Áre
árë (stem ári-[1]) means "day, sunlight[2], warmth (0especially of the sun)[1]" in Quenya.
Etymology
The archaic form was ázë[2], from possible PQ *âsi, root AS
Related words
Cognates
Tengwa
Árë was the original name of Essë, the thirty-first letter of the Tengwar alphabet. The word árë was first pronounced "ázë", but over time the phonemes for "z" and "r" merged and the letter Árë became superfluous.
Hence the letter was given a new value, that of ss, and renamed Essë.
Other versions
Tolkien gave the etymological root of the words for "day" as AR1[3] which means that those words had always the radical letter r from Primitive Quendian.
However in Appendix E he gives the ancient form of Áre as Áze which can't be reconciled with the older etymology since there is no sense in Primitive r becoming Archaic z and then re-evolving to Quenya r again.
According to our comprehension of the evolution of Quenya, the z sound evolved from Primitive d or Primitive s[4] as in SRIS > hriz "to snow".
This, combined with the Sindarin element as of Asfaloth (meaning "sunlit foam")[1] show that Tolkien altered the derivation, by changing theoretically the root AR to *AS.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 J.R.R. Tolkien, "Words, Phrases and Passages in Various Tongues in The Lord of the Rings", in Parma Eldalamberon XVII (edited by Christopher Gilson)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E
- ↑ J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings
- ↑ Helge Fauskanger, The Evolution from Primitive Elvish to Quenya
