kú

noun. bow, bow; [ᴱQ.] crescent moon

Cognates

• N. cû “arch, crescent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Derivations

• ᴹ✶kuu̯ “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • ᴹ√KU(Ʒ) “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Element in

• ᴺQ. cungandë “violin, (lit.) bow-harp”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶kuu̯ > kú	[kuɣ] > [kū]	✧ Ety/KUƷ

helyanwe

noun. rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge, rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge, *sky-joining

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “[lit.] ‘sky-bridge’, rainbow”, a combination of ᴹQ. helle “sky” and ᴹQ. yanwe “bridge, joining” (Ety/ƷEL).

Conceptual Development: Early Qenya “rainbow” words from the 1910s were mostly tied to Qenya forms of the name {G. Cris a Teld Quing Ilon >>} G. Cris Ilbranteloth “Gully of the Rainbow Roof”: either ᴱQ. iluqin(ga) “✱(lit). sky bow” = ilu + qinga “bow” or ᴱQ. ilweran(ta) “(lit.) bridge of heaven” = ilwe + ranta “bridge” (QL/42). Only ᴱQ. {ukko >>} ukku “rainbow” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s was unrelated to this name, being derived from the early root ᴱ√UQU “wet” instead (QL/98).

The form helyanwe from The Etymologies (with cognate N. eilianw) was probably connected to the name of that same pass had in the early 1930s: Cirith Helvin “Rainbow Cleft” (SM/146, 193). In later writings, Tolkien changed the Sindarin name of the pass to S. Cirith Ninniach “Rainbow Cleft” (S/238; WJ/299), but gave no Quenya equivalent.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d stick with helyanwe as the best available word for “rainbow”. In later writings, yanwë no longer meant “bridge” (that became Q. yanta), but it still meant “joining” (VT49/45), and so this word could be used unmodified with a literal sense of “✱sky-joining”.

Cognates

• On. elyanme “rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge” ✧ Ety/ƷEL
• N. eilian(w) “rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge” ✧ Ety/ƷEL

Elements

Word	Gloss
helle	“sky”
yanwe	“bridge, joining, isthmus”

elyanme

noun. rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge

Cognates

• ᴹQ. helyanwe “rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge, rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge, *sky-joining” ✧ Ety/ƷEL

Derivatives

• N. eilian(w) “rainbow, (lit.) sky-bridge” ✧ Ety/ƷEL

Variations

• elyadme ✧ Ety/ƷEL
• Elyanme ✧ PE22/027

ku(ʒ)

root. bow

The root ᴹ√KU(Ʒ) “bow” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/KUƷ), most likely a later version of ᴱ√KUVU “bend, bow” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/49). One notable derivative in both periods was G. cû “bow, crescent” and N. cû “arch, crescent”, which regularly appeared as S. cû “bow” in later writings, for example in S. Laer Cú Beleg “Song of the Great Bow” (GL/27; Ety/KUƷ; S/209).

The probably-related root ᴹ√KUB “bow” appeared in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/102); ᴹQ. nukumna “humbled (?under-bowed)” from this period may also be related (SD/246). In notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien gave ✶kūma, Q. cúma and S. cû(f) next to Q. lúva “bow, bight (not for shooting)” < √LUB “bend”, so presumably cúma/cû was “bow (for shooting)” (PE17/122). Finally Q. cúna “bent, curved” appeared in notes associated with the version of the Q. Markirya poem from the late 1960s, along with a verb form cúna- “to bend” (MC/222-223).

These variations make it difficult to determine what Tolkien intended the root to mean, but for purposes of Neo-Eldarin I would assume a base root of √KU(Ʒ) or √KU(H) with perhaps a verbal variant √KUB based on its use in the 1940s, and with the primitive sense “bow, bend”.

