lab

root. lick, move the tongue

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.

Derivatives

• ✶lab- ✧ PE22/152
  • Q. lav- “to lick” ✧ PE22/152; PE22/152
• ✶labdē “licking up (food or drink)” ✧ PE19/092
  • ᴺQ. laptë “gluttonous eating, [ᴹQ.] †licking up (food or drink)”
  • Q. laptë “gluttonous eating” ✧ PE19/092; PE19/092
  • ᴺS. laudh “gluttonous eating, [N.] †licking up (food or drink)”
  • S. laudh “gluttonous eating” ✧ PE19/092
  • T. lauda “gluttonous eating” ✧ PE19/092
• ✶lambā “physical tongue”
  • Q. lamba “(physical) tongue” ✧ WJ/394
  • S. lam “(physical) tongue; language, (physical) tongue; language, [G.] speech” ✧ WJ/394
  • T. lamba “physical tongue” ✧ WJ/394
• ✶lambē “tongue, language, dialect” ✧ VT39/15
  • Q. lambë “language, tongue, dialect” ✧ PE17/126; VT39/15; WJ/394
  • S. lam “(physical) tongue; language, (physical) tongue; language, [G.] speech” ✧ VT39/15; WJ/394
  • T. lambë “language” ✧ WJ/394
• 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

• ✶labmā “*(physical) tongue” ✧ WJ/416
• ✶labmē “*language” ✧ WJ/416

Variations

• LABA ✧ PE22/151; WJ/416
• lab ✧ VT39/15