roa

dog

roa noun "dog" (VT47:35). Also huo.

röa

noun. dog

A word for “dog” appearing in 1968 notes on monosyllabic primitive Elvish nouns (VT47/35). Of the primitive forms, Tolkien first gave ✶wā(w) “dog” and ✶grā “bear”, but ✶wā(w) was struck through and the gloss of ✶grā was changed to “dog”, after which Tolkien wrote Q. roa “dog” (VT47/36). He seems to have been disatisfied with this derivation, however, going on to write a number of primitive animal roots in the upper margin, including ✶yarr- “dog”.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. roa “a wild beast” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶raw̯a under the early root ᴱ√RAVA or ᴱ√RAẆA (QL/79).

Neo-Quenya: Giving Tolkien’s vacillations on these 1968 forms, I’d stick to the better known ᴹQ. huo as the common word for “dog” in (Neo) Quenya, which is the word used in Helge Fauskanger’s NQNT (NQNT).

raurossë

place name. Roaring-rain

The Quenya equivalent of S. Rauros (PE19/99). Its initial element is some derivative of the root ᴹ√RAW “✱roar” and the second element is rossë “fine rain, dew”. See S. Rauros for further discussion.

rávë

noun. roaring noise

A noun for a “roaring noise” in the glossary for the 1960s version of the Q. Markirya poem (MC/223), probably derived from the root ᴹ√RAW.

rávëa

adjective. roaring

A word for a “roaring” in the 1960s version of Q. Markirya poem (MC/222), an adjectival form of Q. rávë “roaring noise” (MC/223).

Rauros(se)

noun. roaring-rain

roaring-rain, name of a loud waterfall

laustanë

roaring

laustanë adj.? participle? "roaring" (MC:213; this is "Qenya")

rávë

roaring noise

rávë noun "roaring noise" (Markirya)

rávëa

roaring

rávëa adj. "roaring" (Markirya)

tië

noun. path, road, way, line, path, road, way, line, [ᴹQ.] course, direction, [ᴱQ.] route

This was the basic Quenya word for “path” for most of Tolkien’s life. This word dates all the way back to ᴱQ. tie “line, direction, route, road” under the early root ᴱ√TEHE “pull” (QL/90). In Early Qenya Word-lists Tolkien revised {ᴱQ. tie} “path” to kie (PE16/143), and in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, the form was tē “path” (PE21/40). These seem to have been temporary ideas since by The Etymologies of the 1930s the form was again ᴹQ. tie “path, course, line, direction, way” under the root {ᴹ√TEƷ >>} ᴹ√TEÑ “line, direction” (Ety/TEƷ).

Its most notable appearance in Tolkien’s later writings was in the Namárië poem, within the phrase ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë “and all paths are drowned deep in shadow” (LotR/377). In green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from around 1970, Tolkien derived tie from primitive ✶tegē “line, road” (PE19/71); in this document the root √TEG was glossed “line”, as opposed to √TEÑ “signify” (PE19/97).

Neo-Quenya: The word tie had many possible translations, such as “path, road” (PE17/13), “road, way” (PE17/72), or “line, direction” (Ety/TEƷ). I believe its basic meaning is “✱line of travel” (not necessarily straight), and can refer to both the path or road travelled upon as well as the way or route of the travel itself. For a simple “straight line”, I would use the related word [ᴹQ.] tea.

mallë

street, road

mallë pl. maller noun"street, road" (MBAL, LR:47, 56, LT1:263, SD:310)

tëa

straight line, road

tëa (1) noun "straight line, road" (TEÑ)

huo

dog

huo noun "dog" (KHUG, see KHUGAN; cf. hú, huan). Also roa.

rav-

verb. to roar

A neologism for “to roar” posted by Orondil in 2021 on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord server based on the root ᴹ√RAW and similar words like Q. rávë “roaring noise” (MC/223).

men

noun. way, way, *direction; [ᴹQ.] place, spot [only in compounds]

A noun or word element, most notably appearing in the four cardinal directions formen, hyarmen, númen, and rómen, which Christopher Tolkien translated as “way” in The Silmarillion appendix (SA/men). This is consistent with the later meaning of its root: √MEN “go, move, proceed”, and in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien had a primitive form ✶mēn- “a way, a going, a mov[ement]” (PE17/165) which might be the source of Christopher Tolkien’s translation of Q. men.

Conceptual Development: The situation in Tolkien’s earlier writings was different. In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹQ. men was translated “place, spot” under the root ᴹ√MEN (Ety/MEN). In this document, it seems the literally meaning of direction words were “✱north-place”, “✱south-place”, etc., as opposed to later “✱north-direction, ✱south-direction”. This can be seen in other words Tolkien used in this period, such as ᴹQ. Ilmen “Place of Light” (SM/241).

This ambiguity continued into Tolkien’s later writings, as can be seen in a 1965 letter to Dick Plotz, where Tolkien translated númen “the direction or region of the sunset” (Let/361). Another example is menel “firmament, high heaven, the region of the stars”, which Tolkien said was “a Q. invention from men (direction, region) + el (the basis of many stars)” in The Road Goes Ever On as published in 1967 (RGEO/65). There are other Quenya words where men refers to a location rather than a direction: ruimen “fireplace, hearth” (PE17/183) and turmen “realm” = “✱mastered-region” (PE17/28), both from the mid-1960s.

