(swift horse for riding) roch, pl. rych (idh rych) (Letters:282)
Sindarin
lum
noun. shade
gwath
noun. shade, shadow, dim light
gwath
noun. stain
gwâth
shade
roch
noun. horse, swift horse for riding
roch
horse
roch
noun. horse
The usual word for “horse” in Sindarin, a derivative of ✶rokkō (Let/282, 382) and very well attested. There are indications that this word was more specifically a “swift horse” (Let/382; EtyAC/ROK), but in most cases Tolkien used it generically.
Conceptual Development: The first precursor to this word seems to be G. brog “horse” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/24), though at the time it had no Qenya cognates. ᴱN. brog “horse” reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/139), but by The Etymologies of the 1930s it had become N. roch “horse”, already with the derivation given above (Ety/ROK; EtyAC/ROK). Tolkien seems to have mainly stuck with this form thereafter.
Cognates
- Q. rocco “horse” ✧ Let/178; Let/282; Let/382; SA/roch
Derivations
Element in
- S. Arroch “*Noble-horse”
- ᴺS. raebroch “zebra”
- S. Rochallor ✧ SA/roch
- S. Rochand “Rohan, Horse-country” ✧ Let/178; Let/382; RC/241; SA/roch; UT/318
- S. rochben “rider”
- S. Roch-cheruin “Steed of the Lady” ✧ PE17/097
- S. roch heryn “Lady(’s) horse” ✧ PE17/097
- S. rochir “knight, horse-lord” ✧ Let/178; Let/282
- S. Rochirrim “Horse-lords” ✧ UT/318
- S. roch na-heryna “the horse of (the) Lady” ✧ PE17/097
- S. Rohan “Riddermark, (lit.) Horse-country”
- S. Roheryn “Horse of the Lady” ✧ SA/roch
- S. Rohirrim “Horse-lords” ✧ Let/382; SA/roch
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶rokkō > roch [rokkō] > [rokko] > [rokkʰo] > [roxxo] > [roxx] > [rox] ✧ Let/282
lum
noun. shade, *a thing blocking light; [G.] [dark] cloud
fân
cloud
1) fân (veil, also used of the manifested body of a Vala), construct fan, pl. fain, 2) faun (pl. foen, coll. pl. fonath)
lobor
horse
lobor, analogical pl. lebyr (VT45:28)
(noun) 1) gwâth (i **wâth; construct gwath) (shadow, dim light), pl. gwaith (in gwaith) (UT:261), 2) dae (i dhae) (shadow), no distinct pl. form except with article (i nae), 3) lûm (pl. luim**).