Quenya 

ul-

verb. to rain

An impersonal verb for “rain” attested only in its future form uluva “it is going to rain, it will rain” (PE22/167). Its aorist form is probably ✱ule “[it] rains”, its past form probably ✱úle “[it] rained”, and its perfect ✱úlie “[it] has rained”; as an impersonal verb, no explicit subject is required in Quenya. It is clearly derived from the root √UL “pour (out), flow” (WJ/400; PE17/168) and it seems that its primitive form originally meant “pour” (PE22/133), but elsewhere Tolkien gave the Quenya verb for “pour, flow” as ulya- (Ety/ULU).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the verb for “it rains” was (3rd-singular) ᴱQ. uqin from the early root ᴱ√UQU “wet” (QL/98). This verb reappeared as uqe or úqe “it rains” in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, having become an impersonal verb (PE14/56, 85). Another impersonal verb for “to rain” appeared in Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s: ᴹQ. kelya “(it) sends running down = it rains” from the root √KEL (PE22/114). The form uluva mentioned above appeared in Late Notes on Verbs from 1969 (PE22/167).

Neo-Eldarin: Based on attested forms I would limit ul- for “rain” as an impersonal verb only, and for “pour” would use ulya-. Interestingly, the Noldorin word for “rain” is eil [ᴺS. uil] from ᴹ✶ulyā-, so I think Quenya and Sindarin/Noldorin made different choices for which ancient verb became impersonal “rain”.

Derivations

  • UL “pour (out), flow, pour (out), flow, [ᴱ√] flow fast”

Sindarin 

uil-

verb. to rain

Sindarin Group: Eldamo - neologism/adaptations. Published by

Noldorin 

eil-

verb. to rain

An impersonal verb appearing as N. eil “it is raining” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶ulyā- (> œil > eil) under the root ᴹ√ULU “pour, flow” (Ety/ULU; EtyAC/ULU). This verb is abnormal in that its final a disappeared rather than surviving as it usually did for derived verbs, giving eil rather than ✱elia-, ✱eilia- or ✱eila-. However, as an impersonal verb there would never be any pronominal suffix to help preserve the final a by analogy, which probably explains the vowel loss.

Conceptual Development: The verb for “rain” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s was G. ubra-, probably related to G. ub “wet, moist, damp” (GL/74).

Neo-Sindarin: In Sindarin, the likely developments of primitive ✶ulyā would be to ✱oly(a) > ᴺS. uil “it rains”; I believe this form was first suggested by Helge Fauskanger in his Parviphith Edhellen wordlist. Compare ᴺS. uil to: S. ruin “fiery red” < (perhaps) ✱runyā and S. fuir “north” < (perhaps) ✱phoryā, and see the entry on how [[s|[œi] became [ui] or [y]]] for further discussion. Any inflected forms would probably restore the stem, such as (hypothetical) intransitive past and future forms ✱eilias “it rained” and ✱eiliatha “it will rain”).

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶ulyā- “it is raining” ✧ Ety/ULU
    • ᴹ√ULU “pour, flow” ✧ Ety/ULU

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶ulyā > œil > eil[uljā] > [ulja] > [olja] > [olia] > [œlia] > [œli] > [œil] > [eil]✧ Ety/ULU

Variations

  • eil ✧ Ety/ULU
  • oeil ✧ EtyAC/ULU
Noldorin [Ety/ULU; EtyAC/ULU] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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!

Gnomish

ubra-

verb. to rain

Cognates

  • Eq. uqu- “to rain”

Early Quenya

uqu-

verb. to rain

Cognates

Derivations

  • ᴱ√UQU “wet” ✧ QL/098

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√UQU > uqin[ukʷ-]✧ QL/098
Early Quenya [PE14/056; PE14/085; QL/098] Group: Eldamo. Published by