athaelas

noun. *healing herb

athae

noun/adjective. *healing herb, healing

A word appearing as an element in athelas “kingsfoil”, derived from primitive ✶aþayā based on the root √ATH “ease, comfort, heal” (PE17/49, 148). In the context of the compound athelas Tolkien represented it as athe, which is probably an example of how ae sometimes became e in polysyllables. The word athae may mean something like “✱healing herb“ or “✱healing”, and may be a noun or adjective or both. In notes from 1969 Tolkien said the Sindarin word was borrowed from Quenya, even though the related herbs were native to Middle-earth, since they was first discovered by the Noldor (PE22/166). It is unclear how this aligns with Aragorn’s statement that athelas was “a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth” (LotR/198); perhaps the herb was discovered in Beleriand, then given to the Men of Númenor who then spread it to the rest of Middle-earth.

athelas

noun. "kingsfoil", a healing herb brought to Middle-earth by the Númenóreans

athelas

kingsfoil

(a healing plant brought to Middle-earth by the Númenoreans) athelas (pl. ethelais)

athelas

kingsfoil

(pl. ethelais)

asëa

noun. healing herb, athelas

An element in the Quenya name for “kingsfoil”: asëa aranion (LotR/864), which was itself sometimes translated as “asea of the Kings” (PE17/49, 100). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien derived asea from √ATHA “as name of plant athelas” (PE17/148), and in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings around the same period it was derived from √ATH “ease, comfort, heal” (PE17/49). In notes from 1969 Tolkien describe it thus:

> Q asea (< aþāya) name (as = “beneficial”?) of a herb — not now known or at least identifiable, useful in healing both (as an infusion of its leaves) in easing the pain and hastening the healing of heavy blows or shocks, and as an invigorating odour in reviving the sick from depression, or even unconsciousness, after wounds or shock (PE22/165).

In these notes Tolkien first derived healing words from √AÞA, but he then introduced a new root √HATHA “treat kindly/make easy, (help to) cure” (PE22/166 note #109). In rough notes following this he gave {asea >>} aþea with the hard-to-read gloss “treating[?]. medically [?use], caring[?]” (PE22/166 note #110). This line of reasoning was left unfinished.

Neo-Quenya: Some of the above implies that asea was itself another name of the plant S. athelas, but for purposes of Neo-Quenya I think it is more useful to assume asea can refer to any kind of healing herb, and that “kingsfoil” is more specifically asëa aranion.