cuin

adjective. alive

An adjective for “alive” in The Etymologies of the 1930s based on the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY).

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien had G. cuib “alive” (GL/27) and in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱN. cuif (cuiv-) “alive” (PE13/141).

cuin

adjective. alive

cuina-

verb. to be alive

cuina-

verb. to be alive

cuil

noun. life, life, [G.] lifetime

A noun for “life” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY).

Conceptual Development: This word dates back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien clarified that G. cuil “life” was “usually [the] quality of being alive, but [was] also used = lifetime” (GL/27). ᴱN. cuil “life” also appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/141).

cuia-

verb. to live

cuil

noun. life

coina

alive

coina _("k")_adj. "alive" (LT1:257; Tolkien's later Quenya also has cuina, though coina may still be a valid word: properly, the root of words for "life" is coi- rather than cui-, the latter referring to "awakening" instead)

cuina

alive

cuina ("k")adj. "alive" (KUY). See coina.

ceula

adjective. ?alive (of vegetable)

A word in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN) derived from the root √KEWE/KWĒ “live of vegetables” (PE17/159), so perhaps an adjective meaning “✱alive (of vegetables)”.

Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. lausiva “living (of plants)” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as an adjective form of ᴱQ. laute “living thing, esp. vegetable” (QL/52).

coirëa

adjective. living, living, [ᴱQ.] lively, alive

An adjective for “living” appearing in notes from the 1950s as part of the phrase Q. coirëa quenya “living speech” (PM/399).

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. koirea “alive, lively” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√KOẎO “have life” (QL/48).

cuilë

life, being alive

cuilë ("k")noun "life, being alive" (KUY)

coita-

verb. live, be alive, have life

cuita

verb. live

coivië

noun. life, life, [ᴱQ.] liveliness; awakening

The usual word for “life” in Tolkien’s later writings based on the root √KOY (NM/84, 119; VT49/42), in one place appearing with the variant koive (PE17/68). In another place Tolkien instead used kuivie for “life” in the phrase kuivie-lankasse “on the brink of life”, reflecting Tolkien’s ongoing vacillation between √KOY and √KUY as the root for life.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. koivie was “awakening” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/48) as reflected in the name ᴱQ. Koivie-néni “Waters of Awakening” from this period (QL/48), but the word was glossed “liveliness” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/29). The noun for “life, being alive” was ᴹQ. kuile in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY), but was usually coivie in Tolkien’s writings from the 1950s and 60s, as noted above.

Neo-Quenya: I prefer √KOY as the root for “life” for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, so I’d use coivie as the noun “life, liveliness”, and use cuivië for “awakening” as seen in the later form of the name Q. Cuiviénen “Water of Awakening” (S/48).

coi

life

coi ("k")"life" (LT1:257; in Tolkien's later Quenya cuilë)

coivië

life

coivië _("k")_noun "life" (coivierya, *"his/her life", VT49:41, 42). In early material, the word is glossed "awakening" instead (LT1:257; in LotR-style Quenya cuivië, as in Cuiviénen)

coivë

noun. life

cuita-

verb. to live

A word appearing as Q. kuita “live” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, most notably in the phrase kuita’r pare “live and learn”, derived from the root √KUY “live” (PE22/154, 156).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to use √KUY for “wake” (NM/274) and √KOY for “live”; see those roots for discussion. As such, I would use Q. coita- for “to live” and would assume ᴺQ. cuita- means to “to waken, rouse”, as did its primitive form from the 1950s: ✶kuitā- (PE22/136). I further assume cuita- “to waken, rouse” is a transitive/causative verb (taking a direct object) based on the long ā in this primitive form, with a past tense cuitane “woke, roused”.

cuivië

noun. life

cuina-

verb. to live, be alive

A neologism for the verb “to live, be alive” appearing in ABNW (ABNW) from the early 2000s based on [ᴹQ.] kuina “alive”. I prefer using attested coita- for this purpose; this verb was published in 2015.

