-da

suffix. motion to or towards a point, allative suffix

-dā

suffix. product of an action

awā-da

adverb. awā-da

yuldā

noun. what is drunk, a draught

gala(da)ndil

masculine name. Lover of Trees

syandā

noun. pressed mass, crowd, crowd, pressed mass, [ᴹ✶] throng

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. tā “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. dâ “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. dâ/ᴱQ. tá “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 > TĀ “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 > √TĀ as the basis for “high” words, much like √MAH or √MAƷ > ✶mā was the basis for “hand” words.

tāra

adjective. high

-da

draught, the amount drunk

-da suffix used to derive nouns denoting the result of an action, like yulda "draught, the amount drunk" (the stem YUL is here given the meaning "drink"). (PE17:68) Cf. also carda "deed" (q.v.) vs. the verb car- "do".

-da

suffix. product of an action

tal(da)

adverb. to the bottom, to the bottom, [ᴹQ.] downwards

Several specialized adverbs having to do with “bottom” appeared in various documents: ᴱQ. talta “to the bottom (of)” (PE15/71), ᴹQ. tal “downwards” and ᴹQ. talte “down, at the bottom” (PE21/21-22), and tăl or talda “to the bottom” (PE21/76), the first from the early 1920s, the second pair from the 1930s, and the last pair from the early 1950s. The last was derived from ✶tald(a), where ✶-da was the ancient allative suffix “to” also seen in Q. tar(a) “thither” (PE19/104; VT49/11). Its base root is √TAL “foot”, so its original meaning was “to the foot”. Compare also cas(ta) “to the top, (orig.) to the head”.

aldanil

masculine name. Lover of Trees

A name appearing only in some linguistic notes from the 1950s, beside variant form Alandil (PE21/83).

an(da)-

prefix. superlative prefix

arata

high, lofty, noble

arata adj. "high, lofty, noble" (PE17:49, 186). Also used as a a noun with nominal pl. form Aratar "the Supreme", the chief Valar, translation of the foreign word Máhani adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:402). Aratarya "her sublimity"; Varda Aratarya "Varda the lofty, Varda in her sublimity" (WJ:369). In one source, Aratar is translated as a singular: "High One" (PE17:186)

halda

adjective. high, tall

mar(da)

noun. dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home, dwelling, (great) house, residence, mansion, a thing or place dwelt in, home; [ᴱQ.] world

A word for “dwelling, mansion, hall” derived from √MBAR “dwell” (PE17/64), most notably as an element in oromardi “lofty halls” in the Namárië “poem” (LotR/377). Its plural mardi indicates a stem form of mard-, but its uninflected form appeared as both short mar (PE17/64, 163-4; PE21/80) and longer marda (PE17/107; PE21/76). Tolkien described its meaning more precisely in some notes from the 1960s:

> The derivative form ✱mbardā became in Quenya marda: “a thing or place dwelt in, dwelling” and since it could be applied to the actual dwelling-places or buildings (alone or grouped) approached the sense “house”. Though it did not in fact refer to “buildings”, and could equally well be applied to dwelling-places of natural origin, such as caves or groves (PE17/107).

And in an earlier version of these notes:

> The usual word in Eldarin for a “home”, as the established residence of a family consisting of one or more associated buildings, was ✱mbā̆r (stem mbăr-), and ✱mbardā (an adjectival formation). In Q mar (stem mard-), a blending of the two, was used like “residence”, usually with a defining genitive, for the “great house” of a family (PE17/164).

In Tolkien’s later writings, it seems this word was distinct from and coexisted with Q. már (mar-) “home” (PE17/106, 164).

Conceptual Development: This word for “dwelling” was often intermingled and confused with már “home”, making its conceptual development difficult to trace. There are some other earlier words for which some extension was added to √MBAR. In the 1910s ᴱQ. marda meant “world” as in ᴱQ. Talka Marda “Smith of the World” (LT1/180; 15/8); in The Qenya Phonology Tolkien said marda had a dialectical variant ᴱQ. mára (PE12/24) and in the Gnomish Lexicon it had the form Marwa “World” (GL/18).

The Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s had an adverbial variant ᴹQ. marta “home” of ᴹQ. mar “house” (PE21/25, 27); this adverbial form became marda “home” in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure of the early 1950s (PE21/76). In the 1930s more generally the stem form of short ᴹQ. mar was frequently mard- (PE21/27; EtyAC/MBAR; LR/72) but not always (LR/63). The coexistence of már and mard- was not clearly established until the 1960s (see above).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use marda primarily as a “dwelling” as in “a thing dwelled in”, usable of buildings but also of natural dwellings like caves. Of constructed dwellings, it generally applies to larger or more elaborate dwellings such as mansions and halls, as in oromar “high hall”. I would assume the same was true of natural dwellings, with marda only applicable to a complex of inhabitable caverns rather than an individual cave. For the home of an individual or family I would use már “home”, and for the building itself I would use cöa “house” (dwelling or not).

I would use mard- as the stem form of this word as with its plural mardi. Strictly speaking its uninflected form would be mar < ✶mbardā̆ after the ancient loss of short final *ă*, but in practice this was generally reformed to marda to make it more distinct from már “home”. Thus sissë i luinë marda (ná) “here is the blue mansion” but tassë i ninqui mardi (nár) “there are the white mansions”.

suhto

draught

suhto noun "draught" (SUK)

tar-

affix. high, high; [ᴹQ.] king or queen (in compounds)

A prefix (and sometimes suffix) meaning “high” as in Tarcil “High Man” or Tarmenel “High Heaven”. It is often used in reference to royalty and nobility, as in Tarumbar “King of the World” or Sorontar “Lord of Eagles”, as well as the names of Númenorean kings and queens. It is related to the adjective tára “high” based on the root √TĀ/TAƷ of similar meaning (Ety/TĀ).

tá

high

tá 2) adj. "high" (LT1:264; there spelt tâ. This is hardly a valid word in Tolkien's later Quenya, but cf. tára "lofty".)

tána

high, lofty, noble

tána (meaning unclear, probably adj. "high, lofty, noble") (TĀ/TA3). Compare tára.

yulda

draught, something drunk, a drink, the amount drunk

yulda noun "draught, something drunk, a drink, the amount drunk", pl. yuldar (Nam, PE17:63, 68, RGEO:66). See -da regarding etymology.

arata

high, lofty, noble

arata adj. "high, lofty, noble" (PE17:49, 186). Also used as a a noun with nominal pl. form Aratar "the Supreme", the chief Valar, translation of the foreign word Máhani adopted and adapted from Valarin (WJ:402). Aratarya "her sublimity"; Varda Aratarya "Varda the lofty, Varda in her sublimity" (WJ:369). In one source, Aratar is translated as a singular: "High One" (PE17:186)

minul(da)

noun. ingot

A neologism coined by Röandil on 2023-04-07 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) derived from ✶minuldā = √MI(N) “in” + √UL “pour”, hence originally “what is poured in”.

minol

noun. ingot

A neologism coined by Röandil on 2023-04-07 in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) derived from ✶minuldā = √MI(N) “in” + √UL “pour”, hence originally “what is poured in”.

Ara-

prefix. high, noble, royal

ar-

prefix. high, noble, royal

dha

verb. there is

A word appearing in the phrase inn đa v’im “(lit.) a mind (inn) there is in me = I have a good mind (to do so)” from Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 (PE22/165). This phrase was first written as inn no v’im with {no >>} đa (PE22/165 note #108). This alteration suggests that đa is a heavily eroded/mutated form of na- “to be”, perhaps particular to this idiomatic phrase. As a counter-argument, đa is being used here in an existential statement “there is = ✱exists”, and these same 1969 notes state that:

> Stem of verb “exist” (have being in primary world of history) was √EŊE, distinct from √NA joining adjs./nouns/pronouns in statements (or wishes) asserting (or desiring) a thing to have a certain quality, or to be the same as another (PE22/147).

This means that (in Quenya at least) NA was not used for existential statements. This opens up the possibility that đa is a mutated form of ✱da- “exists” from an otherwise unattested root ✱√DA, the Sindarin equivalent of √EÑ.

