Primitive elvish

suffix. adjectival

Primitive elvish [PE21/82; WJ/382] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-ā̆

suffix. active verbal suffix

Primitive elvish [PE17/104] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-ya

suffix. adjectival suffix

Primitive elvish [PE21/78; PE21/81; PE22/136; VT42/10; VT42/25; VT49/17] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-ai

suffix. plural of adjectives

Primitive elvish [PE17/076] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-ayā

suffix. present continuative

Primitive elvish [PE17/077; PE17/186; PE22/164] Group: Eldamo. Published by

alak

root. rushing, rushing, [ᴹ√] swift

A root whose most notable derivatives are Q. alqua, S. alph “swan”. The earliest iteration of this root was ᴱ√ḶKḶ from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/30); the other derivatives of this root from this period have to do with “appearance” such as ᴱQ. ilk- “to seem” (QL/42). By The Etymologies of the 1930s this root took on its later form, ᴹ√ALAK and had the gloss “rushing” with other derivatives like ᴹQ. alako “rush, rushing flight, wild wind”, N. alag “rushing, impetuous” and N. alagos “storm (of wind)” (Ety/ÁLAK). It was also an element in the name of S./N. Ancalagon “Biting Storm”. Given the continued appearance of this name of The Silmarillion (S/252), the 1930s meaning of this root may have survived, but it is hard to be certain since the name was only properly translated in the 1930s.

The 1930s root also had an unaugmented variant ᴹ√LAK with derivatives ᴹQ. (a)larka, N. lhagr “swift, rapid” (Ety/LAK²). Whether this unaugmented variant remained valid is unclear, but there is nothing in Tolkien’s later writing contradicting it either.

Primitive elvish [PE18/100; SA/alqua] Group: Eldamo. Published by

may

root. excellent, admirable, beautiful; make [art]; suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right

A root appearing in Tolkien’s later writings with a variety of glosses: √MAY “make (in artistic sense as ποιήτης [Greek: make, create])” in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 (PE17/145, 163), {√MAGA >>} √(A)MAY “suitable, useful, proper, serviceable; right” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 but this note was crossed through (PE17/172), √MAY “excellent, admirable” elsewhere in DLN (PE17/172), again as √MAY “excellent, admirable” in notes contemporaneous to the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (PE17/150, 163) and finally as √MAY “beautiful” in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/18).

Two notable derivatives of √MAY were S. mae “well” (PE17/17, 163) and Q. Maia (PE17/163; VT47/18), but elsewhere these two words were derived from the root √MAG “good (useful)” (PE17/16, 162; PE19/46, 62, 75, 94). In the aforementioned notes from the late 1960s, however, Tolkien said “maga was distinct from maʒa and maya” (VT48/18). For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume the root √MAY was distinct from √MAG, having the meaning “excellent, admirable, beautiful” and by extension the creation of beautiful things such as art, to allow the retention of 1957 words like Q. maitar “artist” (PE17/163).

A possible precursor to this root is unglossed ᴱ√MAẎA from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. mai “too much” and ᴱQ. maira “excessive, strong” (QL/60); perhaps a more extreme version of its later sense “excellent”. The entry also included ᴱQ. mairu “(horse ?); mane, flowing hair”, but Tolkien marked this word with a “?”, perhaps indicating he was unsure it was from this root (QL/60).

Primitive elvish [PE17/145; PE17/146; PE17/150; PE17/162; PE17/163; PE17/172; VT47/18] Group: Eldamo. Published by

awa-

prefix. away

Primitive elvish [PE17/144; WJ/360; WJ/365] Group: Eldamo. Published by

la

root. no, not; negative; not to be

An invertible root, √LA or √ALA, used for negation. Its earliest iteration was as the primitive negative prefix ᴱ✶ḷ- from the 1910s (GL/50; PE12/11; QL/97). Its first appearance as ᴹ√LA “no, not” was in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/LA), and it regularly appeared in documents from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Tolkien then abandoned this form of negation in 1959 (PE17/143), but restored it again around 1969 (PE22/160) only to abandon it again shortly after (VT44/4). For a full history of Tolkien’s shifting conceptions of negation in Elvish, see the Quenya entry on the negative.

