Qenya
lipsa
noun. soap
Cognates
- N. glûdh “soap” ✧ Ety/LIB²; Ety/LIB²
Derivations
Element in
- ᴺQ. lipsanë “lather”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴹ✶libda > lipsa [libda] > [lipta] > [lipsa] ✧ Ety/LIB²
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!
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “soap” and derived from primitive ᴹ✶libda under the root ᴹ√LIB having to do with ointments (Ety/LIB²). Here the ps is the result of bd unvoicing to pt and then pt becoming to ps.
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. poime (poimi-) “soap” (though the word was marked with a “?” by Tolkien) under the early root ᴱ√POYO having to do with cleanliness (QL/75).
Neo-Quenya: In Tolkien’s later writing, [[q|[pt] becoming to [ɸt]]], spelled pt but pronounced more like ft. As such this word should have developed into ✱lipta [liɸta] in the Quenya phonology of the 1950s and 60s. I prefer to retain 1930s lipsa, perhaps as an abnormal phonetic development. If you don’t like either of these, 1910s poimë “soap” also remains viable, since ᴹ√POY “clean” survived in Tolkien’s later writing (Ety/POY).