-ya

3 suffix of endearment, attested in Anardilya as an intimate form of the name Anardil UT:174, 418, possibly also occurring in atya "dad", emya "mum" q.v. The forms ataryo "daddy" and amilyë "mummy" q.v. may contain gender-specific variants -yo masc. and -yë fem. 4 pronominal suffix “his” and probably also “her, its”, said to be used in “colloquial Quenya” which had redefined the “correct” ending for this meaning, -rya, to mean “their” because it was associated with the plural ending -r. Hence e.g. cambeya “k” “his hand”, yulmaya “his cup” VT49:17 instead of formally “correct” forms in -rya. The ending -ya was actually ancient, primitive ¤-jā being used for “all numbers” in the 3rd person, predating elaborated forms like -rya. It is said that -ya “remained in Quenya” in the case of “old nouns with consonantal stems”, Tolkien listing tál “foot”, cas “head”, nér “man”, sír “river” and macil “sword” as examples. He refers to “the continued existence of such forms as talya ‘his foot’“, that could apparently be used even in “correct” Quenya VT49:17. In PE17:130, the forms talya “his foot” and macilya “k” “his or their sword” are mentioned. 5 adjectival ending, as in the word Quenya “Elvish” itself; when added to a verbal stem it may derive a kind of short active participle, as in melumatya “honey-eating” mat- “eat”, saucarya “evil-doing” car- “do”. PE17:68