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

root.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by

adjective.

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/148] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leχ-rā

noun. leχ-rā

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/53] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leχa

noun. leχa

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/53] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leŋe

root. LEŊE

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

leika

adjective. leika

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/53] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leiqualasse

masculine name. Leiqualasse

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/105] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lept-

noun. lept-

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/148] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leyé

noun. leyé

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/148] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lese

root. collect

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “collect” with derivatives like ᴱQ. lese- “come together, gather” and ᴱQ. lesta “gathering, assembly” (QL/53). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. lest “gathering, assembly, concourse, moot” and G. lesta- “gather, assemble, meet” (GL/53). There are no clear indications of this root in Tolkien’s later writings, where Tolkien seems to have shifted to ᴹ√KHOTH “gather”, but it is possible that ᴹQ. lesta “measure” from Fíriel’s Song of the 1930s is connected to this early root.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/053] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lene

root. long

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱ√LENE “long”, with the added explanation that it “developed in opp. directions of slow, tedious, trailing, etc. and - stretch, thin, etc.”. Tolkien originally put the word ᴱQ. lenka “slow, left” under this root, but seems to have transferred this word to ᴱ√LEKE, perhaps at the same time he elaborated on the meaning of ᴱ√LENE “long”. Its remaining derivatives include ᴱQ. lenwa “long and thin, straight, narrow” and ᴱQ. lenu- “stretch”.

There are a number of words in the Gnomish Lexicon that seem to be derived from this root, including G. len “wherewith, far, long, away” and G. lenwi “length, distance”, but these were rejected, and Tolkien replaced them with G. lenc “far, distant” derived from ᴱ√leŋe (which was followed by other similar Gnomish derivatives), possibly representing a conceptual shift in this root (GL/53). In any case, there are no clear signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, unless perhaps it remanifested as ᴹ√LEN “way, (?road)” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/LEN).

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/53; LT2A/Glend; QL/053] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lehe

root. *smooth

A root implied by entries the Gnomish Lexicon such as ᴱ✶leχa > G. lech/ᴱQ. lea “smooth, slippery”, ᴱ✶leχ-rā > G. lethrin “smooth, slippery, peril(o)us”, and ᴱ✶leχ-sa > G. lais “green sward, glade” (GL/53). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/52] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lefe

root. *heart

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with the derivatives ᴱQ. lepsa “liver” and ᴱQ. elwen “heart” (QL/52). The Gnomish equivalent of the elwen “heart” was G. elf, revised to G. ilf (GL/32, 50). Tolkien used other words for “heart” in his later writings, but I think it is worth positing a root ᴺ√LEPH “liver” for purposes of Neo-Eldarin to retain ᴱQ. lepsa “liver”.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/035; QL/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leqe

root. *joint

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. lekte- “join together, dovetail, fit in, splice” and ᴱQ. leqet “joint” (QL/53) so perhaps meaning something like “✱joint”. There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/053] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lehe

root. come, be sent, approach

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lepe

root. *finger

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/148; QL/053] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lepse

?. [unglossed]

Early Primitive Elvish [PE15/64] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leχ-sa

noun. green sward, glade

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/53] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leẇe

root. *sick

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/053] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lefe

root. half

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

lehe

root. half

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

pelesa

noun. fence

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/147] Group: Eldamo. Published by

teled-

noun. [unglossed]

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/154] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leke

root. *slow; left

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√LEKE and ᴱ√LENE as well as derivatives like ᴱQ. lenka “slow, dull, stiff; left (hand)” (QL/52). There are no signs of these roots in Tolkien’s later writing, and they are inconistent with Tolkien’s later notion that Elves were ambidextrous and had no negative associations with “left” (VT49/6-8).

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lene

root. *slow; left

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

leƕe Reconstructed

root. half; *five

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/53; QL/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kapa

root. leap, spring

Early Primitive Elvish [LT1A/Kapalinda; PE14/066; QL/045] Group: Eldamo. Published by

karase

noun. lettuce

Early Primitive Elvish [PE14/070] Group: Eldamo. Published by

eŋe

root. *plane, level

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives having to do with plains, planes and level surfaces (QL/36). There are no signs of it in Tolkien’s later writing.

