Quessë

From Tolkien Gateway
Revision as of 00:14, 3 November 2012 by Mith (talk | contribs) (DEFAULTSORT)

quessë is a noun meaning "feather" in Quenya.[1]

Quesse.gif

Quessë is also the name in Quenya of the fourth letter of the Tengwar alphabet.[1] It is the fourth letter of the first grade or Tyellë, which contains "voiceless stops" and it is the first letter in the fourth series of consonants. For written Quenya or Sindarin, the fourth series is used for the labialized k or kw-series, the Quessetéma, and Quessë represents KW (which may be transcribed in English as QU). In Westron the fourth series is used for the k-series, the Calmatéma, and this letter K or "hard" C'.[2] The Westron name for this letter is .[3]

Etymology

The word derives from the Primitive Quendian root KWES.[4]

See Also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E, "Writing", "The Fëanorian Letters", Note, The names of the letters
  2. J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, Appendix E, "Writing", "The Fëanorian Letters"
  3. See Westron Tengwar
  4. J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), The Lost Road and Other Writings, Part Three: "The Etymologies", KWES-