Primitive elvish
lab
root. lick, move the tongue
Derivatives
- ✶lab- ✧ PE22/152
- Q. lav- “to lick” ✧ PE22/152; PE22/152
- ✶labdē “licking up (food or drink)” ✧ PE19/092
- ✶lambā “physical tongue”
- ✶lambē “tongue, language, dialect” ✧ VT39/15
- Q. lambë “language, tongue, dialect” ✧ PE22/151
- Q. lav- “to lick” ✧ PE22/151
- ᴺQ. lávëar “glutton”
- ᴺS. lavra- “to lap (of animals), suck up”
Element in
Variations
- LABA ✧ PE22/151; WJ/416
- lab ✧ VT39/15
This root for licking had precursors dating all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where it appeared as ᴱ√LAVA “lick” with derivatives like ᴱQ. lava- and G. lav- of the same meaning (QL/52; GL/53). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it became ᴹ√LAB “lick” (Ety/LAB), and √LAB continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings with the glosses “lick” (PE17/72; PE22/151; PE19/92) or “lick, move the tongue” (VT39/15; WJ/416). It was thus quite stable in Tolkien’s mind.