Quenya 

luhta-

to bow

luhta- (2) vb. "to bow" (VT47:35); this intransitive verb can be distinguished from luhta- "enchant" above, since #1 is transitive and will always have a direct object, something #2 never has.

lóna

noun. (deep) pool, mere, river-feeding well

A noun lóna glossed “pool, mere” derived from the root √LON and distinct in origin from Sindarin lô “flood” < √LOG (VT42/10).

Conceptual Development: This word seems to be a remnant of Tolkien’s investigation into the origin of the river-name S. Lhûn (PE17/136-137; VT48/27-28), where Tolkien first considered having a related Quenya word hlōna “a river” (PE17/136), then another related word lōn(e) “deep pool or lake” (PE17/137), but this notion was rejected and Tolkien said:

> The stem (S)LOW- does not appear in Quenya, where it is replaced by √LŎNŎ, as in lōn/lōne (pl. lōni) “deep pool or river-feeding well” (PE17/137).

This word and its derivation seems to have reemerged as lóna “pool, mere” in the notes on The Rivers and Beacon-hills of Gondor from the late 1960s, as described above (VT42/10).

Changes

  • lōn → lōn “deep pool or lake” ✧ PE17/137
  • lōn → lōn “deep pool or lake” ✧ VT48/28

Derivations

  • ✶slōno “Lhûn” ✧ PE17/136; VT48/27
    • √LOW “flow freely (fully)” ✧ PE17/136; PE17/137; VT48/27; VT48/28
    • √LON “*haven, harbour” ✧ PE17/137; VT48/28
  • √LOW “flow freely (fully)” ✧ PE17/137; PE17/137; VT48/28; VT48/28
  • √LON “*haven, harbour” ✧ PE17/137; VT42/10; VT48/28

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
✶Slōnā > hlōna[slōnā] > [l̥ōnā] > [l̥ōna]✧ PE17/136
√LŎNŎ > lōn[lōn]✧ PE17/137
√LOW > lou > lū[low] > [lou] > [lū]✧ PE17/137
√LOW > lounē̆ > lūn[loune] > [loun] > [lūn]✧ PE17/137
√LON > lóna[lōna]✧ VT42/10

Variations

  • hlōna ✧ PE17/136 (hlōna); VT48/27 (hlōna)
  • lōn ✧ PE17/137 (lōn); PE17/137; VT48/28; VT48/28 (lōn)
  • lōne ✧ PE17/137 (lōne); PE17/137; VT48/28; VT48/28
  • lū ✧ PE17/137; VT48/28
  • lūn ✧ PE17/137; VT48/28
Quenya [PE17/136; PE17/137; VT42/10; VT48/27; VT48/28] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Sindarin 

-lo

lū

suff. Q. lū.

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:137] < LOW. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

law

lū

Q. lū.

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:137] < LOW. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

cû

noun. bow, bow; [N.] arch, crescent; [G.] waxing or waning moon

Cognates

  • Q. cúma “[unglossed]” ✧ PE17/122

Derivations

  • ✶kūma ✧ PE17/122
    • √KU(H) “bow, [ᴱ√] bend”

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
✶kūma > cû(f)[kūma] > [kūm] > [kūv] > [kū]✧ PE17/122

Variations

  • cû(f) ✧ PE17/122
  • Cú ✧ S/209
  • cú ✧ SA/cú
Sindarin [PE17/122; S/209; SA/cú] Group: Eldamo. Published by

peng

bow

(i beng, o pheng), pl. ping (i phing)

cû

bow

(i gû, o chû) (arch, crescent), pl. cui (i chui)

eilian

rainbow

(pl. eiliain). Archaic elianw (so the coll. pl. may be eilianwath).

Telerin 

lú

noun. bow

Derivations

  • ✶lū “bow, curve” ✧ VT47/12
    • ✶luʒu “*bow” ✧ VT47/35

Variations

  • lū ✧ VT47/12

Primitive elvish

lū

noun. bow, curve

Derivations

  • ✶luʒu “*bow” ✧ VT47/35

Derivatives

  • T. lú “bow” ✧ VT47/12
  • T. lúta- “to bow, bend” ✧ VT47/12

Variations

  • lû ✧ VT47/34 (lû); VT47/35
Primitive elvish [VT47/12; VT47/34; VT47/35] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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!

Qenya 

kú

noun. bow, bow; [ᴱQ.] crescent moon

Cognates

  • N. cû “arch, crescent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶kuu̯ “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
    • ᴹ√KU(Ʒ) “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Element in

  • ᴺQ. cungandë “violin, (lit.) bow-harp”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶kuu̯ > kú[kuɣ] > [kū]✧ Ety/KUƷ

Middle Primitive Elvish

lu

root. *time

This root and ones like it were the basis for time words throughout Tolkien’s life. The earliest appearance of this root was as ᴱ√LUHU or ᴱ√LU’U (the latter marked by Tolkien with a “?”) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed but with derivatives like ᴱQ. lú “24 hours, day” and ᴱQ. lúme “time” (QL/56). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon like G. lu “occasion, time” and G. lust “time; tide; weather” (GL/55). It appeared as unglossed ᴹ√LU in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. lú “a time, occasion”, ᴹQ. lúme “time”, and their Noldorin cognate N. lhû (Ety/LU).

The Etymologies had a distinct root ᴹ√ULU “pour, flow” (Ety/ULU). It was not explicity connected to ᴹ√LU in this 1930s document, but in notes from around 1959 Tolkien said lūmē “time” was derived from √ULU “flow” (PE17/168), so it is likely that √LU is an inversion of this more basic root.

