ar

root. day

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “day” with various derivatives like ᴹQ. are, N. aur “day” and ᴹQ. arin “morning” (Ety/AR¹). In Tolkien’s later writings, the Quenya word for “day” became aurë (RC/727; S/190), and in 1957 Quenya Notes he devised a new etymology for these day-words from the root √UR “heat” as in ✶auri “heat, period of sun” (PE17/148). That opens the question whether the various 1930s Quenya “morning” words from ᴹ√AR remain valid, but many Neo-Quenya writers (including me) retain them since there aren’t really any good alternatives. They might be salvageable as derivatives of the later root √AS “warmth” (so that “day” = “hot” and “morning” = “warm”).

ar

root. beside, outside

arān

noun. arān

ari

noun. day

arʒā

noun/adjective. dread

arʒāndōrē

place name. Dread Land

par

root. compose, put together, arrange

karan

root. red

This root appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “red” (Ety/KARÁN), a later iteration of ᴱ√KṚN of the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s of the same meaning, but with syllabic ṛ (QL/48). Its main Quenya derivative, Q. carnë, retained the same form throughout Tolkien’s life, but its Gnomish forms G. carn(in) “scarlet” and G. crintha “rosy, pink” (GL/25, 27) became N. caran “red” in the 1930s, and retained that form thereafter.

karani

adjective. red

parkā

adjective. dry

mbakhā

noun. article (for exchange), ware, thing

ranku

noun. arm

aktō

noun. artificer, maker, wright

pilin

root. *arrow

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the derivatives ᴹQ. pilin “arrow”; in The Etymologies as recorded by Christopher Tolkien the root was given as ᴹ√PÍLIM (Ety/PÍLIM), but according to Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne the root might also be read as ᴹ√PÍLIN (EtyAC/PÍLIM). This root is probably a later iteration of the early root ᴱ√PILI from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed and with derivatives like ᴱQ. pilin “feather” and ᴱQ. pilna “arrow” (QL/74); it also had derivatives like G. pilon “arrow, dart” from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/64). Later “feather” words were based on the root ᴹ√KWES (Ety/KWES; LotR/1122), but ᴹQ. pilin remains the best known Elvish word for “arrow”.

akrā

adjective. narrow

tul-

verb. come, am coming, have come, am arrived, am here

gos

root. dread

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “dread” with two variations: ᴹ√GOS and ᴹ√GOTH (Ety/GOS). It was an element in quite a few names in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, such as ᴹQ. Mandos “Dread Imprisoner” (Ety/MBAD), ᴹQ. Osse (Ety/GOS), N. Gothmog (Ety/MBAW), N. Tauros “Forest-Dread” (Ety/TÁWAR), and N. Dor-Daideloth “Land of the Shadow of Dread” (LR/405), the last of these containing N. deloth “abhorrence, detestation, loathing” = ᴹ√DYEL + ᴹ√GOTH (Ety/DYEL).

In Tolkien’s later writings, many of these names were given new forms or etymologies: Q. Mandos “Castle of Custody” = mando + osto (MR/350); Q. Ossë as an adaptation of his Valarin name Oš(o)šai (WJ/400); S. Tauron “Forester” (PM/358). This calls into question whether ᴹ√GOS or ᴹ√GOTH survived as a root. It does have a few useful derivatives for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, however, such as N. gosta- “fear exceedingly”.

gonod

root. stone

The Elvish words for “stone” were established very early as Q. ondo and S. gond. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien gave the root of these words as ᴱ√ONO “hard” with derivatives like ᴱQ. ondo “stone, rock” and ᴱQ. onin “anvil” (QL/70). But its Gnomish derivatives like G. gonn “stone” and G. gontha “pillar” (GL/41) indicate the actual root was ✱ᴱ√ƷONO, since initial ʒ > g in Gnomish.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√GONOD or √GONDO “stone” with essentially the same Elvish forms: ᴹQ. ondo and N. gonn (Ety/GOND). The root itself did not appear in later writings, but Tolkien continued to state, with great frequency, that the primitive form of the word was ✶gondō (Let/410; PE17/28; PE18/106; PE21/81; PM/374; RC/347).