Neo-Sindarin: Given the speculative nature of this verb, I cannot currently recommend its use in Neo-Sindarin. It is, however, our only known means of making existential statements in that language.

gelennil

masculine name. Lover of Trees

A name appearing only in some linguistic notes from the 1950s, beside variant form Gleðennil (PE21/83).

inn dha v’im

I have a good mind (to do so), (lit.) there is an ‘inn’ in me

suith

noun. draught

andrath

high pass

(literally "long climb"), pl. endraith.

brand

tall

(lofty, noble, fine), lenited vrand, pl. braind.

duinen

high tide

(i dhuinen), pl. duinin (i nuinin). (VT48:26).

gondrath

highway

(i ’ondrath) (street of stone, causeway), pl. gendraith (i ngendraith = i ñendraith). Archaic pl. göndreith. (WJ:340). Possibly the pl. can also be gondraith, without umlaut of the first element.

hall

tall

(exalted); lenited chall; pl. hail. Note: a homophone means ”veiled, hidden, shadowed, shady”.

or

high

(adjectival pref.) or- (above, over), also ar- (noble, royal). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain. Nouns:

or

high

(above, over), also ar- (noble, royal). In the form ar(a)- this is an element in the names of the kings of Arnor and Arthedain. Nouns:

raud

tall

(eminent, noble), in compounds -rod,  pl. roed. Also used as noun ”champion, eminent man, [a] noble”.

suith

draught

*suith (i huith, o suith), no distinct pl. form except with article (i suith). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” sûth.

suith

draught

(i huith, o suith), no distinct pl. form except with article (i suith). – Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” sûth.

taur

tall

(also tor-, tar- in compounds) (lofty, high, sublime, noble; vast, masterful, mighty, overwhelming, huge, awful), lenited daur, pl. toer. Note: homophones mean ”king (of a people)” and also ”great wood, forest”.

telu

high roof

(i delu, o thelu) (dome), pl. tely (i thely).

yll

noun. draught

A neologism for “draught” coined by Ryszard Derdzinski in PPW (PPW) from the early 2000s, based on Q. yulda. I prefer ᴺS. suith “draught, a drink”, but ᴺS. yll might be preferable if you think Tolkien abandoned the root √SOK/SUK “drink”.

sûth

noun. draught

sûth

noun. draught

A noun appearing as N. sûth “draught” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√SUK “drink”, likely from primitive ✱suktō given its Quenya cognate ᴹQ. suhto (Ety/SUK). It is thus likely that the combination *ukt* vocalized to *ūth*, as it did for similar words in The Etymologies such as N. lhûtha- “enchant” vs. ᴹQ. luhta- under the root ᴹ√LUK (Ety/LUK).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s instead had G. suith “a drink, a draught” (GL/68) from the early root ᴱ√SOKO (QL/85), representing a different vocalization: *okt* vocalizing to *oith* (HPG/§2.6) and then *oi* becoming *ui* (PE15/13). It seems the phonetic developments in The Etymologies of that late 1930s were different, but in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from this same period, Tolkien said [ui] was the result of vocalized u + χ (PE22/40), and indeed that seems to be the phonetic developments in later Sindarin as well, given words like S. nuitha- from primitive ✶nuktā- (WJ/413).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use ᴺS. suith for “draught, a drink”, a form I saw first suggested by David Salo in his book Gateway to Sindarin (GS/321).

gimil

root. *star

One of the roots Tolkien used to illustrate various processes of Primitive Adûnaic word formation (SD/422-5). It also seems to be the basis of words related to stars, such as gimli.

kulub

root. *root (as a kind of plant)

One of the Primitive Adûnaic roots Tolkien used to illustrate the processes of Primitive Adûnaic word formation (SD/422-5). It also seems to be the root of words such as kulbu and kulub “root (as a kind of plant)” (SD/431), perhaps an deliberate pun by Tolkien.

nak

root. ?

An otherwise unexplained root that Tolkien used to illustrate the processes of Primitive Adûnaic word formation (SD/422-3). It may have no real meaning. Even if it were, certainly only a few of its derivatives could be real words in Classical Adûnaic.