alda noun "tree" (GALAD, GÁLAD, SA, Nam, RGEO:66, LR:41, SD:302, LT1:249, LT2:340, VT39:7), also name of tengwa #28 (Appendix E). Pl. aldar in Narqelion; gen. pl. aldaron "of trees" in Namárië. Etymology of alda, see Letters:426 and UT:266-7. The latter source states that primitive ¤galadā, whence Quenya alda, originally applied to stouter and more spreading trees such as oaks or beeches, while straighter and more slender trees such as birches were called ¤ornē, Quenya ornë - but this distinction was not always observed in Quenya, and it seems that alda became the general word. According to PE17:25, primitive galada (sic) referred to "a plant (large) and was a general term". Place-name Aldalómë ""tree-night" or "tree-shade-night" (LotR2:III ch. 4, translated in PE17:82); Aldarion masc. name, *"Son of (the) Trees" (Appendix A), Tar-Aldarion a Númenorean King (UT:210). Aldaron a name of Oromë (Silm); aldinga "tree-top" (VT47:28), aldarembina (pl. aldarembinë attested) adj. "tree-tangled", the cognate of Sindarin galadhremmin**(PM:17:26).Aldúya fourth day of the Eldarin six-day week, dedicated to the Trees (Appendix D). The word seems to include Aldu, a dual form referring to the Two Trees. The Númenóreans altered the name to Aldëa (presumably < aldajā), referring to one tree (the White) only. The dual Aldu seems to occur also in Aldudénië** "Lament for the Two Trees" (a strange word, since Quenya does not permit intervocalic d as in this word perhaps the Vanyarin dialect of Quenya did) (Silm)
Quenya
aldudénië
proper name. Lament for the Two Trees
Elements
Word Gloss alda “tree, tree, [ᴱQ.] branch” ? Variations
- Aldudenië ✧ SA/alda
alda
tree
alda
noun. tree
alda
noun. tree, tree, [ᴱQ.] branch
The basic Quenya word for “tree” (LotR/1113), derived from primitive ✶galadā and very well attested. This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. alda “tree” appeared under the early root ᴱ√ALA “spread” (QL/29). Tolkien seems to have switched its derivation to ✱galadā in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where ᴹQ. alda “tree” appeared under the root ᴹ√GALAD of the same meaning (Ety/GALAD). See also ornë “(tall) tree” for a discussion of another similar word.
Conceptual Development: There were a few instances where the word alda had a different meaning. In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, alda was glossed “branch” (PE16/139). In notes from 1959 Tolkien said “✱galadā, originally only large flourishing plant, as tree, and especially one that flowered, Q alda, S galað; the general word for ‘tree’ was Q orne ‘upstanding plant’ (PE17/153)”. But in its numerous appearance elsewhere, alda was simply a general word for “tree”.
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Aldalómë “Tree-twilight” ✧ RC/385
- Q. Aldamir “*Tree Jewel”
- Q. Aldanil “Lover of Trees”
- Q. aldarembina “tree-meshed” ✧ PE17/135
- Q. Aldarion “*Son of Trees”
- Q. Aldaron “Lord of Forests, (lit.) Of Trees” ✧ SA/alda
- Q. Aldëa “*Tuesday, Tree-day (Númenórean)”
- ᴺQ. aldeon “avenue (of trees)”
- Q. aldinga “tree-top”
- Q. Aldudénië “Lament for the Two Trees” ✧ MR/100; SA/alda
- Q. Aldúya “*Tuesday, Day of the Two Trees”
- Q. culumalda “laburnum, *(lit.) orange-tree”
- ᴺQ. eccalda “cactus, (lit.) spine tree”
- Q. Malinalda “Tree of Gold” ✧ SA/alda
- ᴺQ. milpialda “olive tree”
- Q. Nísimaldar “Fragrant Trees” ✧ UT/167
- ᴺQ. paltalda “palm tree”
- ᴺQ. relyávalda “fig-tree”
- Q. yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron “long years numberless as the wings of trees” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. yéni únótimë ve aldaron rámar “long-years not-countable as trees’ wings” ✧ RGEO/58
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ Let/426 ✶galada > alda [galada] > [galda] > [ɣalda] > [alda] ✧ NM/352 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/025 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/050 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/063 ✶galadā > ʒalaðā > ʒalðā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [ɣalðā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/135 ✶galadā́ > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/153 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/153 √GAL > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE22/160 ✶ʒalda > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ VT39/07 Variations
- Alda ✧ RC/385
ornë
tree
ornë noun "tree" _(Letters:308, SD:302: "when smaller and more slender like a birch or rowan", Etym stem ÓR-NI: "tree, high isolated tree"). For the etymology, see Letters:426; for (original) difference in meaning between ornë and alda, see alda. In ornemalin "tree-yellow"; see laurelindórenan lindelorendor... (LotR2:III ch. 4; cf. Letters:308), also as final element in malinornë "yellow-tree, mallorn" (q.v.) Masc. name Ornendil *"Tree-friend" (Appendix A)_, compound Ornelië "tree-folk" (Quenya name of the Galadhrim, the tree-people of Lórien) (TI:239).
The title of a lament for the Two Trees of Valinor after they were destroyed by Morgoth (S/76). It was composed by the Vanyarin elf Elemmírë and the title was translated as the “Lament for the Two Trees” (MR/100, 288).
Possible Etymology: This name is very unusual in that it has the letter [d] appearing between two vowels, something usually forbidden by the phonology of Quenya. The first element is clearly Aldu “Two Trees”, the dual form of alda “tree”, also seen in Aldúya “Day of the Two Trees”. The meaning of the second element must therefore be “lament”, but given its phonetic pecularities it is difficult to guess what its form might be as an independent word. Another Late Quenya word for lament is nainië (RGEO/58).