lóte

noun. flower

lótë

noun. flower, single blossom, flower, single blossom; [ᴱQ.] bloom

The best known Quenya word for “flower”, which Tolkien used for most of his life. Most notably it was an element in Vingilótë “Foam-flower”, the name of Eärendil’s ship (S/246).

Conceptual Development: The word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. lōte was glossed “a flower, bloom (usually of large single flowers)” under the early root ᴱ√LO’O (QL/55). It appeared regularly in documents in the 1910s, 20s and 30s with glosses like “flower” and “blossom” (PME/56; MC/220; PE16/77; PE21/7). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹQ. lóte “(large single) flower” under the root ᴹ√LOT(H) “flower” (Ety/LOT(H)).

The word continued to appear in Tolkien’s writings of the 1950s and 60s with glosses like “flower” or “a single blossom” and derived from √LOT (PE17/26, 160; VT42/18). In one place Tolkien said it meant “a flowering plant, especially one that produces (large) separate flowers of distinct shape; also used of any single bloom of such a plant” (PE17/160). However, generally it was used of individual (large) flowers. Smaller flowers could use other words like lotsë (PE17/\160; VT42/18), but I think lótë was the most general term for “flower”.

lótë

flower

lótë noun "flower", mostly applied to larger single flowers (LOT(H), LT1:259, VT42:18). (The shorter form -lot occurs in compounds, e.g. fúmellot, q.v.) In the names Ninquelóte *"White-flower" (= Nimloth), Vingilótë "Foam-flower", the name of Eärendil's ship (SA:loth), also in Lótessë fifth month of the year, "May" (Appendix D). See also olótë, lotsë.

lótefalmarínen

with waves crowned with flowers

lótefalmarínen inflected compound "with waves crowned with flowers" (MC:220; this is "Qenya")

lótessë

noun. May, *(lit.) Flower-ness

lótëa

adjective. full of blossom, *blooming, flowering

lótelas

noun. petal, (lit.) flower-leaf

A neologism for “petal” coined by Paul Strack specifically for Eldamo in 2023, a combination of lótë “flower” and lassë “leaf”, inspired by the alternate meaning of ᴱQ. lasse as both “leaf or petal” in the 1910s (GL/52).

alma

noun. flower

A word for “flower” derived from primitive ✶galmā in notes on flowers in the same bundle containing Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 (PE17/153). Initially Tolkien said alma meant both “a blessed thing and a flower”, then said that Q. almë was “a blessed thing” and alba was “flower” (< √GAL-AB), before saying that alma was “flower”. Tolkien implied that alma was a usual or general word for “flower” in Quenya. These same notes also said the word alda < ✶galadā was used mainly of flowering trees. It seems in this instance Tolkien connected the root √GAL (normally just “grow, flourish”) specifically to flowers, giving it the gloss “bloom” along with other glosses like “grow, flourish, be vigorous”.

Neo-Quenya: Elsewhere alda was the general word for a “tree” and √GAL had no special connection to flowers. I think alma as a “flower” word was a transient idea. I would use lótë “flower” instead for purposes of Neo-Quenya, since it is much better established.

Calainis

may

Calainis _("k")_noun "May" (LT1:252, 254; in Tolkien's later Quenya Lótessë)

alma

flower

alma (2) "flower" (PE17:153), said to be the "usual Quenya word" or "general Quenya word" (i.e. for flower), but its coexistence with #1 is problematic. Compare lós, lótë, lotsë, indil.

alba

noun. flower

insil

noun. flower

TQ. flower, lily

lós

flower

lós (þ?) noun "flower" (PE17:26). If this is to be the cognate of Sindarin loth, as the source suggests, the older Quenya form would be *lóþ.