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/036] Group: Eldamo. Published by

hala

root. *leap

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives such as ᴱQ. halta- “to leap” and ᴱQ. haloite “leaping” (QL/39). The root also appeared near the words ᴱQ. halis and haliske “rush”, which may or may not be related. There are no obvious cognates of these words in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, but there are several Gnomish words that might be derived from this or a similar root, such as: G. hala- “drag, draw, pull”, G. halthi “sheath”, and G. halm “draught, draft, drawing (of fishes etc.)” (GL/47), the last of these with a Qenya cognate appearing in ᴱQ. Turuhalme “Logdrawing” (LT1/229). It is not clear how many roots these various forms represent, but in any case there are no signs of any of them in Tolkien’s later writing.

Early Primitive Elvish [LT1A/Haloisi Velikë; QL/039] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kana

root. *lead (metal)

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives all began with kanu- and had to do with metallic lead (QL/44). The root √KAN had various other meanings in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is possible to theorize the existence of a Neo-Eldarin root ᴺ√KANU “lead (metal)” in order to retain these early words.

Early Primitive Elvish [LT1A/Tilkal; QL/044] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ava

root. go away, depart, leave

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/033; QL/099] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kapa-

verb. to leap

Early Primitive Elvish [PE14/058] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lata

root. *level, smooth

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/051] Group: Eldamo. Published by

mini

root. *small, less

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/042; QL/061] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lasa Speculative

root. *leaf

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

tołᵂo

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s illustrating a hypothetical series of ancient lateral approximants, with derived roots like ᴱ√TOLO and ᴱ√TOẆO [with = ɣʷ] (PE12/16). The former appeared in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as the basis for island words (QL/94), but the latter appeared nowhere else in Early Qenya writings.

Early Primitive Elvish [PE12/016] Group: Eldamo. Published by

saw̯a

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/82), which may have reemerged as √SAWA “disgusting, foul, vile” in notes from the 1950s (PE17/172, 183).

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/082] Group: Eldamo. Published by

sivi

root. [unglossed]

Unglossed roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SIVI and ᴱ√SIWI and a single unglossed derivative ᴱQ. sivilda (QL/84). It is difficult to guess what Tolkien intended for these forms to mean, though they conceivably reemerged as the later roots ᴹ√SIW “excite, egg on, urge” (Ety/SIW) or √SIB “rest, quiet” (VT44/35).

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/084] Group: Eldamo. Published by

-yǝ

suffix. [unglossed]

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/035] Group: Eldamo. Published by

hono

root. *heart

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/040] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lama

root. *animal

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/050] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lopse

?. [unglossed]

Early Primitive Elvish [PE15/64] Group: Eldamo. Published by

niqi

root. white

Early Primitive Elvish [LT1A/Taniquetil; QL/066] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ornĕ

noun. tree

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/116; PE13/164] Group: Eldamo. Published by

pana

root. arrange

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/072] Group: Eldamo. Published by

pini

root. *small

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/073; QL/074] Group: Eldamo. Published by

qama

root. *sick

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/076] Group: Eldamo. Published by

skap-

verb. to jump

Early Primitive Elvish [PE14/066] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tiw̯i

root. thick

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/050; QL/093] Group: Eldamo. Published by

toẇo

root. [unglossed]

Early Primitive Elvish [PE12/016] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ī

root. be

Early Primitive Elvish [PE16/140] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ʒaldá

adjective. wide, broad

Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/136; PE13/144] Group: Eldamo. Published by

haya Speculative

root. go, fare

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

liŋi Reconstructed

root. snake

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

ʒawaka Reconstructed

noun. clumsy

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

piki

root. *small

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

root. *small

Early Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

tḷkḷ

root. [unglossed]

Early Primitive Elvish [QL/093] Group: Eldamo. Published by