Qenya
laiwa
adjective. sickly, sick, ill
luina
adjective. pale
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
laiwa
adjective. sickly, sick, ill
luina
adjective. pale
An adjective appearing as ᴹQ. laiwa “sickly, sick, ill” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶slaiwā under the root ᴹ√SLIW “sickly” (Ety/SLIW). The ancient initial sl became voiceless hl, which was then voiced to l as was generally the case in The Etymologies.
Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writing, he usually retained hl- in spelling if not pronunciation; see the entry on how initial voiceless nasals and liquids were voiced for discussion. As such, most Neo-Quenya writers adapt this word as ᴺQ. hlaiwa.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had the word ᴱQ. leuke (leuki-) “sick, ill; pallid, wan” under the similar but earlier root ᴱ√LEẆE (QL/53).