Quenya 

emil

mother

emil noun "mother", emilinya "my mother" (also reduced to emya) the terms a child would use in addressing his or her mother (VT47:26). Emil would seem to be a variant of amil. Also compare emel.

emil

noun. mother

amil

mother

amil noun "mother" (AM1), also emil (q.v.) Longer variant amillë (VT44:18-19), compounded Eruamillë "Mother of God" in Tolkien's translation of the Hail Mary (VT43:32). If amil is a shortened form of amillë, it should probably have the stem-form amill-. Also compare amilyë, amya, emya. Compounded amil- in amilessë noun "mothername" (cf. essë "name"), name given to a child by its mother, sometimes with prophetic implications (amilessi tercenyë "mother-names of insight"). (MR:217).

emel

mother

emel noun "mother"; also amal (VT48:22, 49:22); the form amil (emil) seems more usual.

mamil

mother, mummy

mamil noun *"mother, mummy" (UT:191)

amil(lë)

noun. mother

Tolkien used a number of similar forms for “mother” for most of his life. The earliest of these are ᴱQ. amis (amits-) “mother” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s along with variants ᴱQ. ambi, âmi, amaimi under the root ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). An additional variant ammi appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/30). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱQ. ambe or mambe “mother” (PE16/135). This became ᴹQ. amil “mother” in The Etymologies under the root ᴹ√AM “mother” (Ety/AM¹).

This 1930s form amil appears to have survived for some time. It appeared in a longer form Amille in Quenya Prayers of the 1950s (VT43/26; VT44/12, 18), and as an element in the term amilessi “mother-names” in a late essay on Elvish naming (MR/217). In the initial drafts of Elvish Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s Tolkien used the form amilye or amye as an affectionate word for “mother”, and amaltil as the finger name for the second finger (VT47/26-27 note #34 and #35).

However, in those documents Tolkien seems to have revised the root for “mother” from √AM to √EM and the affectionate forms from amye to emya or emme (VT47/10; VT48/6, 19). The revised word for “mother” appears to be emil based on the 1st person possessive form emil(inya) (VT47/26).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I prefer to retain the root √AM for “mother”, since that is what Tolkien used for 50 years, and ignore the very late change to √EM. As such, I would recommend amil(le) for “mother” and affectionate forms amme “mommy” and amya. However, if you prefer to use Tolkien’s “final” forms, then emil(le), emme and emya seem to be what Tolkien adopted in the late 1960s.

Cognates

  • S. emel “mother”

Derivations

  • amal “mother”
    • AM “mother” ✧ VT48/19; VT48/19

Element in

Variations

  • Amille ✧ VT44/18
Quenya [VT44/18; VT47/26] Group: Eldamo. Published by

amal

mother

amal noun "mother"; also emel (VT48:22, 49:22); the form amil (emil) seems more usual.

ammë

mother

ammë noun "mother" (AM1)

ontari

mother

ontari noun "mother" or etymologically "begetter, parent" (fem.); clashing with the plural ontari "parents", this was apparently an emphemeral form (see ontarë, ontaril, ontarië for other feminine forms of "begetter, parent") (VT44:7)

ontaril

mother

ontaril noun "mother", female *"begetter" (cf. onta-). Variant of ontarë. (VT43:32)

Sindarin 

emig

noun. "litte mother"

Sindarin [VT/48:6,17] Group: SINDICT. Published by

emig

noun. index finger (Elvish play-name used by and taught to children)

Sindarin [VT/48:6,17] Group: SINDICT. Published by

emig

noun. [little] mother, *mommy

A diminutive word for “mother” in Elvish Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s (VT48/6), replacing a longer but rejected diminutive emelig (VT48/6). It is based on either emel “mother” or the primitive root √EM.

Cognates

  • Q. emmë “mummy, mother (familiar/family)” ✧ VT48/06

Elements

WordGloss
emel“mother”
-eg“diminutive/singular ending”

Variations

  • emelig ✧ VT48/17 (emelig)
Sindarin [VT48/06; VT48/17] Group: Eldamo. Published by

emel

noun. mother

Sindarin [Emeldir S/155, VT/48:17] Group: SINDICT. Published by

emel

noun. mother

A word for “mother” in notes on Elvish Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, along with a diminutive form emelig (VT48/17 note #13). These forms were struck through and replaced by emig as the proper diminutive form from the root √EM (VT48/6), but that doesn’t necessarily invalidate emel = “mother”, which appeared elsewhere as (probably primitive) emel, emer in rough versions of these notes (VT48/19 note #16). These Sindarin forms are unusual in that the medial m did not become v, which means the primitive form was likely based on ✱emm- as suggested by Patrick Wynne (VT48/17 note #14).

Conceptual Development: G. amil “mother” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s along with rejected forms {anwin, amril} and an archaic variant †amaith (GL/19). The forms {emaith >>} amaith appeared unglossed in Gnomish Lexicon Slips revising that document (PE13/109). In The Etymologies of the 1930s there was a form N. †emil for “mother” under the root ᴹ√AM of the same meaning, but Tolkien said this word was archaic, apparently replaced by N. naneth (Ety/AM¹; EtyAC/AM¹). With N. emil, the a became e via i-affection, but the medial m failing to become v requires an explanation similar to that of 1960s S. emel.

