laman

noun. animal

animal

laman

animal

laman (lamn- or simply laman-, as in pl. lamni or lamani) noun "animal" (usually applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles and birds; a more general word may be #celva) (WJ:416)

laman

noun. animal, animal, [ᴹQ.] tame beast

A word for an “animal” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said it “usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds” (WJ/416). It was derived from the root √LAM in the sense “inarticulate voiced sound”. It had plural forms lamni and lamani based on distinct primitive forms ✶laman(a) and ✶lamān, the first form being subject to the Quenya syncope and the second immune to it.

Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor to this word was ᴱQ. {lāma >>} lăma in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√LAMA, with the glosses “a head of cattle or sheep; an animal, beast” (QL/50). In this document it had an ancient form lamṇ, and accusative forms lamna or laman. The origin of this final -a is made clear in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, where Tolkien said “-a < ṇ”, citing lama as an example with plural form lamni (PE14/44, 74). This singular and plural form also appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists (PE16/132) and the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/69), and in the latter Tolkien specified that the word “can be used generally, but popularly as in English excludes birds & insects, and men”.

The form ᴹQ. laman emerged in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, where Tolkien gave it the gloss “tame beast” (PE21/19). Inflected forms indicate the stem was still lamn-, and the plural remained lamni (PE21/28). Thus it seems that by this stage the word’s stem form was the result of the Quenya syncope. The word laman “animal” appeared in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s, but there it was rejected and replaced by ᴹQ. nasto (PE22/116). Laman “animal” appeared again in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, as noted above.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume this word mostly applies to either tame or tameable four-legged mammals, as opposed to hravan for “wild beasts” and celva for animals in general.

Cognates

• S. lavan “animal” ✧ WJ/416

Derivations

• ✶lamā̆n(a) “animal” ✧ WJ/416
  • √LAM “(inarticulate voiced) sound” ✧ WJ/416

Element in

• ᴺQ. lamanwa “animal-like, beastly, stupid”
• ᴺQ. lamnarë “flock, *herd”
• ᴺQ. mellaman “pet, (lit.) love-animal”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶laman(a)/lamān > laman	[laman]	✧ WJ/416
✶laman(a)/lamān > lamni/lamani	[lamani] > [lamni]	✧ WJ/416

láma

ringing sound, echo

láma noun "ringing sound, echo" (LAM)

lamárë

flock

lamárë noun "flock" (QL:50)

cuima

noun. animal

cuiva

noun. animal

Derivations

• √KUY “awake; live, awake; live, [ᴹ√] come to life” ✧ NM/274

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√cuy > cuivar	[kuiwar] > [kuiβar] > [kuivar]	✧ NM/274

nasto

noun. animal, beast

lavan

noun. animal (usually applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds)

lavan

noun. animal

A word for an “animal” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said it “usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds” (WJ/416). It was derived from the root √LAM in the sense “inarticulate voiced sound”.

Conceptual Development: ᴱN. lafn was mentioned as a cognate to ᴱQ. lama “animal” in the Early Qenya Phonology from the 1920s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶labna (PE14/70).

Cognates

• Q. laman “animal, animal, [ᴹQ.] tame beast” ✧ WJ/416

Derivations

• ✶lamā̆n(a) “animal” ✧ WJ/416
  • √LAM “(inarticulate voiced) sound” ✧ WJ/416

Element in

• S. Levain Tad-dail “Petty Dwarves, (lit.) Two-legged Animals” ✧ WJ/388
• ᴺS. mellavan “pet, (lit.) love-animal”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶laman(a)/lamān > lavan	[lamana] > [laman] > [lavan]	✧ WJ/416
✶laman(a)/lamān > levain	[lamani] > [lemeni] > [lemein] > [lemain] > [levain]	✧ WJ/416

lavan

animal

(quadrupedal mammal) lavan, pl. levain (WJ:416)

lavan

animal

pl. levain (WJ:416)

lam

root. (inarticulate voiced) sound

This root for “sound” words appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writing, probably to a certain degree contrasted with √LAB which was the basis for Q. lamba “tongue” and Q. lambë “language”. The root √LAM was more specifically for inarticulate vocal sounds and in this sense was the basis for ✶lamā̆n(a) “animal” > Q. laman/S. lavan (WJ/416).

In fact, Tolkien’s earliest use of this root was as the basis for animal words, appearing as unglossed ᴱ√LAMA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. lama “a head of cattle or sheep; an animal, beast” and ᴱQ. lamáre “flock” (QL/50). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, animal words were instead derived from ᴱ✶labna (PE14/70).

The first clear connection of ᴹ√LAM to “sound” was in The Etymologies of the 1930s where it was the basis of words like ᴹQ. láma “ringing sound, echo”, ᴹQ. lamma “sound” and ᴹQ. lámina “echo” (Ety/LAM). In this document, the Noldorin word N. glamor for “echo” was based on the strengthened root ᴹ√GLAM along with words like N. glamm “shouting, confused noise; barbarous speech” (Ety/GLAM); the latter sense survived in words like S. Glamhoth “din-horde” (UT/39), but later Sindarin “echo” word were transferred back to √LAM, as in S. Lammoth “Great Echo” (S/106). In the 1930s and 40s the root was also still connected to animals (PE21/28; PPE22/116).

The root √LAM appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings, variously glossed “sound” (VT39/15), “inarticulate voiced sounds” (PE17/138), or “sounds, especially ... vocal sounds, but [it] was applied only to those that were confused or inarticulate” (WJ/416). It remained connected to sound-words (VT39/20), echo-words (PE17/133) and animal-words (WJ/416).

Derivatives

• ✶lam-
  • north S. lómin “echoing” ✧ PE17/133
  • S. loven “echoing” ✧ PE17/133
• ✶lamā̆n(a) “animal” ✧ WJ/416
  • Q. laman “animal, animal, [ᴹQ.] tame beast” ✧ WJ/416
  • S. lavan “animal” ✧ WJ/416
• ᴺQ. lalamma- “to chatter, babble”
• Q. láma “sound, sound; [ᴹQ.] ringing sound, echo” ✧ VT39/20
• Q. lamma- “?to echo”
• S. glam “din, uproar, the confused yelling and bellowing of beasts, din, uproar, bellowing of beasts, [N.] shouting, confused noise; barbarous speech; [ᴱN.] hatred, [G.] loathing, fierce hate” ✧ WJ/416
• S. lam “echo”
• S. lamma- “to echo”
• ᴺS. law “sound”
• ᴺS. lenia- “to sound, make a noise”
• north S. lóm “echo”

Element in

• ᴺS. golof “consonant”

Variations

• lam ✧ VT39/15; VT39/20
• LAMA ✧ WJ/416

lamā̆n(a)

noun. animal

Derivations

• √LAM “(inarticulate voiced) sound” ✧ WJ/416

Derivatives

• Q. laman “animal, animal, [ᴹQ.] tame beast” ✧ WJ/416
• S. lavan “animal” ✧ WJ/416

Variations

• laman(a)/lamān ✧ WJ/416