Primitive elvish [PE17/143; PE17/146; PE17/158; PE18/084; PE18/088; PE22/140; PE22/153; PE22/156; VT42/32; VT42/33; VT48/25; VT49/13] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tāra

adjective. high

Primitive elvish [PE17/067; PE17/186] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-āga

suffix. genitive

Primitive elvish [NM/355] Group: Eldamo. Published by

suffix. genitive

Primitive elvish [PE17/097; WJ/370; WJ/407] Group: Eldamo. Published by

atata

root. two, two; [ᴹ√] again, back

Primitive elvish [PE17/148; PE17/166; PE21/74; VT42/24; VT42/27; VT48/19] Group: Eldamo. Published by

atta

cardinal. two

Primitive elvish [NM/060; PE21/74; VT48/19] Group: Eldamo. Published by

(a)tata

cardinal. two

Primitive elvish [PE17/014; VT42/27; WJ/421] Group: Eldamo. Published by

(au)be

adverb. not so

Primitive elvish [PE22/139] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-(a)rē

suffix. abstract noun

Primitive elvish [PE22/138] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-kwā

suffix. -ful

Primitive elvish [WJ/392] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-ni

suffix. adjectival suffix

Seen in lugni < LUG, luini < LUY and ninkwi < NIKW (with subsequent metathesis). Possibly a (rare) variant of -nā and/or -i.

Primitive elvish [PE17/168, PE21/81, PE17/136, 161; VT48/24, 27] Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

ala

root. no, not; negative; not to be

ankā

noun. jaws, (animal’s) mouth, jaws, (animal’s) mouth, [ᴹ✶] row of teeth

Primitive elvish [PE18/085; PE18/087] Group: Eldamo. Published by

anār

noun. Sun

Primitive elvish [SA/nár] Group: Eldamo. Published by

arātā

adjective. high, lofty, noble

Primitive elvish [PE17/039; PE17/118; PE17/186; PM/363; VT41/09] Group: Eldamo. Published by

au-

prefix. away

Primitive elvish [WJ/361] Group: Eldamo. Published by

awā

adverb. away

Primitive elvish [WJ/361; WJ/366] Group: Eldamo. Published by

bani

adjective. fair

Primitive elvish [PE17/057] Group: Eldamo. Published by

elen

noun. star

Primitive elvish [Let/281; MR/387; MR/388; NM/060; PE17/022; PE17/023; PE17/067; PE17/139; PE17/151; PE17/152; PE22/150; VT42/11; WJ/360] Group: Eldamo. Published by

il

root. all

A root meaning “all” in Tolkien’s writings from the 1930s through 1960s (VT48/25) with derivatives in both Quenya and Sindarin, the most notable being Q. Ilúvatar “All-father” (MR/39). Its earliest precursor is the root ᴱ√ILU “ether, the slender airs among the stars” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, whose derivatives include various sky-words as well as ᴱQ. Ilúvatar, since in this early period the name meant “Heavenly Father” (QL/42). The meaning of the root shifted to ᴹ√IL “all” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/IL), and it retained this sense thereafter.

Primitive elvish [VT48/25] Group: Eldamo. Published by

imte

pronoun. themselves

Primitive elvish [VT47/37] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khabdā

noun. pile, (artificial) mound

Primitive elvish [PE19/091] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khabnā

noun. pile, (artificial) mound

Primitive elvish [PE19/091] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khin

root. child

A root appearing in Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 with the gloss “child” (PE17/157), and again in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 with the same gloss (WJ/403). It was the basis for the words Q. hína and S. hên “child”, which were probably inspired by the Adûnaic patronymic suffix -hin that Tolkien introduced in the 1940s as part of Êruhin “Child of God” (SD/358), originally an Adûnaic word but later on used in Sindarin (Let/345; MR/330). This root might be a later iteration of the early root ᴱ√HILI from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives had to do with children (QL/40). As evidence of this, the Adûnaic word was first given as Eruhil (SD/341).

