tanna

tanna

tanna, tanwa, \#taina; tengwë (indication, token, writing; tengwë is also used for what we should call a phoneme – pl tengwi is attested), tehta (mark [in writing], diacritic) (In LotR:1155, this word is applied to the supralinear vowel-signs of Fëanorian writing, and pl tehtar is attested.) SYSTEM OR CODE OF SIGNS tengwesta (grammar). For various linguistic terms, see FULL SIGN, LACKING/INADEQUATE SIGN, STRIPPED/DEPRIVED SIGN. –PE17:186. MR:385, WJ:394, 395, TEK

1 pron. "that, it" TA; compare antaróuta/u "he gave it" FS; see anta-. The forms tar/tara/tanna “thither”, talo/tó “thence” and tás/tassë “there” are originally inflected forms of this pronoun: *”to that”, *”from that” and *”in that” place, respectively. Compare “there” as one gloss of ta see \#4. 2 adv. “so, like that, also”, e.g. ta mára “so good” VT49:12 3 pron. "they, them", an "impersonal" 3rd person pl. stem, referring "only to 'abstracts' or to things such as inanimates not by the Eldar regarded as persons" VT43:20, cf. ta as an inanimate Common Eldarin plural pronoun, VT49:52. Compare te, q.v. The word ta occurring in some versions of Tolkien's Quenya Lord's Prayer may exemplify this use of ta as an "impersonal" plural pronoun: emmë avatyarir uta/u "we forgive uthem/u" VT43:8, 9; this refers to trespasses, not the trespassers. However, since Tolkien also wanted ta to mean “that” see \#1 above, he may seem to be somewhat dissatisfied with ta “they, them”, introducing variant forms like tai VT49:32 to free up ta as a sg. pronoun. In one document, tai was in turn altered to te VT49:33, which could suggest that the distinction between animate and inanimate “they, them” was abandoned and the form te q.v. could be used for both. In some documents, Tolkien seems to use tar as the plural form VT49:56 mentions this as an uncertain reading in a source where the word was struck out; compare ótar under ó-. 4 conj., said to be a reducted form of tá “then”, used “before each new item in a series or list”; “if as often in English the equivalent of and was omitted, and placed only before a final item e.g. ‘Tom, Dick, and Harriet’, this would in Quenya represent a discontinuity, and what followed after ta would be an addition of something overlooked or less important”. PE17:70 Hence the use of arta ar ta, “and ta” for “et cetera”; in older language ta ta or just ta. 5 adv. “there” VT49:33; this may be an Elvish root or “element” rather than a Quenya word; see tanomë; see however also tar, tara, tanna under ta \#1.