athae

asea

Q. asea. F athe, athelas

athae

noun/adjective. *healing herb, healing

A word appearing as an element in athelas “kingsfoil”, derived from primitive ✶aþayā based on the root √ATH “ease, comfort, heal” (PE17/49, 148). In the context of the compound athelas Tolkien represented it as athe, which is probably an example of how ae sometimes became e in polysyllables. The word athae may mean something like “✱healing herb“ or “✱healing”, and may be a noun or adjective or both. In notes from 1969 Tolkien said the Sindarin word was borrowed from Quenya, even though the related herbs were native to Middle-earth, since they was first discovered by the Noldor (PE22/166). It is unclear how this aligns with Aragorn’s statement that athelas was “a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth” (LotR/198); perhaps the herb was discovered in Beleriand, then given to the Men of Númenor who then spread it to the rest of Middle-earth.

Cognates

• Q. asëa “healing herb, athelas” ✧ PE17/049; PE17/148

Derivations

• ✶aþayā “beneficial‽” ✧ PE17/049
  • √THĀ/ATHA “ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent, ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent; [ᴹ√] forward” ✧ PE17/049; PE22/165
• √THĀ/ATHA “ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent, ease, comfort, heal; be helpful; be willing to assist (in any work, etc.), agree, consent; [ᴹ√] forward” ✧ PE17/148

Element in

• S. athelas “kingsfoil, a healing herb” ✧ PE17/049; PE17/148

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶aþayā > athae	[atʰajā] > [atʰaja] > [aθaja] > [aθaia] > [aθai] > [aθae]	✧ PE17/049

Variations

• athe ✧ PE17/049

athe

asea

Q. asea. F athae, athelas