an-

2 intensive or superlative prefix carrying the idea of "very" or "most", seen in ancalima "most bright" cf. calima "bright", antara "very high, very lofty" and \#anyára *"very old" or *"oldest" the latter form occurring in the so-called Elaine inscription VT49:40, there with the dative ending -n. Assimilated to am- before p-, as in amparca "k" "very dry", and to al-, ar-, as- before words in l-, r-, s- though Tolkien seems to indicate that before words in l- derived from earlier d, the original quality of the consonant would be preserved so that forms in and- rather than all- would result. See also un-. Letters:279, VT45:5, 36 Regarding the form of the superlative prefix before certain consonants, another, partially discrepant system was also set down in the Etymologies and first published in VT45:36. The prefix was to appear as um- or un- before labialized consonants like p-, qu-, v- the consonant v preserving its ancient pronunciation b- following the prefix, thus producing a word in umb-, as in- technically iñ- before c- and g- the latter presumably referring to words that originally had initial g-, later lost in Quenya but evidently preserved following this prefix, and as an- otherwise. However, this system would contradict the canonical example ancalima, which would have been *incalima if Tolkien had maintained this idea. – In a post-LotR source, the basic form of the prefix is given as am- instead see am- \#2. In this late conception, the prefix still appears as an- before most consonants, but as ama- before r, l, and the form an- is used even before s- whether original or from þ, not the assimilated variant as- described above. General principles would suggest that the form am- should also appear before y- so the form \#anyára probably presupposes an- rather than am- as the basic form of the prefix, Tolkien revisiting the earlier concept in the Elaine inscription. PE17:92 3 prefix "re" in antúlien, q.v. LotR-style Quenya shows en- instead.