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.

lós

noun. inflorescence, mass of flowers

Changes

• lusse → lōs ✧ PE17/026

Cognates

• S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ PE17/026
• S. lûth “blossom, inflorescence, blossom, inflorescence [on a single plant]” ✧ PE17/161

Derivations

• √LOT(H) “flower” ✧ PE17/026
• ✶loth “inflorescence” ✧ PE17/160
  • √LOT(H) “flower” ✧ PE17/160

Element in

• ᴺQ. helillos “wisteria, (lit.) purple cluster”
• ᴺQ. lindelos “laburnum, (lit.) singing cluster”
• Q. olos “inflorescence, mass of flowers (on one plant), inflorescence, mass of flowers”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√LOTH > lōs	[lōtʰ] > [lōθ] > [lōs]	✧ PE17/026
✶loth > lós	[lōtʰ] > [lōθ] > [lōs]	✧ PE17/160

Variations

• lōs ✧ PE17/026
• lusse ✧ PE17/026 (lusse)
• loste ✧ PE17/026 (loste)

olos

snow, fallen snow

†olos (2) noun "snow, fallen snow" (prob. oloss-, cf. the longer form olossë below; this form should be preferred since olos also = "dream, vision") (GOLOS)

lossë

snow

lossë (1) noun "snow" or adj. "snow-white" (SA:los, MC:213, VT42:18); losselië noun"white people" (MC:216, PE16:96)

olossë

snow, fallen snow

†olossë noun "snow, fallen snow" (GOLÓS, LOT[H])

lóte

noun. 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.

alba

noun. flower

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.

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.

Changes

• alma → almë “a blessed thing and a flower” ✧ PE17/153
• alba → alma “flower” ✧ PE17/153

Cognates

• S. alf “flower” ✧ PE17/153

Derivations

• ✶galmā “flower” ✧ PE17/153
  • √GALAM “elm”
  • √GAL “grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, [ᴹ√] thrive” ✧ PE17/153
• √GALAB “flower” ✧ PE17/153
  • √GAL “grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, [ᴹ√] thrive” ✧ PE17/153

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶galmā > alma	[galmā] > [ɣalmā] > [almā] > [alma]	✧ PE17/153
√GAL-AB > alba	[galba] > [ɣalba] > [ɣalβa] > [alβa] > [alba]	✧ PE17/153

Variations

• alba ✧ PE17/153 (alba)

insil

noun. flower

TQ. flower, lily

fauta-

to snow

fauta- vb. *"to snow" (actually glossed fauta = "it snows") (GL:35)

hriz-

to snow

#hriz- vb. "to snow", impersonal, given in the form hríza "it is snowing". Normally z would turn to r in Exilic Quenya, but since two r's close to one another were disliked, it may be that hriz- became *hris- instead (compare razë "sticks out" becoming rasë instead of **rarë, PE19:73) Past tense hrinsë (with s from the original root SRIS) and another form which the editor tentatively reads as hrissë (the development ns > ss is regular). (PE17:168)

fáwë

snow

fáwë vb. "snow" (GL:35; rather lossë in Tolkien's later Quenya)

niquë

snow

niquë (2) ("q")noun "snow" (NIK-W)

fúmë

sleep

fúmë noun "sleep" (LT1:253). Read perhaps *húmë in a LotR-compatible form of Quenya, since Tolkien later decided that fu- tended to become hu-.

los

noun. snow

los

snow

{ŏ}_ n. _snow. Q. losse. >> glos, glosui, loss, Loss(h)oth

loss

noun. snow

The usual Sindarin word for “snow” (Let/278; PE17/161; RGEO/62), especially fallen and long-lying snow (VT42/18), derived from primitive ✶lossē (PE17/161) based on the root √(G)LOS (PE17/26; RGEO/62). It sometimes appeared in a shorter form los (PE17/26, 161). See the entry on [s] for a discussion of these long vs. short variations; for purposes of Neo-Sindarin loss is probably preferable.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the earliest iteration of this word was G. glui “snow” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, likely related to nearby words like G. gloss “white” (GL/40). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. gloss from the root ᴹ√GOLOS was both noun “snow” and adjective “snow-white” (Ety/GOLÓS), but in later writing Tolkien split these into S loss “snow” (see above) and S. gloss “(dazzling) white” (RGEO/62; VT42/18).

