[culo, culu ("k")noun "gold" (substance)] (KUL, VT49:47; the word culu_ also occurred in early "Qenya" [LT1:258], but in the Etymologies it was struck out; the regular Quenya word for "gold" is apparently _malta. In another version, culo meant "flame" [VT45:24], but this is apparently also a word Tolkien abandoned.)
Quenya
Tar-culu
gold
culo
gold
laurë
gold
†laurë noun "gold", but of golden light and colour, not of the metal: "golden light" (according to PE17:61 a poetic word). Nai laurë lantuva parmastanna lúmissen tengwiesto "may (a) golden light fall on your book at the times of your reading" (VT49:47). In Etym defined as "light of the golden Tree Laurelin, gold", not properly used of the metal gold (LÁWAR/GLÁWAR, GLAW(-R), VT27:20, 27, PE17:159). In early "Qenya", however, laurë was defined as "(the mystic name of) gold" (LT1:255, 258) or simply "gold" (LT1:248, 268). In Laurelin and Laurefindil, q.v., Laurenandë "Gold-valley" = Lórien (the land, not the Vala) (UT:253) and laurinquë name of a tree, possibly *"Gold-full one" (UT:168). Laurendon "like gold" or "in gold fashion" (but after citing this form, Tolkien decided to abandon the similative ending -ndon, PE17:58).
malta
gold
malta noun "gold", also name of tengwa #18 (Appendix E). The Etymologies (entry SMAL) instead has malda, q.v. for discussion, but according to VT46:14, the form malta originally appeared in the Etymologies as well. Also compare the root MALAT listed in PM:366.
culuina
of gold
[culuina ("k") (2) (misread as **culuinn_ in the Etymologies as printed in LR; see VT45:24)] adj. "of gold" (KUL; this word was struck out, and _culuina became the adjective "orange" instead.)
noldo
proper name. one of the wise folk, Gnome
An Elf of the second tribe, known as “The Wise” (WJ/383). Their name developed from the primitive root √ÑGOL having to do with wisdom (PM/360, WJ/383).
Conceptual Development: The name ᴱQ. Noldo dates back to the earliest Lost Tales, and in the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s, where it already had the derivation given above (QL/67). In Tolkien’s earlier writings, he often translated this name as “Gnome”, in the sense of the Greek origin of this word (having to do with thought and wisdom) rather than that of a dwarf-like creature. This translation of ᴹQ. Noldo continued to appear in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s (LR/201), but became less common in Tolkien’s later writings, and was not used in the published version of The Silmarillion.
In Tolkien’s earliest writings, the plural form of this word was usually ᴱQ. Noldoli (LT1/21), but by the 1930s this had been replaced by ᴹQ. Noldor (LR/119), the form that was used thereafter.
In notes from the 1950s, Tolkien considered an alternate etymology of this name from the root √ÑGOL “dark-hued, dark-brown” referring to their dark hair (PE17/125), just as the tribal name of the Vanya referred to their fair hair. Presumably he considered this alternate origin because the newly-awakened Noldor would not yet have been known for their wisdom, but there is no evidence that this alternate etymology was anything other than a transient idea.
Changes
- ŋoldo → ngoldo ✧ LotR/1123
Cognates
- Ed. Nóm “Wisdom” ✧ WJI/Noldor
- Ed. Sômar “Wisdom” ✧ WJI/Noldor
- S. golodh “lore-master, sage” ✧ MR/470; PE17/141
- S. Golodh “one of the wise folk, Noldo” ✧ PE17/153; PM/360; SA/golodh; SI/Golodhrim; SI/Noldor; WJ/364; WJI/Golodh; MR/350; WJ/383; WJI/Noldor
- T. Goldo “Noldo” ✧ PM/360; WJI/Goldo; WJ/383; WJI/Noldor
- S. Gódhel “(Exiled) Noldo” ✧ WJI/Noldor
Derivations
Derivatives
- S. Noll “Noldo” ✧ PE17/141
Element in
- Q. Argoldo “Noble Noldo”
- Q. Ingoldo “The Noldo” ✧ MR/230
- Q. Noldolantë “Fall of the Noldor” ✧ S/087
- Q. Noldo-quentasta Ingoldova “Ingoldo’s History of the Noldor” ✧ VT39/16
- Q. Noldóran “King of the Ñoldor”
- Q. Noldorin “of the Noldo; the Noldor language” ✧ LBI/Noldor; PE17/125; UTI/Noldor
- Q. Quenta Noldorinwa “the History of the Noldor” ✧ PM/030; VT39/16
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶ngolodō > Ñoldor [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ MR/350 ✶ngolodō > noldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ MR/350 ✶ngolodõ > Noldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ MR/470 Aq. ñolda > ŋoldo > noldo [ŋgoldo] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ PE17/125 ✶ñgolodō > ñoldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ PE17/153 ✶ñgolodō > ñoldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ PE19/076 ✶Ñgolodō > Noldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ PM/360 √ngol- > Noldor [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ SA/gûl ✶ñgolodō > Ñoldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ WJ/364 ✶ñgolodō > Ñoldor [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ WJ/380 ✶ñgolodō > Ñoldo [ŋgolodō] > [ŋgoldō] > [ŋoldō] > [ŋoldo] > [noldo] ✧ WJ/383 Variations
- noldo ✧ LotR/1123; MR/350; PE17/125
- ngoldo ✧ LotR/1123 (ngoldo)
- ñoldo ✧ PE17/141; PE17/141; PE17/153; PE19/076
- ŋoldo ✧ RC/736 (ŋoldo)
- Ñoldo ✧ VT39/16; WJ/364; WJ/383
malda
yellow, of golden colour
malda adj. "yellow, of golden colour" (PE17:51), variant of malina. An earlier source (the Etymologies, entry SMAL) has malda as the noun "gold" but LotR gives malta, q.v., and according to VT46:14 the form malta originally appeared in the Etymologies as well. Since Quenya sometimes uses adjectives as nouns (see for instance fanya), malda could still be regarded as a valid side-form of the noun malta "gold".
tulca
yellow
tulca (3) ("k") adj. "yellow". Adopted and adapted from Valarin; the normal Quenya word for "yellow" is rather malina (WJ:399)
malina
yellow
malina adj. "yellow" (SMAL, Letters:308), "yellow, of golden colour" (PE17:51). Malinalda *"Yellow-tree", a name of Laurelin (SA:mal-; evidently malina + alda), translated "Tree of Gold" in the Silmarillion index. Cf. also malinornë.
maltaina
adjective. of gold
Elements
Word Gloss malta “gold (metal), gold as material”
Tar-culu ("k"), name listed in the Etymologies but not elsewhere attested. The second element is apparently culu "gold" (a word Tolkien seems to have abandoned); Hostetter and Wynne suggest that this may be an alternative name of Tar-Calion (= Ar-Pharazôn "the Golden"); see VT45:24.