Neo-Sindarin: I generally prefer derivatives of the earlier root √AM for “mother” words in Quenya, but in the case of Sindarin, I find emel and emig from √EM to be better and more widely accepted.

Cognates

Derivations

  • AM “mother” ✧ VT48/17

Element in

  • S. Emeldir “Manhearted, *Manly-mother”
  • S. emig “[little] mother, mommy” ✧ VT48/17 (emel) (emelig*)

Variations

  • emen ✧ VT48/17 (emen)

emmel

noun. mother

Sindarin [Emeldir S/155, VT/48:17] Group: SINDICT. Published by

emig

little mother

(no distinct pl. form except with article: in emig). Also used (in children’s play) as a name for the index finger (VT48:6, 17)

emig

little mother

emig (no distinct pl. form except with article: in emig). Also used (in childrens play) as a name for the index finger (VT48:6, 17)

naneth

mother

naneth (pl. nenith). Hypocoristic form (”mom”) nana, pl. nenai (but this word is probably rarely pluralized). In a higher style also †emil. No distinct pl. form; coll. pl. emillath. Variant form emel (pl. emil), also spelt emmel (pl. emmil). (VT48:17)

naneth

mother

(pl. nenith). Hypocoristic form (”mom”) nana, pl. nenai (but this word is probably rarely pluralized). In a higher style also †emil. No distinct pl. form; coll. pl. emillath. Variant form emel (pl. emil), also spelt emmel (pl. emmil). (VT48:17)

Telerin 

emmë

noun. mother

Cognates

  • Q. emmë “mummy, mother (familiar/family)” ✧ VT48/06

Element in

  • T. emmecë “mother [diminutive]; *mommy” ✧ VT48/06

Variations

  • emme ✧ VT48/06

Adûnaic

ammê

noun. mother

A noun for “mother” (SD/434). Tolkien gave two forms of this word, ammî and ammê, with no indication as to which would be preferred. However, ammî resembles a plural word, and Tolkien elsewhere stated that such forms tended to change their final vowel to (SD/438), so my guess is that ammî is an archaic form. This word is probably related to the Elvish root √AM “mother”. Some authors have suggested it is directly related to ᴹQ. amme (AAD/10, AL/Adûnaic), but as Andreas Moehn points out (EotAL/MAM) such basic words are rarely borrowed from other languages, so the relationship is more likely from the Primitive Elvish root.

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. amme “mother”

Derivations

  • AM “mother”

Variations

  • ammī/ammē ✧ SD/434

Primitive elvish

em

root. mother

emel

noun. mother

emer

noun. mother

am

root. mother

For most of Tolkien’s life, the Primitive Elvish root for “mother” was √AM. This began with the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien gave the root as ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹ√AM with derivatives ᴹQ. amil and (archaic) N. emil “mother” (Ety/AM¹). In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, the word for mother was Q. Amille. In the last few years of his life, however, Tolkien toyed with the notion of changing this root to √EM. In notes associated with Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi written in the late 1960s, Tolkien first gave the root as am, but then wrote em next to it with a question mark, along with several new em-derivatives (VT48/19 note #16). The Q. affectionate word emme for “mommy” appeared in the main article, indicating Tolkien did, in fact, adopt this new root, at least for some period of time.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Quenya writing, I personally prefer to ignore this late change to the root for “mother” and stick with the √AM-forms Tolkien used for most of his life. However, the √AM-forms were less stable in the Sindarin branch of the languages, so I’d use √EM-forms like S. emel and emig, and would assume √AM and √EM were variants of the root, as they were on VT48/19 (see above).

Derivatives

  • Ad. ammê “mother”
  • amal “mother” ✧ VT48/19; VT48/19
  • Q. emmë “mummy, mother (familiar/family)” ✧ VT48/19
  • S. emel “mother” ✧ VT48/17

Element in

  • Q. amya “mummy, (orig.) my mother” ✧ VT48/19

Variations

  • am ✧ VT48/17; VT48/19
  • em ✧ VT48/17; VT48/19
Primitive elvish [VT48/17; VT48/19] Group: Eldamo. Published by

amal

noun. mother

Derivations

  • AM “mother” ✧ VT48/19; VT48/19

Derivatives

Variations

  • amas ✧ PE21/83
  • amma ✧ PE21/83
  • amme ✧ PE21/83
  • emel ✧ VT48/19
  • emer ✧ VT48/19
Primitive elvish [PE21/83; VT48/17; VT48/19] Group: Eldamo. Published by

amas

noun. mother

amma

noun. mother

amme

noun. mother

Noldorin 

emil

noun. mother

Noldorin [VT/45:5] Group: SINDICT. Published by

emil

noun. mother

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. amil “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶amī̆l “mother”
    • ᴹ√AM “mother”
  • ᴹ√AM “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√AM¹ > emil[amil] > [emil]✧ Ety/AM¹
Noldorin [EtyAC/AM¹] Group: Eldamo. Published by

naneth

noun. mother

Noldorin [Ety/348, Ety/374] Group: SINDICT. Published by

naneth

noun. mother

A noun for “mother” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the (Noldorin-only?) root ᴹ√NAN (Ety/NAN). It apparently replaced archaic/poetic N. †emil (Ety/AM¹; EtyAC/AM¹).

Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon had a similar set of words for “mother”: G. maba, mabir, baba, and mavwin from the early root ᴱ√maƀ “something nice” (GL/57). The last of these appeared as G. mavwen “ancestress” in the Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document, with an archaic meaning of “mother” and variant forms mafwyn and mavuin (PE13/115). In these slips, it seems the normal “mother” word was G. nân (originally glossed “father”) with variant nanwin (PE13/115). This last word is likely the direct precursor of N. naneth.

Neo-Sindarin: I would use S. emel from the late 1960s as the normal word for “mother” in Neo-Sindarin, but would retain N. naneth as a dialectical or more formal variant.

Derivations

  • ᴹ√NAN “*mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹; Ety/NAN

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√NAN > naneth[nanitta] > [nanittʰa] > [naniθθa] > [naneθθa] > [naneθθ] > [naneθ]✧ Ety/NAN
Noldorin [Ety/AM¹; Ety/NAN] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nana

noun. mother, mummy

Noldorin [Ety/348, Ety/374] Group: SINDICT. 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!

Qenya 

amil

noun. mother

Cognates

  • Ilk. aman “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹
  • N. emil “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶amī̆l “mother”
    • ᴹ√AM “mother”
  • ᴹ√AM “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√AM¹ > amil[amil]✧ Ety/AM¹

amme

noun. mother

Cognates

  • Ad. ammê “mother”
  • Ilk. aman “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Derivations

  • ᴹ√AM “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√AM¹ > amme[amme]✧ Ety/AM¹
Qenya [Ety/AM¹; PE22/023] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Doriathrin

aman

noun. mother

Ilkorin for “mother” (Ety/AM¹), also appearing in its plural form emnin (EtyAC/AM¹).

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. amil “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹
  • ᴹQ. amme “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Derivations

  • ᴹ√AM “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√AM¹ > aman[aman]✧ Ety/AM¹

Variations

  • emuin ✧ EtyAC/AM¹
Doriathrin [Ety/AM¹; EtyAC/AM¹] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

amī̆l

noun. mother

Derivations

  • ᴹ√AM “mother”

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. amil “mother”
  • N. emil “mother”
Middle Primitive Elvish [PE21/66] Group: Eldamo. Published by

am

root. mother

Derivatives

  • Ilk. aman “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹
  • ᴹ✶amī̆l “mother”
    • ᴹQ. amil “mother”
    • N. emil “mother”
  • ᴹQ. amil “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹
  • ᴹQ. amme “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹
  • N. emil “mother” ✧ Ety/AM¹
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/AM¹] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

amil

noun. mother

Changes

  • anwin/amrilamaith ✧ GL/19
  • emaithamaith ✧ PE13/109

Element in

  • G. (m)ami “mummy” ✧ GL/19

Variations

  • amaith ✧ GL/19 (amaith); PE13/109
  • anwin/amril ✧ GL/19 (anwin/amril)
  • emaith ✧ PE13/109 (emaith)
Gnomish [GL/19; PE13/109] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mabir

noun. mother

amaith

noun. mother

mab(a)

noun. mother

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MAɃA “something nice” ✧ GL/57

Variations

  • maba ✧ GL/57
  • mabir ✧ GL/57
Gnomish [GL/29; GL/57] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nanwin

noun. mother

nân

noun. mother

Changes

  • nânnân “father” ✧ PE13/115

Variations

  • nân ✧ PE13/115; PE13/115 (nân)
  • nanwin ✧ PE13/115

Early Quenya

ambi

noun. mother

Derivations

  • ᴱ√AMA “*mother” ✧ QL/030

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√AMA > âmi[āmī] > [āmi]✧ QL/030

Variations

  • ammi ✧ PME/030
  • amaimi ✧ PME/030; QL/030
  • âmi ✧ QL/030
Early Quenya [PME/030; QL/030] Group: Eldamo. Published by

amis

noun. mother

Derivations

  • ᴱ√AMA “*mother” ✧ QL/030

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√AMA > amis[amits] > [amis]✧ QL/030
Early Quenya [PME/030; QL/030] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ammi

noun. mother

âmi

noun. mother

amaimi

noun. mother

ama

noun. mother

Derivations

  • ᴱ√AMA “*mother” ✧ QL/030

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√AMA > ama[amā] > [ama]✧ QL/030
Early Quenya [PME/030; QL/030] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ambe

noun. mother

(m)ambe

noun. mother

Variations

  • ambe ✧ PE16/135
  • mambe ✧ PE16/135
Early Quenya [PE16/135] Group: Eldamo. Published by