quelet ("q") (quelets-, as in pl. queletsi) noun "corpse" (KWEL; Markirya also has loico)
Quenya
caivo
corpse
quelet
corpse
loico
corpse, dead body
loico noun "corpse, dead body" (so in Markirya; Etym also has quelet of similar meaning)
Sindarin
daen
corpse
daen (i naen, o ndaen), same in pl. except with article (i ndaen)
daen
corpse
(i naen, o ndaen), same in pl. except with article (i ndaen)
Noldorin
daen
noun. corpse
daen
noun. corpse
A noun for “corpse” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ON. ndagno under the root ᴹ√NDAK “slay” (Ety/NDAK), where the g vocalized to i before n and then ai became ae.
Conceptual Development: There were a couple of unrelated “corpse” words in Tolkien’s earlier writings. G. cweleg “corpse, dead body” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s based on G. cwel- “fade, wither” (GL/28), clearly the equivalent of contemporaneous ᴱQ. qelet (qelekt-) of the same meaning (QL/76). ᴱN. rhanc “corpse, body of one slain in battle” appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s related to the verb rhengi (rhang-) “to slay in battle” (PE13/152).
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources On. ndagno > daen [ndagno] > [ndaŋno] > [daŋno] > [daino] > [dain] > [daen] ✧ Ety/NDAK
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!
Qenya
qelet
noun. corpse
A noun for “corpse” in The Etymologies written around 1937 derived from primitive ᴹ✶kwelett- under the root ᴹ√KWEL “fade (away)” (Ety/KWEL). It had a plural form qeletsi indicating a stem form of qelets-, but that is inconsistent with its attested primitive form; its plural may instead be a conceptual remnant of the Early Qenya sound change whereby [[eq|[ti] became [tsi]]] (PE12/23).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. qelet “corpse” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QELE “perish, die, decay, fade”, but there its stem form was qelekt- (QL/76). ᴹQ. qelet “corpse” reappeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, but there its stem form seems to be qelet- (PE21/33, 35). Its early 1930s nominative plural qeletsin also shows ti > tsi (PE21/35).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d assume a stem form quelett- (and plural queletti) consistent with its primitive form. If the stem form was quelets-, then the uninflected form would be ✱✱queles, since final -ts became -s (PE19/104).
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴹ✶kwelett- > qelet [kwelette] > [kwelett] > [kwelet] ✧ Ety/KWEL
Middle Primitive Elvish
kwelett-
noun. corpse
Derivations
Derivatives
- ᴹQ. qelet “corpse” ✧ Ety/KWEL
Early Quenya
kaivo
noun. corpse
Changes
kaivo→ kaivon ✧ PE16/077Derivations
- ᴱ√KAYA “lie, rest; dwell”
Element in
- Eq. kaivo i sapsanta “as a corpse into the grave” ✧ MC/221; PE16/062; PE16/072; PE16/074
- Eq. kaivon nyúken i·sapsanta silmerána númetár “*the gleaming-moon goes down like a corpse into the grave” ✧ PE16/077
- Eq. ve kaivo-kalma “a corpse-candle” ✧ MC/214
Variations
- Kaivo ✧ MC/221
qelet
noun. corpse
Cognates
- G. cweleg “corpse, dead body”
Derivations
- ᴱ√QELE “perish, die, decay, fade” ✧ QL/076
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√QELE > qelet [kʷelekt] > [kʷelet] ✧ QL/076
caivo _("k")_noun "corpse" (MC:221; Tolkien's later Quenya has loico or quelet)