmarillion, chapter 20. Presumably this could also be shortened (aur' entuluva), but not necessarily so. Elision of final vowels would probably be most common in the spoken language, and in poetry it may also be useful to be able to get rid of a syllable where the poetic meter demands it.

HISTORICALLY JUSTIFIED FORMS, OR ANALOGICAL LEVELING?
As discussed in the Quenya lessons, seemingly "irregular" features of the language are very often justified by the long historical evolution Tolkien envisioned. For instance, when the noun talan "floor" has the plural form talami instead of talani, this is because the original Primitive Elvish base had the form TALAM: As the distinctive features of Quenya phonology evolved, final -m was no longer tolerated and was altered to the closest "permissible" sound: -n. Hence older talam appears as talan when the word occurs without endings. But when endings are added so that a vowel follows, the original -m was not final and therefore did not have to be changed. Hence the plural form talami "floors".
	Yet there could also have been another outcome: By analogy with such pairs as aran / arani "king / kings", elen / eleni "star / stars" and many others, the pair talan / talami "floor / floors" could have succumbed to so-called analogical leveling. Speakers might simply have fitted talan into the simplest pattern, so that its plural would have become talani instead. In this case, Tolkien imagined the historically justified form to have persisted. Yet analogical forms are not unheard of in his languages (see for instance the entry PHILIK in the Etymologies).
	The Quenyaist has to face the problem that it is impossible to predict with confidence to what extent Tolkien meant analogical forms to have replaced the historically justified ones. The silent assumption underlying some of the forms presented in this course is that analogical leveling had gone quite far, conveniently wiping out many of the extra complexities and "irregularities" which students would otherwise have to deal with. Yet we cannot be quite sure that this is how Tolkien himself envisioned his Quenya. Some of the potential complications may be briefly addressed here.
	One problem has to do with the augment, the prefixed stem-vowel added to the verbal stem in the perfect tense: tul- "come", but utúlië "has come". Prefixing a vowel in such a way changes the phonological environment where the following consonant occurs. If we start looking into the evolution of Quenya from Primitive Elvish, this could in some cases mean that the consonant itself would change.
	Take, for instance, a verb like lanta- "fall". Most writers have assumed that its perfect form, "has fallen", would be alantië. A minute and a half into the credits of Peter Jackson's Fellowship of the Ring, you can even hear Enya sing mornië alantië, "darkness has fallen". The form alantië is repeatedly used in this course as well. Yet one could plausibly argue that the perfect tense of lanta- should actually be arantië! Why? Because lanta- is derived from a stem DAT-, or specifically its nasal-infixed variant DANT-. In early Quenya, the initial d- of Primitive Elvish turned into l- (WJ:353; exceptionally d- could also become n-). Hence we have lanta- "fall" from primitive dantâ-. However, primitive d developed in a quite different way where it was not initial. Following a vowel it turned into z and later merged with r; for instance, we have discussed how mir "into" is evidently meant to come from primitive mi-da "in-to" (see the note in Lesson Fourteen). So if the perfect augment was prefixed to the stem dant- already before the initial d- turned into l-, older adant- would regularly evolve into azant- and then arant-, so that "has fallen" would be arantië rather than alantië!
If this is correct, otherwise identical verbs would sometimes remain distinct in the perfect tense. In Quenya there are two verbs lav-, one meaning "lick" and the other "yield, allow, grant". The former is derived from a stem LAB, so that the initial l- is original; the latter comes from a stem DAB and thus merged with the other verb only when initial d- turned into l-. Lav- "lick" from LAB would have the straightforward perfect form alávië, whereas lav- "allow" from DAB would have the perfect form arávië (older azávië). By this system one would have to know, in each case, whether the initial l- of any verb is original or derived from older d- before one could construct the perfect form!
But it does not stop here; we have just opened up a Pandora's Box of potential extra complications, so that Quenya suddenly looks more like the "extremely difficult" language Tolkien actually insisted it was (Letters:403). Like many African languages of our own age, Primitive Elvish was not averse to the initial nasalized stops mb-, ng- and nd-; South African president Thabo Mbeki would presumably be more able to pronounce ancient Elvish words like mbundu "snout" than most Westeners are. In Quenya, the ancient initial mb- had been simplified to m-: mbundu came out as Q. mundo (Etym, entry MBUD). The original initial nd- of primitive Elvish was likewise simplified to n-, as when Quenya nulla "dusky, obscure" is said to come from older ndulla (Etym, entry NDUL). Original initial ng- first became ñ-, to use Tolkien's frequent spelling of the sound of ng as in king (pronounced without any distinct g, that is). For instance, we have Ñoldo from primitive ngolodô (or technically ñgolodô). By the Third Age, initial ñ- had come to be pronounced just like normal n-: Hence the spelling Noldor rather than Ñoldor in LotR (but apparently, the distinction between ñ- and n- was upheld in Tengwar writing). To summarize: original mb-, nd-, ñg- became m-, n-, ñ-, respectively, and in spoken Quenya, ñ- later merged with n-. 
But – this change only happened when the old initial combinations mb-, nd-, ñg- occurred at the beginning of words! Following a vowel in the middle of words, these combinations survived as they were. Thus in Quenya the root NDIL yielding words for "friend, friendship, devotion" persists unchanged in a compound like Eldandil "Elf-friend" (WJ:412), though nd- has been simplified to n- in a related word like nilmë "friendship". Compare SD:241, where Tolkien's character Lowdham discusses these phenomena (referring to Quenya as "Avallonian"). What is relevant for our purpose is of course that if a verb in m- or n- is derived from a stem in mb- or nd-/ñg-, one could argue that these combinations would survive following the augment that is prefixed in the perfect tense. Verbs like namba- "to hammer" (stem NDAM-), nanda- "to harp" (older ñanda-, stem ÑGAN) and mar- "dwell" (stem MBAR) may then conceivably appear as andambië, angandië, ambárië in the perfect tense. Of course, verbs in n- and m- that had just been simple n- and m- all along would not behave in this way. If a simple verbal stem like nac- "bite" is all one has to go on, it would be quite unpredictable whether the perfect tense is to be anácië (original stem NAK) or andácië (as if the stem had been NDAK- instead).
Verbs with initial h- would also be problematic. Sometimes Quenya h- is derived from the Primitive Elvish aspirate kh- (see below), which would evolve into h also following a vowel, but sometimes h- is meant to come from primitive sk-, as when the stem SKAT- yields the Quenya verb hat- "break asunder". Primitive sk- becomes h- only at the beginning of words. Following a vowel, this cluster is sometimes unchanged and sometimes has its consonants swapped around to produce ks (or in regularized spelling x); Tolkien is quite inconsistent in this matter. In Etym, entry MISK-, he lists the adjective miksa (or, mixa) "wet"; the entry-head would suggest that the ks of the Quenya word here comes from older sk. In later sources Tolkien has the cluster sk (sc) surviving unchanged in Quenya, as in rusco "fox" (PM:353, VT41:10). So one could argue that the perfect tense of a verb like hat- "break asunder" should be, not ahátië, but either axátië or ascátië, since the original root is SKAT- and the perfect should conceivably descend from askât-. A verb ascat- actually appears in one Quenya text (in the nasal-infixed past tense: ascantë, evidently meaning "broke asunder" – see SD:310, where the spelling used is "askante"). In ascantë, the prefixed stem-vowel is apparently used as an intensifier and is not really the perfect-tense augment as such, but perhaps this augment would have a similar effect on the rest of the word.
And what about verbs in s-? Primitive s- was unchanged at the beginning of words, but between vowels it was normally voiced to z and then merged with r. So perhaps the perfect tense of a verb like salpa- "sip" should be, not asalpië, but rather aralpië for older azalpië? On the other hand, if s- represents older - (more or less like the "th" of English thing), we would see -s- also between vowels: The perfect of sinta- "fade" would be isintië, since the original root is THIN- and the older Quenya forms would have been inta- with perfect iintië (the corresponding spelling is said to persist in Tengwar orthography). But then, Quenya initial s- can also come from the primitive initial cluster st-, which would be preserved unchanged between vowels. However, currently no Quenya verb derived from a stem in st- is known. Perhaps we should be grateful.
Then we have the primitive combination sy-, which produces Quenya hy- when it occurs initially, but following a vowel, sy apparently becomes ry (as when Tolkien in Etym derives pirya "syrup" from a stem PIS; the primitive form of the word must have been pisyâ).  Maybe the perfect tense of a verb like hyar- "cleave" (stem SYAD-) is aryárië rather than ahyárië, then? And what about initial hl-? It is derived from older sl-, a combination which would probably turn into -ll- between vowels. (At least primitive sr-, which at the beginning of words produces Quenya hr-, is seen to become -rr- between vowels: Tolkien derived Quenya mirroanwë "incarnate" from primitive mi-srawanwe, MR:350.) So maybe the perfect tense of hlar- "hear" is not really ahlárië, but rather allárië?

