Quenya 

quessë

feather

quessë noun "feather", also name of tengwa #4 (Appendix E, WJ:417, KWES, VT45:24); súriquessë "wind feather" (referring to a "tuft of radiating grass" in a drawing by Tolkien) (J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist & Illustrator, p. 197)

quessë

noun. feather

The Quenya word for “feather” and the name of tengwa #4 [z] (LotR/1122).

Conceptual Development: Some similar words appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√QASA: ᴱQ. qasil “arrow-feather, arrow” and ᴱQ. qasilla “tuft, nodding spray, tassel, plume” (QL/76); quasil was only glossed “arrow” in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/76). ᴹQ. qesse “feather” first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KWES (Ety/KWES), already the name of tengwa #4 (EtyAC/KWES). It was also the name of this tengwa in notes on the Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s and 1940s (PE22/22, 51, 61), and remained so into the published version of The Lord of the Rings.

Cognates

  • ᴺS. pess “feather”

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KWES “*feather”

Element in

  • Q. niquessë “frost-patterns; snowflake, ice-flake; (lit.) chill feather” ✧ PE17/168; WJ/417
  • Q. quessetéma “kw-series”
  • Q. súriquessë “species of grass, (lit.) wind feather”

Variations

  • quesse ✧ LotR/1122; PE17/123; PE17/168; WJ/417
Quenya [LotR/1122; PE17/123; PE17/168; WJ/417] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Sindarin 

pess

noun. feather

Cognates

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KWES “*feather”

Element in

  • ᴺS. pesson “plume, (great) feather”
  • ᴺS. pilimbes “arrow feathering”
Sindarin Group: Eldamo - neologism/reconstructions. Published by

Primitive elvish

pil

root. rob

Derivatives

  • ᴺQ. pil- “to steal”
  • ᴺQ. pilu “thief, robber”
  • ᴺQ. pilwë “robbery, theft”
  • ᴺS. pil “robber, thief”
  • ᴺS. pil- “to steal, rob, thieve”
  • ᴺS. pilu “stealing, robbery, theft”

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Qenya 

pilen

noun. feather

A word for “feather” in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/33-34), probably a later iteration of ᴱQ. pilin “feather” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/74). The word ᴹQ. pilin was more frequently glossed “arrow”.

Derivations

Qenya [PE21/33; PE21/34] Group: Eldamo. Published by

qesse

noun. feather

Cognates

  • Ilk. cwess “down (feathers)” ✧ Ety/KWES

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶kwessē “feather” ✧ Ety/KWES
    • ᴹ√KWES “*feather” ✧ Ety/KWES

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶kwessē > qesse[kwessē] > [kwesse]✧ Ety/KWES
Qenya [Ety/KWES; EtyAC/KWES; PE22/022; PE22/051; PE22/061] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Middle Primitive Elvish

kwes

root. *feather

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s whose derivatives had mainly to do with feathers, such as ᴹQ. qesse “feather” and N. pesseg “pillow” (Ety/KWES). Tolkien’s continued use of Q. quessë “feather” in his later writings indicates its ongoing validity (LotR/1122). A possible precursor to this root was unglossed ᴱ√PEKE from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s whose derivatives had to do with plumes (QL/73). There is also ᴱ√PILI whose derivatives had to do with arrows and feathers (QL/74), but in later writings ᴹ√PILIN seems to have narrowed in sense specifically to “arrow” (Ety/PÍLIM; EtyAC/PÍLIM).

Derivatives

  • ᴹ✶kwessē “feather” ✧ Ety/KWES
    • Ilk. cwess “down (feathers)” ✧ Ety/KWES
    • ᴹQ. qesse “feather” ✧ Ety/KWES
  • ᴹQ. qesset “pillow” ✧ Ety/KWES
  • Q. quessë “feather”
  • ᴺS. pess “feather”
  • N. pesseg “pillow” ✧ Ety/KWES
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KWES] Group: Eldamo. Published by

kwessē

noun. feather

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KWES “*feather” ✧ Ety/KWES

Derivatives

  • Ilk. cwess “down (feathers)” ✧ Ety/KWES
  • ᴹQ. qesse “feather” ✧ Ety/KWES
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KWES] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Primitive Elvish

pili

root. rob

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “rob”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. pili- “steal”, ᴱQ. pilu “thief, robber” and ᴱQ. pilwe “robbery, theft” (QL/74). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is worth retaining as the Neo-Eldarin basis for “theft” words. A possible later replacement might be the root √RAPH “seize, grab” from the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s which had the derivative Q. arpo “seizer, thief” (PE19/89), but the verb form Q. raf- was glossed “wave, brandish”, so I don’t think it is suitable for a direct replacement.

Derivatives

  • Eq. pili- “to steal” ✧ QL/074
  • Eq. pilu “thief, robber” ✧ QL/074
  • Eq. pilwe “robbery, theft” ✧ QL/074
Early Primitive Elvish [QL/074] Group: Eldamo. Published by

pili

root. *feather; arrow

Derivatives

  • ᴱ✶p(i)lind-
    • Eq. pilin “feather; arrow” ✧ PE13/163
    • En. lhinn “arrow” ✧ PE13/163
    • Et. plinde “arrow” ✧ PE13/163
  • Eq. pilin “feather; arrow” ✧ QL/074
  • Eq. pilna “arrow” ✧ QL/074
  • G. pilon “arrow, dart”
Early Primitive Elvish [QL/074] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

pilin

noun. feather; arrow

Cognates

  • En. lhinn “arrow” ✧ PE13/163

Derivations

  • ᴱ✶p(i)lind- ✧ PE13/163
    • ᴱ√PILI “*feather; arrow”
  • ᴱ√PILI “*feather; arrow” ✧ QL/074

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ✶p(i)lind- > pilin[pilind] > [pilin]✧ PE13/163
ᴱ√PILI² > pilin[pilinn] > [pilin]✧ QL/074
Early Quenya [PE13/163; PE14/043; PE14/044; PE14/047; PE14/073; PE14/079; PE15/69; PE16/112; PE16/113; PE16/114; PE16/115; PME/074; QL/074; VT40/08] Group: Eldamo. Published by