mī

root. *one

mī

root. in

miros’w̯or-

noun. miros’w̯or-

misi

root. mingere, *to urinate

miri

root. smile

mili

root. *seed

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. mile “seed” and ᴱQ. milnar(wa) “sown field” (QL/61). The root ᴱ√mil was also given as the basis for G. mail “flour” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, though this Gnomish word was marked with a “?” (GL/56). There are no signs of this root having similar meanings in Tolkien’s later writing.

mimi

root. *flesh

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. mimbe “flesh” and ᴱQ. mindl “piece of flesh” (QL/61). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

miqi

root. kiss

The root ᴱ√MIQI “kiss” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. miq- “to kiss” and ᴱQ. miqele “kissing” (QL/61). Derivatives also appeared in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. mib “a little kiss, a peck” and G. mictha- “kiss, bill” (GL/57). The word ᴱQ. miqilitse “little or tender kiss” appeared in the ᴱQ. Nieninqe poem from the 1920s (MC/215; PE16/90, 92). Tolkien created a new version of this poem in 1955 and reused many of the same words, including Q. mikwi- “kiss” and Q. miquelis “(soft, sweet) kiss” (PE16/96); the latter also appeared as ᴹQ. miqilis “kiss” in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/33). These later examples support the ongoing validity of this root, perhaps as ✱√MIKW.

mini

root. *tower

mini

root. *small, less

miniyā

adjective. fine, slender

imi

root. in, into

miki Reconstructed

root. *little

seke

root. mid

A root form indicated in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s by an element in primitive ᴱ✶sek’·ðana “midday” > G. saidhon “noon” (GL/66), with further derivatives like G. seg “point, middle point” and G. sectha- “aim at” given later in the document (GL/67). It might be a variant of ᴱ√MEKE the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon of similar meaning (QL/60). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

austakalende

noun. mid-summer’s day

míye

noun. mist, drizzle

mẓđē

noun. mist

sek’·ðana

noun. midday

hisi

root. *mist, dimness

mṛtyṛ

root. smile

ṣqṣ

root. *fog, mist

maþa

root. dusk

This root was given as ᴱ√MASA¹ “dusk” in its main entry in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but its Gnomish form math- indicates the true root was ᴱ√MAÞA (QL/59). This was clarified in a list of roots at the end of the M-section in the Qenya Lexicon (QL/63) and its representation as maþ- in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/59). Its most notable use in the Legendarium was in the name G. Umboth-muilin “Pools (muil-plural) of Twilight (umboth)”, where G. umboth or umbath “nightfall” was derived from a strengthened form of the root, ᴱ√mbaþ- (GL/75). However, in later writings this name was reconceived as Ilk. Umboth Muilin “Veiled (muilin) Pool (umboth)”, with the first element umboth meaning “large pool” (Ety/MBOTH, MUY). The name was ultimately replaced with S. Aelin-uial (S/114), by which point the early root ᴱ√MAÞA was long abandoned.

mḷgo

noun. *oil

The primitive form ᴱ✶mḷgo appeared in Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s serving as the basis for various “oil” words (PE13/139). It may have replaced ᴱ√ILI “shine oily” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/42), and may in turn have been replaced by √LIP “oil” from a list of roots from 1968 (VT44/15), though in this list √LIP had no derivatives.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is worth positing a Neo-Eldarin root √MILIG to salvage derivatives of 1920s ᴱ✶mḷgo.

uqu

root. wet

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “wet”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. úqa “wet” and ᴱQ. úqil “rain” (QL/98). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. ub⁽⁾ “wet” and G. uch “rain” (GL/74). In later writings Tolkien used different roots for “wet”.

huyu Speculative

root. *fog

A hypothetical early root explaining the words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as G. huir “foggy” and G. huith “fog” (GL/49). It may have been a variant of ᴱ√ǶUẎU “✱night” (QL/41).

iti Speculative

root. precious

A hypothetical root to explain words in the Gnomish Lexicon such as G. idra “dear, valued, precious” and G. idril “sweetheart”, the latter being the earliest etymology of the name G. Idril (GL/50). For the later etymologies of this name and the possible conceptual evolution of the root, see the entries for √IR “desire” and √IT “glitter, shine, shimmer, twinkle”.

-yǝ

suffix. [unglossed]

pini

root. *small

smeigé

noun. crumb

ḷ-

prefix. negative prefix

daı̯al-

verb. play

ini

root. small

lefe

root. half

lehe

root. half

lepse

?. [unglossed]

lopse

?. [unglossed]

mat-

verb. to eat

mele

root. love

nele

root. point

piki

root. *small

pī

root. *small

saw̯a

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/82), which may have reemerged as √SAWA “disgusting, foul, vile” in notes from the 1950s (PE17/172, 183).

sivi

root. [unglossed]

Unglossed roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SIVI and ᴱ√SIWI and a single unglossed derivative ᴱQ. sivilda (QL/84). It is difficult to guess what Tolkien intended for these forms to mean, though they conceivably reemerged as the later roots ᴹ√SIW “excite, egg on, urge” (Ety/SIW) or √SIB “rest, quiet” (VT44/35).

sleiwa

adjective. pale

teled-

noun. [unglossed]

tołᵂo

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s illustrating a hypothetical series of ancient lateral approximants, with derived roots like ᴱ√TOLO and ᴱ√TOẆO [with ẇ = ɣʷ] (PE12/16). The former appeared in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as the basis for island words (QL/94), but the latter appeared nowhere else in Early Qenya writings.

toẇo

root. [unglossed]

tḷkḷ

root. [unglossed]

t’lépe

noun. silver

t’lḗpe

noun. butter

yn̄t

adjective. large

sata Speculative

root. value

vo(no) Reconstructed

root. son