J.R.R. Tolkien’s early name for the invented language later called Quenya was Qenya.
Tolkien developed Qenya during the early decades of the twentieth century as part of his private mythology and language construction. He later changed the name and refined the language into Quenya, the high or ancient Elven language used in the histories of Middle-earth.
Quenya draws on Tolkien’s knowledge of historical languages, especially Finnish, Latin, and Greek, while remaining an original constructed language with its own grammar and vocabulary. In the fictional history, it was associated particularly with the Ñoldor and other Elves who had lived in Valinor.
Qenya is not simply an alternative spelling that Tolkien used interchangeably with Quenya in the finished legendarium. It refers especially to an earlier stage of the language’s development. Tolkien revised his invented languages repeatedly, so linguistic scholars distinguish early forms from the later versions represented in published texts.