I have been approached by a person who had bought a Tolkien autograph
dating from 1968. Below his signature, Tolkien wrote the words _nai elen
siluva lyenna_. I have been shown a scan; there is no doubt about the
reading.

The new owner of the autograph just wanted to know what this means, and as
I told him, the meaning is obviously "may a star shine upon you". But the
form _lyenna_ is interesting. In this late incarnation of Quenya, _lye_
could apparently be used as an independent pronoun "you" (singular).
Otherwise, initial _ly_ (palatalized L) is extremely unusual in Quenya; I
can't think of any other word where it occurs. May initial _ly_ be a
regular feature of Quenya phonology, or is _lye_ re-formed from _le_ by
analogy with the ending _-lye_? And in a variant of Quenya that uses _lye_
for singular "you", would _le_ be distinctly plural?

- HF