qalme

noun. (process of) death, (death) agony

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “agony, death” derived from the root ᴹ√KWAL “die (in pain)” (Ety/KWAL). In the contemporaneous version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ1) it was glossed “process of death, death agony” (PE18/58).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s it was ᴱQ. {qalma >>} qalme “death” with archaic variant †qalume, both under the early root ᴱ√QALA “die” (QL/76). In the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it was simply qalme “death” (PME/76), but in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s it was glossed “agony” (PE16/144).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use this word primarily for “death”, but only for painful or unwanted death as opposed to natural or peaceful death, which is fírië (MR/250). The word qualme is most specifically applied to the (painful) process of death, and by extrapolation to pain so great that one feels as if they are dying: nán qualmesse “I am in death agony (actual or figurative)”.