NOTE: Since I wrote the above, a note by Tolkien has emerged where he states that "in compounds with clearly perceived prefixes (or between clearly analyzed and separate other elements) these [that is, hl, hr, hw, hy] remain [unchanged]" (VT48:29). Hurray. As long as the augment used in the perfect tense is perceived as "clearly analyzed and separate", we can indeed go for ahlárië rather than allárië etc. 

In short: Within Tolkien's general system there is room for many extra complications here, if one wants to draw the full consequences of the underlying phonological evolution that he imagined. The augment, the prefixed stem-vowel occurring in the perfect tense, does seem to have been prefixed so early that the following consonants still had not assumed the shape initial consonants would have in Quenya. (In WJ:366, Tolkien cites some "prehistoric" perfects already featuring the augment.) To return to our first example, the d- of the stem DA(N)T- "fall" had not yet become l- as in lanta, and then the perfect "has fallen" could plausibly be (azantië >) arantië because original d became z and then r following a vowel. So should we get in touch with Enya and tell her that she must record her song all over again, with mornië arantië instead of alantië? 
We cannot tell. In this and all the other phonological cases just listed, it is simply impossible to predict to what extent Tolkien meant the "historically justified" forms to have succumbed to analogical leveling – if such leveling occurred at all in augmented verbs. Indeed, at present we cannot even know whether Tolkien ever considered these things. Given the history Tolkien imagined for Quenya – that in Middle-earth it was nobody's mother-tongue, but merely an ancient ritual language – it seems quite plausible that the grammar of Exilic Quenya would tend to become somewhat simplified. Lanta- as a verb corresponds to the noun lanta, compounded in lasselanta "leaf-fall, autumn" (this word occurs in Appendix D of LotR, making this form about as canonical as any Quenya word can be). If the compound was old enough, this "should" have been **lasseranta instead, since the original d of dant- is here intervocalic. 
Another possibility that we considered above was that verbs derived from original stems in mb-, nd- and ñg- would still preserve these combinations following the perfect augment, so that (say) mar- "dwell" from the stem MBAR should have the perfect form ambárië instead of amárië. It may be noted that in the Etymologies, Tolkien derived the Quenya word for elephant – andamunda – from primitive andambundâ "long-snouted" (see entry MBUD). This Quenya form could just as well have been **andambunda, for original mb could well survive in this position. Yet the second element "-snouted" may here seem to have been altered from -mbunda to -munda by analogy with such forms as mundo "nose" (itself descended from primitive mbundu, initial mb- regularly producing Quenya m-). Of course, such compounds may not tell us how augmented perfect forms would behave; the latter would probably be perceived as unitary words, whereas compounds are more obviously a combination of two elements that can usually appear independently as well. Yet as long as there is no definite evidence to the contrary, writers may choose to assume that even in the perfect tense, the initial consonants of verbs were normally re-formed by analogy with the unaugmented shape of the verb. We don't have to make our Neo-Quenya more complicated than we definitely know Tolkien imagined his Quenya to be. 

A somewhat similar problem has to do with the "superlative or intensive prefix" an- that may be prefixed to adjectives (Letters:279). As pointed out in Lesson Five, the n of this prefix must be assimilated to the following consonant when it is l-, r-, s-, or m-, e.g. like this: 

an + lauca "warm" = allauca "warmest"
an + ringa "cold" = arringa "coldest"
an + sarda "hard" = assarda "hardest"
an + moina "dear" = ammoina "dearest"

This system I originally had to deduce from general principles, since for years ancalima "brightest" was the sole available example of the prefix an-. These assimilations were finally confirmed in material published in VT45:5, 36. A parallel example involved the prefix lin- "many" (itself listed in the entry LI- in Etym): In an adjective mentioned in MC:223, namely lillassëa "many-leafed, having many leaves", the -n of lin- is seen to be assimilated to l before another l (compare lassë "leaf").
	However, one example of lin- occurring in the Etymologies is of particular interest: From the noun norno "oak" is derived the adjective lindornëa "having many oak-trees". Why lindornëa and not **linnornëa, if norno is the basic word here? It is because norno "oak" is derived from a stem DORON (under which entry these words are listed in Etym). Norno is one of the exceptional cases where the initial d- of primitive Elvish produces n- instead of l- in Quenya. However, following the prefix lin- the original d is still preserved in Quenya: perhaps the adjective lindornëa goes all the way back to primitive lin-doronôyâ or whatever. For whereas initial d- was eventually altered to l- or n- in Quenya, the combination nd occurring between vowels survived unchanged.
	In the original version of this appendix, I asked:

The question before us is this: would the same principle apply to the superlative prefix an-? Take the adjective norna "stiff, tough", which Tolkien derived from a stem DORO (WJ:413-14). If we supply the prefix an-, should "toughest" be andorna rather than annorna? Similarly with adjectives in l- originating from d-: Should a word like lumna "ominous", derived from a stem DUB in Etym, have the superlative form andumna because of this derivation? If so, one must in each case know whether the initial l- or n- of an adjective is original or changed from d- before one can construct the proper superlative form.

These theories were finally confirmed by Tolkien material published in VT45:36. Tolkien does note how an- is normally assimilated to al- before another l, but in the case of l derived from original d, we get and- instead. So given the fact that lumna "ominous" descends from a primitive form that had d- instead of l- as the first consonant, "most ominous" would indeed be andumna, not **allumna. In VT45, Tolkien does not comment upon n- derived from d- (as in the case of norna "tough"), not surprising since this is a rare development. But the general principle does point to andorna rather than **annorna as the word for "toughest".
	Similar complications could occur in the case of initial m- or n- where they are simplified from original mb- or nd-/ñg- (cf. our discussion of augmented perfects above). The adjective marta "fey, fated" is evidently meant to come from primitive mbaratâ (the stem MBARAT is listed in Etym), and it may well be that an-mbaratâ would come out as ambarta in Quenya. The adjective nulla "obscure" is explicitly said to come from earlier ndulla (entry NDUL in Etym), and then "most obscure" should perhaps be andulla (for an-ndulla) rather than annulla. Words that originally had initial ñg- still showed ñ- (as described above) in the early "historical" or "recorded" forms of Quenya, though it had merged with n- in Third Age pronunciation. Consider adjectives like nóla "learned" or nwalca "cruel" (stems ÑGOL, ÑGWAL): older ñóla and ñwalca. Applying the prefix an- would likely produce angóla and angwalca, whether we start from primitive an-ñgôlâ, an-ñgwalkâ or later an-ñóla, an-ñwalca (for nñ would in any case assimilate to ññ, and this combination also produces Quenya ng or technically ñg). The material published in VT45 does not discuss what happens when an- is prefixed to words in n- and m- derived from primitive nd-, ñg-, mb-.
	According to VT45:36, the otherwise lost initial g- of Quenya words is preserved following the superlative prefix. Thus words like aira "ruddy" (stem GAY) and wenya "green" (stem GWEN) may become angaira, angwenya if the prefix is added to the word. 

Actually VT45:36 rather points to ingaira etc., since it is there said that the prefix has the vowel i before c and (original) g – but since Tolkien later let "most bright" be ancalima rather than **incalima, this idea must have been abandoned. In VT45:5 Tolkien refers to how the prefix was generalized in forms with the vowel a.

