philik

root. finch, finch, [ᴹ√] small bird

This root first appeared as ᴹ√PHILIK “small bird” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. filit and N. fileg of the same meaning (Ety/PHILIK). The root also appeared in the contemporaneous Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants with an extra gloss “sparrow”, a deleted variant spilik-, and some additional (unglossed) derivatives ᴹQ. filinke and N. flinc (PE21/56). The root and these last two derivatives reappeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s, in this document with the gloss “finch” (PE21/71-72, 80-81). Note that a likely early precursor to all these words was G. bilinc “sparrow, bird (small)” (GL/23).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume the root √PHILIK = “small bird”, with ᴹQ. filit/N. fileg = “sparrow” and Q. filincë/S. flinc = “finch”.

philinki

noun. finch

flinc

noun. finch

A word for a “finch” appearing in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure of the early 1950s, derived from primitive ✶philinki (PE21/72, 81). N. flinc also appeared in Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants from 1936, but there the word was unglossed.

filincë

noun. finch

A word for “finch” appearing in Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants from 1936 and Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s, derived form the root √PHILIK (PE21/56, 72). See also ᴹQ. filit “sparrow, small bird”.

Conceptual Development: In the early 1930s document Declension of Nouns, Tolkien gave ᴹQ. liri for “finch”.