Cognates

• Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/161; SA/los; RGEO/61

Derivations

• √(G)LOS “snow, whiteness” ✧ PE17/026; RGEO/61; SA/los; VT42/18
• ✶lossē “snow” ✧ PE17/161
  • √(G)LOS “snow, whiteness” ✧ PE17/161; VT42/18

Element in

• S. Aeglos “Snow-point” ✧ SA/los
• S. aeglos “icicle, (lit.) snow-point; snowthorn (a plant)”
• S. Amon Uilos “Hill of Ever-snow” ✧ SA/los
• S. Fanuilos “Bright (Angelic) Figure upon Uilos” ✧ Let/278
• S. Lossarnach “Flowery Arnarch” ✧ VT42/18
• S. lossen “snowy” ✧ RGEO/62
• S. Lossoth “Snowmen” ✧ PE17/161; RGEO/62
• S. Nimphelos “Pale ?Snow”
• S. Uilos “Ever-snow”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√LŎS > los	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ PE17/026
✶lossē > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ PE17/161
√los > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ RGEO/61
√los > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ SA/los
√(G)LOS > loss	[lossē] > [losse] > [loss]	✧ VT42/18

Variations

• los ✧ PE17/026
• lŏs ✧ PE17/161
• Loss ✧ VT42/18

loss

noun. snow (especially fallen or long-lying snow)

loss

noun. snow

_ n. _snow. Q. losse. >> glos, glosui, los, Loss(h)oth

gloss

adjective. snow-white, dazzling-white

mallos

noun. a golden flower

loth

noun. flower, inflorescence, a head of small flowers

The noun is collective, a single flower being lotheg

loth

noun. flower

_n._flower, a single bloom. Q. lóte, lōs.

alf

noun. flower

Cognates

• Q. alma “flower” ✧ PE17/153

Derivations

• √GALAB “flower” ✧ PE17/153
  • √GAL “grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, [ᴹ√] thrive” ✧ PE17/153

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√GAL-AB > alf	[alba] > [alva] > [alv]	✧ PE17/153

elanor

noun. a flower, a kind of enlarged pimpernel bearing golden and silver flowers

elloth

noun. (single) flower

lotheg

noun. (single) flower

ninglor

noun. golden water-flower, gladden

niphredil

noun. a pale winter flower, snowdrop

loss

snow

(construct los; pl. lyss if there is a pl.) (RGEO:61-62, Letters:278, VT42:18) (Note: homophones mean ”flower” [more commonly loth] and ”wilderness”.).

loss

snow

(fallen snow) loss (construct los; pl. lyss if there is a pl.) (RGEO:61-62, Letters:278, VT42:18) (Note: homophones mean ”flower” [more commonly loth] and ”wilderness”.).

gloss

white as snow, dazzling white

(in compounds -los), lenited ’loss; pl. glyss.  

lossen

snowy

(pl. lessin, for archaic lössin). Adj.

losta-

verb. to sleep

See instead: lor-.

lossoth

snow-men

(a coll. pl.)

loth

flower

loth, pl. lyth (but loth is also glossed ”blossom” and may itself function as a collective term: all the flowers of a plant. For individual flowers cf. the following:)

loth

flower

pl. lyth (but loth is also glossed ”blossom” and may itself function as a collective term: all the flowers of a plant. For individual flowers cf. the following:)

edlothia

flower

(verb) #edlothia- (i edlothia, in edlothiar) (to blossom);

edlothia

flower

(i edlothia, in edlothiar) (to blossom);

lotheg

single flower

lothod (”singulars” derived from the more collective term loth; it is unclear whether lotheg, lothod can themselves have ”plural” forms. If so it would be lethig, lethyd, for archaic löthig, löthyd.) (VT42:18, VT45:29) Another word for a single flower is elloth (pl. ellyth) (VT42:18). An alternative to loth is loss (construct los; pl. lyss), but the form loth seems to be more common (and loss also means ”fallen snow” and ”wilderness”).

gwaloth

collection of flowers

(i ’waloth) (blossom), pl. gwelyth (in gwelyth). Also goloth (i ’oloth) (blossom), pl. gelyth (i ngelyth = i ñelyth). Archaic pl. gölyth. (VT42:18). Specific flowers, see

edlothiad

flowering

(blossoming), pl. edlothiaid if there is a pl.**

nínim

snowdrop

(”white tear”), no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. nínimmath. – The niphredil seems to be a flower similar to the snowdrop (no distinct pl. form; coll. pl. niphrediliath)

los

root. LOS

lossē

noun. snow

Derivations

• √(G)LOS “snow, whiteness” ✧ PE17/161; VT42/18

Derivatives

• Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/161
• S. loss “snow” ✧ PE17/161