	Adjectives in v- may also be problematic. Sometimes v- comes from primitive b-, sometimes from w-. In the oldest "recorded" form of Quenya, w- still remained unchanged, so the original distinction b- vs. w- was preserved as v- vs. w-. (The words in original w- are often so spelt by Tolkien, e.g. wendë besides vendë for "maiden".) It seems that even after initial w- became v-, the combination nw remained unchanged; for instance, there is no hint that a word like anwa "real, actual, true" ever became **anva. Therefore, I originally noted that "one could argue that an adjective like véra "private" would become anwéra if the prefix an- is applied, since in 'Old Quenya' this adjective appeared as wéra (PM:340)". Material from VT45:36 now confirms that an- + (original?) w produces anw-, though the shift of initial w- to v- is not there discussed. Therefore, there may be an opening for analogical anv- at a later stage (see below).
An adjective with v- derived from original b- could behave quite differently. Varna "secure" comes from an original barnâ (stem BAR), and an-barnâ could well come out as ambarna in Quenya, with assimilation nb > mb. So to correctly apply the prefix an-, maybe one has to know whether the initial v- of a Quenya adjective comes from b- or w-?
	At least there can be no doubt that adjectives in w- would originally show anw- if the prefix an- is applied; this is now confirmed by VT45:36.  The real question is whether the prefix an- can simply be added to the "contemporary" forms in v-, without having to consider the whole underlying historical scenario. Since wéra "private" eventually became véra, could "most private" simply be anvéra, irrespective of the phonological history that would demand anwéra?
	Perhaps. We have one parallel example involving the prefix en- "re-, again". In the attested words envinyanta "healed, renewed" (MR:405) and Aragorn's title Envinyatar "Renewer", it is simply prefixed to a word incorporating the contemporary form of vinya "new". If vinya is meant to come from binyâ, then Aragorn "should" perhaps have called himself **Embinyatar. Alternatively, if vinya is to be derived from winyâ (and Tolkien did imagine a root WIN, VT46:26), then the historically justified form "should" have been **Enwinyatar. The attested forms Envinyatar, envinyanta suggest that one does not always have to consider the whole evolution supposed to underlie the words as they appear in Third Age Quenya. There is no reason to assume that the prefixes en- and an- would behave differently in this respect. So the word for "newest" can evidently be simply (an- + vinya =) anvinya. Even if it was anwinya at the older stages, the prefixed form could also be altered when winya became vinya (even though nw remained in unitary words like anwa "true"). This principle may be relevant for many of the potential problems here discussed.
	We may also consider the primitive aspirated consonants kh, th, ph, pronounced more or less as in as in backhand, outhouse, scrap-heap (to borrow my own examples from Lesson One). In Quenya, initial kh- first became ch as in German ach; later it was weakened to a sound like English h-. Original initial ph- became Quenya f-. Th- first came to be pronounced somewhat like English th (as in think); later this sound merged with s-. Thus primitive forms like khithwâ,  phirin-, thausâ yielded the Quenya adjectives hiswa "grey", firin "dead" and saura "foul" (related to the name Sauron). However, following at least some consonants, the primitive aspirates kh, ph, th lost their aspiration (the h element) and became unaspirated k, p, t instead. These sounds normally survived unchanged into Quenya (k here spelt c). This loss of aspiration did occur following n, as when Tolkien derived the Quenya verb manca- "trade" from a root MBAKH "exchange": Evidently this mbakh- early underwent nasal infixion, and nkh is seen to have become nk (nc) in manca-. If the same thing were to happen following the superlative prefix an-, then an-khithwâ, an-phirin- and an-thausâ would come out as Quenya anciswa, (anpirin >) ampirin and antaura: rather unexpected forms compared to hiswa, firin, saura without the prefix. This system would also lead to confusion with other words: are the quite distinct adjectives taura "mighty" and saura "foul" to share the superlative form antaura?! 
It may be noted that in the entry PHIR in Etym, from which stem the adjective firin "dead" is derived, Tolkien also mentioned a word for "immortal": ilfirin. Here, firin is supplied with the negation il-. Interestingly, Tolkien noted that the form ilfirin occurred "for *ilpirin". In other words, following l the original ph- of the stem PHIR would normally have become p, so that the Quenya word "should" have been ilpirin, but Tolkien asterisked this form to indicate that it was not in use. Evidently it was re-formed as ilfirin by analogy with the independent word firin. Then it would probably also be permissible to let adjectives retain their normal initial consonant even when the superlative prefix an- comes before it.

If we start considering how the underlying phonological evolution could affect inflected forms in Quenya, yet another possible complication has to do with nouns in -il that is descended from primitive Elvish -la. Tolkien's idea was that a primitive word like makla "sword" first became makl, since final short -a disappeared quite early. This makl was pronounced as two syllables, mak-l with a syllabic L at the end (just like English little is pronounced lit-l). Eventually, a new vowel i developed before this syllabic L, so that the word came to end in -il. In this way, an original makla evolved into Quenya macil. Other words of this kind include tecil "pen" and hecil "waif, outcast" (primitive tekla, hekla).
	But what happens if such words are to receive case endings? If, for instance, we are to add the instrumental ending -nen to macil to express "with a sword", should we start from the primitive form makla-nen? This combination would develop differently. In makla-nen the final -a of makla is not final at all, and then it would presumably not be lost. One could argue that in Quenya, the historically justified instrumental form "with a sword" should be something like malcanen – since in Quenya the cluster kl occurring between vowels turned into lk = lc. (For instance, alcar "glory" comes from primitive aklar-; compare Sindarin aglar.) Similarly, "with a pen" (tecil) could be telcanen, since tecil descends from primitive tekla.
	When constructing case forms, is it permissible to take the simpler route of simply starting from macil, tecil etc. and inflecting them like other nouns? (Then the instrumental form of macil would be either macilenen with a connecting vowel before -nen, or perhaps macilanen with the otherwise lost final vowel of the old ending -la preserved, or even macilden for macilnen with the normal development ln > ld.) It may be noted that after deriving the Quenya noun hecil "outcast, waif" from primitive hekla, Tolkien also mentioned masculine and feminine forms of it: masc. hecilo, fem. hecilë (WJ:365). These words seem to be derived simply by adding the masculine and feminine endings -o, -ë to the word hecil as it exists in the "contemporary" form of Quenya: The masculine ending -o probably descends from primitive -ô, and primitive hekla-ô might come out as **helco in Quenya – but this form does not occur. If derivational endings can be added to the noun hecil with no further complications, then it is perhaps also permissible to attach case endings to these nouns in -il with no strange things happening to the noun-stem itself. Again, it may not be necessary to take into account the entire historical development that is supposed to have produced the "contemporary" (synchronic, as linguists might say) form of the noun.

As I have already indicated, there is currently no definite answer available to many of the questions raised above. We have merely sketched some of the potential implications of Tolkien's general phonological system, which is inseparable from his vision of how Quenya had evolved from the earlier forms of Elvish. As we have seen, there are hints that analogical leveling would sometimes be permissible, but also examples that point in the opposite direction. Only future publications can throw more light on these problems, assuming that Tolkien discusses such matters in his manuscripts. There will certainly be some clues, given Tolkien's deep interest in the historical evolution of his languages (which to him often seems to be more important than their "modern" or synchronic manifestation).

STEM VARIATION
In Lesson Three of this course, one important fact about Quenya was introduced: Compared to the endingless form (the simplex form) of a word, the word will in some cases subtly change when endings are added to it – as when the plural form of talan "floor" is talami rather than **talani. Thus the simplex talan has the stem-form talam-. Typically, the stem-form reflects how the word appeared at older stages of the language (for instance, the simplex talam was altered to talan because Quenya at one stage no longer tolerated final -m and changed it to the closest permissible sound, namely -n). I wrote, reassuringly: "The student should not despair, thinking that all sorts of strange things typically happen whenever you add an ending to a Quenya word, so that there is a great potential for making embarrassing mistakes (or at least very much extra stuff to memorize). Most Quenya words seem to be quite well-behaved, with no distinct 'stem' form to remember; you just add the ending and that's it." We will now attempt a fuller survey of the exceptional words that have special stem-forms.

Tolkien himself referred to these stem-forms in various ways. Sometimes he listed them as we do here, with a hyphen where the ending is to follow, e.g. nén, nen- "water" (Etym, entry NEN). This indicates that, say, the plural "waters" is to be neni rather than **néni. At other times, Tolkien himself mentions a complete inflected form, most often the plural or the genitive (which in the Etymologies still has the ending -(e)n rather than -o; in LotR-style Quenya, these forms as such are presumably still valid but must be taken as dative forms instead). The fact that talan "floor" has the stem talam- Tolkien indicates by citing the plural form talami (see Etym, entry TAL, TALAM). In the same entry he also mentions the word tál "foot". Before endings this word appears as tal- with a short vowel, and to indicate this, Tolkien cited the "g.sg." (genitive singular, later evidently dative singular) form talen.

Summarizing various groups of stem-forms, a picture something like the following emerges. Quite a few nouns that have simplex forms in -n, -r or -l have stem-forms that add a -d- to this consonant:

¤ andon "great gate" > andond-
¤ car "building, house", also "deed" > card-
¤ falmarin "nymph, sea-spirit" > falmarind-
¤ fion ("hawk"? - Tolkien's gloss was illegible)  fiond- (but also simply fion-)
¤ hen "eye" > hend-
¤ hwan "sponge" > hwand-
¤ Laurelin (name of the Golden Tree of Valinor) > Laurelind- (but also Laureling-, see below)
¤ Lórien (place-name) > Lóriend- (locative Lóriendessë in RGEO:66)
¤ meren "feast" > merend-
¤ neltil "triangle" > neltild-
¤ óman "vowel" > omand- (e.g. pl. omandi, misprint or misreading "amandi" in the entry OM in Etym as published in LR;  nonetheless, it may be correct that the initial long vowel becomes short) 
¤ pilin "arrow" > pilind-
¤ sar "(small) stone" > sard-
¤ Solonel "Teler-Elf" > Soloneld-
¤ Taniquetil (name of mountain) > Taniquetild- (but in the ablative, the contracted form Taniquetillo is perhaps a better choice than Taniquetildello)
¤ wen "girl, maiden" > wend-
¤ wilwarin "butterfly" > wilwarind- (in this and the previous word, read perhaps v- for older  initial  w- in late Exilic Quenya)

In Namárië we find the word oromardi, translated "high halls". If mardi is actually the plural form of mar "home" (cf. car, sar pl. cardi, sardi), the word mar also belongs to this category. But mardi may also be the plural form of a distinct word mardë "hall", not otherwise attested.

