Phillip Wayne wrote, regarding Elvish word order:

> Most of it seems to be subject-verb-[object].

In PE17:72 we have a statement by Tolkien regarding Quenya word order. He says
"the normal order in Quenya had been verb first, subject, direct object,
indirect object...but the [later] classical and normal order was expressed
subject, verb, object".

Sentences like _auta i lóme!_ with the verb first may then be regarded as an
archaic word order, employed for special effect.

Sindarin _onen i-Estel Edain_ interestingly seems to correspond to the old
Quenya word order with "direct object" followed by "indirect object". While we
don't have as many examples as we would like, there are hints that the common
Sindarin word order corresponds to the pre-classical Quenya word order (that is,
verb first -- in the potential counterexamples, the subject may seem to be
emphatic).

Maybe the pre-classical Quenya system corresponds to the Common Eldarin word
order, later altered in Quenya but preserved in Sindarin?

- HKF

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