lav-

verb. to lick

A verb for “to lick” based on the root √LAB of similar meaning (PE17/72; PE22/151-152; RGEO/59).

Conceptual Development: This verb dates all the way back to ᴱQ. lava- “lick” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it was derived from the early root ᴱ√LAVA (QL/52). It retained this form in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/134), and in The Etymologies of the 1930s it appeared as ᴹQ. lavin “I lick” under the root ᴹ√LAB “lick” (Ety/LAB). The verb and root continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s later writings.

lav-

verb. lick

lav-

verb. yield, allow, grant

lav- (2) vb. "yield, allow, grant" (DAB)

undulav-

verb. to drown, swallow, submerge, (lit.) lick down, to swallow, *engulf; (lit.) lick down; drown, submerge

A verb whose past form appears in the Namárië poem in the phrase ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë “and all paths are drowned deep in shadow” (LotR/377; RGEO/58). It is a combination of undu “down” and lav- “lick” (PE17/72). Thus, its literal meaning is “lick down” and it has various other less-literal translations such as “swallow, wash down, submerge” (PE17/72).

I suspect this verb is purely poetic and not used in ordinary speech, but if it is used outside of poetry I believe its closest meaning would be “swallow, ✱engulf”. This is because in Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien glossed it “down-lick = swallow” (PE17/72), and similarly translated its past tense as “swallowed (lit. down-licked)” in the prose Namárië from The Road Goes Ever On of 1967 (RGEO/59). In particular, I think the gloss “drowned” in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings is a loose translation.

#lav-

verb. lick

#lav- (1) vb. "lick", pa.t. #lávë in undulávë, see undu (Nam); 1st person aorist lavin "I lick" in the Etymologies(LAB)

lapsa-

verb. to lick

lapsa- vb. "to lick" (frequentative) (LAB)

sulp-

verb. lick

sulp- vb. "lick" (LT1:266; rather lav- in Tolkien's later Quenya)

lav-

verb. to lick

lav-

verb. to lick

lav

lick

(i lâf, i levir)

lav

lick

lav- (i **lâf, i levir**)

lhav-

verb. to lick

A noun appearing as N. lhâf “lick” (with Noldorin-style infinitive form lhebi) in The Etymologies of the 1930s from the root ᴹ√LAB of the same meaning (Ety/LAB) where the initial initial l was unvoiced to lh as was the case in Noldorin of the 1930s.

Conceptual Development: This verb was G. lav- “lick” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/53), clearly based on the early root ᴱ√LAVA since the unvoicing of initial l was not a feature of Gnomish in the 1910s.

Neo-Sindarin: Most Neo-Sindarin writers adapt this word as ᴺS. lav- “to lick” since the unvoicing of initial l was also not a feature of Sindarin in the 1950s and 60s.

lhaf-

verb. to lick