*naub (pl. noeb). The spelling used in the source is nawb (VT48:5). Dual nobad, used of the thumb and the index finger grouped together in the act of picking something (VT48:5, 6). In childrens play the thumb was also called atheg, ”little father” (pl. ethig) (VT48:6, 17)
Sindarin
naub
noun. thumb
Cognates
- Q. nápo “thumb, (lit.) picker” ✧ VT48/05
Derivations
- √NAP “take (hold), pick up, grasp, seize quickly (with fingers)”
Element in
- S. nobad “thumb and index finger as a pair, *(lit.) pickers”
Variations
- nawb ✧ VT48/05
nawb
noun. thumb
lebed
noun. thumb
Cognates
- Q. lepta “fingered; thumb, fingered; thumb, [ᴱQ.] finger” ✧ VT47/27
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶lepet(ā) > lebed [lepetā] > [lepeta] > [lepet] > [lepet] > [lebed] ✧ VT47/27
naub
thumb
A word for the thumb given as nawb in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from 1968 (VT48/5), clearly based on the root √NAP “pick up” (VT47/29). Its dual form nobad was used to refer to the “thumb and index [finger] as a pair” (VT48/5).
Conceptual Development: In rough drafts of these notes, Tolkien used lebed for “thumb, picker” from primitive ✶lepet(ā) (VT47/27). In early writings N. lhebed was instead “finger” (Ety/LEP), and its use for “thumb” was likely a transient idea.