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!

Middle Primitive Elvish

bay

root. [unglossed]

Variations

  • BAYA ✧ EtyAC/WAY (BAYA)
Middle Primitive Elvish [EtyAC/WAY] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khug

root. bark, bay

This root was the basis for several “dog” words, most notably S. (or Q.) Huan “Hound”, a name Tolkien used throughout his life. Its earliest precursor was the root ᴱ√SAẆA from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, which had the derivative ᴱQ. fan (fand-) “dog”. In the somewhat earlier Qenya Phonology, Tolkien had ᴱQ. hwan >> huan >> fan, reflecting conceptual shifts in the phonetic development of initial sẉ- in Qenya (PE12/26 note #149). In the contemporaneous Gnomish lexicon the words G. “dog” and G. saur “hound, wild dog” seem to be derived from this same root (GL/49, 67). The Early Noldorin word ᴱN. fan(d) “dog” in word lists of the 1920s is probably of similar origin (PE13/143).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, Tolkien derived N. Huan and a number of other dog-words, first from an (unglossed) extended root ᴹ√KHUGAN, and then from ᴹ√KHUG “bark, bay” (Ety/KHUGAN). In their Reader’s Companion to the Lord of the Rings, Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull said:

> The first element of Huorn could be derived from the base KHUG- “bark, bay”, which appears to be supported by unpublished etymological notes by Tolkien (RC/425).

Hammond and Scull did not further describe these notes so we don’t know whether it actually contained √KHUG, but I think it is likely that these “unpublished notes” refer to the etymology of Huorn on PE17/86, which does not contain √KHUG but does have Q. “hound” (the word’s gloss is unclear and might be “heart” according to Christopher Gilson).

Changes

  • KHUGANKHUG ✧ Ety/KHUGAN

Derivatives

  • ᴹ✶khugan “hound” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
    • ᴹQ. huan “hound, hound, [ᴱQ.] dog” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
    • N. huan “hound” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
  • Q. “hound (or ?heart)”
  • ᴹQ. huan “hound, hound, [ᴱQ.] dog” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
  • ᴺQ. húni “bitch, *female dog”
  • ᴹQ. huo “dog” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
  • N. “dog” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
  • N. Huan “hound” ✧ Ety/KHUGAN
  • S. huan “great dog, hound”
  • ᴺS. huar “hound, wild dog, wild dog”
  • ᴺS. huil “bitch, *female dog”

Element in

  • ᴺQ. huar “wild dog, jackal”
  • S. huorn “?spirit tree” ✧ RC/425

Variations

  • KHUGAN ✧ Ety/KHUGAN (KHUGAN)
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KHUGAN; RC/425] Group: Eldamo. Published by

khop

root. *harbour, bay

Tolkien used a number of similar roots for “bay” but their exact form varied over his life. The earliest form was ᴱ√KOPO “keep, guard?” (the question mark is Tolkien’s) from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with the derivative ᴱQ. kópa “harbour” (QL/47). This root and its Qenya derivative were linked to words like G. gob “hollow of hand” and G. gobos “haven” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/40). Given these Gnomish forms it is likely the true root was ✱ᴱ√GOPO since initial g- became k- in Early Qenya. In Early Noldorin word lists from the 1920s, however, the related word became ᴱN. “bay, cove” < ᴱ✶kópa (PE13/141).

The root ᴹ√KOP appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but Tolkien seems to have abandoned it in favor of ᴹ√KHOP, changing ᴹQ. kópa “harbour, bay” to ᴹQ. hópa/N. hûb “haven, harbour, small landlocked bay” (Ety/KHOP, KOP). In draft maps for Gondor from the 1940s, however, Tolkien gave N. Cobas “Haven” (TI/312, WR/434). Finally, in notes from the late 1960s Tolkien had S. côf “bay” in Côf Belfalas, the Sindarin name for the “Bay of Belfalas”, though the paragraph where it appeared was struck through (VT42/15). As suggested by Carl Hostetter, côf was probably derived from a variant of earlier ᴹ√KOP (VT42/29 note #36), perhaps ✱√KOB.

Thus it seems the conceptual evolution of this root was 1910s ✱ᴱ√GOPO >> 1920s ᴱ√KOPO >> 1930s ᴹ√KHOP >> 1940s ✱ᴹ√KOP >> 1960s ✱√KOB. Given Tolkien’s extreme vacillations on the form of this root, it is probably best avoided for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, but if you do use it I recommend sticking with the derivatives of 1930s ᴹ√KHOP, since those are likely most recognizable to readers of Elvish.

Changes

  • KOPKHOP ✧ Ety/KOP

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. hópa “haven, harbour, small landlocked bay” ✧ Ety/KHOP; Ety/KOP
  • N. hûb “haven, harbour, small landlocked bay” ✧ Ety/KHOP
  • N. Cobas “Haven”
  • N. hobas “harbourage” ✧ Ety/KHOP

Variations

  • KOP ✧ Ety/KHOP; Ety/KOP (KOP)
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KHOP; Ety/KOP] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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.

Derivatives

  • ᴹ✶-stā “-ing” ✧ EtyAC/KHAW
Middle Primitive Elvish [EtyAC/KHAW] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kōmā

noun. [unglossed]

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. kóma “*ball” ✧ PE19/059; PE19/059

Variations

  • kṓmā ✧ PE19/059
Middle Primitive Elvish [PE19/059] Group: Eldamo. Published by

phan

root. [unglossed]

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

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

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.

Variations

  • maiga ✧ PE18/066
Middle Primitive Elvish [PE18/066] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kaltwa

?. [unglossed]

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. kaltua “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/048

Variations

  • kalt-wa ✧ PE19/048
Middle Primitive Elvish [PE19/048] Group: Eldamo. Published by

torōmā

noun. [unglossed]

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. toróma “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/059; PE19/059

Variations

  • torṓmā ✧ PE19/059
Middle Primitive Elvish [PE19/059] Group: Eldamo. Published by

auluta-

verb. [unglossed]

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. olta- “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/058

Variations

  • áuluta- ✧ PE19/058
Middle Primitive Elvish [PE19/058] Group: Eldamo. Published by

iw

root. [unglossed], [ᴱ√] *fish

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

khlip

root. [unglossed]

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

Middle Primitive Elvish [PE22/113] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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).

Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KIL] Group: Eldamo. Published by

stin

root. [unglossed]

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

uruk

root. [unglossed]

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

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

us

root. [unglossed]

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

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