Does the ending -on that often occurs in masculine names (e.g. Ancalimon, Sauron) become -ond- before an ending? Tolkien informs us that Sauron comes from older Thaurond (Letters:380). Hence genitive Saurondo, dative Sauronden? However, the patronymic endings -ion "son" and -iel "daughter" are evidently unchanged (i.e., do not become **-iond- and **-ield-), though they correspond to the independent words yondo, yeldë: In PM:192, 196 cf. 441, we find Isildurioni rather than **Isilduriondi for "the heirs [lit. sons] of Isildur", and likewise Anárioni rather than **Anáriondi for "the heirs of Anárion". Therefore, the patronymic endings -ion "-son" and (presumably likewise) -iel "daughter" are unchanged before grammatical suffixes. These endings probably represent the simplest forms of the roots YON, YEL, while the independent forms yondo, yeldë include a "strengthening" of the medial consonant (n becoming nd and l becoming ld).
Note: The ending -riel in the name Altariel "Galadriel" has nothing to do with -iel "daughter"; it is a contracted form of riellë "garlanded maiden", so this name becomes Altariell- rather than remaining **Altariel- before an ending (genitive Altariello "Galadriel's" in RGEO:66)
Another frequent ending in names, -dil or -nil "friend, lover", likewise does not become **-nild- or **-dild- before an ending, even though it corresponds to the independent words nildo, nildë "friend" (masculine and feminine, respectively). This is evident from the form Nendili "Water-lovers" in WJ:411 – not **Nendildi. Once again, the ending must be assumed to represent the simplest form of the original root NIL, NDIL.

A few stems add a t (or historically speaking, a final -t has been lost in the simplex forms):

¤ oron "mountain" > oront-
¤ umbar "faith, doom" > umbart- (and similarly in the name Turambar, Turambart- containing ambar(t)- as another word for "doom", not related to Ambar "world"; the instrumental form of ambar "doom" is attested as ambartanen)
¤ Mandos (usual name of the Vala Námo, properly the place where he dwells) > Mandost- 

Since the final element of coimas "life-bread, lembas" is a reduced form of masta "bread" (Etym, entry MBAS-), coimas could become coimast- before endings. Compare Mandos, Mandost-; the final element of this name is a shortened form of osto "castle, fortress; city". Yet Tolkien in his later writings also experiments with massa (not masta) as the word for "bread", and then coimas would perhaps have the stem coimass- instead.

Some stems are contracted. This simply reflects the regular Quenya "syncope" (the process whereby the second of two identical short vowels normally disappears in a word of more than two syllables, as when primitive galadâ "tree" produced Quenya alda; notice how the second a of the primitive word has dropped out). Here, the stem-form does not reflect the older shape of the word; it has been shortened. This list hopefully covers most of the contracted stems mentioned in Tolkien's published writings:

¤ coron "globe, ball" > corn-
¤ feren "beech-tree" > fern-
¤ haran "chieftain" > harn-
¤ huan "hound" > hún-
¤ laman "animal" > lamn- (but also uncontracted laman-)
¤ nelet "tooth" > nelc- (with both contraction and variation t/c-; see below)
¤ seler "sister" > sell- (for older selr-, or historically actually sels- since the stem is THELES)
¤ soron "eagle" > sorn-
¤ toron "brother" > torn-

NOTE: Some would regard the nouns seler "sister" and toron "brother" as obsolete, since in a much later source Tolkien cited wholly different Quenya words: nésa "sister" and háno, hanno "brother" (VT47:14). 

In poetry, the noun elen "star" might sometimes appear as a contracted form: eld- (e.g. pl. eldi, representing older elni [still so in the Telerin dialect]; the Quenya development ln > ld is regular). However, by analogy with the simplex form, this noun normally preserved the full stem elen- even where it occurs with endings (hence pl. eleni in Namárië). See WJ:362.

NOTE: The possessive ending -va would probably appear as -wa when added to nouns ending in a consonant. It is probable that contracted stems would not be used when this case ending is added – e.g., the possessive form of toron "brother" would most likely be toronwa, hardly ?torneva with a contracted stem + connecting vowel -e-. Adding -wa after the final consonant of a word creates a consonant cluster (like the nw of toronwa in our example), and then the syncope of the preceding vowel cannot take place (toronwa cannot possibly become **tornwa). The same principle would likely apply to short locative forms in -së (instead of the full ending -ssë, which would always require a connecting vowel before it if a vowel is not already present). As we explained in Lesson Fifteen, the shorter ending -së may apparently be added to nouns in -t and -s, and following nouns in -n and -l, the locative ending may appear as -dë (changed from -zë, in turn from original -së); thus Tolkien used meneldë and cemendë as the locative forms of menel "heaven" and cemen "earth" (VT43: 16, 17). Though coron "ball" is normally contracted to corn- before endings, the locative "in a ball" should perhaps be corondë – though cornessë may be a valid alternative. But the instrumental should probably be coronnen, hardly ?cornenen.

Some stems ending in -s are known to double it before endings:
¤ eques "saying" > equess-
¤ lis "honey" > liss-
¤ nís "woman" > niss-
¤ Tulkas (the name of a Vala) > Tulkass-

Notice that the long í of nís becomes short before a consonant cluster in niss-. (The simplex form nís occurs in MR:213, perhaps rendering obsolete the short-vowel form nis mentioned in the Etymologies, entries NDIS, NÎ1, NIS.)

Miscellaneous stem-variation:

¤ caimasan "bedchamber" > caimasamb- (-san in the first word being a reduced form of sambë "chamber". Other compounds ending in -san "chamber" would behave in the same way)
¤ filit "small bird" > filic- (the stem originally ended in c, but as the language developed, word-final c was no longer possible and was changed to t – but in non-final position, "shielded" by an ending, it remained c. Compare nelet, nelc- below.)
¤ halatir "kingfisher" > halatirn- (with an extra -n because the second element of the name is derived  from tirno "watcher"; the Quenya name of the bird means "fish-watcher")
¤ Laurelin "L." > Laureling- (or Laurelind-; see below)
¤ miril "shining jewel" > mirill-
¤ nelet "tooth" > nelc- (with both contraction and variation t/c-; the base yielding words for "tooth" is given as NÉL-EK- in Etym)
¤ noa, nó "conception" > nów- (or maybe nów- is the stem-form of nó only; Tolkien's wording is not clear. He cited the plural of nó as nówi, whereas noa would presumably have the plural form noar.)
¤ peltas "pivot" > peltax-
¤ quelet "corpse" > quelett- (Tolkien listed an archaic form kwelett- and the Quenya plural queletsi; this plural reflects the idea that t before an unstressed i may become s. Cf. another form from the Etymologies: maisi as the plural form of the adjective maitë "handy" – but there are some indications that Tolkien later dropped this idea, so perhaps the plural of quelet could also simply be queletti.)
¤ quesset "pillow" > probably quessec- (since the cognate or corresponding "Noldorin"/Sindarin word, pesseg, indicates that the primitive form is kwessek-; cf. filit with stem filic- from the stem PHILIK, with "N"/S cognate fileg)
¤ rá "lion" > ráv-
¤ Silmaril "Silmaril" > Silmarill-
¤ talan "floor" > talam- (a case similar to the change of c to t mentioned above; originally, the stem always ended in m) 
¤ tó "wool" > probably tów- (from TOW; cf. nó, nów- from NOWO above)
¤ tol "island" > toll- (pl. "tolle",  according to Etym, entry TOL2. Since there are no other examples of any -ë plurals, and because LT1:85 has the more regular form tolli, it would seem that "tolle" is probably a mere misreading or misprint.)
¤ yat "neck" > yaht- 

The name of the Golden Tree of Valinor, Laurelin, was usually interpreted "Song (lindë) of Gold" and had the stem Laurelind- before an ending. But the name was also interpreted "Hanging-Gold" (cf. linga- "hang") and consequently became Laureling- when an ending was added to it (Etym, entry LIN2). Writers may pick the form they prefer.

Since amil "mother" seems to be shortened from a longer form amillë (VT44:7), it is probable that amil should have the stem amill-, e.g. genitive amillo "mother's".

The forms in -t with stem-forms in -c- may require special attention. We have mentioned filit "small bird" (filic-), nelet "tooth" (nelc-) and quesset "pillow" (probably quessec-). If we add the ending -wa for the possessive case, the combination c-w would equal qu, so we would have (filic-wa =) filiqua "of a (small) bird", nelequa "of a tooth" (probably no contraction here, though nelqua as such would be a possible Quenya word) and quessequa "of a pillow". If we add the short locative ending -së, the resulting combination c-s would have to be spelt x according to the orthography here adopted: filixë "in a bird", nelexë "in a tooth" (definitely no contraction here, since **nelxë is impossible), and quessexë "in (/on) a pillow". But in all likelihood one could also slip in a connecting vowel -e- and use the full locative ending -ssë: filicessë, nelcessë, quessecessë.

It may also be mentioned that nouns with stem-forms in -m- (for -n in the simplex forms) would probably still show -n- before the possessive ending -wa: Older mw came out as nw in Quenya (see VT41:5, Tolkien deriving the noun sanwë "thought" from older sam-wê). Therefore, the possessive form of talan, talam- "floor" would presumably still be talanwa, not **talamwa. What about the locative? Unless one says talamessë with a connecting vowel before the long ending -ssë, talam-se with the shorter ending would presumably evolve into talamze and then talandë, again with the same change of m to n that also occurs in the simplex form, though for a different reason: It seems that older md becomes nd in Quenya, as when Tolkien in Etym derived pilindi "arrows" from the root PÍLIM. This plural form must reflect older pilim-d-î, the group md becoming nd.

