rámen, pronoun for us (?), on our behalf (?). As indicated in the summary analysis above, men ought to be enough to express for us (me we + the dative ending -n). If the last part of rámen is indeed #men for us, we are left with a prefix #rá- that is wholly obscure. Conceivably the prefix tilts the meaning of the simple dative for us in the direction of on our behalf; nothing more can be said of it[26].
sí, adverb now. It is previously attested in Namárië (an sí Tintallë…máryat ortanë for now the Kindler…has uplifted her hands), in LR:47/SD:310 (ilya sí maller raikar, with interlinear translation all now roads [are] bent), and in the Etymologies. The latter source lists the word sí as a derivative of the stem si- this, here, now (LR:385); this stem thus refers to present position in time or space. (In Sindarin, the word si – often occurring in lenited form hi – covers both here and now.) The Etymologies also lists sin as an alternative form of sí, and an example from LR:47 (sin atalante, in SD:310 sín atalante) would seem to indicate that the variant sin (sín) is used when the next word begins in a vowel. Compare the distribution of a vs. an in English. However, this is not the case in the Hail Mary text, which has sí ar rather than *sin/sín ar for now and.
síra, adverb today. The first element is obviously to be derived from the same stem si- this, here, now (LR:385) as sí now above. This stem manifests as a prefix sí- (with a long vowel) also in the word símen here in Fíriel’s Song (LR:72); this is transparently sí- this + men place (LR:372 s.v. men-). In light of this example, it would be tempting to analyse síra as this day. However, the final element #-ra cannot be related to any known word for day. A form *síre could incorporate ré, mentioned in LotR, Appendix D: "A day of the sun [the Elves] called ré and reckoned from sunset to sunset." As the final element of a compound, ré is shortened to -re (-rë); for instance, Appendix D also cites mettarë as the name of the last day of the year (clearly metta end + ré day, cf. LR:373 s.v. met-, though Tolkien may originally have thought of the final element as arë rather than ré: see ilaurëa). When making their own translation of the Lord’s Prayer, Patrick Wynne and Carl F. Hostetter indeed coined precisely the word *síre to translate "today" (VT32:8). Yet Tolkien’s manuscript definitely seems to read síra and not *síre (which, by the way, would clash with síre river: LR:385 s.v. sir-). While the possibility that Tolkien accidentally wrote a intending e cannot wholly be ruled out, it is possible to plausibly explain the word síra as it stands. The final element may be seen simply as the adjectival ending -ra (primitive -râ, see aire). An adjective/adverb síra would not etymologically mean strictly "today", it would only somehow refer to present time or place, but by convention it could be used specifically for "today". It is interesting to notice that in early "Qenya" at least, the word for tomorrow was enwa (QL:34; no word for "tomorrow" is known from later sources). This was from the beginning conceived as a demonstrative stem e(n)- to which is added what seems to be an adjectival ending. In the context of later Quenya, enwa could be interpreted as incorporating the stem en- over there, yonder (LR:356) which "of time points to the future" (LR:399 s.v. ya-); to this is added the ending -wa (primitive -wâ) known from adjectives, adverbs and prepositions (see imíca concerning primitive hekwâ). Enwa by its etymology only refers vaguely to that which is "over there" or "in the future", but by convention it could be used specifically for tomorrow. An adjectival/adverbial formation síra today based on the stem si- (having to do with the present rather than the future) could be wholly parallel to this. Yet one should generally be wary about basing conclusions regarding Quenya on the early "Qenya" material, and an even better interpretation may be found: The word ré day mentioned in LotR, Appendix D may reflect a stem *r- (stems consisting of a single consonant would not be unheard of, cf. the "demonstrative stem" s- in LR:385). In ré, this *r- would be combined with the primitive (abstract) ending -ê, hence *rê > Quenya ré. Without this ending we could have *sî-r- "this-day", to which is added the simple adjectival ending -â (WJ:382), resulting in the primitive "adjective" *sî-r-â > Q síra, in Quenya used as an adverb "today".
26
VT43:33 suggests that rá-
is derived from ara