loho

root. *flower

loyo

root. *thirst, parched

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives mostly having to do with thirst such as ᴱQ. loima “parched, dry”, ᴱQ. loime “thirst”, and ᴱQ. loyo- “be thirsty” (QL/55). Tolkien first gave the root as LOẎO, indicating an ancient palatal [c] or [ɟ], but changed it to LOY̯O indicating ancient [j]. It also had derivatives in contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, such as G. luib “thirsty” and G. luista- “to parch, dry up” (GL/55). In Tolkien’s later writing, the root √LOY has to do with failure and mistakes.

wiri

root. *look

A primitive appearing as {✶gu̯iri >>} ✶u̯iri [ᴱ√WIRI] in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s serving as the basis for G. gwir- “look, look at” and G. gwirith “expression, look (on face); look, regard, fixed look; countenance” (GL/46-47). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

gweðe

root. *bend, loop

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with Qenya and Gnomish derivatives having to do with “bending” and “looping” (QL/103; GL/46). There are no signs of it in Tolkien’s later writing.

ru’u

root. ‽

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, probably actually ✱ᴱ√RUƷU, with derivatives like ᴱQ. rú “dwelling, village, hamlet”, ᴱQ. rue “rest, stillness, remaining, steadfastness”, and ᴱQ. ruin “peace” (QL/80). There were a number of likely-related words in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. rô “enduring, long suffering; quiet, gentle, docile”, G. rû “dwelling, house”, and G. rûtha- “dwell, remain”, though Tolkien seems to have rejected the Gnomish forms beginning with rô- (GL/66). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√RUH “✱still” to preserve some of these early words.

nulu

root. ‽

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s marked by Tolkien with a “?” having a single derivative ᴱQ. NÛLE “lead” (QL/68). There are no signs of this root elsewhere in Tolkien’s later writing, and even in the early period he generally used ᴱQ. kanu for “metallic lead” (LT1/100; QL/44).

oso

root. ‽

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. oksa “joint” and ᴱQ. oswe “hip” (QL/71). In Tolkien’s later writings “joint” words seem to be based on √LIM “link, join” as in Q. málimë/S. molif “wrist, (lit.) hand-link” (VT47/6), but ᴱQ. oswe “hip” may be salvaged as a derivative of ᴹ√OS “round, about” referring instead to a rotating joint rather than a link.

siŋi

root. ‽

The root ᴱ√SIŊI appeared unglossed in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives ᴱQ. singe “salt” and (adjective) ᴱQ. singwa “salt” (QL/83). It had similar derivatives the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon: G. sing and singrin “salt”, noun and adjective (GL/67). I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√SIÑGI to salvage these early words.

vḷkḷ

root. ‽

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. valkane “torture” and ᴱQ. vilkin “bitter, evil”, serving as the basis for ᴱQ. Valkarauke, the Qenya name of Balrogs (QL/100). In later writings the initial element of this name was derived from √BAL “(divine) power”.

maþa

root. dusk

This root was given as ᴱ√MASA¹ “dusk” in its main entry in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but its Gnomish form math- indicates the true root was ᴱ√MAÞA (QL/59). This was clarified in a list of roots at the end of the M-section in the Qenya Lexicon (QL/63) and its representation as maþ- in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/59). Its most notable use in the Legendarium was in the name G. Umboth-muilin “Pools (muil-plural) of Twilight (umboth)”, where G. umboth or umbath “nightfall” was derived from a strengthened form of the root, ᴱ√mbaþ- (GL/75). However, in later writings this name was reconceived as Ilk. Umboth Muilin “Veiled (muilin) Pool (umboth)”, with the first element umboth meaning “large pool” (Ety/MBOTH, MUY). The name was ultimately replaced with S. Aelin-uial (S/114), by which point the early root ᴱ√MAÞA was long abandoned.

muru

root. slumber

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “slumber”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. murme “slumber, sleep” and ᴱQ. muru- “to slumber” (QL/63). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. maur “a dream, vision” and G. murtha- “dream” (GL/57-58). In Tolkien’s later writing sleep and dream words were mostly derived from √LOR.

sṣtyṣ

root. ‽

The unglossed root ᴱ√SṢT͡YṢ appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. sastya “sore, galled” and ᴱQ. sist (sisty-) “ulcer, sore” (QL/86). The latter word was also mentioned as siste in “ulcer, boil” as a derivative of ᴱ✶sṣtē (PE12/14), and the primitive form was given as sistyi, though Tolkien did say it was indicative of ancient syllabic ṣ (PE12/3). However, in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s it seems primitive ᴱ✶sṣt- = “✱hiss” (PE13/163); see the entry on ᴹ√SUS “hiss” for discussion.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√SISTI to salvage some of these early words.

ðana

root. day

A primitive form in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives meaning “day” (GL/38). There were a variety of different roots for “day” in later writings such ᴹ√AR or √UR.

hama

root. ‽

po

root. ‽

pol-i

root. ‽

tum(b)u

root. ‽

bē Reconstructed

root. ‽

aya(la) Speculative

root. lake

gwori

root. ‽

sē

root. ‽

kulu

root. gold

kulū

noun. gold

kṇðṇ

root. shine

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱ√KṆŘṆ “shine” with derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish, such as ᴱQ. kanda- “blaze”, G. cintha- “to light, set alight”, ᴱQ. kanwa “lurid”, and G. cantha “flame” (QL/47; GL/25-26). It may be a variant of ᴱ√KṚN “✱red” (QL/48). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

kṇřṇ

root. shine

nindyā

adjective. blue

ske-ndá

noun. eye

þχe-ndǝ

noun. eye

liŋi Reconstructed

root. snake