curu

skill

curu noun "skill" in names like Curufinwë (q.v.) and Sindarin Curufin, Curunir. (SA; possibly the same as curo, curu- above but there was a word curu ["k"] in Tolkien's early "Qenya", glossed "magic, wizardry" [LT1:269]).

curu

noun. skill, skill; [ᴱQ.] magic, wizardry

@@@ more accurately what men would might “magic”, but to the Elves including what is to them ordinary skills such as mental communication and powers of foresight

Cognates

• S. curu “skill (of the hand), craft; power, ability, skill (of the hand), craft; power, ability; [N.] cunning; [ᴱN.] magic” ✧ SA/curu

Derivations

• √KUR “have power, strength, ability inherent physically or mentally; skill, have power, strength, ability inherent physically or mentally; skill, [ᴹ√] craft”

Element in

• Q. Curufinwë “*Skilled-Finwë” ✧ SA/curu; SI/Fëanor
• Q. Curumo “*Skilled-one”
• ᴺQ. curuni “witch, *sorceress, female magician (not necessarily evil)”

finca

clever

finca adj. "clever" (in petty ways) (PE17:119). A distinct form finca is also mentioned as the cognate of Sindarin fineg, but neither form is clearly glossed. The word-group under consideration has to do with hair(PE17:17).

finya

adjective. clever

Derivations

• √PHIN “clever, skillful; neat, fine, delicate; skill, dexterity, clever, skillful; neat, fine, delicate; skill, dexterity, [ᴹ√] nimbleness” ✧ PE17/017

Element in

• ᴺQ. finyalë “cleverness”
• Q. leptafinya “clever-fingered” ✧ PE17/017

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√PHIN- > finya	[pʰinja] > [ɸinja] > [finja]	✧ PE17/017

tanwë

craft, thing made, device, construction

tanwë noun "craft, thing made, device, construction" (TAN)

curwë

craft

curwë ("k")noun "craft" (KUR), "skill of the hand" (VT41:10), Curwë ("K") "technical skill and invention" (PM:360 cf. 344)

maitilë

noun. skill, handicraft; legerdemain, sleight

Cognates

• N. maenas “craft, handicraft, art”

Elements

Word	Gloss
maitë	“handy, skillful; having a hand, handed; shapely, handy, skillful, [ᴹQ.] skilled; [Q.] shapely, well-shaped; (as suffix) having a hand, handed”

curu

skill

curu (i guru, o churu) (cunning, cunning device, craft), pl. cyry (i chyry). Archaic *curw, hence the coll. pl. is likely curwath. (VT45:24)

curu

skill

(i guru, o churu) (cunning, cunning device, craft), pl. cyry (i chyry). Archaic ✱curw, hence the coll. pl. is likely curwath. (VT45:24)

maen

clever

maen (lenited vaen; no distinct pl. form) (skilled) (noun):

maen

clever

(lenited vaen; no distinct pl. form) (skilled)

maenas

craft

maenas (i vaenas) (handicraft, art), pl. maenais (i maenais), coll. pl. maenassath. Also curu (i guru, o churu) (cunning, cunning device, skill), pl. cyry (i chyry) (VT45:24);

maenas

craft

(i vaenas) (handicraft, art), pl. maenais (i maenais), coll. pl. maenassath. Also curu (i guru, o churu) (cunning, cunning device, skill), pl. cyry (i chyry) (VT45:24);

curunír

man of craft

(i gurunír, o churunír) (wizard), no distinct pl. form except with article (i churunír), coll. pl. ?curuníriath

phī

root. skill, dexterity

kur

root. have power, strength, ability inherent physically or mentally; skill, have power, strength, ability inherent physically or mentally; skill, [ᴹ√] craft

This root was associated with craft and skill for much of Tolkien’s life. The earliest iteration of the root was unglossed ᴱ√KURU whose Qenya and Gnomish derivatives mostly had to do with magic, such as ᴱQ. kuru “magic, wizardry” and G. curu “magic” (QL/49, GL/28). It appeared again in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√KUR “craft” with derivatives like ᴹQ. kurwe “craft” and N. curu “cunning”. It was mentioned again in notes associated with The Shibboleth of Fëanor from 1968 with the gloss “skill” and various derivatives similar to the 1930s. Its final mention in published material is from Late Notes on Verbs from 1969:

> “can” = have power, strength, ability inherent physically or mentally. √KURU. Cf. ✱kurwē “power, ability”, S curu in curunír “wizard”, us[ually] applied to exceptional powers espec. of mind, ability to make one’s will effective. It thus approaches some uses of our “magic”, esp. when applied to powers not understood by the speaker, but it does not even then (except perhaps when the word was used by Men) connote any alteration or disturbance of the “natural order”, which to the Eldar were either “miracles” performed by agents of the One or counterfeits by delusion (or by means other than miraculous which impressed the uninstructed as supernatural) (PE22/151).

