Quenya 

lala-

verb. laugh

lala-(1) vb. "laugh" (PM:359), possibly with pa.t. *landë because the stem is given as g-lada-.

lalda

noun. laugh

Quenya Group: Eldamo - neologism/reconstructions. Published by

Primitive elvish

lal

root. laugh

A root for “laugh” appearing in notes written around 1959 (PE17/159), likely connected to S. Lalaith “Laughter”, the name of Túrin’s deceased sister (S/198). Some possible precursors appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s: unglossed ᴱ√LALA whose derivatives had to do with babbling (QL/50), and ᴱ√KAKA “laugh” with derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish (QL/44; GL/24).

Tolkien gave a different primitive form ✶glada- as the basis for “laugh” words in The Shibboleth of Fëanor from the late 1960s; this produced S. glað- but still resulted in Q. lala- (PM/359). This new primitive had two problems (1) it is not compatible with S. Lalaith and (2) it shows a rather unusual assimilation of primitive d to preceding l in Quenya rather than the normal change to r: ✶(g)lada- > laða- > Q. lala- instead of ✱✱lara-. Elsewhere such assimilation did not occur, for example Q. lerembas < ✶led(e)mbasse (PE17/52).

Thus for purposes of Neo-Eldarin I think it is preferable to assume √LAL was the root for “laugh” words. However, I also think it is worth retaining √GLAD as a Sindarin-only root for similar concepts, perhaps “guffaw” and “joke”, given the limited semantic space we have in Elvish roots.

Primitive elvish [PE17/159; PE17/182] Group: Eldamo. Published by

glada-

verb. laugh

Primitive elvish [PM/359] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Sindarin 

gladha

laugh

(verb) gladha- (i **ladha, in gladhar**)

gladha

laugh

(i ’ladha, in gladhar)

lall

noun. laugh

Sindarin Group: Eldamo - neologism/reconstructions. Published by

gladh-

verb. to laugh

Sindarin [gladh- PM/359] Group: SINDICT. Published by

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!

Early Primitive Elvish

kaka

root. laugh

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “laugh” with derivatives like ᴱQ. kaka-/G. cacha- of the same meaning (QL/44; GL/24). It was likely made obsolete by later roots for “laugh” like √LAL.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/044] Group: Eldamo. Published by