coina

adjective. alive, living

coirëa

living

coirëa adj. "living" (glossed "alive" in LT1:257); coirëa quenya "living speech" (PM:399, VT49:42)

coiva

awake

coiva _("k")_adj. "awake" (LT1:257 - read *cuiva in LotR-style Quenya? Cf. coivië becoming cuivië. On the other hand, the elements cui- and coi- having to do with life and awakening cannot be wholly separated.

eccoita-

verb. awake

#eccoita- vb. "awake" (VT27:10)

oia-

verb. live, pass one’s days

cuiva

adjective. awake

lay

root. *be alive, flourish, [ᴱ√] be alive, flourish

This root was primarily used as the basis for Elvish words for summer and, via its extended root √LAYAK, freshness and greenness. Its earliest appearance was as ᴱ√LAẎA “be alive, flourish” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/52) where the Ẏ indicated an ancient palatal spirant, [c] or [ɟ]. In this period it had derivatives like ᴱQ. laiqa/G. laib “green” and ᴱQ. laire/G. glair “meadow” (QL/52; GL/39, 52).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹ√LAYA was unglossed with a single derivative ᴹQ. laire “summer”, appearing in a marginal note next to more detailed ᴹ√LAYAK (EtyAC/LAYA). In this document, Tolkien gave the derivatives of ᴹ√LAYAK as ᴹQ. laiqa “green” vs. N. lhoeb “fresh” (Ety/LAYAK). The Ilkorin form laig “fresh, lively; keen, sharp” was said to be blended with ᴹ√LAIK “keen, sharp, acute” (Ety/LAIK), so “✱fresh” was probably the original meaning of ᴹ√LAYAK.

The root √LAY appeared quite regularly in Tolkien’s later writings, but was never glossed. It was mentioned in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from around 1950 as an example of a bi-consonantal root (PE18/97). It appeared in 1957 etymological notes as the basis for “summer” and “green”: the former still Q. lairë but the latter now Q. laika (PE17/145, 159). It was mentioned again in a 1958 letter to Rhona Beare as the basis for “summer” and ”green”, with the Sindarin form S. laeg having largely been replaced by S. calen “green” (Let/282).

Most likely this root retained the same basic sense as it had in the Qenya Lexicon, connected as it was to words having to do with freshness and liveliness.

et-kuinu

verb. awake, wake up

cuina-

verb. to be alive

A verb for “to be alive” appearing as a soft-mutated plural in the phrase Dor Firn-i-Guinar (S/188) and as a nasal-mutated plural in Dor Gyrth i Chuinar (nasal-mutation) (Let/417), both meaning “Land of the Dead that Live”. Its Noldorin-style infinitive form cuino “to be alive” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. cuitha- “am alive, live” (GL/27).

cuia-

verb. to live

cuia-

verb. to live

A verb for “to live” appearing only in the imperative form cuio in the phrase cuio i Pheriain anann “long live the Halflings” or “may the Halflings live long” (LotR/953; Let/448; PE17/102). It already had this form when it appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (SD/46).

cuin

alive

cuin (lenited guin; no distinct pl. form).

cuin

alive

(lenited guin; no distinct pl. form).

cui(w)

adjective. awake, alert, alive

cuileb

adjective. lively, alive

cuina

be alive

(i guina, i chuinar)

cuina

be alive

cuina- (i guina, i chuinar)

cuia

live

(i guia, i chuia; the attested form is the imperative cuio). Also cuina (i guina, i chuinar).

brêg

lively

brêg (sudden, quick), lenited vrêg, pl. brîg

brêg

lively

(sudden, quick), lenited vrêg, pl. brîg

cuil

life

cuil (i guil, o chuil), no distinct pl. form except with article (i chuil)

cuil

life

(i guil, o chuil), no distinct pl. form except with article (i chuil)

iphant

long-lived

(aged,  literally ”year-full”), pl. iphaint. The spelling used in the source is ”ifant” (LR:400 s.v. YEN), but since the f arises from earlier (n > m +) p via nasal mutation, it should be written ph according to the spelling conventions described in LotR Appendix E.