MAY

(noun, the month) Lótessë (In LT1:252/254, the word for May is Kalainis, but this is hardly a valid word in Tolkien's later Quenya.) –LotR:1144 (verb): The impersonal verb ec- + dative can be used to express “may” in the sense of “have chance, opportunity or permission”: ecë nin carë sa “I can do that”, ecë nin? “please, may I?” (VT49:20). MAY as a verb “be allowed to” can be rendered by lerta-, to be able in the sense of being allowed (see BE ABLE): *Lertal carë ta, “you may (you are allowed) to do that”. MAY expressing uncertainty can be expressed by slipping in the particle cé: “He may have done that” = *cé acáries ta (maybe he has done that); see MAY BE. For MAY in wishes (may it happen, may it be), the word nai is used. It can directly precede an adjective (nai amanya onnalya “may your child [be] blessed”, VT49:41) or be constructed with a verb in the future tense (nai hiruvalyë Valimar *”may you find Valimar”, Nam) or the present tense (nai Eru lye mánata *“may God be blessing you”, VT49:41).