A very early name of Yavanna, glossed “Earth-lady” (LT1/79) and “Mother Earth” (GL/18). It is derived from the root ᴱ√KEME “soil” (QL/46).
Early Quenya
kemi
noun. earth, soil, land
Cognates
- G. -gen “*earth” ✧ GL/42
Derivations
- ᴱ√KEME “soil” ✧ LT1A/Kémi; QL/046
Element in
- Eq. Kémi “Earth-lady, Mother Earth” ✧ LT1A/Kémi
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√KEME > kemi [kemī] > [kemi] ✧ QL/046 Variations
- kēmi ✧ GL/42
- ken ✧ GL/42
kémi
feminine name. Earth-lady, Mother Earth
Cognates
- G. Cîmir “Mother Earth” ✧ GL/18; GL/26; LT1A/Kémi
Element in
- Eq. Kémisan “Sunday”
Variations
- Kēmi ✧ GL/18; GL/26; PE14/014
sar
noun. earth, soil
A word for “earth, soil” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, but it was marked with an “X” and ᴱQ. kemen (of similar meaning) was written next to it as an alternative (PE16/139).
Changes
sar→ kemen “earth, soil” ✧ PE16/139
An Early Qenya word derived from the root ᴱ√KEME and translated “earth, soil, land” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/46) and as “earth, soil” in Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa from this same period (PME/46). While this form and derivation are compatible with Tolkien later notions of the Elvish languages, I think it is better to use the later terms cemen for “earth, soil” and nór for “land”.