However, some words are hard to explain as locations, such as alamen “a good omen on departure”, also from DLN of 1959 (PE17/162). Tolkien used men as an element in the terms coimen “life-year” and olmen “growth-year” in notes from around 1959, which are probably best explained as a “way” or “process” of life or growth (NM/84-85). However the stems of these words ended in mend-, so their element men may be different from what is seen in formen, etc. As another wrinkle, Tolkien regularly used nómë to mean “place” in his later writings, as in sinomë “in this place [= here]” (LotR/967) and tanomë “in that place [= there]” (VT49/11).

It is hard to determine how much of this variation is due to conceptual vacillation on Tolkien’s part. My best guess of the timelime is that:

• In the 1930s men meant “place, spot”, and the root ᴹ√MEN was not verbal (Ety/MEN).

• In the 1940s Tolkien decided that √MEN was verbal, meaning {“intend” >>} “go” (PE22/103).

• By the 1950s Tolkien reformulated men to mean “way, a going” in keeping with the new meaning of the root (PE17/165). In this period Tolkien also introduced nómë “place”.

• By the 1960s Tolkien partially reversed himself, deciding men could mean either “way, direction” and “place, region”, but without abandoning nómë.

Neo-Quenya: The word men is somewhat contentious in Neo-Quenya. The word men is a very popular element for “place” in many neologisms (especially older ones), such as ᴺQ. natsemen “website = ✱web-spot”, ᴺQ. tirmen “theater = ✱watch-place” and ᴺQ. mótamen “office = ✱work-place”. However, others feel that this sense has been entirely replaced by nómë, so that men in such compounds should be replaced by a suffix ᴺQ. -non (-nom-).

Given this ambiguity, I would use men only for “way, ✱direction” as a standalone word, and would instead use nómë = “place”. However, given Tolkien’s vacillations as described above, I would allow the use of men as “place, spot, region” in compounds [perhaps originally conceived of as a destination], though I think ᴺQ. -non “-place” is also fine.

londa

path

[londa noun "path"], changed by Tolkien to londë noun "road (in sea)" (VT45:28)

londë

land-locked haven

londë noun "land-locked haven" (cf. #lóndië "harbourage"), "gulf" (TI:423). In Alqualondë "Swan-haven" (SA), "Haven of Swan" (VT45:28), Hirilondë ship-name "Haven-finder" (UT:192). In the Etymologies, londë is glossed "road (in sea), entrance to harbour" (LOD) and also "fairway" (VT45:28), i.e. a navigable channel for ships. In VT42:10, where the stem is given as LON rather than LOD, the gloss is simply "haven".

mentië

passage, journey, direction of travel

mentië noun "passage, journey, direction of travel" (PE17:13); the elements are men- "go, proceed" + tië "path, road". Not to be confused with the gerund of menta- #1.

hlóna

noise

hlóna (1) noun "a noise" (VT48:29, PE17:138). Also hlón.

hravan

wild beast

hravan noun "wild beast"; pl.Hravani "the Wild", used as a name of non-Edain Men (PE17:78, WJ:219). PE17:18 has Hrávani with a long á, glossed "Wild-men, Savages".

hravan

noun. wild beast

A word for a “wild beast” in notes from the mid-1960s, derived from the root √S-RAB “wild, in senses not tamed, domesticated” (PE17/78), hence meaning “wild animal” vs. a “tamed animal”, which would probably be Q. laman.

lango

passage

lango (2) noun "passage", especially across or over an obstacle, also "neck" (PE17:92)

lé

way

lé (1) noun "way" = "method, manner" ("as in that is not As way"). Not to be confused with lé as a stressed form of le = plural "you"; Tolkien was himself dissatisfied with this clash (PE17:74).

men

way

men (2) noun "way" (SA) or "place, spot" (MEN)

ran

noise

ran (ram-) noun "noise" (LT1:259, QL:79)

ratta

noun. track

A noun for a “track” appearing in a 1968 essay, which Tolkien described as follows:

> Both Quenya and Lindarin [Telerin] also possessed a word ratta, which might be a derivative (by lengthening the medial consonant, a frequent device in Primitive Eldarin) from either ✱rattha [from RATH “climb”] or ✱ratta from the stem RAT [“find a way”] and in senses seems to be a blend of both. It meant ‘a track’; though often applied to ways known to mountaineers, to passes in the mountains and the climbing ways to them, it was not confined to ascents. It could be used of tracks across a marshland, or trails (blazed or sometimes marked by guide-stones) in forests (NM/363).

Thus Q./T. ratta seems to have applied to any “track” through the wilderness (not necessarily one that climbs) as a derivative of √RAT “find a way”, as opposed to S. rath “(climbing) track or street” that was more influenced by √RATH “climb”; see that entry for discussion.

ráva

bank

ráva (2) noun "bank" (especially of a river) (RAMBĀ)

tier

path

tier is, besides the pl. form of tië "path" above, an ephemeral word for "so", abandoned by Tolkien in favour of tambë (VT43:17)

tië

path, course, line, direction, way

tië noun "path, course, line, direction, way" (TE3, VT47:11); pl. tier in Namárië(Nam, RGEO:67); tielyanna "upon your path" (UT:22 cf. 51; tie-lya-nna "path-your-upon")

vand-

way, path

vand- noun "way, path" (LT1:264; a final vowel would seem to be required, but in Tolkien's later Quenya, the words tië or mallë are to be preferred)