A root appearing in a list of roots for spatial and temporal directions from 1969, with an unglossed (primitive?) derivative ✶afar and the Quenya form fai with variant afea, apparently meaning “before” in the phrase Eru fai, sî, euva “✱Eru (was) before, (is) now, will be (after)” (PE22/147). Later in the same set of notes Tolkien seems to have reverted to earlier roots for these functions (PE22/168).
Primitive elvish
pha
root. exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)
Derivatives
- ✶phā “breath, puff of breath”
- Q. föa “breath, puff of breath” ✧ VT47/35
- √PHAN “cover, screen, veil; white, (light white) shape; shape, vision” ✧ NM/237
- ✶phanā “veil, cloud” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
- Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
- S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
- ✶phanmā “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/174
- Q. fanwa “veil, screen” ✧ PE17/176; PE17/180
- ✶phantā- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/173
- Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ PE17/174
- S. fanna- “to veil, cloak” ✧ PE17/174
- ✶phanyā “*veiled, veiling” ✧ PE17/174
- Q. fanya “(white) cloud, white and shining [thing], (white) cloud, white and shining [thing]; [ᴹQ.] sky; white” ✧ PE17/174
- S. fain “white, shimmering, shining; white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud, white, shimmering, shining, [N.] radiant; [S.] white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud” ✧ PE17/174
- Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/179; RGEO/66
- Q. fanta- “to veil, cloak, mantle” ✧ VT43/22
- Q. fanwë “vapour, steam” ✧ NM/237
- Q. fanya “(white) cloud, white and shining [thing], (white) cloud, white and shining [thing]; [ᴹQ.] sky; white” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/026; PE17/036; PE17/173; RGEO/66
- S. fain “white, shimmering, shining; white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud, white, shimmering, shining, [N.] radiant; [S.] white and shining [thing]; dim, dimmed; filmy, fine-woven; (vague) apparition; cloud” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/036; PE17/179
- S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ NM/237; PE17/026; PE17/036; RGEO/66
- ᴺS. fanu “vapour, steam”
- S. fanui “cloudy, (lit.) having much cloud” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/036
- S. fanwos “mind-picture (of apparition in dream)”
- √PHAW “emit (foul breath), *breath, puff of breath, breath, puff of breath; blow, emit (foul breath); [ᴹ√] gape”
- √PHAY “spirit, spirit; [ᴹ√] radiate, send out rays of light” ✧ NM/237
- ✶phaini “vapour” ✧ NM/237
- S. faen “vapour; [disembodied] spirit” ✧ NM/237
- ✶phairi “spirit (general)” ✧ NM/237
- Q. fairë “spirit (disembodied), phantom; †radiance” ✧ NM/237
- S. faer “spirit (in general)”
- ✶phanā “veil, cloud” ✧ NM/237
- Q. fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
- S. fân “(white) cloud; veil, curtain; form or vision of a spiritual being; spirit [embodied]” ✧ PE17/173; PE17/174
- ✶phāy “flame, ray of light”
- Q. fá “*ray of light, flame” ✧ PE19/104
- ✶phayā “soul, indwelling spirit” ✧ NM/237
- Q. fëa “(indwelling or incarnate) spirit, soul” ✧ MR/349; MR/470; NM/237; PE17/124; PE19/104; VT41/14
- S. fae “incarnate spirit, incarnate spirit, *soul”
- Q. faila “fair-minded, just, generous” ✧ PM/352
- Q. fëa “(indwelling or incarnate) spirit, soul” ✧ PM/352
- S. fael “gleam of the sun; *gleaming”
- S. fael “fair-minded, just, generous” ✧ PM/352
Variations
- pha ✧ NM/237
phā
noun. breath, puff of breath
Derivations
- √PHA “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)”
Derivatives
- Q. föa “breath, puff of breath” ✧ VT47/35
Element in
- ✶phawa ✧ VT47/35
Variations
- phâ ✧ VT47/34 (phâ)
apha
root. before of time
phā/apha
root. before of time
Derivatives
Variations
- PHĀ ✧ PE22/147
- APHA ✧ PE22/147
A root having to do with “exhalations (as mists upon water or steams and the like)” serving as the basis for unglossed √PHAY (> Q. fëa “spirit”) and √PHAN (> Q. fanya “cloud”) in notes from 1957 (NM/237). Elsewhere both √PHAN and √PHAY had more divergent meanings, and so may have been disconnected from this root. However, Tolkien mentioned a primitive noun ✶phā “breath, puff of breath” in notes from 1968 with an extended form fawa (VT47/35), so that the root √PHAW “emit (foul breath)” from 1957 notes may have been related (PE17/181).