Neo-Quenya/Exceptional stems

      Words with misguiding final letter

      Following words look as words on -r but they are in fact words on -s:

      cár, cas- "head"
      cor, cos- "war"
      fandor, fandos- "monster"
      mar, mas- "home, dwelling"
      nier, nies- "honey-bee"

      They only have a final -r in the nominative singular, in all other cases they are declined as cos (see Declension Paradigms).

      And these words look as words on -s but they are really words on -t:

      ceres, ceret- "earthenware"
      hes, het- "sibling"
      palis, palit- "sward, lawn"

      They only have a final -s in the nominative singular, in all other cases they are declined as sarat (see Declension Paradigms).

      ↑Jump back a section

      Doubled t-stems

      doubled stems in ts

      When these words end in -t we don’t find a genuine doubling but rather an extra -s:

      helet, helets- "fur-coat"
      henet, henets- "window"
      orot, orots- "cave"
      quelet, quelets- "corpse"

      Also some words in -s belong to this group:

      aris, arits- "daughter"
      cangaris, cangarits- "weaver"
      fas, fats- "tassel"
      nos, nots- "damp"
      oaris, oarits- "mermaid"

      And one exceptional word in -ë:

      vitë, vits- "sap"

      These words have a special locative and possessive singular, and they all have a u-dual:

      singular plural dual part. plural
      nominative helet heletsi heletsu heletseli
      genitive heletso heletsion heletsuo heletselion
      possessive heletwa heletsiva heletsuva heletselíva
      dative heletsen heletsin heletsun heletselin
      ablative heletsello heletsillon(r) heletsullo heletselillo(n)(r)
      allative heletsenna heletsinnar heletsunna heletselinna(r)
      locative heletsë heletsissen heletsussë heletselisse(n)
      instrumental heletsenen heletsinen heletsunen heletselínen
      respective heletses heletsis heletsus heletselis

      doubled stems in tt

      calumet, calumett- "lamp"
      cehtecet, cehtecett- "cuckling"
      lat, latt-, "flap, lid"
      lequet, lequett- "joint"
      mat, matt- "meal"
      nat, natt- "thing"
      tecet, tecett- "letter"

      These words are declined as henet, henets-.

      doubled stems in ht

      cecet, ceceht- "pheasant"
      met, meht- "mark, aim"
      mut, muht- "dirt, filth"
      sarat, saraht- "plank"
      teret, tereht- "auger, gimlet"
      tet, teht- "spot, mark"
      welet, weleht- "boil, tumour"
      yat, yaht- "neck"

      These words are declined as henet, henets-.

      ↑Jump back a section

      Vowel shortening

      In some nouns a long vowel is shortened in the stem-form, but otherwise they are declined as if they didn't have that long vowel in the nominative singular.

      lár, lar- "ear"
      nén, nen- "water"
      nér, ner- "man"
      quén, quen- "person"
      tál, tal- "foot"
      yár, yar- "blood" ^

      ^ The normal word for blood is sercë.

      The word yén "Elvish year" is an exception, as its stem-form also has a long é: yéni.

      ↑Jump back a section

      Vowel lengthening

      In a few words we find the reverse situation. But they are all proper names:

      Eruhin, Eruhín- "Child of Eru"
      Valatar, Valatár- "Valar-king"
      Atanatar, Atanatár- "Forefather"
      Casar, Casár- "Dwarf"
      ↑Jump back a section

      Vowel changing

      In some words the vowel completely changes. The most frequent words are the U-stems and the I-stems.

      There are 2 words that have a stem-forms in –a but a nominative in –o:

      rauco, rauca- "demon"
      sundo, sunda- "root"

      Note: rauco is in singular and dual a U-stem.

      There are also 2 words on –a with a stem-form on –i:

      hína, híni- "child"
      ónona, ónoni- "twin"
      ↑Jump back a section

      Words with exceptional connecting vowels

      As we have seen: when a case-ending that begins with a consonant, is applied to a noun ending in a consonant we add an –e– between the stem and the ending, e.g.

      macilen "to a sword" (dative)
      anarenna "to a king" (allative)

      There are however four words that have a different connecting vowel: With –o–

      tol, toll- "island"
      Mandos, Mandost- "Mandos"
      so we find e.g.
      tolossë "on an island" (locative)
      Mandostonna "to Mandos" (allative)

      With –a–

      tál, tal- "foot"
      umbar, umbart- "fate"
      so we find e.g.
      talan "to a foot" (dative)
      umbartanen "with fate" (instrumental)
      ↑Jump back a section

      Irregular stem-forms

      First a group of connected words: All words that denote a "room" end on –san. This is derived from sambë "room", e.g.:

      caimasan, caimasamb- "bedroom"

      These two words also belong to this group:

      han, hamb- "ground"
      san, samb- "chamber"

      But some words are totally irregular:

      cilapi, cilapinc- "robin"
      hyar, hyarm- "plough"
      las, lax- "snare"
      lencë, lenqu- "limb"
      oito, oiont- "lack"
      olos, olor- "dream"
      pat, papt- "small leaf"
      peltas, peltax- "pivot"
      piet, piecc- "pin"
      sat, sapt- "hole"
      silit, siliqu- "flint"
      sincë, sinqu- "mineral, metal"
      taran, taramb- "buffet"
      telin, telimb- "roof, covering"
      tyus, tyux- "cud"
      ulun, ulump- "camel"

      Some words resemble 2-letter words, but they have a stem-form:

      rá, ráv- "lion"
      nó, nów- "idea"
      tó, tów- "wool"

      The possessive singular of these words always ends on -va, the genitive on -vo:

      rá → ráva, rávo
      nó → nóva, nóvo
      tó → tóva, tóvo


      >> Neo-Quenya >> Nouns >> Stem-forms >> Exceptional stems

      ↑Jump back a section
      Last modified on 3 February 2011, at 21:14