Primitive elvish [PE17/157; WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khīnā

noun. child

Primitive elvish [WJ/403] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ler

root. free

A root appearing twice in a list of roots from 1959-60, the first time described as “free (of moveable things or moving things), able to move as willed, unimpeded, unhampered, loose, not fixed fast or static” and the second time as “am free to do, sc., am under no restraint (physical or other)” (VT41/5-6). In the second instance it was compared to √POL which had the sense of being physically able to do something. It seems that √LER = “able to do something because there is nothing preventing it” vs. √POL = “able to something because of physical ability”. It might also be contrasted with √LEK which has the sense of freeing something that was once bound, whereas with √LER the thing that is free may have never been bound in the first place.

Primitive elvish [PE17/160; VT41/05; VT41/06] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lā-

verb. to not be

Primitive elvish [PE22/140; PE22/153; VT49/13] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mat-

verb. to eat

Primitive elvish [PE17/131; PE18/106; PE22/129; PE22/130; PE22/131; PE22/132; PE22/134; PE22/136; PE22/139; PE22/157; VT39/09] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mot

root. fen, marsh

A root in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 glossed “fen, marsh” with derivatives like [Q?] motto and [S?] both or moth, apparently of similar meaning (PE17/165). A likely precursor is the unglossed root ᴹ√MBOTH in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for words like ᴹQ. motto “blot”, N. both “puddle, small pool”, and Ilk. umboth “large pool”, the last of these being the basis for Ilk. Umboth Muilin “Veiled Pool” (Ety/MBOTH, MUY).

In the Gnomish of the 1910s, the first element of G. Umboth-muilin “Pools of Twilight” was derived from ᴱ√mbaþ-, a strengthened form of ᴱ√MAÞA “dusk”, with the second element muilin meaning “pools”, the plural G. muil (LT2/225; GL/58, 75). Later still this name became S. Aelin-uial, and it seems √M(B)OT was repurposed for swamp words.

Primitive elvish [PE17/145; PE17/165] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nak

root. bite

This root was the basis for Elvish words for “bite” from all of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√NAKA “bite” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. naka- “bite” and ᴱQ. naksa “sour” (QL/64). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. nactha- “bite” and G. naith “tooth” (GL/59). The root reappeared as ᴹ√NAK “bite” in The Etymologies of the 1930s along with augmented variant ᴹ√ÁNAK and derivatives like ᴹQ. anka/N. anc “jaw, row of teeth” (Ety/ÁNAK, NAK); in this same document Tolkien considered the possibility that the roots ᴹ√NAYAK “pain” and ᴹ√NDAK “slay” might be related to ᴹ√NAK, though he did not commit to either idea (Ety/NÁYAK; EtyAC/NDAK).

One interesting derivative of this root from the 1930s was N. naeth “biting, gnashing of teeth” from which N. nírnaeth “lamentation = ✱tear[ful]-gnashing” was derived, serving as an element in N. Nírnaeth Arnediad “[Battle of] Unnumbered Tears” (Ety/NAY; LR/310), replacing earlier Nirnaith of unclear etymology. In later writings Tolkien said S. naeth simply meant “woe” in the name S. Sigil Elu-naeth “Necklace of the Woe of Thingol” (WJ/258), but this may just be a generalization of its 1930s meaning “gnashing of teeth”. As for the root √NAK “bite”, it reappeared in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2), serving again as example of an abnormal vocalization leading to the derivative ✶ankā “jaws” (PE18/87).

Primitive elvish [PE18/085; PE18/087] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nar

root. fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame

A root for “fire” first appearing as ᴹ√NAR “flame, fire” in The Etymologies of the 1930s along with derivatives like ᴹQ. nár(e)/N. naur “flame” (Ety/NAR¹). There was also an augmented variant ᴹ√ANÁR that served as the basis for “Sun” words: ᴹQ. Anar and N. Anor (Ety/ANÁR). These roots and the various derivatives continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings in the 1950s and 60s (PE17/38; Let/425), and in one place Tolkien specified that nār- was “fire as an element” as opposed to √RUYU for an actual blaze.

Primitive elvish [Let/425; PE17/038; PE17/147; PE17/166] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ndūya-

verb. to descend

Primitive elvish [PE22/163] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nik(w)

root. (also of) snow, ice, snow, ice; *white

This root was used for Elvish words for “white” and “snow” for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√NIQI “white” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. niqis “snow” and ᴱQ. ninqe “white” (QL/66), the latter surviving more or less unchanged for the rest of Tolkien’s life. In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. nictha- “to rain, hail, snow” and G. nimp “pallid” (GL/60), the latter the cognate of ᴱQ. ninqe and another word that survived in Tolkien’s later conceptions of the languages.

