Primitive elvish
mel
root. love, love, [ᴹ√] love (as friend)
Derivatives
- ✶melā- “to love”
- Q. mel- “to love”
- ✶melnā “dear, beloved” ✧ PE17/041
- Q. emel “love [abstract]” ✧ NM/016
- Q. málo “friend, comrade” ✧ PE18/096
- Q. méla “loving, affectionate” ✧ VT39/10
- Q. meldë “*friend (f.)”
- Q. meldo “friend, lover”
- Q. melmë “love (a particular case [between two people])” ✧ NM/016
- ᴺQ. melta- “to enamour”
- ᴺQ. melu- “to fall in love”
- Q. melya- “[unglossed], *to be in love”
- S. mellon “friend” ✧ SA/mel
- T. mála “loving, affectionate” ✧ VT39/10
Element in
- ✶Melyanna “Dear Gift” ✧ SA/mel
- Q. meletheldë “love-sister” ✧ NM/016
- Q. melotorno “love-brother” ✧ NM/016
Variations
- mel ✧ NM/016; NM/020
- mel- ✧ SA/mel
melā
verb. love
ndilā
verb. love, be devoted to
This root was the basis for Elvish “love” words for all of Tolkien’s life. The root first appeared as ᴱ√MELE “love” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. mel- “to love”, ᴱQ. meles(se) “love”, and ᴱQ. melin “dear, beloved” (QL/60). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had similar derivatives like G. mel- “love” and G. melon “dear, beloved” (GL/57).
In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien specified that ᴹ√MEL meant “love (as friend)”, and for the first time it included the derivative N. mellon “friend” (Ety/MEL); Gnomish “friend” words from the 1910s were mostly based on G. ged (GL/38). However, the same entry included ᴹQ. melindo/ᴹQ. melisse “lover” (male and female), so it seems even in the 1930s it could refer to romantic love (Ety/MEL). The root continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings associated with “love” (PE18/46, 96; PE17/41; VT39/10).
In notes from 1959, Tolkien elaborated on the precise sense of √MEL and its role in romantic and non-romantic love:
Thus √MEL was close in sense to Greek “philia”, used of friendship, whereas √YER was used of “eros” or sexual desire. But in Elvish thinking, √MEL was essential for romantic love, and √YER only arose from that. Furthermore, √YER was not the most important element in the love between romantic partners, as the period of procreation and child-rearing took up a relatively small portion of Elvish lives. It was the more enduring feeling of friendship between lovers that really mattered, and thus √MEL was used of both non-romantic and romantic love, though it had not particular sexual connotation.