Primitive elvish

nimpĭ

adjective. small

Derivations

  • NIP “small (usually with connotation of weakness)” ✧ VT48/18

Derivatives

  • S. nimp “pale, pallid, white, pale, pallid, white; small and frail, [ᴱN.] wan, sickly” ✧ VT48/18
    • S. nim “white” ✧ SA/nim
Primitive elvish [VT48/18] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ninkĭ

adjective. small

Derivations

  • NIK “small” ✧ VT48/18
Primitive elvish [VT48/18] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ninkwi

adjective. white, pale

Derivations

  • NIK(W) “(also of) snow, ice, snow, ice; *white” ✧ PE17/168

Derivatives

  • Q. ninquë “white; chill, cold; pallid”
  • S. nim “white” ✧ PE17/168
  • At. nimbi “white”
    • S. nim “white” ✧ PE17/019
    • T. nimbi “white”

Element in

Variations

  • nimpĭ ✧ PE17/168
  • ninqui ✧ PE17/186
  • niñkwi ✧ PE22/135
Primitive elvish [PE17/168; PE17/186; PE22/135] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nik

root. small

One of various roots for “small” Tolkien used in his later writings. The root √NIK “small” first appeared in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s (VT47/26; VT48/18), but was connected to the diminutive suffix ✶-i(n)ki which had a much longer conceptual history. One of the earliest known diminutive suffix was ᴱQ. -íne(a) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s from the root ᴱ√INI “small” (QL/42), which might be a precursor to √NIK; these suffixes reappeared in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s (PE14/49, 81). In the Gnomish Grammar of the 1910s, the word G. inc “small” was used as the basis for the “diminutive superlative” -inci (PE11/16).

In the Qenya Lexicon, Tolkien connected ᴱ√INI “small” to the root ᴱ√MINI of similar meaning (QL/42, 61). There are no signs of ᴱ√MINI “small” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, but the word G. migin “little” (GL/57) hints at a (hypothetical) variant root ✱ᴱ√MIKI. Further support for ✱ᴱ√MIKI can be found in other diminutive forms in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s such as prefixal diminutive ᴱQ. mike- along adverbial ᴱQ. mike “little” (QL/48, 81), the latter appearing with the gloss “a bit” in the English-Qenya Dictionary from this period (PE15/70) along with other similar words in both the dictionary and the grammar. This ✱ᴱ√MIKI might be another precursor to √NIK. An early hint at √NIK itself might appear in the word ᴹQ. nikse “minnow, little fish” from the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/27).

In Noldorin and Sindarin, the primary diminutive suffix became -eg, which was connected to the Common Eldarin suffix -iki elsewhere in notes on hands and fingers (VT47/14 note #21). In the notes where √NIK “small” appeared in the late 1960s, Tolkien gave the primitive diminutive as -inkĭ along with variants ikki, -iksi, -si, -ensi, -ki.

One of the main competing roots for “small” was ᴹ√PIK [see the entry for √PI(N)], itself with a lengthy conceptual history. The shift of pitya >> nitya “little” in the father name of Amrod from the late 1960s may represent a replacement of √PIK by √NIK (PM/365), but I think it is likelier the two roots coexisted with slightly different meanings, as was the case for their earlier precursors. In the notes from the late 1960s, √NIK was also contrasted with √NIP “small (usually with connotation of weakness)” (VT48/18), from which the word S. niben “petty” was derived, as in S. Nogoth Niben (WJ/388).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume √NIK meant “small” in a neutral sense, √PIK “tiny” (along with variants √ and √PIN) and √NIP “small and weak”. I would use these as the major Eldarin roots for “small” words, along with a number of other more specialized roots.

Derivatives

  • -i(n)ki “diminutive suffix” ✧ VT47/26; VT48/18
    • Q. -incë “diminutive ending”
    • S. -eg “diminutive/singular ending”
  • ninkĭ “small” ✧ VT48/18
  • Q. níca “little, small” ✧ VT47/26; VT48/18
  • ᴺQ. nihta “piece, bit (of indeterminate size)”
  • ᴺQ. nihta- “to reduce, make small”
  • ᴹQ. nikse “minnow, little fish”
  • Q. nitya “little”
  • S. niged “little finger”
  • ᴺS. nigol “mouse, (lit.) small one”
  • ᴺS. nítha- “to reduce, make small”
  • T. nícë “little finger”

Element in

  • niktil “little [finger]” ✧ VT47/26

Variations

  • nik ✧ VT47/26; VT48/18
Primitive elvish [VT47/26; VT48/18] Group: Eldamo. Published by