Q. andamunda

Studalf #1760

Happened to look up what Tolkien had called elephants in various languages today. I'd like to suggest a modest change to the given derivation for the Quenya entry.

Q. elephant andamunda noun "elephant" ("long-mouth", anda + munda)

I found "long-mouth" perplexing since elephants have long noses, so looked into it and conclude the entry should actually be "long-nose" or "long-snout" - "munda" appears only in this entry for elephant, but "mundo" has a few entries of its own:

mundo Q. snout, nose, cape mundo (2) noun "snout, nose, cape" (MBUD)

This etymology is in fact already the case in entries for more primitive forms such as:

andambundā MP. adjective. long-snouted

Derivatives ᴹQ. andamunda “elephant” ✧ Ety/MBUD N. annabon “elephant” ✧ Ety/MBUD

To be thorough, I checked into mbud too:

(m)bud P. root. project, jut out [just like a nose does]

It’s interesting to note, with speculative gusto, that mundo (1) is “bull” - the root for this use is MUNDO not MBUD. An etymology for elephant that amounts to “long bull” wouldn’t be entirely inappropriate. Nor “long bill” for that matter. We do know our Prof loved his word/sound games…

I'm new to this game so wanted to talk this through before attempting to actually edit any entries.

Studalf #1761

This has raised a more general point of interest for me.

I find the plethora of Tolkien words starting with "mb" very interesting. I am from South Africa and am familiar with many words in the bantu languages that begin with mb, but have not encountered it elsewhere that I recall (I like language but do not study/speak many languages, so I am aware but not informed).

Is the Tolkienian pronunciation actually "m"+"b" or is this a digraph or some inherited spelling with a silent "m"? Do we know the source/inspiration for its use?

Tolkien of course was born in South Africa so it's enticing to think he might have woven in a little nod to the bantu languages, but perhaps this sound also exists in other languages more central to his wellspring.