By Himring
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Quennar, in full Quennar i Onótimo or Quennar Onótimo, is not named in the text of The Silmarillion. Quennar is an Elven loremaster whose name features in the in-universe framework provided for annalistic versions of the matter of the Silmarillion published in The History of Middle-earth and is also mentioned in linguistic writings by Tolkien published in a specialist journal. In The History of Middle-earth, where Quennar appears, he features as a source invoked or quoted by Pengolodh, the Elven loremaster of Gondolin who was long conceived as in-universe author and editor of most of the matter of The Silmarillion.1 As a source for Pengolodh, Quennar appears less prominently and less consistently alongside Rúmil of Tirion.2
In an early draft of the Annals of Aman3 and in an associated manuscript of The Tale of Years,4 Quennar is cited by Pengolodh as a historian. He appears to be conceived of as an intermediary source between Rúmil and Pengolodh for the first section of the Annals up to the beginning of the First Age of the Sun. These, according to the early draft of Annals of Aman, appear as the result of a series of expansions, with Quennar elaborating upon the account of Rúmil and Pengolodh in turn expanding Quennar, presumably from other early sources that were available to him as Pengolodh himself was not a contemporary of any of the events before the beginning of the First Age. According to The Tale of Years, Quennar’s contribution to the annals ended after the account of Fingolfin’s crossing the ice, that is, immediately before the Rising of the Sun and the beginning of the First Age. This same passage states the continuation was written by Pengolodh in Tol Eressëa, therefore, after he left Middle-earth.
The idea of Quennar as a historian appears to have been discarded and quite soon after it was written. It seems to have been replaced by the idea that Quennar was the loremaster who wrote the definitive treatise on the reckoning of years, that is, the chronology of Aman from the beginning of time and during the Time of the Trees and the length of Valian Years as compared to Years of the Sun. The title of this treatise is given as Yénonótië. A passage from this work is paraphrased or quoted by Pengolodh (it is not entirely clear, which) in a slightly later draft of the introduction to the Annals of Aman, in a section "Of the Beginning of Time and its Reckoning"5 subsequently transferred to the The Tale of Years.6 This new role for Quennar is perhaps already hinted at in the earlier comment in The Tale of Years where Quennar is said to have computed the years as well as compiled the account.7
Tolkien decided to make his previous account of the relative length of Valian Years and Years of the Sun considerably more complex at this stage, which also explains why a separate in-universe authority on chronology was now needed. The extract from the Yénonótië is somewhat eye-crossing to read with regard to the calculations and figures contained in it and it also presents difficulties of point-of-view. With regard to the figures, the essential point is that, although afterwards in Valinor ten Years of the Sun were counted as one Valian Year and this neat proportion had indeed been aimed at by the Valar when they designed the Sun and the Moon, the previous length of the Valian Year had in fact been a little less, and this was due to the Years of the Sun turning out slightly longer than originally designed. As Christopher Tolkien explains, the length of a Valian year during the Time of the Trees is therefore 9.582 of the later Years of the Sun.8
As for the point-of-view issues, the passage cites other loremasters, apparently Elves, and some of their speculation about Valarin timekeeping before Valinor, but seems to have more certain knowledge of the plans of the Valar for the Sun and the Moon and apparently reflects firsthand knowledge of practices in Valinor after the Fall of Númenor and Hiding of Aman. Although Pengolodh could have added this last while revising his text in Tol Eressëa, it is less clear how this revised version could have reached Middle-earth, and at what time.
Fans have been eager to detect clues that Quennar took part in the Flight of the Noldor and was among the Elves that reached Middle-earth. This could possibly be deduced from his role as a historian, as the Annals of Aman contain references to events in Middle-earth. An early fan theory made Quennar a Fëanorian who fell in the Dagor Nuin-Giliath.9 The article at Tolkien Gateway tries to argue that Quennar reached Middle-earth on the basis of the references to Years of the Sun in the the Yénonótië.10 These theories appear to ignore the other chronological problems posed by the sources, which don’t seem to be consistent with the assumption that they were entirely composed in Middle-earth before Pengolodh left it.
