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).
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).