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It seems clear that the Eldar in Middle-Earth, who have, as Samwise remarked, more time at their disposal, reckoned in long periods, and the Quenya word "yén", often translated "year" (I, 394), really means 144 of our years. The Eldar preferred to reckon in sixes and twelves as far as possible. A "day" of the sun they called ré and reckoned from sunset to sunset. The yén contained 52,596 days. For ritual rather than practical purposes the Eldar observed a week or enquië of six days; and the yén contained 8,766 of these enquier, reckoned continuously throughout the period.
Then turning his back on the newcomer, he asked
in an undertone, "Why is this man glaring at me?
Is he a mesmerist? "
"Mesmerist! He is a capillotomist."
"Capillotomist!"
"Yes - one of the chief. His yearly fee is sixdoz
lions."
It sounded sheer nonsense. Graham snatched at
the last phrase with an unsteady mind. "Sixdoz
lions?" he said.
"Didn't you have lions? I suppose not. You had
the old pounds? They are our monetary units."
"But what was that you said - sixdoz? "
"Yes. Six dozen, Sire. Of course things, even
these little things, have altered. You lived in the days
of the decimal system, the Arab system - tens, and
little hundreds and thousands. We have eleven
numerals now. We have single figures for both ten
and eleven, two figures for a dozen, and a dozen dozen
makes a gross, a great hundred, you know, a dozen
gross a dozand, and a dozand dozand a myriad. Very
simple?"