Sindarin 

beleg

adjective. great, mighty; large, big, great, mighty; large, big, [ᴱN.] huge

The Sindarin word for “great” which appears in names like Belegaer “Great Sea” (S/37), Belegurth “Great Death” (PM/358), and especially the name Beleg (SA/beleg). Like English, the word beleg can mean “great” = “mighty” as well as “great” = “large” (PE17/115), but unlike English does not mean “great” = “good”.

Possible Etymology: The Etymologies of the 1930s had N. beleg “great” derived from ON. beleka “mighty, huge, great” under the root ᴹ√BEL “strong” (Ety/BEL). In this document, the name ᴹQ. Melko was derived from unrelated ᴹ✶Mailikō under the root ᴹ√MIL-IK having to do with greed and lust (Ety/MIL-IK). Notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 40s show the mutated form feleg [veleg] “large” or “great” (PE22/31; PE23/20, 51).

At some point Tolkien reconceived of the etymology of Melkor’s names as being derived from ✶mbelekōro “He who arises in Might” (WJ/402), and in notes on “large & small” roots from 1968 Tolkien also connected this primitive form to S. beleg (PE17/115). This would imply specialized mutations for beleg as derived from an ancient nasalized stop mb-. However, attested mutations imply the primitive form of beleg began with b-, such as Cûl Veleg “Big Load” (RC/536) or Taur-i-Melegyrn “Forest of the Great Trees” (WJ/185).

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume the strengthening of the ancient initial consonant to mb- occurred only in Quenya to explain the Sindarin mutations demonstrating primitive initial b-.

Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the earliest forms of the language, no doubt due to the influence of the name Beleg which was equally old. The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. Beleg “mighty, great” (GL/22). ᴱN. beleg “great, large” appeared in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s (PE13/125), and beleg “huge” appeared in Early Noldorin word-lists from this same period (PE13/138). N. beleg “great” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as noted above (Ety/BEL), and this word continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s writings thereafter.

Sindarin [PE17/115; RC/536; S/209; SA/beleg; WJI/Taur-i-Melegyrn] Group: Eldamo. Published by

beleg

adjective. great, mighty

Sindarin [Ety/352, S/428] Group: SINDICT. Published by

cûl veleg

place name. Bigload

A mountain near Tarlang’s Neck, mentioned only in Tolkien’s Nomenclature of the Lord of the Rings, where he translated the name as “Bigload” (RC/536). It appears to be a combination of cûl “load” and the lenited form veleg of the adjective beleg “big, great” (RC/536).

beleg

great

beleg (mighty), lenited veleg, pl. belig

beleg

great

(mighty), lenited veleg, pl. belig

daer

adjective. great

Sindarin [UT/450, WJ/187, WJ/335, VT/42:11] Group: SINDICT. Published by

#dae

great

#dae (lenited nae, no distinct pl. form). Isolated from daedhelos "great fear". Note: Homophones mean "shadow, shade" and also "very, exceedingly".

dae

great

(lenited nae, no distinct pl. form). Isolated from daedhelos "great fear". Note: Homophones mean "shadow, shade" and also "very, exceedingly".

daer

great

daer (large), lenited dhaer, no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means "bridegroom", but has a different lenited form.

daer

great

(large), lenited dhaer, no distinct pl. form. Note: a homophone means "bridegroom", but has a different lenited form.

Noldorin 

beleg

adjective. great, mighty

Noldorin [Ety/352, S/428] Group: SINDICT. Published by

Quenya 

velicë

great

velicë ("k") adj. "great" _(LT1:254; probably not valid in Tolkien's later Quenya; in the context of the Etymologies it would have to be derived from _BEL, but it is stated that this stem was "not found in Q". Perhaps Tolkien rejected velicë because it was too similar to the Russian word that clearly inspired it.)

Khuzdûl

gabil Reconstructed

adjective. great


Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Qenya 

-on

suffix. great

Middle Primitive Elvish

daʒ

root. great

Middle Primitive Elvish [EtyAC/DAƷ] Group: Eldamo. Published by