The root appeared as unglossed ᴹ√NIK-W in The Etymologies, again with ᴹQ. ninqe “white” and N. nimp “pale” and other similar words, including ᴹQ. niqe “snow” (Ety/NIK-W). The root was mentioned again in Tolkien’s later writing as √NIK-W (PE17/160) or √NIK (PE17/168) as a basis for “snow” words. In Sindarin Tolkien felt it was influenced by other roots, such as √(N)DIP/B “bending and drooping” (PE17/168) or √NIP “small with a connotation of weakness” (VT48/18) so that S. nimp also took on a connotation of weakness and frailty, and hence was used for “pale, pallid” rather than simply “white”.

Primitive elvish [PE17/160; PE17/168] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nāro

noun. fire

Primitive elvish [PE17/039] Group: Eldamo. Published by

raukō

noun. demon

Primitive elvish [WJ/390] Group: Eldamo. Published by

rindi

adjective. swift

Primitive elvish [PE21/81] Group: Eldamo. Published by

rāta

adjective. lofty, high, noble

Primitive elvish [PE17/049; PE17/118; PE17/186] Group: Eldamo. Published by

spindilā

noun. head of hair

Primitive elvish [PE17/017; PE17/119; PE17/151] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tata

masculine name. Two

Primitive elvish [NM/055; NM/060; WJ/380; WJ/421; WJI/Tata] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tā/taʒ

root. high, high, [ᴹ√] lofty; noble

This root and ones like it were used for “high” things for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√TAHA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. “high; high above, high up”, ᴱQ. tahōra or tayóra “lofty”, and ᴱQ. tāri “queen”; it had a variant form ᴱ√TAʕA where the ʕ might be a malformed Y (QL/87). The corresponding forms in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon were G. “high” and G. dara “lofty” (GL/29), indicating the true form of the root was ᴱ√DAHA, since initial voiced stops were unvoiced (d- > t-) in Early Qenya (PE12/17). Primitive forms like ᴱ✶dagá > ᴱN. /ᴱQ. “high” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s indicates the root continued to begin with D for the following decade (PE13/141, 161).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave this root as ᴹ√TĀ/TAƷ “high, lofty; noble” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tára “lofty, high”, ᴹQ. tári “queen” and N. taen “height, summit of high mountain” (Ety/TĀ). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien gave the root as √TAG or Tā- “high”, and in notes from around 1967 Tolkien gave √TAƷ as the explanation of the initial element of Q. Taniquetil and contrasted it with √TĂR “stand” (PE17/186). In 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2), Tolkien wrote a marginal note giving √TAƷ > “high”, but this note was rejected with a statement “transfer to Gen. Structure. No [ʒ] existed in Eldarin” (PE19/72-73 note #22).

This last rejection seems to be part of Tolkien’s general vacillation on the nature and phonetic evolution of velar spirants in Primitive Elvish in 1968-70. For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume the root form was √TAH or √TAƷ > √ as the basis for “high” words, much like √MAH or √MAƷ > ✶ was the basis for “hand” words.

Primitive elvish [PE17/186; PE19/073] Group: Eldamo. Published by

wanyā

adjective. fair

Primitive elvish [WJ/380; WJ/383] Group: Eldamo. Published by

we

root. dual

A primitive “dual” element mentioned in notes on numbers from the late 1960s, contributing to the forms of primitive ✶enekwe “six” and ✶yun(e)kwe “twelve” in the Quenya branch of Elvish, as well as the ancient 1st person inclusive pronoun ✶ñwe (VT48/10). It was probably related to the ancient dual suffix ✶ (Let/427). It was also likely a later iteration the dual root ᴱ√WI from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s which was likewise connected to dual U (QL/33). This early root was mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as ᴱ✶u̯i (GL/45).

Primitive elvish [VT48/10] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ēl

noun. star

Primitive elvish [PE17/066; WJ/360] Group: Eldamo. Published by

bes

root. to wed