Variations

• loss- ✧ VT42/18

lotse

noun. flower

Derivations

• √LOT(H) “flower” ✧ VT42/18

Derivatives

• Q. lotsë “small (single) flower” ✧ VT42/18
• S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ VT42/18

(g)los

root. snow, whiteness

In Tolkien’s writing the root √(G)LOS is mostly used for “snow” but also for “white”. The earliest indications of this root are words from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as G. gloss “white, clear white”, G. glost “whiteness” and (possibly) G. glui “snow” (GL/40), indicating an (unattested) early root ✱ᴱ√LOSO of similar meaning. The (plural) adjective ᴱQ. losse “white” appears in the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem of the late 1920s (MC/213), indicating this root spread to other branches of the Elvish languages.

The first clear mention of this root is in The Etymologies of the 1930s where ᴹ√GOLOS is given as the basis for ᴹQ. olos(se) and N. gloss “snow, fallen snow” (Ety/GOLÓS). In later writings the root √LOS appears several times as the basis for snow words (PE17/26, 69, 160-161; RGEO/61). The last mention of this root is in notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, where Tolkien gave the root as √(G)LOS with the underlying meaning “white”, with two distinct Sindarin derivatives S. loss “snow” [noun] and S. gloss “snow white” [adj.] (VT42/18). Given this l/gl variation in Sindarin, likely the strengthened form √GLOS was a sporadic, Sindarin-only innovation.

Derivatives

• ✶lossē “snow” ✧ PE17/161; VT42/18
  • Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/161
  • S. loss “snow” ✧ PE17/161
• ✶lossĭ “snowy, snow-white” ✧ PE17/161
  • Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/161
• Q. lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy” ✧ PE17/026; RGEO/61; SA/los; VT42/18
• Q. lossë “inflorescence (of white flowers), [ᴹQ.] (white) blossom, flower, [ᴱQ.] (white) flower; [Q.] inflorescence (of white flowers); [ᴱQ.] rose” ✧ PE17/160
• ᴺQ. olotsë “collection of flowers”
• S. gloss “(dazzling) white, (dazzling) white, [N.] snow-white, [G.] clear white; [N.] snow” ✧ RGEO/61; VT42/18
• ᴺS. glosta- “to snow”
• S. glosui “snow white” ✧ PE17/161
• S. loss “snow” ✧ PE17/026; RGEO/61; SA/los; VT42/18

Element in

• Q. Oiolossë “Ever (Snow) White” ✧ PE17/069

Variations

• LŎS ✧ PE17/026; PE17/161
• LOS ✧ PE17/069; PE17/160; PE17/160; PE17/160; PE17/161
• los ✧ RGEO/61; SA/los

galab

root. flower

Derivations

• √GAL “grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, [ᴹ√] thrive” ✧ PE17/153

Derivatives

• Q. alalmë “inflorescence” ✧ PE17/153
• Q. alma “flower” ✧ PE17/153
• S. alf “flower” ✧ PE17/153

Variations

• GAL-AB ✧ PE17/153 (GAL-AB)

galmā

noun. flower

Derivations

• √GALAM “elm”
• √GAL “grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, grow (like plants), flourish, be healthy, be vigorous, bloom, [ᴹ√] thrive” ✧ PE17/153

Derivatives

• Q. alma “flower” ✧ PE17/153

lot(h)

root. flower

This root and ones like it were connected to flowers for all of Tolkien’s life. The earliest manifestation of this root was ᴱ√LOHO or ᴱ√LO’O from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s; the entry for ᴱ√LOHO appears immediately below ᴱ√LO’O, and Tolkien indicates they are related roots, both extended from ᴱ√OLO “tip” (QL/55). These roots include derivatives like ᴱQ. lōte “flower”, ᴱQ. lotōrea “flourishing” and ᴱQ. lokta- “sprout, bud, put forth leaves or flowers”. There are also derivatives of these roots in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon: G. lost “blossom, bloom”, G. lothli “floret”, G. luitha- “to bloom” (GL/54-55), though G. lôs “flower” was said to be unrelated, connected to G. lass “leaf” instead (GL/55). ᴱQ. losse “rose” probably had a similar derivation (QL/56).

