nengwe

noun. nose

A word for “nose” in The Etymologies written around 1937, derived from ᴹ√NEÑ-WI (Ety/NEÑ-WI), an elaboration of the shorter root ᴹ√NEÑ (EtyAC/NEÑ-WI). Given its primitive form, its stem ought to be nengwi-, but in attested compounds this word is consistently nengwe-, so perhaps Tolkien changed his mind on its primitive form.

Conceptual Development: The earliest percursor to this word seems to be ᴱQ. nen (neng-) “nostril” in several documents from the 1920s (PE14/72; PE15/75; PE16/113), whose dual nenqi was also used for a “nose” of one person (PE14/76; PE15/75). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, Tolkien had nin (ning-) “beak, nose” < ᴹ✶nengǝ (PE21/26), though this phonetic shift of short e to i is rather unusual and seems to be limited to this document.

Cognates

• N. nem “nose” ✧ Ety/NEÑ-WI
• Ilk. nîw “nose” ✧ Ety/NEÑ-WI

Derivations

• ᴹ✶neñwi “nose” ✧ Ety/NEÑ-WI
  • ᴹ√NEÑ “*nose” ✧ EtyAC/NEÑ-WI

Element in

• ᴹQ. nengwea “nasal” ✧ Ety/NEÑ-WI
• ᴹQ. nengwetanwa “nasal-infixed”
• ᴹQ. nengwetehta “nasal sign” ✧ PE22/011
• ᴺQ. nenquet- “to condescend, (orig.) speak down the nose”
• ᴺQ. nungwë “cold (in the nose or head)”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶NEÑ-WI > nengwe	[neŋwi] > [neŋgwi] > [neŋgwe]	✧ Ety/NEÑ-WI

nin

noun. nose, beak

Derivations

• ᴹ✶nengǝ “beak, nose” ✧ PE21/26
  • ᴹ√NEÑ “*nose”