lís

lîs

lís ("lîs")noun "honey", "oblique līr- but usually from stem liss-" (PE17:154). Compare the reading in the Etymologies: lis (liss-, e.g. dat.sg. lissen) (LIS; Tolkien originally wrote lissë, VT45:28)

lís

noun. honey, honey, *sugar, sweetener

A word for “honey” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 given as lîs and derived from the root √(G)LIS (PE17/154); the usual representation of a long vowel in Quenya would be ✱lís. In DLN Tolkien said that it sometimes appeared as līr- in inflections with the usual change of intervocalic s to r, but that its usual stem form was liss-. Indeed, in The Etymologies of the 1930s this word was ᴹQ. lis “honey” under the root ᴹ√LIS of the same meaning, and its stem form was also liss- as indicated by its [ᴹQ.] genitive lissen (Ety/LIS). Tolkien originally gave the base noun as lisse in The Etymologies, but this was deleted and replaced by lis (EtyAC/LIS). In The Etymologies its Noldorin cognate was N. glî.

Conceptual Development: A likely precursor to this word was ᴱQ. ile “honey” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, cognate to ᴱN. glí “honey” (GL/59).

Neo-Quenya: Since there are other honey-words in Quenya like Q. nehtë, I would use lís (liss-) for sweeteners in general, including both honey and sugar.

Derivations

• √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√(G)LIS > lîs	[līs]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• lîs ✧ PE17/154

lissë

noun. grace

Cognates

• ᴺS. list “grace, favour, kindness”

Derivations

• √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey”

Element in

• Q. Amillë Eruva lissëo “Mother of divine grace” ✧ VT44/18
• Q. Erulissë “[God’s] Grace”
• ᴺQ. laiquelis “rue (plant)”
• ᴺQ. vendelis “nun”

lissë

sweet

lissë adj. "sweet" (Nam, RGEO:66); also noun "sweetness", used metaphorically for "grace" (VT43:29, VT44:18); in this sense the word may be compounded as #Erulissë, q.v. Genitive lissëo in VT44:18. - In the entry LIS in the Etymologies, Tolkien originally gave lissë as the noun "honey", but then changed it to lis with stem liss- (VT45:28)

lissë

adjective. sweet

Cognates

• S. liss “fragrant, sweet”
• S. laich “sweet” ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• ✶lissĭ- ✧ PE17/154
  • √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

• ᴺQ. lisselë “sweetness”
• Q. mi oromardi lissë miruvóreva “of the sweet mead in lofty halls” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. lissë miruvóreva mí oromardi “of sweet nectar in the high-halls” ✧ RGEO/58

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶lissĭ- > lisse	[lissi] > [lisse]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• lissë ✧ LotR/0377
• lisse ✧ PE17/064; PE17/064; PE17/154; RGEO/58
• lísse ✧ RGEO/58

melu

honey

#melu noun "honey", isolated from melumatya, q.v. (PE17:68)

melu

noun. honey

A word for “honey” appearing only in the compound Q. melumatya “honey-eating” in notes from 1967 (PE17/68).

Element in

• Q. melumatya “honey-eating” ✧ PE17/068
• ᴺQ. meluquetya “sweet-speaking person, flatterer”

manya

noun. butter

Cognates

• ᴺS. mang “butter”

Derivations

• ᴺ✶. MANGYA “butter”

nectë

honey

nectë noun "honey" (LT1:262; Tolkien's later Quenya has lis; otherwise, nectë would have had to become nehtë_, a form appearing in the Etymologies with the meaning "honeycomb" [VT45:38]. However, this word clashes with _nehtë "angle" or "spearhead, gore, wedge, narrow promontory" from later sources [PE17:55, UT:282].)

nehte

noun. honey

honey

nehtë

noun. honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb

A noun for “honey” appearing in 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) derived from ✶negdē “exudation” based on the root √NEG “ooze, drip” (PE19/91). It was a later iteration of ᴹQ. nehte “honeycomb” in The Etymologies of the 1930s which had essentially the same derivation (EtyAC/NEG). This in turn was a later form of ᴱQ. nekte “honey” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√NEHE having to do with bees and honey (QL/65).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d use this word only for “honey”. For “honeycomb” I’d use ᴺQ. nehtelë inspired by ᴱQ. nektele “honeycomb” (QL/65)

Cognates

• S. nîdh “juice, [N.] honeycomb; [S.] juice” ✧ PE19/091
• T. nettë “honey” ✧ PE19/091

Derivations

• ✶negdē “exudation” ✧ PE19/091
  • √NEG “‽ooze, drip, ooze, drip; *honey” ✧ PE19/091

Element in

• ᴺQ. nehtelë “honeycomb”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶negdē > nehte	[negdē] > [nektē] > [nextē] > [nexte]	✧ PE19/091

