máma noun "sheep" (WJ:395)
Quenya
máma
noun. sheep
máma
sheep
mámandil
sheep-friend
mámandil noun *"sheep-friend" (máma + -ndil), i.e. "shepherd"? (UT:209)
Primitive elvish
māmā
noun. sheep
mbā
noun. sheep
Sindarin
maf
noun. sheep
A neologism for “sheep” coined by Elaran in 2022 on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), derived from a variant form ✱mămā of primitive ✶māmā “sheep”, the basis of Q. máma “sheep”. This is only one of various possibilities for neologisms for “sheep”: in VQP (VQP) Gábor Lőrinczi suggested ᴺS. maw “sheep” as a direct cognate of Q. máma, and Fiona Jallings suggested ᴺS. ✱baw as a derivative of ✶mbāba, a primitive form that appeared on VT47/35. Both maw and baw have other meanings in Sindarin, however. I used to recommend a word of my own, bam from a reduplicated primitive form ✱mbambā, but I now prefer Elaran’s suggestion of maf.
maw
noun. sheep
bam
noun. sheep
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!
Gnomish
moth
noun. sheep
A noun for “sheep” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s given as {mô >>} moth (GL/58), likely derived from the early root ᴱ√MAWA “cry, bleat” that was the basis for “sheep” words in Early Qenya (QL/60).
Early Quenya
moa
noun. sheep
sauve
noun. sheep
A word for “sheep” appearing in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 as a derivative of ✶māmā (WJ/395). It appeared again in notes from 1968 as a derivative of ✶mbāba (VT47/35), apparently with some amount of assimilation since the second primitive b > m as suggested by Patrick Wynne (VT47/36).
Conceptual Development: A similar word ᴱQ. moa “sheep” appeared in both the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s, in the former under the entry for the early root ᴱ√MAWA “cry, bleat” (QL/60). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, the word for “sheep” was instead ᴱQ. sauve (PE16/132).