galw

noun. ?increase, growth

An unglossed word in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√GALA “thrive” (Ety/GALA). This entry had several similar Quenya words: ᴹQ. alma “good fortune, weal, wealth” and ᴹQ. almie or almare “blessedness, ‘blessings’, good fortune, bliss”. An earlier, deleted version of this entry had ᴹQ. alma “[?increase], growth” followed by N. galw (EtyAC/GAL²). The challenge in interpreting this Noldorin word is that it cannot plausibly be derived from ✱galm(a), since that would produce galf [galv]; compare N. dalf < ON. dalma.

Neo-Sindarin: In later Sindarin, final w is more often represented as u, so I would use ᴺS. galu as suggested by HSD (HSD). HSD also suggested this word might mean “good fortune, blessedness, blessings”, but I use “increase, growth” from the deleted entry and assume it is derived from ✱galwā. For the other meanings I would suggest using ᴺS. alvar “(good) luck, fortune”, ᴺS. elias “blessedness”, or ᴺS. eliad “blessing”.

galw

noun. (?) blessings, (?) blessedness, (?) good fortune (meaning not entirely clear)