Derivatives

• ᴹ✶kuʒnā “bowed, bow-shaped, bent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • Ilk. caun “bowed, bow-shaped, bent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • Dan. cogn “bowed, bow-shaped, bent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • N. cûn “bowed, bow-shaped, bent, bowed, bent, bow-shaped, [G.] concave” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
• ᴹ✶kuu̯ “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • ᴹQ. kú “bow, bow; [ᴱQ.] crescent moon” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
  • N. cû “arch, crescent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
• ᴹQ. kuv- “to bow” ✧ PE22/102

Element in

• ᴹ✶kuʒnā “bowed, bow-shaped, bent”
• ᴹQ. nukumna “humbled”

Variations

• KUƷ ✧ Ety/KUƷ; EtyAC/KWIG
• KU ✧ Ety/KWIG
• KUB ✧ PE22/102

kub

root. bow

kuu̯

noun. bow

Derivations

• ᴹ√KU(Ʒ) “bow” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Derivatives

• ᴹQ. kú “bow, bow; [ᴱQ.] crescent moon” ✧ Ety/KUƷ
• N. cû “arch, crescent” ✧ Ety/KUƷ

Variations

• kuw ✧ EtyAC/KUƷ

ilbrant

noun. rainbow

Cognates

• Eq. ilweran(ta) “bridge of heaven, rainbow” ✧ GL/65; LT1A/Ilweran

Element in

• G. Cris Ilbranteloth “Gully of the Rainbow Roof” ✧ GL/50; LT1A/Ilwë

Elements

Word	Gloss
ilbar	“heaven, the uttermost region beyond the world”
rantha	“arch, bridge”

Variations

• Ilbrant ✧ GL/24; GL/65; LT1A/Ilweran
• ilvrant ✧ GL/50
• Ilvrant ✧ LT1A/Ilweran

ilvrant

noun. rainbow

cwing

noun. bow

Derivations

• ᴱ√QINGI “*bow”

Element in

• G. Cris a Teld Quing Ilon “Gully of the Rainbow Roof” ✧ LT2A/Teld Quing Ilon
• G. cwingfim “skilled at archery” ✧ GL/28
• G. cwingfimli “skill at archery” ✧ GL/28
• G. cwinglios “archery” ✧ GL/28
• G. cwingron “archer” ✧ GL/28
• G. Thlim Quing Ilon “*Folk of the Heavenly Arc” ✧ PE13/104

Variations

• Quing ✧ PE13/104; PE13/104

quing

noun. bow

iluqinga

noun. rainbow

Element in

• Eq. Ilqingi
• Eq. Kiris Iluqingatelda “Gully of the Rainbow Roof” ✧ LT2A/Teld Quing Ilon

Variations

• Iluqinga ✧ LT1A/Ilweran
• ILQIN ✧ QL/042
• ILUQINGA ✧ QL/042

ukku

noun. rainbow

Changes

• ukko → ukku ✧ QL/098

Derivations

• ᴱ√UQU “wet” ✧ QL/098

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴱ√UQU > ukku	[ukʷkū] > [ukʷku] > [ukku]	✧ QL/098

Variations

• ukko ✧ QL/098 (ukko)

qinga

noun. bow

Derivations

• ᴱ√QINGI “*bow” ✧ QL/077

Element in

• Eq. iluqinga “rainbow” ✧ LT1A/Ilweran

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴱ√QINGI > qinga	[kʷiŋgā] > [kʷiŋga]	✧ QL/077

ilweran(ta)

noun. bridge of heaven, rainbow

Cognates

• G. ilbrant “rainbow” ✧ GL/65; LT1A/Ilweran

Element in

• Eq. Ilwerantelimba “[Gully of the] Rainbow Roof”

Variations

• Ilweranta ✧ GL/65; LT1A/Ilweran
• Ilweran ✧ GL/65; LT1/212; LT1A/Ilweran; LT1I/Ilweran
• ilweran ✧ QL/042
• ilberan ✧ QL/042
• ilweranta ✧ QL/042