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Q. vendë [w] n. “maiden, *virgin” (Category: Girl)

Q. vendë [w], n. “maiden, ⚠️*virgin” (Category: Girl)

The usual Quenya word for “maiden” derived from the root √WEN(ED) (Ety/WEN; PE17/191; VT47/17). Tolkien usually wrote this word as wende but it would be pronounced and written vende in modern Quenya.

Conceptual Development: This word was fairly stable in Tolkien’s mind. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s this word was ᴱQ. ’wen (wend-) “maid, girl” with longer variant wendi “maiden” derived from the early root {ᴱ√WENE >>} ᴱ√GWENE (QL/103). The form wendi was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, but there the root was {ᴱ√gw̯ene >>} ᴱ√gu̯eđe (GL/45). In the Nieninqe poem written around 1930 it was ᴱQ. wende “maiden” (MC/215), a form that reappeared in the version of the poem from the 1950s as well (PE16/96).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave this word as ᴹQ. wende, vende “maiden” under the root ᴹ√WEN-ED of the same meaning (Ety/WEN), In a marginal note Tolkien said that derivatives of ᴹ√WEN-ED should be transferred to ᴹ√GWEN, and under that root Tolkien indicated there was blending with ᴹQ. wende “maid” (Ety/GWEN).

In later writings Tolkien mostly used the form wende, but in Quenya prayers from the 1950s he once wrote Vénde, where the long é was probably a slip (VT44/5, 10). Likewise in later writings Tolkien mostly gave the root as √WEN(ED), but in one place considered deriving wende from √GWEN “fair” (PE17/191). Finally he generally translated this word as “maiden”, but in Quenya Prayers from the 1950s used it with the sense “virgin” in reference to the Virgin Mary (VT44/5, 12).

Neo-Quenya: It is tricky to reconcile Tolkien’s regular use of the form wende with the root √WEN(ED), since ancient w became v in Quenya, making the expected form vende. To retain wende, the most straightforward explanation is that it was derived from strengthened *gwendē, since this initial cluster survived as w at least into Classical Quenya and possibly beyond. However, the strengthening of ✶wendē > *gwendē must have occurred after the Common Eldarin period, otherwise the Sindarin form would have been **bend, whereas Tolkien consistently used S. gwen(d).

Many Neo-Quenya writers avoid this question simply by revising the form to vende, a practice I recommend as well, though its suffixal form would (mostly) remain -wen. I also prefer to use vende mainly for “maiden, *young woman” and for “virgin” (of any gender) I recommend vénë.

References ✧ PE16/96; PE17/190-191; PM/343; SA/wen; UT/229; VT44/10, 18; VT47/42

Glosses

Variations

Changes

Inflections

Wenderon genitive plural; er-plural “*of virgins” ✧ VT44/18
-wen suffix “maiden” ✧ UT/229
wen suffix “maiden” ✧ SA/wen

Element In

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

WEN-ED > wendē [gwende] > [ɣwende] > [wende] ✧ PE17/191
GWEN > wendē [gwende] > [ɣwende] > [wende] ✧ PE17/191
wen > wen [gwende] > [ɣwende] > [wende] ✧ SA/wen
wen(ed) > wende [gwende] > [ɣwende] > [wende] ✧ VT47/42

ᴹQ. vende [w] n. “maiden, maid” (Category: Girl)

See Q. vendë for discussion.

References ✧ Ety/GWEN, WEN; EtyAC/GWEN

Glosses

Variations

Related

Cognates

Derivations

Phonetic Developments

ᴹ√WEN(ED) > wende [gwende] > [ɣwende] > [wende] ✧ Ety/GWEN
ᴹ√WENED > wende > vende [gwende] > [ɣwende] > [wende] > [vende] ✧ Ety/WEN

ᴱQ. wende n. “maiden” (Category: Girl)

See Q. vendë for discussion.

References ✧ MC/215; PE16/90, 92

Glosses

Element In


ᴱQ. wen(di) n. “maid, girl, maiden” (Category: Girl)

See Q. vendë for discussion.

References ✧ GL/45; LT1A/Ónen, Urwen, Wendelin; QL/60, 96, 103

Glosses

Variations

Related

Inflections

’wend- stem   ✧ QL/103
-wen suffix   ✧ LT1A/Ónen; QL/103
-wen suffix “feminine patronymic” ✧ LT1A/Urwen
#-wen suffix   ✧ QL/96

Element In

Cognates

Derivations