laman (lamn- or simply laman-, as in pl. lamni or lamani) noun "animal" (usually applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles and birds; a more general word may be #celva) (WJ:416)
Quenya
cuima
noun. animal
cuiva
noun. animal
Derivations
- √KUY “awake; live, awake; live, [ᴹ√] come to life” ✧ NM/274
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √cuy > cuivar [kuiwar] > [kuiβar] > [kuivar] ✧ NM/274
laman
noun. animal
laman
animal
laman
noun. animal, animal, [ᴹQ.] tame beast
A word for an “animal” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said it “usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds” (WJ/416). It was derived from the root √LAM in the sense “inarticulate voiced sound”. It had plural forms lamni and lamani based on distinct primitive forms ✶laman(a) and ✶lamān, the first form being subject to the Quenya syncope and the second immune to it.
Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor to this word was ᴱQ. {lāma >>} lăma in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√LAMA, with the glosses “a head of cattle or sheep; an animal, beast” (QL/50). In this document it had an ancient form lamṇ, and accusative forms lamna or laman. The origin of this final -a is made clear in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, where Tolkien said “-a < ṇ”, citing lama as an example with plural form lamni (PE14/44, 74). This singular and plural form also appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists (PE16/132) and the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/69), and in the latter Tolkien specified that the word “can be used generally, but popularly as in English excludes birds & insects, and men”.
The form ᴹQ. laman emerged in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, where Tolkien gave it the gloss “tame beast” (PE21/19). Inflected forms indicate the stem was still lamn-, and the plural remained lamni (PE21/28). Thus it seems that by this stage the word’s stem form was the result of the Quenya syncope. The word laman “animal” appeared in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s, but there it was rejected and replaced by ᴹQ. nasto (PE22/116). Laman “animal” appeared again in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, as noted above.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume this word mostly applies to either tame or tameable four-legged mammals, as opposed to hravan for “wild beasts” and celva for animals in general.
Cognates
- S. lavan “animal” ✧ WJ/416
Derivations
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶laman(a)/lamān > laman [laman] ✧ WJ/416 ✶laman(a)/lamān > lamni/lamani [lamani] > [lamni] ✧ WJ/416
nasto
noun. animal, beast
cuima
noun. creature, animal
A word for “animal” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, appearing only in its plural form kuimar (PE22/155). It is clearly based on the root √KUY “live”, also appearing in the same document (PE22/156), hence probably meaning “✱living thing”.
Conceptual Development: Perhaps the first precursor of this word was ᴱQ. koite (koisi-) “living thing, being, animal” from the early root ᴱ√KOẎO “have life” (QL/48). A similar form kuivar appeared for “animals” in some notes the Death of Animals and Plants from 1957-8, but there Tolkien said “cuy = awake not live” (NM/274 note #6), and replaced this term with Q. kelvar, which is the word for “animal” Christopher Tolkien used in the published version of The Silmarillion (S/45). By 1969 Tolkien decided √KUY did mean “live”, and (re)introduced a derivative of that root for “animal” (see above).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer for √KUY to mean only “awake” and keep √KOY for “live”; see those entries for discussion. As such, I recommend against using cuima for “animal”, especially since Q. celva is a much better known term, being a word used in The Silmarillion as published.
Derivations
- √KUY “awake; live, awake; live, [ᴹ√] come to life”
Element in
- ᴺQ. cuimacir “butcher”
- Q. laceníte cuimar “creatures that cannot/do not (by nature) see” ✧ PE22/153
- Q. nefíti kuimar “air-breathing animals” ✧ PE22/155
- Q. yuluiti cuimar “fishes, etc., *aquatic animals” ✧ PE22/155
attalaitë
biped
attalaitë adj. "biped" (having two feet) (VT49:42, PE12:88)
onna
creature
onna noun "creature" (ONO), "child" (PE17:170), also translated "child" in the plural compound Aulëonnar "Children of Aulë", a name of the Dwarves (PM:391), and apparently also used = "child" in the untranslated sentence nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya ("k") "be it that your child [will be] blessed thoughout his/her life" (VT49:41). The form onya (q.v.), used as a vocative "my child", is perhaps shortened from *onnanya.
celva
noun. animal, living thing that moves
A word used in its plural form kelvar to describe animals in The Silmarillion, as opposed to Q. olvar = “plants” (S/45). In a marginal note to a short document on Ents and Eagles from 1958-9 (or later), it was translated “animals, all living things that move” (WJ/341); this document was the basis for the reference in the published version of The Silmarillion. The word kelvar was also translated as “animals” in some notes the Death of Animals and Plants from 1957-8 (NM/271), where it was a replacement for deleted Q. kuivar along with a note explaining the reason for the change being that “cuy = awake not live” (NM/274 note #6).
Possible Etymologies: Wynne, Smith, and Hostetter suggested kelvar might be derived from 1930s ᴹ√KEL “go, run (especially of water), flow away downhill” from The Etymologies (VT43/31), perhaps in the sense of “a thing that runs”. If this is the case, kelva would be the only derivative of that root not connected to flowing water.
Element in
- ᴺQ. celvacir “butcher”
- ᴺQ. celvamatta “animal food”
- ᴺQ. celvamatya “carnivorous, (lit.) animal-eating”
- ᴺQ. celvatarwa “zoo, (lit.) life-garden”
- ᴺQ. celvavëa “animal-like”
animal