VOWEL VARIATIONS
Some nouns shorten a long vowel before an ending (or, more accurately historically speaking, lengthen it when no ending is present):

¤ nén "water" > nen-
¤ nér "man" > ner-
¤ quén "person" > quen-

According to the entry YEN of Etym, the long vowel of yén "long year" becomes short before an ending (yen-), but in Namárië the plural form is yéni with the long vowel intact (so also in VT44:33, in Tolkien's fragmentary Quenya translation of the Gloria in Excelsis Deo; here we also have the genitive plural yénion). It would seem that Tolkien altered the ultimate etymology of the word, so that it had a long vowel already at the primitive stages of Elvish speech. If we want to argue from an "internal" perspective, we could also theorize that in late Exilic Quenya, the older system was breaking down so that the long vowel was introduced "everywhere" by analogy with the simplex form. If so, Galadriel would perhaps also be liable to use plurals like ?néni, ?néri, ?quéni for "waters, men, persons", thought this should have been neni, neri, queni according to the older, classical system (the forms neri and queni are directly attested).

There are also a some words where the vowel in the final syllable of the simplex form becomes long before endings:

¤ Eruhin "Child of Eru" > Eruhín- (as in pl. Eruhíni; cf. the long vowel of the independent word hína "child")
¤ Valatar "Vala-king" > Valatár- (pl. Valatári; cf. the long vowel of tár "lord, king")
¤ Casar "Dwarf" > Casár- (pl. Casári, but also simply Casari, WJ:388, 389, 402)

The two first examples demonstrate how the long vowel of a word is normally shortened when the word (or a reduced form of it, like -hin vs. hína) occurs at the end of a compound. Before endings, the long vowel is preserved. As for Casar, it is supposed to be borrowing from the Dwarvish (Khuzdul) term Khazâd, itself a plural form "Dwarves". (In actual conversation with Dwarves, Casar is supposed to be a more polite and politically correct term than Nauco, which is derived from the adjective nauca "stunted".) It is evidently the long â of the Khuzdul term that is reflected in the Quenya plural Casári.
Atanatári "Fathers of Men" (PM:324) is the plural of Atanatar "Man-father", this singular form being attested as the personal name of one of the kings of Gondor (Appendix A of LotR). Notice the lengthening of the á in the plural form (as well as in the genitive plural Atanatárion, MR:373 – in which source this is the title of a collection of legends and translated "Legendarium of the Fathers of Men", but the word "Legendarium" is understood in Quenya). Do these examples indicate that the plural form of atar "father" is regularly atári, just like the plural of Casar is Casári, so that atar would have the stem atár-? Maybe not, for in the Etymologies, the plural form of atar is simply atari (entry ATA-). While Tolkien may have changed his mind about this later, it is possible that a long compound like Atanatar "Man-father" does not behave in the same way as the simplex atar "father". A plural form ?Atanatari would have to be accented on -nat-, which would sound rather awkward; perhaps this is why the vowel in the following syllable is lengthened so as to receive the stress: Atanatári. It may be noted that in some early sources, written before Tolkien changed the genitive ending from -(e)n to -o, the genitive of Ilúvatar "All-father" was Ilúvatáren (LR:47, 72). However, in the entry "Children of Ilúvatar" in the Silmarillion index, the revised genitive of the same name appears as Ilúvataro with no lengthening of the a in the second-to-last syllable. One must wonder if this should read ?Ilúvatáro (if only because Ilúvataro would presumably be stressed on -vat-, a rather weird accentuation).
Anar "sun" was originally Anâr with a long vowel in the second-to-last syllable (Etym entry ANÁR, also SD:306). According to what Tolkien wrote in the Plotz Letter, the shortening of long vowels in the final syllable of polysyllabic words is a feature of Exilic Quenya. It may be that it is this originally long vowel that is preserved in the name Anárion (son of Elendil and brother of Isildur); the name seems to mean "Sun-son". Would the genitive plural "of suns" likewise be anárion, in turn arguing the existence of a plural form anári, a genitive form anáro, etc? We cannot be certain. In a number of three-syllabic words, a long vowel in the middle syllable is actually seen to be shortened (so that the stress moves to the initial syllable of the word). For instance, Quenya naraca "harsh" Tolkien referred to older narâka (Etym, entry NARÁK). If narâka can produce Quenya naraca rather than **naráca, perhaps a plural form like ?anári "suns" would likewise tend to become anari. The fact that a long vowel persists in Casári "Dwarves" is easily explained: this is presented as a late loan from Khuzdul Khazâd, not an inherited word. Indeed even Casári could be replaced by Casari (and presumably likewise in other forms involving endings, e.g. Casáro or Casaro as the genitive singular "Dwarf's"). See WJ:388.

Sometimes the sound of a final vowel is different before endings (one vowel changing into another, not just the same vowel being lengthened or shortened as in the cases discussed above).
Words in final -ë and -o sometimes display stem variation when endings are added: Where these vowels are derived from final short -i and -u in primitive Elvish, we still see -i- and -u- where these vowels are followed by an ending. This occurs all the time in the aorist forms of primary verbs: topë "covers" vs. topin "I cover" (the form topë descending from older topi). In the case of adjectives in -ë, nearly always representing earlier -i, the original quality of the vowel would also be preserved in many cases. It often occurs when adjectives are compounded, as in morë "dark, black" vs. Moriquendi "Dark Elves" (see the Silmarillion for the latter term). There are some exceptions; ninquë "white" comes from primitive ninkwi and therefore ought to have the stem-form ninqui-, yet we see ninque- in the name Ninquelótë "White Flower" (see the Silmarillion Appendix, entry loth-). In the case of carnë "red", Tolkien in the first edition of LotR simply used carne- in the compound Carnemírië "Red-jeweled" (the rowan-tree in the Ent Quickbeam's song; see The Two Towers, chapter four in Book Tree; compare the entry caran in the Silmarillion appendix). Carnemírië is also the reading found in Letters:224. Yet carnë is derived from primitive karani and therefore ought to have the stem-form carni-. Apparently realizing this, Tolkien in the revised second edition of LotR emended Carnemírië to Carnimírië. The form Ninquelótë remains seemingly abnormal, but ninqui- as the stem-form of ninquë "white" is attested in the word ninquilda "whiter". This form was published in Tyalië Tyelelliéva #16 p. 24, where Lisa Star presented evidence for one form of Quenya (or "Qenya") that had the comparative ending -lda.
	These adjectives in -ë are known to have, or may safely be inferred to have, stem-forms in -i-:

¤ carnë (carni-) "red" (primitive karani, Etym entry KARAN)
¤ fortë (forti-) "northern" (?) (primitive phoroti, whence "Noldorin"/Sindarin forod according to the entry PHOR in Etym; however, the more usual Quenya word for "northern" seems to be formenya)
¤ lúnë (lúni-) "blue" (primitive lugni, Etym entry LUG2 – but in Namárië the plural form of the adjective "blue" appears as luini, perhaps sg. luinë, but quite possibly this should also have the stem luini-)
¤ maitë (maiti-, or maisi-) "handy, skilled" (primitive ma3iti, Etym entry MA3)
¤ morë (mori-) "black" (primitive mori, Etym entry MOR)
¤ nindë (nindi-) "fragile, thin" (the entry-head NIN-DI- in Etym would seem to represent a primitive word nindi)
¤ ninquë (ninqui-) "white" (primitive ninkwi, Etym entry NIK-W-)
¤ nítë (níti-, or nísi-) "moist, dewy" (primitive neiti, Etym entry NEI)
¤ ringë (ringi-) "cold" (the entry-head RINGI in Etym apparently represents a primitive word, not just a root – but later, Tolkien seems to have altered the Quenya word for "cold" to ringa)
¤ sindë (sindi-) "grey" (primitive thindi, PM:384 and Etym entry THIN)
¤ varnë (varni-) "brown, swart, dark brown" (Tolkien explicitly mentions the stem-form in Etym, entry BARÁN, so the primitive form would be barani; compare carnë above)
¤ vindë (vindi-) "pale blue or grey" (primitive form windi given in Etym, entry WIN/WIND)

It seems that virtually all Quenya adjectives in -ë represent primitive forms in -i and would belong on this list (terenë "slender" from primitive terênê is the only exception that springs to mind). Many of the adjectives in -i denote colours, as is evident from the list above.