This confusion of √LOT(H) and √LOS carried forward into Tolkien’s later writings. In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹ√LOT(H) was given as the root for “flower” (Ety/LOT(H)), but this entry originally included a variant ᴹ√LOS (EtyAC/LOT(H)). Tolkien then said ᴹQ. losse “blossom” (< ᴹ√LOT(H)) was “usually, owing to association with olosse snow, only used of white blossom” (Ety/LOT(H)), where ᴹQ. olosse was derived from ᴹ√GOLOS “✱snow, white” (Ety/GOLÓS). This intermingling carried forward into etymological notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s, where Tolkien said (PE17/26):

> The stems √LŎS, √LOTH, √LOT are much entangled both for formal reasons, and because of actual associations of meaning (probably from beginning of Primitive Quendian and explaining the approach of the forms). Quenya word for “flower, a single bloom” is lóte, but S loth (< lotho/a), but Quenya also has lōs. Q. for snow is losse (S los).

These associations were also mentioned in etymological notes on roots for flowers from this same period, where Tolkien clarified that √LOT, √LOTH were the roots for “flower” and √LOS for “snow” (PE17/160-161). These roots were mentioned again in notes associated with The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s (VT42/18):

> S. loss is a derivative of (G)LOS “white”; but loth is from LOT. Sindarin used loss as a noun, but the strengthened form gloss as an adjective “(dazzling) white”. loth was the only derivative of LOT that it retained, probably because other forms of the stem assumed a phonetic shape that seemed inappropriate, or were confusible with other stems (such as LUT “float”), e.g. ✱lod, ✱lûd. loth is from a diminutive lotse and probably also from derivative lotta-.

In this last note, Tolkien seems to have abandoned √LOTH, explaining S. loth “flower” as derived from √LOT via ✱lotse. In any case, starting in the 1930s Tolkien was consistent that the roots for “flower” and “snow” were distinct but often confused, and that snow-words were derived from roots like √(G)LOS and flower words from roots like √LOT(H), though he waffled a bit on the exact details.

Derivatives

• ✶loth “inflorescence” ✧ PE17/160
  • Q. lós “inflorescence, mass of flowers” ✧ PE17/160
  • S. lûth “blossom, inflorescence, blossom, inflorescence [on a single plant]” ✧ PE17/160
• ✶lotho/a “flower” ✧ PE17/026
  • S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ PE17/026
• ✶lotse “flower” ✧ VT42/18
  • Q. lotsë “small (single) flower” ✧ VT42/18
  • S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ VT42/18
• ✶lotta- “bloom” ✧ VT42/18
  • Q. losta- “to bloom, to bloom, *blossom” ✧ VT42/18
  • S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ VT42/18
• Q. lótë “flower, single blossom, flower, single blossom; [ᴱQ.] bloom” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/160; VT42/18
• Q. lotsë “small (single) flower” ✧ PE17/160
• Q. lós “inflorescence, mass of flowers” ✧ PE17/026
• ᴺS. losta- “to bloom, blossom”
• S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ PE17/160

Element in

• ✶ñwa-lōth “inflorescence, mass of flowers (on one plant)” ✧ PE17/160

Variations

• LOTH ✧ PE17/026; PE17/160; PE17/160; PE17/161
• LOT ✧ PE17/026; PE17/160; PE17/160; PE17/161; VT42/18

lotho/a

noun. flower

Derivations

• √LOT(H) “flower” ✧ PE17/026

Derivatives

• S. loth “flower, single blossom; inflorescence, head of small flowers” ✧ PE17/026

sris

root. snow

An apparently verbal root as √SRIS “snow” appearing in etymological notes from around 1959 with derivatives like Q. hrisse “fall of snow” and Q. hríza “it is snowing”; it replaced a deleted root √SRITH “snow” (PE17/168).

Derivatives

• Q. hriz- “to snow” ✧ PE17/168
• Q. hrissë “fall of snow” ✧ PE17/168

Element in

• Q. hristil “snow (?peak)” ✧ PE17/168

srith

root. snow

Derivatives

• Q. hrisya- “to snow (impersonal)” ✧ PE17/168

gloss

adjective. snow-white, dazzling-white

lhoth

noun. flower, inflorescence, a head of small flowers

The noun is collective, a single flower being lotheg

lothod

noun. (single) flower

lhothod

noun. (single) flower

nifredil

noun. a pale winter flower, snowdrop