This last note reconciles the connection between this root and “magic”, in that some powers of the mind that Elves perceive as natural skill would seem to Men to be magical, and in this sense it is the basis for words like S. curunír “wizard”.

Derivatives

• ✶kurwē “skill of the hand; power, ability” ✧ PE22/151; VT41/10
  • Q. curwë “skill of the hand, technical skill and invention, [ᴹQ.] craft, [Q.] skill of the hand, technical skill and invention” ✧ VT41/10
  • S. curu “skill (of the hand), craft; power, ability, skill (of the hand), craft; power, ability; [N.] cunning; [ᴱN.] magic” ✧ PE22/151
• Q. curo “skillful (?device)” ✧ VT41/10
• Q. curu “skill, skill; [ᴱQ.] magic, wizardry”
• ᴺQ. curwa “cunning, skillful”
• ᴺQ. curwesta “technology”
• ᴺQ. curya “potent, powerful, strong (as function of craft or cunning)”
• S. curu “skill (of the hand), craft; power, ability, skill (of the hand), craft; power, ability; [N.] cunning; [ᴱN.] magic” ✧ VT41/10

Element in

• Q. Curufinwë “*Skilled-Finwë” ✧ VT41/10

Variations

• KURU ✧ PE22/151
• kuru- ✧ VT41/10

phin

root. clever, skillful; neat, fine, delicate; skill, dexterity, clever, skillful; neat, fine, delicate; skill, dexterity, [ᴹ√] nimbleness

This root has a long history in Tolkien’s Elvish languages, always having to do with clever and skillful things in association with the name Q. Finwë. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√FINI in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. finie “cunning” and ᴱQ. finwa “acute, sagacious” (QL/38). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. fim “clever; right hand”, G. fimlios “skillfulness”, and G. finthi “idea, notion” (GL/35). It reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “nimbleness, skill” and derivatives like ON. phinde “skill” and ON. phinya “skillful” (Ety/PHIN).

The root appeared a number of times in Tolkien’s later writings, as √PHIN- “skilful, neat, clever (especially applied to hands and fingers)” (PE17/17), √PHĪ/PHINI “skill, dexterity” (PE17/119), and √PHĬN “clever, fine, delicate” (PE17/119). In both The Etymologies and in later writings Tolkien made a point that this root was distinct from √SPIN from which various “hair” words were derived (Ety/PHIN; PE17/17), though in one place Tolkien gave that root also as √PHIN- (PM/340).

Derivatives

• Q. finca “clever (in petty ways), clever (in petty ways), *tricky” ✧ PE17/119
• Q. finda “fine and delicately made” ✧ PE17/181
• Q. fínë “dexterity” ✧ PE17/119
• ᴺQ. finië “cunning”
• Q. finta- “to make, finish off, decorate a thing with delicate work; to show skill” ✧ PE17/017; PE17/119
• Q. fintalë “trick” ✧ PE17/119
• Q. finwa “clever, fine, delicate; dexterous, ️dexterous, clever; fine, delicate; [ᴱQ.] acute, sagacious” ✧ PE17/119; PE17/181
• Q. finya “clever” ✧ PE17/017
• Q. finya- “to do/make a thing (with fine work)” ✧ PE17/181
• ᴺS. finc “trick”
• ᴺS. finna- “to trick, deceive, cheat, take in”

Element in

• Q. Findis ✧ PE17/119
• Q. Finwë ✧ PE17/017

Variations

• PHIN- ✧ PE17/017
• PHĪ ✧ PE17/119; PE17/181
• PHINĪ ✧ PE17/119; PE17/181
• PHIN ✧ PE17/151; PE17/181
• PHĬN ✧ PE17/181

curu

noun. craft, skill

curw

noun. craft, skill

maenas

noun. craft