ringi

root. cold

Tolkien used very similar forms for Elvish words for “cold” for all of his life. The earliest iteration of this root was unglossed ᴱ√RIŊI in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. rin (ring-) “dew” and ᴱQ. ringa “damp, cold, chilly” (QL/80). The root had similar derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. rî “coolness, cool” and G. ring “cool, cold” (GL/65). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root {ᴹ√RINGĀ >>} ᴹ√RINGI “cold” with derivatives like ᴹQ. ringe/N. rhing “cold” (Ety/RINGI; EtyAC/RINGI). Primitive forms ✶riñgi “chill” and ✶riñgā appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s (PE21/80), and Christopher Tolkien mentioned √ring as the basis for cold words in the Silmarillion Appendix (SA/ring).

Derivatives

• ✶ringā
  • Q. ringa “cold, cold, [ᴱQ.] chilly; damp”
• ✶ringi “chill”
• Q. Ringarë “December, *Coldness” ✧ SA/ring
• Q. Ringil ✧ SA/ring
• S. ring “cold, chill, cold, chill, [G.] cool” ✧ SA/ring

Variations

• ring ✧ SA/ring

gyel

root. ringing, [ᴹ√] *cry of joy or triumph, [√] ringing

This root appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s unglossed, but with derivatives like ᴹQ. yello “call, shout, cry of triumph” and N. gell “joy, triumph, (?victory)” (Ety/GYEL); the last gloss being unclear (EtyAC/GYEL). In The Etymologies, it replaced deleted ᴹ√GEL, also indicated by ᴹQ. ello >> yello. The root reappeared a couple decades later in a list of sound words as part of the set √GYEL, √ÑGYEL, √GYOL, √ÑGYOL collectively glossed “ringing” (PE17/138); see √ÑYEL for further discussion. For the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume this root retained its 1930s meaning, which was probably something like “✱cry of joy or triumph”.

Variations

• GYOL ✧ PE17/138; PE17/155

gyol

root. ringing