gū

root. no, not

gū̆-

interjection. no, not

gul

root. *golden-red

ñgur

root. *death

yagō

noun. gulf

ektel-

verb. to gush

ektelu-

verb. to well, bubble up, gush forth

tir

root. watch, guard

yagwē

noun. ravine, cleft, gulf

gayas

root. fear

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “fear” (Ety/GÁYAS). One of its derivatives, N. gaer “dreadful” (< ᴹ✶gaisrā), was given a new etymology in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where S. gaer “awful, fearful” was derived from ✶gairā (WJ/400). However, it is conceivable that √GAYAS could have survived as an extension of the later root √GAY “astound, make aghast”.

gonod

root. stone

The Elvish words for “stone” were established very early as Q. ondo and S. gond. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien gave the root of these words as ᴱ√ONO “hard” with derivatives like ᴱQ. ondo “stone, rock” and ᴱQ. onin “anvil” (QL/70). But its Gnomish derivatives like G. gonn “stone” and G. gontha “pillar” (GL/41) indicate the actual root was ✱ᴱ√ƷONO, since initial ʒ &gt; g in Gnomish.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√GONOD or √GONDO “stone” with essentially the same Elvish forms: ᴹQ. ondo and N. gonn (Ety/GOND). The root itself did not appear in later writings, but Tolkien continued to state, with great frequency, that the primitive form of the word was ✶gondō (Let/410; PE17/28; PE18/106; PE21/81; PM/374; RC/347).

gos

root. dread

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “dread” with two variations: ᴹ√GOS and ᴹ√GOTH (Ety/GOS). It was an element in quite a few names in Silmarillion drafts from the 1930s, such as ᴹQ. Mandos “Dread Imprisoner” (Ety/MBAD), ᴹQ. Osse (Ety/GOS), N. Gothmog (Ety/MBAW), N. Tauros “Forest-Dread” (Ety/TÁWAR), and N. Dor-Daideloth “Land of the Shadow of Dread” (LR/405), the last of these containing N. deloth “abhorrence, detestation, loathing” = ᴹ√DYEL + ᴹ√GOTH (Ety/DYEL).

In Tolkien’s later writings, many of these names were given new forms or etymologies: Q. Mandos “Castle of Custody” = mando + osto (MR/350); Q. Ossë as an adaptation of his Valarin name Oš(o)šai (WJ/400); S. Tauron “Forester” (PM/358). This calls into question whether ᴹ√GOS or ᴹ√GOTH survived as a root. It does have a few useful derivatives for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, however, such as N. gosta- “fear exceedingly”.

karan

root. red

This root appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “red” (Ety/KARÁN), a later iteration of ᴱ√KṚN of the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s of the same meaning, but with syllabic ṛ (QL/48). Its main Quenya derivative, Q. carnë, retained the same form throughout Tolkien’s life, but its Gnomish forms G. carn(in) “scarlet” and G. crintha “rosy, pink” (GL/25, 27) became N. caran “red” in the 1930s, and retained that form thereafter.

khyar

root. left hand

A root given as {ᴹ√KHAR >>} ᴹ√KHYAR “left hand” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, associated with ᴹQ. hyarmen/N. harad “south” (Ety/KHYAR). These words for “south” reappeared in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1115), and the connection between “south” and “left” was reaffirmed in Tolkien’s discussion of the Ambidexters Sentence from the late 1960s, since the Elves aligned the cardinal directions by facing west towards Aman (VT49/6-8).

lak

root. swallow

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “swallow” with variant ᴹ√LANK and derivatives ᴹQ. lanko/N. lhanc “throat” (Ety/LAK¹, LANK), the latter an element in N. tarlanc “stiff-necked, obstinate” (Ety/TÁRAG). This last word was changed to S. tarlang in Tolkien’s later writings (PE17/92; RC/536), consistent with an earlier but rejected form ᴹ√LANG for ᴹ√LANK in The Etymologies (Ety/LANK).

In later writings, Q. lango/S. lang meant “neck” rather than “throat”, so it is tempting to retain ᴹ√LAK for “throat” and other swallow-words. But it would be very confusing to have such similar but unrelated words for “neck” and “throat”, so I recommend using the root ᴹ√SLUK for “swallow” instead, and Q. lango, S. lang for both “neck” and “throat”.

skwar

root. crooked

This root appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√SKWAR “crooked” with derivatives like ᴹQ. hwarin “crooked” and Dan. swarn “perverse, obstinate, hard to deal with” (Ety/SKWAR). In red-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s Tolkien decided that the initial combination skw- was not possible (PE19/78 and note #51). For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, this root might be salvaged by assuming its actual form was ᴺ√SWAR.

stā

root. [unglossed]

A deleted root reference in The Etymologies apparently serving as the basis for the verbal action suffix ᴹ✶-stā “-ing” in ᴹ✶khau̯-stā “rest-ing” (Ety/KHAW; EtyAC/KHAW). See the entry on ✶-stā for further discussion.

maiga

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root appearing in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1) to illustrate certain patterns of root formation (PE18/66). It may have serving as the basis for ᴹQ. Maia, though this word was given different derivations later.

skil

root. [unglossed]

A root mentioned in passing in as a variant of ᴹ√KIL “divide” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but it had no derivatives and appeared nowhere else (Ety/KIL).

kul

root. golden-red

kuldā

adjective. red

angosse

noun. horror

arʒā

noun/adjective. dread

auluta-

verb. [unglossed]

day

root. shadow

dēr

noun. man

geigolosse

place name. ever-snow

geiā

adverb. ever

gondō

noun. stone, rock

kaltwa

?. [unglossed]

karani

adjective. red

khōn

noun. heart

kundu

root. prince

kōmā

noun. [unglossed]

mbar-

verb. to dwell

ndulna

adjective. secret

nis

root. woman

nī

noun. woman

nī̆s

noun. woman

ragnā

adjective. crooked

sluk

root. swallow

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no derivatives (Ety/SLUK).

torōmā

noun. [unglossed]

wanwē

noun. death

wen(ed)

root. maiden

wān

noun. goose

wāyā

noun. envelope

yo(n)

root. son

yondō

noun. son

ñgolodō

noun. gnome

ñgoroth

root. horror

bay

root. [unglossed]

iw

root. [unglossed], [ᴱ√] *fish

khlip

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in a rejected paragraph from the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/112 note #78).

lank

root. swallow

phan

root. [unglossed]

A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/PHAN).

sok

root. drink

stin

root. [unglossed]

sug

root. drink

uruk

root. [unglossed]

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/URUK).

us

root. [unglossed]

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/US).