Certain nouns in -ë may also have stem-forms in -i-, that would turn up before endings and when such nouns appear as the first element of a compound. This would be a partial list of such nouns (not including Tolkien's early "Qenya" material):

¤ ehtë (ehti-) "spear" (since in Etym, Tolkien decided to derive this word from EKTI rather than EKTE as he first wrote)
¤ finë (fini-) "a single hair" (primitive phini, PM:362; cf. Finicáno as Fingon's Quenya name in some drafts, PM:361 no. 35, though Tolkien later altered this to Findecáno using another word for "hair")
¤ hísë "mist, fog" (primitive khîthi, Etym entry KHIS, KHITH; cf. also the compound Hísilómë, a place-name mentioned in the Silmarillion)
¤ linwë (lingwi-) "fish" (primitive liñwi, Etym entry LIW; cf. the compound lingwilócë "fish-dragon, sea-serpent", Etym entry LOK)
¤ lírë (líri-) "song" (instrumental lírinen in Namárië)
¤ lómë (lómi-) "night" (primitive dômi-, Etym entry DOMO; SD:415 explicitly confirms the stem-form)
¤ nengwë (nengwi-) "nose" (the entry-head NEÑ-WI- in Etym seems to represent an entire primitive word, not just a "stem" or root)
¤ noirë (noiri-) "tomb" (compounded in Noirinan "Tomb-valley", "Valley of Tombs", UT:166 – unless this compound is meant to contain the plural form noiri "tombs")
¤ porë (pori-) "flour, meal" (primitive pori, Etym entry POR)
¤ súrë (súri-) "wind" (instrumental súrinen in Namárië)
¤ rincë (rinci-) "flourish, quick shake" (primitive rinki, Etym entry RIK(H))

It should be noted though, that adjectival formations derived from these words by adding -a to the final vowel do not cause -ë to revert to -i-. This is evident from the example nengwëa "nasal", an adjective derived from nengwë "nose" (Etym, entry NEÑ-WI-). Perhaps the "expected" form **nengwia was altered by analogy with the numerous other adjectives in -ëa.

In the Etymologies, the Quenya word for "day" is arë derived from ari (AR1), so the stem-form would be ari-, but Tolkien later changed the word for "day" to aurë. Whether this has the stem-form ?auri- is uncertain and possibly doubtful. 

The list of nouns above only comprises the examples where Tolkien explicitly mentioned the primitive form in -i, or where the i-stem can be directly observed in some inflected or compounded form. Of course, there are many words in -ë for which no primitive form is cited, and then we cannot always be certain whether Quenya -ë derives from short -i (in which case it belongs on the list above) or from earlier long -ê (in which case Quenya -ë does not change its quality when not final). It may be assumed, though, that the noun tallunë "sole of foot" is an I-stem (talluni-), since it derives from older talrunya (Etym, entry RUN). The idea is probably that talrunya produced Common Eldarin talruny after the loss of the short final -a, and that the consonant y then turned into a vowel -i (talruni, the form directly underlying Quenya tallunë). Compare the apparent evolution of the U-stem ango, angu- from angwa via angw and angu; see below.

As a parallel to the I-stems just listed we have the U-stems, showing -o as the final vowel of the simplex form, but -u- before endings. Where the simplex form of such nouns ends in -co or -go, the nominative plural ends in -qui or -gwi, respectively (instead of -cor, -gor as would normally be the case). Compare WJ:390, where Tolkien states that urco "bogey; Orc" must descend from urku or uruku because it has the plural form urqui. The implication is that if urco had descended from ur(u)kô instead, its plural form would have been **urcor instead. In the case of the noun tulco "support, prop" derived from tulku (Etym, entry TULUK), Tolkien did not make any note about the plural form, but given the derivation it should probably be tulqui rather than ?tulcor (or for that matter ?tulcur). 

NOTE: Telco "leg" is a special case; it has the plural form telqui, but this form Tolkien stated to be "analogical" (Etym, entry TÉLEK). It seems, then, that telco is not really a U-stem; the plural telqui is merely formed by analogy with the plural of certain true U-stems. Aragorn's Quenya translation of "Strider", Telcontar, seems to somehow contain telco "leg" (it may be that a verb telconta- "use the leg" = "stride" is implied here), and the fact that we don't see **Telcuntar would then confirm that telco "leg" is not a U-stem despite its plural form.

As noted above, just like nouns in -co derived from earlier -ku have plural forms in -qui (= -cwi), nouns in -go derived from earlier -gu have plural forms in -gwi. The noun ango "snake" has the stem angu-, as is evident from the compound angulócë "dragon" in Etym, entry LOK (literally something like "snake-serpent", compound of ango and lócë), and the entry ANGWA confirms that ango has the plural form angwi. (In this case the -u of the stem seems to have developed from an original -w, which became final after the loss of the original short final vowel -a in Common Eldarin: angwa > angw, later angu, in turn producing Quenya ango, angu-.) The noun lango "throat" was likewise said to have the plural form langwi, probably implying that Tolkien intended lango to be derived from langu, but then he changed lango to lanco. See entries LAK1, LANK in Etym. It may well be that the replacement form lanco is similarly to be derived from lanku, in which case it should have the stem lancu- and plural form lanqui, though neither is attested.

Not including early "Qenya" material, this list should cover nearly all the known U-stems:

¤ ango (angu-, pl. angwi) "snake" (Etym entry ANGWA, compounded angu- in angulócë, Etym entry LOK)
¤ líco (evidently lícu-) "wax"; compare the related word lícuma "taper, candle"
¤ malo (malu-) "pollen, yellow powder" (primitive smalu, Etym entry SMAL)
¤ orco "Orc, goblin" (orcu-, pl. orqui) (primitive órku, Etym entry ÓROK, or a Sindarin-influenced form of urco [q.v.], WJ:390; this Sindarin-influenced form may also be treated as a normal noun in -o and thus have the pl. form orcor, compare MR:74 and WJ:390)
¤ ranco (rancu-, pl. ranqui) "arm" (primitive ranku, Etym entry RAK)
¤ rusco (ruscu-, pl. rusqui) "fox" (PM:352, VT41:10)
¤ súlo (súlu-) "goblet" (primitive suglu, Etym entry SUK)
¤ tulco (tulcu-, pl. presumably tulqui) "support, prop" (primitive tulku, Etym entry TULUK)
¤ tumbo (tumbu-) "deep valley (under or among hills)" (primitive tumbu, Etym entry TUB)
¤ tumpo (tumpu-) "hump" (the entry-head TUMPU in Etym apparently represents a primitive word, not just a simple "root")
¤ tundo (tundu-) "hill, mound" (primitive tundu, Etym entry TUN)
¤ ulco "evil" as noun (ulcu-; the ablative ulcullo is attested, VT43:12, 23-24; pl. probably ulqui)
¤ urco "bogey; Orc" (urcu-, pl. urqui) (primitive urku or uruku, WJ:390)
¤ Utumno (Utumnu-) "Utumno", Melkor's first stronghold (primitive form either Utupnu, MR:69, or Utubnu, Etym entry TUB)

In the case of rauco "demon", Tolkien seems to be uncertain whether the primitive form was rauku or raukô, or maybe he meant both to have co-existed (WJ:390). If it was rauku, then Quenya rauco should have the stem raucu- (and plural rauqui?) One plural form of the compound Valarauco "Demon of Might" (WJ:415, Sindarin balrog) actually occurs in the Silmarillion, but its form is most surprising: we have Valaraucar with the vowel a before the plural ending! This must reflect an alternative and quite distinct primitive formation raukâ-. (See "Variation of final vowels?" below.)

Tuo "muscle", which Tolkien derived from primitive tûgu (entry TUG in Etym) may be a peculiar case. If tuo is to be a U-stem, it might conceivably assume the form tú- (for tú'u-) before endings, or just tu- before a consonant cluster (e.g. dative tún "for a muscle", ablative tullo "from a muscle"). But it is also possible that u'u would undergo dissimilation to uo (as o'o is known to do) rather than being contracted to ú; if so, we would simply see tuo- also before endings.

One probable feature of the I- and U-stems is nowhere discussed in published material, but seems to be a necessary consequence of the general system: In the archaic "Book Quenya" that preserved a distinct "object" or accusative form, like ciryá as the accusative of cirya, the lengthened final vowels would presumably preserve the original quality of the vowel: It was only short original final -i and -u that turned into -ë and -o in Quenya. Thus finë "hair" with stem fini- would presumably have the accusative form finí, whereas súlo "goblet" with stem súlu- would have the accusative form súlú. But in Quenya as spoken in Middle-earth, the distinction between nominative and accusative was abandoned; "it was adequately expressed by word order" (Plotz letter). Phonologically, the older accusatives finí and súlú could have produced Exilic Quenya fini and súlu, still remaining distinct from nominative finë, súlo – but Tolkien appears to be telling us that the distinct accusative forms were abandoned altogether.