Variations

• nehte ✧ PE19/091

laich

adjective. sweet

Cognates

• Q. lissë “sweet” ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• ✶lisyā “sweet” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154
  • √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶lisyā > liχı̯ā > leχı̯ > leich > laich	[lisjā] > [lixjā] > [lixja] > [lexja] > [lexia] > [lexi] > [leix] > [laix]	✧ PE17/148
✶lisyā > lîch	[lisji] > [lixji] > [lixī] > [lix] > [līx]	✧ PE17/148

Variations

• leich ✧ PE17/154

leich

adjective. sweet

medlin

adjective. honey-eater, bear-like

mang

noun. butter

Cognates

• ᴺQ. manya “butter”

Derivations

• ᴺ✶. MANGYA “butter”

glî

honey

glî (i **lî**);

glî

honey

(i ’lî);

melui

sweet

1) (= lovely) melui (lenited velui; no distinct pl. form) (VT42:18). 2) lend (tuneful), pl. lind. Note: a homophone means ”way, journey”. No Sindarin adjective describing sweet taste occurs in published material.

melui

sweet

(lenited velui; no distinct pl. form) (VT42:18).

lend

sweet

(tuneful), pl. lind. Note: a homophone means ”way, journey”. No Sindarin adjective describing sweet taste occurs in published material.

nîdh

honeycomb

(construct nidh; no distinct pl. form) (VT45:38).

necte, nette

noun. honey

honey

nettë

noun. honey

Cognates

• Q. nehtë “honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb” ✧ PE19/091

Derivations

• ✶negdē “exudation” ✧ PE19/091
  • √NEG “‽ooze, drip, ooze, drip; *honey” ✧ PE19/091

Variations

• necte/nette ✧ PE19/091

lis

root. *sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey

This root was connected to sweet things throughout Tolkien’s life. It appeared as ᴱ√LISI “sweetness” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with some derivatives of similar meaning as well as others having to do with grace and blessing, such as ᴱQ. lis (list-) “grace, blessing”; Tolkien made it clear that “sweetness” was the root meaning (QL/54-55). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon the “sweetness” words all began with gl- and “grace” words with l-: G. glais “sweetness”, G. glist “sugar” (GL/39) vs. G. list “grace, favour, kindness”, G. lista- “bless” (GL/54). This connection between √LIS and “grace” survived in Tolkien’s later writing, since he used Q. lissë for “grace” in Quenya prayers of the 1950s (VT43/29; VT44/12).

This root appeared as ᴹ√LIS “honey” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, with Noldorin derivatives still beginning with gl-: ᴹQ. lis vs. N. glî “honey” (Ety/LIS). It appeared as √(G)LIS in “Definitive Linguistic Notes” (DLN) from 1959, still serving as the basis for words for honey and sweetness (PE17/154), though some of the Sindarin “sweet” words began with l- in this document, such as: S. laich “sweet” (PE17/148).

Derivatives

• ✶lissĭ- ✧ PE17/154
  • Q. lissë “sweet” ✧ PE17/154
• ✶lisyā “sweet” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154
  • S. laich “sweet” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154
• Q. lís “honey, honey, *sugar, sweetener” ✧ PE17/154
• Q. lissë “grace”
• ᴺQ. lista- “to sweeten, make sweet”
• ᴺS. glist “sugar”
• ᴺS. list “grace, favour, kindness”

Element in

• Q. miquelis “(soft, sweet) kiss”
• ᴺS. lista- “to show grace, kindness”

Variations

• (G)LIS ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

glis

root. *sweet

lisyā

adjective. sweet

Changes

• leχa → lisya ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

Derivatives

• S. laich “sweet” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

Variations

• lisya ✧ PE17/154
• leχa ✧ PE17/154 (leχa)

mangya

root. butter

Derivatives

• ᴺQ. manya “butter”
• ᴺS. mang “butter”

glî

noun. honey

glî

noun. honey

A word for “honey” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶g-lisi under the root ᴹ√LIS of the same meaning (Ety/LIS).

Conceptual Development: In Early Noldorin Word-lists Tolkien also had ᴱN. glí “honey” (PE13/144), presumably similarly derived from the early root ᴱ√LISI. However, in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “honey” was G. neglis with an initial element √neg- (GL/59), the Gnomish equivalent of the early root ᴱ√NEHE that was the basis for ᴱQ. nekte “honey” (QL/65). It is possible that the second element of G. neglis was based on ᴱ√LISI and this was carried forward into later “honey” words.

Cognates

• ᴹQ. lis “honey” ✧ Ety/LIS

Derivations

• ᴹ✶glisi “honey” ✧ Ety/LIS
  • ᴹ√LIS “honey” ✧ Ety/LIS

Element in

• ᴺS. glidheb “like honey”
• N. megli “bear, (lit.) honey-eater”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶g-lisi > glî	[glisi] > [glihi] > [glih] > [glīh] > [glī]	✧ Ety/LIS

meglin

adjective. honey-eater, bear-like