felco noun "cave, mine, underground dwelling" (PE17:118); also felca, felehta
Quenya
felco
noun. cave, mine, underground dwelling
Cognates
- S. feleg “cave, mine, underground dwelling” ✧ PE17/118
Derivations
- √PHELEG “excavation, excavation; [ᴹ√] cave” ✧ PE17/118
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √PHELEK > felco [pʰelko] > [ɸelko] > [felko] ✧ PE17/118
felco
cave, mine, underground dwelling
felca
felca
felca, see felco
felya
cave
felya noun "cave" (PHÉLEG), "mine, boring, tunnel, underground dwel[ling]" (PE17:118)
felehta
felehta
felehta, see felco
rotelë
cave
rotelë noun "cave" (LT2:347)
rotto
cave, tunnel
rotto noun "cave, tunnel" (VT46:12), "a small grot or tunnel" (PM:365)
A word for “cave, mine, underground dwelling” Tolkien considered in Notes on Names (NN) from 1957, derived from the root √PHELEK as a possible replacement for felya “mine, boring, tunnel, underground dwel[ling]” < ✶phelgā (PE17/118).
Neo-Quenya: I prefer the root form √PHELEG over √PHELEK (see that entry for details) and as a result prefer felya over felco.