Variation of final vowels?
Yet another kind of stem variation is so poorly attested that we cannot be sure whether it is really meant to exist "internally", or merely reflects Tolkien's indecision as to the exact shape of a word. We have already mentioned how Valarauco "Demon of Might" (WJ:415, Sindarin balrog) has the plural form Valaraucar, if we are to believe the Silmarillion. Why this shift from a final -o in the simplex form to -a- before the plural ending -r? Would we see the same change before other endings, e.g. dative ?Valaraucan = "for a Valarauco"? We have only one other possible example of this variation of -o vs. -a-: In the Etymologies, the Quenya word for "root" is sundo (entry SUD), and this word also occurs elsewhere with reference to linguistic "roots" or bases (WJ:319). Yet the plural form "roots" appears to be sundar in the compound Tarmasundar "Roots of the Pillar" (the name of the slopes of Mt. Meneltarma in Númenor, UT:166). But such variation of -o vs. -a- seems difficult to justify within Tolkien's scenario for how Quenya had evolved from primitive Elvish. (By contrast, it is easily explained why final -o and -ë sometimes turn into -u- and -i- before endings: original short -u and -i were changed in final position, but not elsewhere.) It should be noted that in neither of the two "attested" cases are the singular and the plural form provided in the same source, or even known to be closely contemporaneous. So maybe Tolkien sometimes thought of the Quenya word for "Balrog" as Valarauca (hence pl. Valaraucar) rather than Valarauco, and maybe he likewise wavered between sundo and sunda as the word for "root". It is also possible that sundo came to be used especially with reference to a linguistic "root" (base, root-word), whereas sunda refers to a natural "root" (of trees etc., also used metaphorically of the slopes of a mountain).

Lost final vowels preserved before (consonant) endings?
When an ending beginning in a consonant (such as -nna for allative) is to be added to a noun ending in a consonant, a connecting vowel is slipped in before the ending to avoid an impossible consonant cluster (unless the ending itself is somehow simplified). One may use -e- as such a connecting vowel, this being the most neutral vowel (as in the attested allative form Elendilenna "to Elendil", PM:401). Quenya lost certain short final vowel as the language evolved from primitive Elvish, and one could speculate whether these vowels would be preserved before certain endings.
As noted above, the name Mandos has the stem Mandost- because the final element is a reduced form of osto "castle, fortress; city" (MR:350). Should the original final -o of osto be preserved in some case forms, e.g. ?Mandostonna as the allative "to Mandos"? Or would the neutral connecting vowel -e- be introduced here as well, so that we would have ?Mandostenna instead? What about a noun like tol "island"? It is said to be derived from primitive tollo and therefore has the stem toll- as in the plural form tolli (typo "tolle" in Etym, entry TOL2). But would the lost final -o of the original tollo be preserved in some cases, e.g. locative ?tollossë "on an island"? If so, the stem of tol would have to be cited as toll(o)-, the final o turning up only before endings beginning in a consonant.
The instrumental form of ambar, ambart- "doom, fate" (more commonly umbar, umbart-) is attested as ambartanen in UT:138. Notice the vowel -a- turning up before the instrumental ending -nen. Tolkien's idea may be that the word for "fate" was something like m'barta in primitive Elvish, and that the original final -a is preserved in the instrumental form ambartanen, though this vowel (as well as the -t preceding it) has been lost in the simplex form ambar "doom".
The locative form of tál, tal- "foot" is said to appear as talassë in one late manuscript (VT43:16; I assume that the tál here discussed means "foot", though no gloss is provided in this source). Again the idea may be that "foot" was tala in primitive Elvish, and that the original final -a is preserved before endings beginning in a consonant. Yet the material is – as usual – less than consistent. In the Etymologies, entry TAL, the genitive (later presumably dative) form of tál is given as talen, which form is probably best interpreted as tal- plus the genitive (later: dative) ending -n, the normal connecting vowel -e- materializing between the noun and the ending to avoid the impossible form **taln. Would Tolkien later have said that the dative form of tál, tal- should be talan rather than talen, to go with talassë as the locative form? The form talassë is supposedly taken from a fuller declension of tál, so the same (ca. 1967) source document may provide the answer – but it is not available to us.
No definite conclusions can be reached at this stage; I would normally use the "neutral" connecting vowel -e- unless there is strong reason to believe that another vowel is to be preferred. It should be noted that -i (rather than -r) is in any case the preferred plural ending, so even if tol, toll- "island" does appear as tollo- before endings beginning in a consonant, the plural "islands" should be tolli (attested in LT1:85) rather than **tollor. The same principle would apply to all case endings incorporating the plural element -i-, like the plural dative -in or the plural instrumental -inen, and it would also apply to the other case ending beginning in a vowel, the genitive in -o. So even though "by doom, by fate" is attested as ambartanen, a corresponding plural form "by (the) fates" should probably be ambartinen with no -a- before the ending. The genitive would have to be ambarto (for older ambartao would be so altered even if it once did exist).

WORDS WE DON'T QUITE KNOW HOW TO INFLECT
There are certain Quenya nouns and verbs that by their shape are difficult to inflect in the various grammatical forms. Applying the normal rules may result in slightly weird, or even phonologically impossible, forms. We will survey some of the problematic groups of words.

NOUNS
As noted above, there are some uncertainties relating to the behaviour of nouns in -il derived from primitive -la. Here follow certain other categories of "strange" nouns.

1. Monosyllabic nouns with a long vowel. The vowel of these words must presumably be modified in many of the inflected words. We will list the words involved.

With the vowel á: má "hand" and rá "lion". Some more occur in early "Qenya", e.g. cá "jaw", rá "arm", sá "fire", wá "wind" (but other, polysyllabic words for these concepts are attested in Tolkien's later Quenya). Other "Qenya" words of this kind include á "mind, inner thought", cá "deed", fá "lower airs", lá "open space, moor" and quá "duck" (but á and lá have other meanings in later Quenya).

With the vowel é: pé "lip" (so in a late source published in VT39:9; in the Etymologies the same word is glossed "mouth"), ré "day" (a full cycle of 24 hours; "day" meaning the hours of daylight is aurë). In early "Qenya" we also have fé "last hour, death", nyé "a bleat", sé "eyeball", tyé "tea", Vé name of a Vala.

With the vowel í: ní "woman; a female" (stated to be a poetic word; compare the more regular word nís, niss-), pí "a fly, small insect" (but "speck, spot" in early "Qenya").

With the vowel ó: ló "night, a night", nó "conception (= idea)", tó "wool". In "Qenya" we also have forms like vó, yó, both meaning "son" (but these forms Tolkien apparently replaced by yondo later). The "Qenya" form Ó, a poetic word for the sea, may also be mentioned, as may hó "owl".

With the vowel ú: cú "arch, crescent" (in early "Qenya" also "crescent moon"), lú "a time, occasion", Rú "Drûg, member of a certain Mannish race of Middle-earth" (see UT:385), sú "noise of wind". The latter also occurs in early "Qenya", which language also has rú "steadfastness" (hardly a valid word in LotR-style Quenya).

One question without any entirely clear answer is how to form the nominative plural of these words. Normally, words ending in a vowel (except -ë) add the ending -r in the plural. Does this also apply to words like these? If cú is "crescent", should "crescents" be cúr?

Some information about the word má "hand" surfaced in VT47:6. Tolkien stated that it never received the plural ending -r, in part because this would make the word clash with the noun már "dwelling" (instead, only the plural ending -li was used: máli "hands" – though otherwise, the ending -li is associated with the special "partitive plural" discussed above). Since the form **már was not used for such a specific reason (the clash with már "dwelling"), this may indirectly suggest that most of these nouns can indeed have plural forms in -r.

What about the nouns in -é? We know that polysyllabic nouns in -ë normally form their plurals in -i. Should the plural form of ré "day" be rí? Or maybe rér? For what it is worth: When the word ré "day" appears at the end of a compound, it is shortened to -rë, with a plural form in -ri (compare Yestarë, New Year's Day in the Elvish calendar, with enderi "middle-days", days inserted between certain months). But this may not necessarily support ?rí as the plural form "days" when the word occurs by itself. At the end of compounds, words that normally have plural forms in -r may be transferred to the i-plurals instead. For instance, the prominent r-plural Noldor (archaic Ngoldor) may be contrasted with -ngoldi in the compound Etyangoldi "Exiled Noldor" (WJ:374; the singular is probably Etyangol with stem Etyangold-). Words may be shortened and reduced at the end of compounds, like ré loses its long vowel in the compound form -rë, and this may also have consequences for the way the word is inflected.

Not all of these words behave in such a way, however. In the case of the nó "conception" (idea), Tolkien indicated that this word has the stem-form nów- (he listed the pl. nówi), preserving the second consonant of the original root NOWO listed in the Etymologies. The word tó "wool", derived from a root TOW, may likewise have the stem tów-. Before the genitive ending -o, this w would likely change to v, since wo is apparently not allowed in Quenya. If so, the genitive of nó and tó would be nóvo, tóvo. The word rá "lion" has the stem-form ráv-, hence pl. rávi (listed by Tolkien) and genitive presumably rávo.

But it is not always clear how the genitive ending -o would be added to these words. Adding the genitive ending -o to a word like ló "night" would presumably not alter the word in any way; the -o simply merges into the already-long ó, and only the context would indicate that the noun is to be understood as a genitive. But what about the words in -á? We know that the genitive ending -o normally displaces a final -a, as in Vardo "Varda's" (Namárië). Should the genitive form of má "hand" be mó? Or could it simply be máo? The combination ao is apparently not allowed in Quenya; does it make any difference if the á is long? – In the case of monosyllabic nouns ending in other vowels than -á and -ó, we must probably assume that the genitive ending is simply added to the word.

The possessive ending -va would also be added directly, presumably merging with -v and -w in the case of the nouns with stem-forms in these consonants. "Of a lion" should evidently be ráva; one may wonder whether nówa or nóva is the best option as the possessive form of nó, nów- "conception".

