melwa adj. "lovely" (LT1:262); compare melda in Tolkiens later Quenya.
Primitive elvish
delya
adjective. lovely, fine, beautiful
delya-
verb. ?thick, thicken & congeal
delya-
verb. walk, go, proceed, travel
del
root. walk, go, proceed, travel
Quenya
lelya-
verb. ?thick, thicken & congeal
melwa
lovely
pata-
verb. walk
pata- vb. "walk" (PE17:34)
vanta
walk
vanta (2) noun "walk" (BAT)
írima
lovely, beautiful, desirable
írima adj. "lovely, beautiful, desirable" (ID, FS, PE17:155), in FS also pl. írimar; in the "Qenya" of Fíriel's Song, adjectives in -a form their plurals in -ar instead of -ë as in LotR-style Quenya.
Sindarin
dail
adjective. lovely
_ adj. _lovely, beautiful. Q. lelya. >> deil
deil
lovely
_ adj. _lovely, beautiful. Q. lelya. >> dail
melui
adjective. lovely, sweet
This word only occurs in the place name Imloth Melui, a vale where roses grew
pad-
walk
_ v. _walk, step. Q. pata-. >> Tharbad
pada-
verb. to walk
padra-
walk
_ v. _walk. >> pad-
pada
walk
(on a track or path) pada- (i bada, i phadar)
pada
walk
(on a track or path) pada- (i bada, i phadar)
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
vanta
noun. walk, walk, *hike, march
A noun for “a walk” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√BAT “tread” (Ety/BAT).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I assume ᴹ√BAT is for a “heavy walk” as opposed for √PAT for a “light walk” or “step”, so I would use vanta for an extended or serious walk, and thus including “✱hike” and “✱march”.
This root appears in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 with the sense “walk, go, proceed, travel” (WJ/360). Its derivatives were S. Edhel “Elf” and Q. †Eldo which blended with Elda “Elf”, both originally with the sense “one who goes” (✶edelō): those who left lake Cuiviénen to travel to Valinor. It is also the basis of several words meaning “to go”: T. delia- and Q. lelya-.
Many of Quenya derivatives of this root actually derive from an inversion √LED of the original √DEL. According to the Quendi and Eldar essay, this inversion only occurred in Quenya (WJ/363). In earlier writings like The Etymologies, however, ᴹ√LED “go, fare, travel” was the basic root in all languages. It seems that Tolkien revised ᴹ√LED >> √DEL, preserving √LED only as a Quenya variant. The strongest sign of this change was Tolkien’s consistent alteration of N. Eledh >> S. Edhel.
This leaves open the question of what happened to the other non-Quenya derivatives of ᴹ√LED, such as S. edlen(n) “exile”. It is possible that they were transferred to a new root √LEN, which was the basis for S. lembas “way bread” (PE17/60). For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to assume the verb [N.] †ledh- “go, fare, travel” did exist, but was archaic and survived only as an element in other verbs like [ᴺS.] edledhia- “go into exile” and [N.] neledh- “enter”.