nis

root. woman

This root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√NIS “woman”, an extension of ᴹ√NĪ “female” (Ety/NIS). It also had a strengthened form ᴹ√NDIS, unglossed but apparently meaning “bride” based on its derivatives ᴹQ. indis/N. dîs of that meaning (Ety/NDIS). Unstrengthened ᴹ√NIS seems to have survived only in Quenya as the basis for ᴹQ. nis (niss-) “woman”, but this word was also blended with ✱ndis-sē to produce a longer form nisse of the same meaning.

In Tolkien’s later writings, both short Q. nís and longer nissë appeared as words for “woman” (MR/213; VT47/33) and Q. indis reappeared as well, though glossed “wife” (UT/8). As primitive forms, both unstrengthened √nis (VT47/33) and strengthened ✶ndī̆s “woman” also appeared in later writings, the latter given as the feminine equivalent of ✶[[p|n[d]ēr]] “man” (PE19/102).

Derivatives

• ✶ndī̆s “*bride, [ᴹ✶] bride”
  • Q. indis “wife, [ᴹQ.] bride; [Q.] wife”
• ✶nīs “woman, female person”
  • Q. nís “woman”
• Q. nillë “small [woman]” ✧ VT47/33
• Q. nís “woman” ✧ VT47/18; VT47/33
• Q. nisto “large woman” ✧ VT47/33

Variations

• nis- ✧ VT47/18
• nis ✧ VT47/33

tig

root. [unglossed]

A root appearing in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 as the basis for the verb Q. tinga- “go (for a long while)” (PE22/157). The etymology was marked with an “X” and so was probably a transient idea (PE22/157 note #70).

Derivatives

• Q. tinga- “to go (for a long while)” ✧ PE22/157

phut

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root appearing in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) as an etymological variation of √PUT (PE18/90).

stuk

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in a rejected section of the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s, serving to illustration certain phonetic developments: ✶stuknā > Q. thúna (PE19/86).

Derivatives

• ✶stuknā ✧ PE19/086
  • Q. þúna “[unglossed]” ✧ PE19/086

lemek

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s illustrating certain phonetic combinations (PE19/98), and therefore possibly not a “real” root.

sal

root. [unglossed], *harp(ing), lyre

The unglossed root ᴱ√SALA appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. salma “lyre, small harp” and ᴱQ. salumbe “harping, music” (QL/81). The root √SAL appeared again Common Eldarin: Verb Structure from the early 1950s to illustrate the reformed perfect form of its verb Q. asálie (PE22/132), but since these later forms are unglossed it is unclear whether they have the same meaning (“✱harp(ing)”) as the earlier version of the root.

Derivatives

• Q. sal- “[unglossed]” ✧ PE22/133

nith Reconstructed

root. smell sweet

A hypothetical root serving as the basis for the element nis- in late Quenya words like Q. nísima “fragrant” in Nísimaldar “Fragrant Trees” (UT/167); the root must be ✱√NITH rather than ✱✱√NIS because otherwise the Quenya forms would have nir-. It may be a later iteration of ᴱ√NṚŘṚ [NṚÐṚ] “smell sweet” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, given as nṛþ- in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/30). This early ð vs þ variation was reflected in words like ᴱQ. nar (nard-) vs. G. narth “odour” and ᴱQ. narda- “smell sweetly” vs. G. drith- “it smells, smacks of, savours of”.

Another possibly related form is ✶nes- “sweet smelling” < √NE “scent” serving as the basis for Q. alanessë and S. galanes > galenas “tobacco” = “✱sweet smelling growth” in notes on the words and phrases in The Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/100).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I’d recommend sticking with ✱√NITH for sweet smelling, as this form has been known for longer and produces clearer results in derived words.

Derivatives

• Q. nis- “*to smell sweetly”
• ᴺQ. nisilë “fragrance, perfume”

Element in

• ᴺQ. nista- “to perfume”
• ᴺQ. niswa “censer”

graw Reconstructed

root. [unglossed], [ᴹ√] dark, swart

This root appeared as a primitive form grawa serving as the basis of the word Q. roa “bear” >> “dog” in notes on monosyllabic roots from 1968 (VT47/35); a Sindarin derivative S. graw “bear” appeared in other notes written around the same time (VT47/12). Patrick Wynne suggested that in the sense “bear” grawa might be connected to the root ᴹ√GRAWA “dark, swart” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/GRAWA).

Derivatives

• ✶grawa “dog” ✧ VT47/35
  • Q. röa “dog” ✧ VT47/35
• ✶grā “dog, bear” ✧ VT47/35
  • S. graw “bear” ✧ VT47/12

Variations

• grāw(ɜ) ✧ VT47/35 (grāw(ɜ))