not

root. count, reckon

This root was the basis for Elvish words for “counting” for much of Tolkien’s life. The earliest indications of the root are in primitive ᴱ✶notta > ᴱN. noth “number” in Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s, along with related words like ᴱN. gonod- “count” (PE13/145, 151); the revision of noth “number” to nath may represent some uncertainty on its initial form, but it seems Tolkien restored noth in a marginal note (PE13/150, 151).

The root reappeared as ᴹ√NOT “count, reckon” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with a number of derivatives of similar meaning, the most notable being N. arnœdiad or arnediad “innumerable, countless, endless” (Ety/NOT) as in Nirnaeth Arnoediad “[Battle of] Tears Unnumbered”, a name Tolkien introduced in the 1930s and retained thereafter with minor variations: Nirnaith vs. Nirnaeth, Arnediad vs. Arnoediad. The root √NOT itself appeared several times in Tolkien’s later writings (PE17/62; PE19/86), most notably as the basis for Q. únótima “numberless” from the Q. Namárië poem (LotR/377).

nōto

noun. number in counting, numeral

notmē

noun. calculation, a sum

la

root. no, not; negative; not to be

An invertible root, √LA or √ALA, used for negation. Its earliest iteration was as the primitive negative prefix ᴱ✶ḷ- from the 1910s (GL/50; PE12/11; QL/97). Its first appearance as ᴹ√LA “no, not” was in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/LA), and it regularly appeared in documents from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Tolkien then abandoned this form of negation in 1959 (PE17/143), but restored it again around 1969 (PE22/160) only to abandon it again shortly after (VT44/4). For a full history of Tolkien’s shifting conceptions of negation in Elvish, see the Quenya entry on the negative.

umu

root. not, expressing privation, not, expressing privation; [ᴹ√] negative stems

The roots √UMU and variant √UGU were often assigned a negative sense, either as elaborations on the base root negative √Ū or sometimes (especially in the case of √UGU) serving as its source. The earliest iteration of these more elaborate negative roots was ᴱ√UMU or ᴱ√UVU in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like the negative verb ᴱQ. um- or ᴱQ. uv- as well as ᴱQ. ūvanimo “monster” (QL/98); ᴱQ. munta “nothing” from the Qenya Grammar of the 1920s was probably related (PE14/48, 81).

The Etymologies of the 1930s had negative stems ᴹ√UMU and ᴹ√UGU with derivatives like the negative verb ᴹQ. um- as well as ᴹQ. úmea “evil” (Ety/UGU; UMU). This document also had inverted forms ᴹ√MŪ and ᴹ√GŪ, the latter the basis for the negative prefix ᴹQ. ú- with a bad or evil connotation (Ety/GŪ; MŪ). Finally both √UMU and √UGU were mentioned a number of times in later writings in connection to negation (PE17/143, 172; VT49/29). See the entry on negative √Ū and the entry on Quenya negation for further information.

alfirīne

adjective. not dying

hek-wā

preposition and adverb. leaving aside, not counting, excluding, except

lasa

adverb. not it = it is/was not so

lā-

verb. to not be

ndī

preposition. beneath, not touching, under

nuktā-

verb. stunt, prevent from coming to completion, stop short, not allow to continue

(au)be

adverb. not so

ala

root. no, not; negative; not to be

heke

adverb. apart, not including

imme utūlijēr lá isse

we have come, not he

lā̆-ni

I (am/do) not, not me

srab

root. wild, not tamed/domesticated

ken

root. see, perceive, note, see, perceive, note, [ᴹ√] look at, observe, direct gaze

Tolkien first introduced this root in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a variant of ᴹ√KHEN “look at, see, observe, direct gaze” along with ᴹ√KYEN (EtyAC/KHEN). In The Etymologies it had no derivatives, but in the Quenya Verbal System it appeared with the gloss “see, perceive” as the basis for the verb ᴹQ. ken- of the same meaning (PE22/103). √KEN “see, perceive” appeared regularly in Tolkien’s writing thereafter (PE17/156, 187; PE22/155; VT41/5).

ug

root. dislike

In a 1969 essay on negation, Tolkien restored √LA as basis for the “negative of fact”, and altered the meaning of Q. ú to be “bad, uneasy, hard” as a sort of “negative with a bad sense” based on this new root √UG “dislike” (PE22/160). This is similar to the usage of these ú-forms in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where the root ᴹ√GŪ was a negative root, but its derivative ᴹQ. ú- was “not (with evil connotation)” (Ety/GŪ), though in the 1930s it seems to have been a true negative, as opposed to 1969 where it meant “difficult” or “impossible”. See the entry on the Quenya negative for a more information on the conceptual development of this and other negative roots.

tuntu

root. *notice, perceive

teg

root. line

Tolkien used a number of similar roots as the basis for “line” words throughout his life. The earliest of these appeared in the Qenya Lexicon as ᴱ√TEHE [teχe] “pull” (gloss marked with a “?” by Tolkien) with derivatives like ᴱQ. tea “straight”, ᴱQ. telya “attractive; importunate”, and ᴱQ. tie “line, direction, route, road” (QL/90), the last of these surviving more or less unchanged all the way into the published version of The Lord of the Rings (LotR/377). The early root ᴱ√TEHE also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. tê “mark, line; track; path”, G. tî or tion “straight”, and G. tîr “honest; esteem, regard, honour”, originally “straight, upright” (GL/69, 71). Primitive ᴱ✶tegna > ᴱQ. tína/ᴱN. tain “straight” from Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s may represent a shift in the form of the root to ✱ᴱ√TEGE (PE13/153, 165).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as {ᴹ√TEƷ >>} ᴹ√TEÑ “line, direction” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tie/N. tê “line, way” and ᴹQ. téra/N. tîr “straight, right” (Ety/TEƷ, TEÑ). In the Outline of Phonology Tolkien gave √TEG “line”, whereas √TEÑ was given as the basis for Q. tenna “a thought, notion, idea” and thus clearly with a different meaning; see the entry √TEÑ for further discussion. In any case it is clear that Tolkien considered various ancient velar consonants for the second consonant of this root, all ultimately vanishing in the child languages with similar vocalic effects: 1910s teχ-, 1920s teg-, 1930s {teʒ- >>} teñ- and 1950s teg-.

au-

prefix. away

awa-

prefix. away

awā

adverb. away

bani

adjective. fair

dāra

adjective. wise

melā-

verb. to love

mizdē

noun. drizzle

ugu

root. expressing privation

wanyā

adjective. fair