BLESSED

alya, almárëa (prosperous, rich, abundant), herenya (wealthy, fortunate, rich), manaquenta or manquenta, also aman ("blessed, free from evil" – Aman was "chiefly used as the name of the land where the Valar dwelt" [WJ:399], and as an adjective “blessed” the word may add an adjectival ending: amanya, VT49:41). Aman is the apparent Quenya equivalent of “the Blessed Realm” (allative Amanna is attested, VT49:26). The word calambar, apparently literally *“light-fated”, also seems to mean “blessed” (VT49:41). Cf. also BLESSED BEING Manwë (name of the King of the Valar). Alya, almárëa, and herenya are adjectives that may also have worldly connontations, apparently often used with reference to one who is "blessed" with material possessions or simply has good luck; on the other hand, the forms derived from the root man- primarily describe something free from evil: Cf. mána "blessed" in Fíriel's Song (referring to the Valar) and the alternative form manna in VT43:19 [cf. VT45:32] (in VT45 referring to the Virgin Mary; the form mána may be preferred for clarity, since manna is apparently also the question-word "whither?", "where to?") The forms manaquenta or manquenta also include the man- root, but it is combined with a derivative (passive participle?) of the verbal stem quet- "say, speak", these forms seemingly referring to someone who is "blessed" in the sense that people speak well of this person (a third form from the same source, manque, is possibly incomplete: read manquenta?) (VT44:10-11) The most purely "spiritual" term is possibly the word aistana, used for "blessed" in Tolkien's translation of the Hail Mary, where this word refers to the Virgin (VT43:27-28, 30). Aistana is apparently not an independent adjective (like alya, mána etc.), but rather the passive participle of a verb \#aista- "bless"; see above concerning its precise application. BLESSEDNESS vald- (so in LT1:272; nom. sg. must be either *val or *valdë) (happiness; but since this word comes from early material where it was intended to be related to Valar "Happy/Blessed Ones", its conceptual validity may be doubted because Tolkien later reinterpreted Valar as "the Powers" and dropped the earlier etymology). BLESSING (a boon, a good or fortunate thing), see BOON. "BLESSINGS", BLESSEDNESS, BLISS almië, almarë; FINAL BLISS manar, mandë (doom, final end, fate, fortune) –LotR:989 cf Letters:308; GAL, KHER, Letters:283, LT1:272, MAN/MANAD, VT43:19, 27-28, 30