Quettaparma Quenyallo

ná (2), also nán, conj. "but, on the contrary, on the other hand" (NDAN; the form nan, q.v., is probably to be preferred to avoid confusion with ná "is", *nán "I am").

na (1) form of the verb "to be", evidently the imperative (or subjunctive): Tolkien stated that na airë would mean "be holy" (VT43:14), and san na (q.v.) must mean "thus be" = "let it be so"; see ná #1 Cf. also the sentence alcar mi tarmenel na Erun "glory in high heaven be to God" (VT44:32/34). Inserted in front of a verb, na expresses a wish: aranielya na tuluva "may thy kingdom come" (ibid).

na (2) prep. "to, towards", possibly obsoleted by #1 above; for clarity writers may use the synonym ana instead (NĀ¹). Originally, Tolkien glossed na as "at, by, near"; the new meaning entered together with the synonyms an, ana (VT45:36).

[na-] (3) a prefix occurring in the Markirya poem, changed by Tolkien to a-, q.v.

-na (4), ending used to form passive participles as well as some adjectives and nouns; see -ina. According to PE17:68, the ending -na was “no longer part of verbal conjugation”; the derived words are thus considered independent adjectives (sometimes nouns) rather than regularly derived passive participles, the obvious etymological connection to certain verbal stems notwithstanding. Where adding the ending to a root would produce the combinations tn, pn, kn (cn), metathesis occurs to produce nt, (np >) mp, nc, as in nanca *”slain” for older ¤ndakna, or hampa “restrained, delayed, kept” vs. the root KHAP “retain, keep, detain”. Following -l, the suffix -na turns into -da, as in yulda “draught, the amount drunk” for older yulna (this being an example of a noun being derived with this ending, though Tolkien might also explain yulda as containing a distinct ending -da [q.v.] denoting the result of a verbal action). The word *turúna “mastered” (q.v., only attested in elided form turún’) would seem to be a passive participle formed from the verb turu- “master” (PE17:113), suggesting that in the case of U-stem verbs, their final -u is lengthened to ú when -na is added.