Apparently, there is a further reference to Quennar by Tolkien, found in an issue of Parma Eldalamberon. He is cited as having devised the word menel for the firmament or heavens.11 This reference appears to show him as a linguist and perhaps also astronomer in Tirion shortly after its founding, before the Vanyar left it, and seems to be earlier than the references in The History of Middle-earth discussed above, which date to the 1950s.
Neither the name Quennar i Onótimo nor the title Yénonótië are glossed by Tolkien. Christopher Tolkien connects the work title with the stem for ‘year’ and both the title and the byname Onótimo with the stem for ‘count,’12 so probably this is something like ‘Year Counting’, authored by ‘The Counter.’ The meaning of the name Quennar is more uncertain, although the resemblance of the first syllable to the names Quendi and Quen(din)goldo, the Quenya form of Pengolodh, is likely not to be coincidence.13
To sum up, we know very little about Quennar himself, although we know rather more about the contents of the Yénonótië than about some other works cited in the Legendarium by their Quenya titles. When we consider how the annals of Valinor and Beleriand seem to have partly developed in the context of Anglo-Saxon historiographical practice, however,14 some interesting parallels with medieval historiography could suggest themselves.
A shadowy predecessor whose work is incorporated in a later historical work and whose precise role and relationship to his continuator is hard to determine is a feature also encountered in medieval historiography. One example that would be well-known to an Anglo-Saxonist like Tolkien is the disputed role of Florence of Worcester and John of Worcester in the composition of the Chronicon ex chronicis.15 Possibly, the reason that we know so little about Quennar is not just that Tolkien did not get around to writing more about him?
Something that also features in early medieval historiography is the occasionally very close relationship between the writing of history and the computus, a discipline that dealt with chronology and astronomy and brought some quite complex mathematical calculations to bear on the ecclesiastical calendar, in particular the prediction of the date of Easter. The relationship between the computus and annalistic historiography was formerly thought to be even closer than it is held to be nowadays: an older theory assumed that annals first arose by expansion from entries in computistic tables. It is certain, at any rate, that the great Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical historian Bede also wrote on the computus and had an interest in chronology.16
Quennar’s role as expert in chronology seems to make him the Elvish equivalent of a computist (although he is obviously not concerned with ecclesiastical feasts). So his appearance in the textual tradition of the annals of the Legendarium in the 1950s may be partly inspired by Tolkien’s familiarity with early medieval historiography.
It was a favourite pastime among the Noldor to invent new 'words', or sound-patterns applied to some notion. The contemplation of the received notion, often some simple one such as 'stone, sea', in relation to a new word-form gave them pleasure. If the new pattern was made of the sound-elements of their own tongue, it sometimes occurred that the new 'word' (pattern with meaning) gave such pleasure, being in accord with the Iámatyáve of many, that it was adopted into general use, or was added to lists of words kept by the lore-masters and so was available for use in 'learned' verse. Many traditions of the actual inventors of well-known words were, and are preserved by the Noldor: thus it is reported that √MENEL 'heavens, firmament' was devised by Quennar of Tuna in ancient days while both Noldor and Vanyar dwelt in Tirion, and so is part of the Vanyarin (Quenya) speech and of Noldorin, but not of Telerin. The more accomplished Word-masters (Quettúri) invented sound-systems other than those of their native tongue or studied languages, merely for the pleasure of quite fresh 'words'.
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Himring has been writing Tolkien fan fiction since the winter of 2009. She mostly writes Silmarillion fan fiction, with a particular focus on the Sons of Fëanor, especially Maedhros and Maglor. Her main archive is at the Silmarillion Writers Guild. Her stories can also be found at Many Paths to Tread and Archive of Our Own (AO3), including those that are not Silmarillion-centred.
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