Quenya 

quessë

noun. feather

The Quenya word for “feather” and the name of tengwa #4 [z] (LotR/1122).

Conceptual Development: Some similar words appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QASA: ᴱQ. qasil “arrow-feather, arrow” and ᴱQ. qasilla “tuft, nodding spray, tassel, plume” (QL/76); quasil was only glossed “arrow” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/76). ᴹQ. qesse “feather” first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KWES (Ety/KWES), already the name of tengwa #4 (EtyAC/KWES). It was also the name of this tengwa in notes on the Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 1940s (PE22/22, 51, 61), and remained so into the published version of The Lord of the Rings.

Quenya [LotR/1122; PE17/123; PE17/168; WJ/417] Group: Eldamo. Published by

quessë

feather

quessë noun "feather", also name of tengwa #4 (Appendix E, WJ:417, KWES, VT45:24); súriquessë "wind feather" (referring to a "tuft of radiating grass" in a drawing by Tolkien) (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 197)

niquis

frost-patterns; ice-flake or snowflake also petal (loose) of a white flower

niquis noun "frost-patterns; ice-flake or snowflake also petal (loose) of a white flower" (stem niquits- or niquiss-), also niquessë by association with quessë "feather" (WJ:417, PE17:168). In early "Qenya", the gloss was simply "snow" (LT1:266).

lúpe

noun. plume

Quenya [PE 22:63] Group: Mellonath Daeron. Published by

Sindarin 

pess

noun. feather

Sindarin Group: Eldamo - neologism/reconstructions. 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 

pilen

noun. feather

A word for “feather” in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/33-34), probably a later iteration of ᴱQ. pilin “feather” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/74). The word ᴹQ. pilin was more frequently glossed “arrow”.

Qenya [PE21/33; PE21/34] Group: Eldamo. Published by

qesse

noun. feather

Qenya [Ety/KWES; EtyAC/KWES; PE22/022; PE22/051; PE22/061] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lúpe

noun. plume

A noun for “plume” from notes on Qenya Spelling from the 1930s, descriptive of a curved tehta sign but probably inspired by (and still applicable to) the plume feather of a bird (PE22/63).

Middle Primitive Elvish

kwes

root. *feather

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s whose derivatives had mainly to do with feathers, such as ᴹQ. qesse “feather” and N. pesseg “pillow” (Ety/KWES). Tolkien’s continued use of Q. quessë “feather” in his later writings indicates its ongoing validity (LotR/1122). A possible precursor to this root was unglossed ᴱ√PEKE from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives had to do with plumes (QL/73). There is also ᴱ√PILI whose derivatives had to do with arrows and feathers (QL/74), but in later writings ᴹ√PILIN seems to have narrowed in sense specifically to “arrow” (Ety/PÍLIM; EtyAC/PÍLIM).

Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KWES] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kwessē

noun. feather

Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KWES] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Primitive Elvish

pili

root. *feather; arrow

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/074] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

pilin

noun. feather; arrow

Early Quenya [PE13/163; PE14/043; PE14/044; PE14/047; PE14/073; PE14/079; PE15/69; PE16/112; PE16/113; PE16/114; PE16/115; PME/074; QL/074; VT40/08] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

pecthon

noun. plume, feather

piligwathil

noun. feathering of an arrow

pilingwathil

noun. feathering of an arrow

pectha

noun. plume

The word G. pectha “plume” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, along with G. pecthon “plume, feather” (GL/63-64), clearly cognates of ᴱQ. pekte “plume” under the early root ᴱ√PEKE (QL/73).

Neo-Sindarin: Somewhat surprisingly, there are no later “plume” or “feather” words in the currently published materials from Tolkien’s writings on Noldorin and Sindarin of the 1920s or later. Most Neo-Sindarin writers use ᴺS. pess for “feather” as the analog of word Q. quessë, which Tolkien used in the 1930s-1960s. Hialmr added this Neo-Sindarin word to the VQP (VQP) in 2015, but it has likely been floating around for much longer. As for “plume”, I personally would use an augmentative form: ᴺS. pesson “plume, (great) feather”.

cwathil

noun. plume