Before endings with a double consonant or a consonant cluster, the long vowel of these nouns must be shortened. Thus the plural ablative of má "hand" is attested in LR:72 as mannar (since "into hands" could not be the impossible form mánnar). We must assume it would be the same with pronominal endings, e.g. lulma "our time" from lú "time" (hardly lúlma). However, the example máryat "her hands" from Namárië indicates that the long vowels of these words do remain long before pronominal endings including combinations in -y-, such as -nya "my", -lya "thy" and -rya "his/her". As we discussed in Lesson Fifteen, it is not entirely clear how we are to analyze groups like ny, ly, ry: are they single palatalized consonants, so that a long vowel can survive in front of them? But they seem to count as consonant clusters, or long consonants, for the purpose of determining which syllable receives the stress.

2. Nouns in -ië and -i: There are also some unanswered questions relating to nouns in -ië and -i, like lië "people", aranië "kingdom" or tári "queen". How is the genitive ending -o to be added to nouns in -ië? There would be three vowels in sequence, and words like liëo, araniëo would have to be accented on the i, sounding rather awkward. Some believe the ë would drop out, producing forms like lio or aranio, but this cannot be proved. The present writer is inclined to think that the e would be lengthened to é so as to attract the stress: liéo, araniéo.

What about the case endings already including the vowel -i, notably -in for plural dative, -iva for plural possessive and -inen for plural instrumental? (There is also the "mystery case" from the Plotz Letter, probably a short locative, that has the ending -is in the plural.) As far as we know, the plural dative of tári "queen" must be formed by combining tári and -in, but what does this result in? Do we see tárín with a long í, for tári-in? In the Plotz Letter, Tolkien states that in words of two or more syllables, a long vowel was shortened before a final consonant. If so, older tárín would become tárin, identical to the singular form of the dative (tári + -n). It may be that only the context can tell us whether tárin is singular "for a queen" or plural "for queens".

On the other hand, in the possessive case there may be a distinction between plural táríva "queens', of queens" (tári + -iva) and singular táriva "queen's, of a queen" (simply tári + -va). The forms would be stressed differently, making them clearly distinct.

Words in -ië (mostly abstracts, gerunds and some feminines like Valië) pose their own problems in this regard. What is the dative plural and possessive plural of, say, Valië? Adding the endings -in and -iva produces the impossible forms **Valiein and **Valieiva: Quenya does not possess the diphthong ei. Where it formerly occurred it normally became í, but according to a note by Tolkien published in VT48:7, it turned into é following short i. If so, impossible *Valiein first turns into Valién. Then, according to the Plotz rule just mentioned, a long vowel before a final consonant is shortened in polysyllabic words: Thus we presumably arrive at Valien. As in the case of tárin, the distinction between singular and plural is lost, for Valien could just as well be the singular dative "for a Valië" (Valië + -n). Similarly, plural possessive **Valieiva would turn into Valiéva, which could also be singular instead (as if Valië + -va). 

The instrumental forms would be similar to the possessive forms deduced above, only with -nen instead of -va.

It is almost tempting to start from the nominative plural Valier and use ?Valiérin as the dative plural (and perhaps ?Valierwa as the possessive plural!) But there is no trace of such forms in published Tolkien material.

3. Nouns in -oa: Quenya possesses a number of nouns ending in the combination -oa, most notably coa "house", hroa "body", loa "year" (literally "growth"), noa "conception" (idea), roa "dog", toa "wood". Most of these are meant to be descended from earlier forms in -awa or -awâ (see especially VT47:35), a combination that became -oa in Quenya.

In early "Qenya" we also have foa "hoard, treasure", loa "life" (probably obsoleted by loa "year, growth" in later Quenya), moa "sheep", oa "wool", poa "beard" and roa "wild beast". Moa, oa and poa are perhaps obsoleted by máma, tó and fanga of the same meaning in Tolkien's later Quenya; moreover, roa was redefined as "dog" (see above). Anyway, it seems that most of these were also meant to represent older forms in -awa or -ava, although foa and oa are derived from roots where the first vowel was o from the beginning. (The same goes for the later form noa "conception", derived from a root NOWO in the Etymologies.)

The main "problem" relating to these forms is this: What happens if we add the genitive ending -o? Since this ending displaces a final -a, what does a word like hroa "body" turn into in the genitive case? Is "body's" to be hró, for the impossible form hro'o?!

If we are to take into account the supposed phonological development, we could reach pretty surprising conclusions. The word hroa is meant to be descended from primitive srawâ, srawa (MR:350, VT47:35). The genitive ending -o represents primitive -ho, merging into a final -a after the loss of h. If srawa-ho became srawao and then srawô early enough, the Quenya outcome would be hravo! Similarly, the genitive of coa "house" would be cavo, the genitive of loa "year" would be lavo, and so on (reflecting ancient forms like kawa "house", lawa "growth, year": VT47:35, 42:10). 

However, the genitive of noa "conception" is presumably novo, since the root is NOWO rather than **NAWA. (Compare nówi as the plural form of nó, a shorter synonym of noa derived from the same root. Before -o, we must assume that w becomes v.)

VERBS

In the case of a few verbs, it is difficult to predict the form of the gerund and the perfect tense. One such verb is feuya- "abhor", derived from the root PHEW (see this entry in the Etymologies). According to our general understanding, the gerundial ending -ië displaces the ending -ya. But "feuië" would be a rather unlikely form as the gerund "abhorring". Perhaps we must refer back to the original root PHEW. In feuya-, the original w has changed to u before another consonant: the y of the verbal ending -ya. But between vowels, the w of Primitive Elvish normally turns into Quenya v (the only notable exception seems to be that w is preserved unchanged following the diphthong ai, as in aiwë "bird"). So PHEW "abhor" + the gerundial ending -ië would perhaps come out in Quenya as fevië. Similarly, the perfect "has abhorred" could conceivably be efévië.

Súya- "to breathe" is even more problematic. Should the gerund be suië, the first vowel of the gerundial ending -ië merging with the stem-vowel to produce the diphthong ui? And will usuië do as the perfect "has breathed"?

Verbs in é + ya would be particularly difficult. No such verb seems to be attested, but they probably could exist: In the Etymologies we have thio as the Noldorin (later: Sindarin) verb "to seem". The root is THÊ, so the primitive form is clearly meant to be thêyâ-; this would apparently come out as séya- in Quenya. Some post-Tolkien writers have already used this unattested verb. Granted that this extrapolation is correct, what would the gerund of such a verb be? Since Quenya does not have ei, we cannot go for **seië. Historically, older ei normally becomes long í in Quenya. Síë, then? Perfect esíë, the augment reflecting the original stem-vowel of the root THÊ?

The verb "to change" is apparently ahya- (only attested in the past tense: ahyanë). Should we go for ahië as the gerund "changing"? The problem is that hy is not h + y, but a single unitary sound, like the German ich-Laut (of which the h of English huge, human is a weak version). In ahië the h would be a different sound, like normal English breath-h. Should we use ahyië, then? Hardly; Quenya phonology does not seem to allow hy before the vowel i. It is a problem that we don't know what the ancestral form of ahya- is supposed to be: maybe akh-yâ? If the original root is AKH, one could argue that the gerund should indeed be ahië: Original kh becomes h between vowels, whereas kh + y would produce hy, as in ahya-. The perfect "has changed" could conceivably be aháhië, if we are right to assume that the entire initial syllable is prefixed as an augment when the verb begins in a vowel: primitive akh-âkhiiê. But there are also those who would argue that a form like ahyánië may be used, based on the past tense ahyanë. Tolkien indicated that "intrusion of n from the past [tense]" into the perfect tense sometimes occurred in the language (WJ:366).

Early "Qenya" has verbs in -itya, like naitya- "to shame, abuse" and paitya- "to repay". If it is at all possible to fit them into Tolkien's later scheme, we must assume that the gerundial ending -ië replaces -ya (so that we would have naitië "shaming", paitië "repaying"), and then maybe anaitië, apaitië in the perfect tense.

The verb tuia- "to spring, sprout" is apparently derived from the root TUY with the simple ending -a, early tuya- becoming tuia- in later Quenya. Maybe we could have the gerund tuië, for impossible tuyië, and the perfect utuië, for utúyië?!

A verb like lia- "twine" (from early "Qenya") is very difficult to adopt into Tolkien's later inflection scheme. It is said to be derived from liya (QL:53). A gerund lië (for impossible liyië) would clash with lië "people", a noun that was present already in Tolkien's early development of Qenya/Quenya (it is indeed listed on the same page in the QL as the verb lia-). The perfect, if it is at all possible to construct one, would have to be something like ilíë (for ilíyië).

We can hardly avoid the problems encountered when we try to construct the perfect tense forms of such cumbersome verbs, but the gerund in -ië may perhaps be replaced by some other abstract ending; the best alternative is probably -lë. So from verbs like ahya- "change", súya- "breathe" and lia- "twine", we could derive abstract nouns like ahyalë "changing, change", súyalë "breathing" and lialë "twining".