mbakh

root. exchange

This root was the basis for words having to do with trade. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√VAKA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, with derivatives like ᴱQ. vakse “sale” and ᴱQ. vaktele “trade” (QL/99). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon like G. bag- “sell, trade” (GL/21); a similar set of derivatives appeared in Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s (PE13/138). The root appeared as ᴹ√MBAKH “exchange” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. manka-/N. banga- “trade”, N. bachor “pedlar”, and ᴹQ. makar “tradesman” (Ety/MBAKH). An earlier version of this entry instead had ᴹ√MBAƷ, but this was deleted (EtyAC/MBAƷ, MBAKH). The word ᴹQ. makar as well as a deleted variants māka- of ᴹQ. manka- and bagor of N. bachor (EtyAC/MBAKH) imply Tolkien also considered a variant form ᴹ√MBAK.

us

root. [unglossed]

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/US).

khlip

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in a rejected paragraph from the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/112 note #78).

kwes

root. *feather

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s whose derivatives had mainly to do with feathers, such as ᴹQ. qesse “feather” and N. pesseg “pillow” (Ety/KWES). Tolkien’s continued use of Q. quessë “feather” in his later writings indicates its ongoing validity (LotR/1122). A possible precursor to this root was unglossed ᴱ√PEKE from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives had to do with plumes (QL/73). There is also ᴱ√PILI whose derivatives had to do with arrows and feathers (QL/74), but in later writings ᴹ√PILIN seems to have narrowed in sense specifically to “arrow” (Ety/PÍLIM; EtyAC/PÍLIM).

maiga

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root appearing in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1) to illustrate certain patterns of root formation (PE18/66). It may have serving as the basis for ᴹQ. Maia, though this word was given different derivations later.

phan

root. [unglossed]

A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/PHAN).

sel(d)

root. child, child; *daughter

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s, initially glossed “daughter” but later “child” with derivatives ᴹQ. selde, ᴹQ. seldo, ᴹQ. selda = female, male and neuter “child” (Ety/SEL-D). In Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 Tolkien gave sel-de “daughter” (PE17/170), while S. sel(l) = “daughter” appeared in both the King’s Letter from the late 1940s (SD/129) as well as the Túrin Wrapper from the 1950s (VT50/5). The diminutive form for “daughter” appeared as Q. selyë in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/10).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer √YEL for “daughter” as a variant of ᴹ√SEL(D) under the influence of √YON “son”, mostly so I can still use the 1930s “child” words for other genders, at least in the Quenya branch. I would still use Q. seldë and S. sell for “daughter”, however, with a bit of semantic drift, with “girl” words becoming Q. nettë and S. neth.

skil

root. [unglossed]

A root mentioned in passing in as a variant of ᴹ√KIL “divide” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but it had no derivatives and appeared nowhere else (Ety/KIL).

stā

root. [unglossed]

A deleted root reference in The Etymologies apparently serving as the basis for the verbal action suffix ᴹ✶-stā “-ing” in ᴹ✶khau̯-stā “rest-ing” (Ety/KHAW; EtyAC/KHAW). See the entry on ✶-stā for further discussion.

uruk

root. [unglossed]

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/URUK).

al

prefix. without

tārā

adjective. lofty

(a)lak

root. swift, rushing

ala-

prefix. very

galan

root. bright

kuldā

adjective. red

kwenedē

noun. Elf

ruk

root. demon

tār(ō)

noun. king

iw

root. [unglossed], [ᴱ√] *fish

oth

root. fort

auluta-

verb. [unglossed]

bay

root. [unglossed]

bányā

adjective. beautiful

eʒ-

verb. to be

kaltwa

?. [unglossed]

kur

root. craft

kwen(ed)

root. Elf

kwessē

noun. feather

kōmā

noun. [unglossed]

lak

root. swift

n-

root. intensive

nis

root. woman

nī

noun. woman

nī̆s

noun. woman

orta-

verb. to rise

pheleg

root. cave

rāmā

noun. wing

rǭda

noun. cave

stin

root. [unglossed]

torōmā

noun. [unglossed]

tundā

adjective. tall

wath

root. shade

yatta

preposition. across

yel

root. daughter

yen

root. daughter

yend

noun. daughter

yo(n)

root. son

yondō

noun. son

yē

preposition. at

yē

root. to be

ē

root. to be

ī

root. to be