esta

2 adj. "first" ESE/ESET; this entry was marked with a query. The word Yestarë q.v. *"Beginning-day" in LotR suggests that Tolkien decided to change the stem in question to *YESE/YESET. We could then read *yesta for esta but later this became a noun “beginning” rather than an adj. “first”, PE17:120 and also prefix a y to the other words derived from ESE/ESET essë *yessë, essëa *yessëa. Estanossë noun "the firstborn", read likewise *Yestanossë *Yestanessi? – but in a later text, Tolkien used Minnónar q.v. for "the Firstborn" as a name of the Elves, and this form may be preferred. In the Etymologies as printed in LR, the word Estanossë is cited as "Estanesse", but according to VT45:12, the second-to-last vowel is actually o in Tolkien's manuscript.