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. lú “time, occasion, time, occasion; [ᴱQ.] 24 hours, day” ✧ Ety/LU
  • Q. lúmë “time, period of time, hour”
  • ᴹQ. lúme “time, hour” ✧ Ety/LU
  • ᴺQ. lúta- “to have time pass”
  • ᴺS. lû “time, occasion”
  • N. lhû “time, occasion” ✧ Ety/LU
  • ᴺS. lúda- “to pass (of time); to come to pass, occur”

Element in

Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KWET; Ety/LU; Ety/NAR²; Ety/YA] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kub

root. bow

Middle Primitive Elvish Group: Eldamo. Published by

kuu̯

noun. bow

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KU(Ʒ) “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. kú “bow, bow; [ᴱQ.] crescent moon” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • N. cû “arch, crescent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Variations

  • kuw ✧ EtyAC/KUƷ
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KUƷ; EtyAC/KUƷ] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ku(ʒ)

root. bow

The root ᴹ√KU(Ʒ) “bow” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/KUƷ), most likely a later version of ᴱ√KUVU “bend, bow” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/49). One notable derivative in both periods was G. cû “bow, crescent” and N. cû “arch, crescent”, which regularly appeared as S. cû “bow” in later writings, for example in S. Laer Cú Beleg “Song of the Great Bow” (GL/27; Ety/KUƷ; S/209).

The probably-related root ᴹ√KUB “bow” appeared in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/102); ᴹQ. nukumna “humbled (?under-bowed)” from this period may also be related (SD/246). In notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien gave ✶kūma, Q. cúma and S. cû(f) next to Q. lúva “bow, bight (not for shooting)” < √LUB “bend”, so presumably cúma/cû was “bow (for shooting)” (PE17/122). Finally Q. cúna “bent, curved” appeared in notes associated with the version of the Q. Markirya poem from the late 1960s, along with a verb form cúna- “to bend” (MC/222-223).

These variations make it difficult to determine what Tolkien intended the root to mean, but for purposes of Neo-Eldarin I would assume a base root of √KU(Ʒ) or √KU(H) with perhaps a verbal variant √KUB based on its use in the 1940s, and with the primitive sense “bow, bend”.

Derivatives

  • ᴹ✶kuʒnā “bowed, bow-shaped, bent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
    • Ilk. caun “bowed, bow-shaped, bent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
    • Dan. cogn “bowed, bow-shaped, bent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
    • N. cûn “bowed, bow-shaped, bent, bowed, bent, bow-shaped, [G.] concave” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • ᴹ✶kuu̯ “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
    • ᴹQ. kú “bow, bow; [ᴱQ.] crescent moon” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
    • N. cû “arch, crescent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • ᴹQ. kuv- “to bow” ✧ PE22/102

Element in

  • ᴹ✶kuʒnā “bowed, bow-shaped, bent”
  • ᴹQ. nukumna “humbled”

Variations

  • KUƷ ✧ Ety/KUƷ; EtyAC/KWIG
  • KU ✧ Ety/KWIG
  • KUB ✧ PE22/102
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KUƷ; Ety/KWIG; EtyAC/KWIG; PE22/102] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

lu

noun. occasion, time

Cognates

  • Eq. lú “24 hours, day”

Derivations

  • ᴱ√LUHU “*time”
Gnomish [GL/55; LT1A/Lúmin] Group: Eldamo. Published by

quing

noun. bow

cwing

noun. bow

Derivations

Element in

Variations

  • Quing ✧ PE13/104; PE13/104
Gnomish [GL/28; LT2A/Teld Quing Ilon; PE13/104] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Primitive Elvish

luhu

root. *time

Derivatives

  • Eq. lú “24 hours, day” ✧ QL/056
  • Eq. luin “ago” ✧ QL/056
  • Eq. luksima “fleeting, fading, temporary” ✧ QL/056
  • Eq. lukta “period” ✧ QL/056
  • Eq. lúme “time” ✧ QL/056
  • Eq. lúmen “year, period” ✧ QL/056
  • Eq. lúta- “to have time pass” ✧ QL/056; QL/056
  • Eq. lunde “(lunar) month; (lit.) period” ✧ QL/056
  • G. lu “occasion, time”
  • G. lûtha- “to pass (of time); to come to pass, occur”
  • G. luin “gone, past; ago”
  • G. lûm “time”
  • G. lust “weather; tide; time”

Element in

  • Eq. -lukse “-times” ✧ QL/056

Variations

  • LU’U ✧ QL/056 (LU’U)
Early Primitive Elvish [QL/056] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

lu

pronoun. dual 2

Variations

  • lu- ✧ PE14/085
Early Quenya [PE14/085] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lú

noun. 24 hours, day

Cognates

  • G. lu “occasion, time”

Derivations

  • ᴱ√LUHU “*time” ✧ QL/056

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√LUHU > lū[lux] > [luɣ] > [lū]✧ QL/056

Variations

  • lū ✧ PME/056; QL/056
Early Quenya [PME/056; QL/056] Group: Eldamo. Published by

qinga

noun. bow

Derivations

  • ᴱ√QINGI “*bow” ✧ QL/077

Element in

  • Eq. iluqinga “rainbow” ✧ LT1A/Ilweran

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√QINGI > qinga[kʷiŋgā] > [kʷiŋga]✧ QL/077
Early Quenya [LT1A/Ilweran; PME/077; QL/077] Group: Eldamo. Published by