om

root. of resonant sounds

This root was the basis for the Quenya word for “voice”: Q. óma. The earliest derivation of this word was from the root ᴱ√OHO “cry” along with ᴱQ. ohta- “shout” (QL/69); the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon likewise has derivatives like G. ûm “voice” and G. uptha- “shout” (GL/75). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. óma “voice” was derived from unglossed ᴹ√OM, along with ᴹQ. óman “vowel” (Ety/OM). The root √OM appeared in a list of roots for sound words, used “of resonant sounds”, along with variant √TOM which was used for “briefer” sounds (PE17/138).

Derivatives

• Q. óma “voice, resonance of the vocal chords, vowel” ✧ PE17/138
• ᴺQ. omya- “to resonate (of longer sounds)”
• ᴺS. û “voice”

tom

root. of resonant sounds

The root √TOM appeared in a list of sound roots from 1959-60 as a root for “resonant sounds”, with a pair of unglossed derivatives Q. tomba and Q. tompe (PE17/138); it was constrasted with √OM which was for “more long-drawn out” sounds, as opposed to √TOM which was “briefer”. The root √TOM might be a restoration of the unglossed early root ᴱ√TOMPO from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. tombo “gong”, ᴱQ. tompa “small drum”, and ᴱQ. tompo- “bang” (QL/94).

Derivatives

• ᴺQ. tombo “gong”
• Q. tomba “[unglossed]” ✧ PE17/138
• ᴺQ. tompa “(small) drum”
• ᴺQ. tompa- “to bang, *drum”
• Q. tompë “[unglossed], *pulse, beat” ✧ PE17/138
• ᴺQ. tompo-tompo “noise of drums (or guns)”
• ᴺQ. tomya- “to resonate (of shorter sounds)”
• ᴺQ. tontilla “cymbal, *tambourine”

Element in

• Q. Tompollë “Great Bear-dance”