Quenya 

cén

soil, earth

cén (cem-) ("k")noun "soil, earth"; see cemen (KEM)

Sindarin 

cêf

soil

(noun) 1) *cêf (i gêf, o chêf), pl. cîf (i chîf), coll. pl. cevath (suggested Sindarin forms of ”Noldorin” cef, pl. ceif). 2) maw (i vaw) (stain), pl. moe (i moe). Note: a homophone is an archaic word for ”hand”.

cêf

soil

(i gêf, o chêf), pl. cîf (i chîf), coll. pl. cevath (suggested Sindarin forms of ”Noldorin” cef, pl. ceif).

gwatha

soil

(verb) gwatha- (i **watha, in gwathar**) (stain)

gwatha

soil

(i ’watha, in gwathar) (stain)

maw

soil

(i vaw) (stain), pl. moe (i moe). Note: a homophone is an archaic word for ”hand”.

Noldorin 

gwatha-

verb. to soil, stain

Noldorin [Ety/397] Group: SINDICT. Published by

hmaw

noun. soil, stain

Noldorin [Ety/386, VT/46:14] Group: SINDICT. Published by

maw

noun. soil, stain

Noldorin [Ety/386, VT/46:14] Group: SINDICT. Published by

cef

noun. soil

Noldorin [Ety/363] Group: SINDICT. Published by

cef

noun. soil

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “soil” derived from the root ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth” (Ety/KEM). It had a rather unusual plural form ceif which shows i-intrusion but not the usual i-raising of e to i; under ordinary phonetic developments the expected plural would be ✱cif. I can think of no good reason for this abnormal plural, but it would be ^caif if adapted to Sindarin. It is mostly moot since this word is very unlikely to be used in the plural.

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KEM “soil, earth” ✧ Ety/KEM

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√KEM > cef[keme] > [kem] > [kev]✧ Ety/KEM
ᴹ√KEM > ceif[kemi] > [keim] > [keiv]✧ Ety/KEM

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!

Gnomish

grosgen

noun. soil

A noun in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “soil”, a combination of G. groth “earth, soil” and suffixal G. -gen from the root ᴱ√KEME (GL/42). This root was glossed “soil” in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/46), so the actual meaning of this word seems to be something like “earthy soil”.

Gnomish [GL/26; GL/42; LT1A/Kémi] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Primitive Elvish

keme

root. soil

Derivatives

  • Eq. kemen “soil, earth” ✧ LT1A/Kémi; QL/046
  • Eq. kemi “earth, soil, land” ✧ LT1A/Kémi; QL/046
  • G. Cîmir “Mother Earth” ✧ LT1A/Kémi
  • G. -gen “*earth” ✧ LT1A/Kémi
Early Primitive Elvish [LT1A/Kémi; QL/046] Group: Eldamo. Published by