fáwë vb. "snow" (GL:35; rather lossë in Tolkien's later Quenya)
Quenya
lossëa
snow-white
fáwë
snow
lossë
snow
lossë (1) noun "snow" or adj. "snow-white" (SA:los, MC:213, VT42:18); losselië noun"white people" (MC:216, PE16:96)
niquë
snow
niquë (2) ("q")noun "snow" (NIK-W)
fauta-
to snow
fauta- vb. *"to snow" (actually glossed fauta = "it snows") (GL:35)
hriz-
to snow
#hriz- vb. "to snow", impersonal, given in the form hríza "it is snowing". Normally z would turn to r in Exilic Quenya, but since two r's close to one another were disliked, it may be that hriz- became *hris- instead (compare razë "sticks out" becoming rasë instead of **rarë, PE19:73) Past tense hrinsë (with s from the original root SRIS) and another form which the editor tentatively reads as hrissë (the development ns > ss is regular). (PE17:168)
lossë
noun/adjective. snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy
The general Quenya word for “snow” derived from the root √(G)LOS (PE17/26; VT42/18), more specifically “fallen snow” (RGEO/61), as opposed to a “snow fall” or “✱falling snow” which is hrissë (PE17/168). At various points Tolkien said this word could also be used as an adjective “snowy, snow-white” (RGEO/61; PE17/161), but I would do so only in poetry or in compounds. For more ordinary speech, I would use the adjective form lossëa for clarity (PE17/71, 161; VT42/18). Strictly speaking, the noun and adjective forms of lossë have distinct primitive origins: ✶lossē “snow” vs. ✶lossĭ “snowy, snow-white” (PE17/161), so the stem form of the adjective would be lossi-.
Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s there was a word ᴹQ. olosse “snow, fallen snow” derived from the root ᴹ√GOLOS; Tolkien modified the entry to mark this form as poetic (†) and gave it a variant olos (Ety/GOLÓS).
Cognates
- S. loss “snow” ✧ PE17/026; PE17/161; SA/los; RGEO/61
Derivations
Element in
- Q. lairelossë “summer-snow-white, species of tree in Númenor”
- Q. lossëa “snowy, (snow) white” ✧ PE17/161; VT42/18
- Q. losselië telerinwa “*the white people of the shores of Elfland” ✧ PE16/096
- Q. Oiolossë “Ever (Snow) White” ✧ PE17/161; RGEO/61; SA/los
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √LŎS > losse [losse] ✧ PE17/026 ✶lossē > losse [lossē] > [losse] ✧ PE17/161 ✶lossĭ > losse [lossi] > [losse] ✧ PE17/161 √los > losse [losse] ✧ RGEO/61 √los > lossë [losse] ✧ SA/los √(G)LOS > lossë [glosse] > [ɣlosse] > [losse] ✧ VT42/18 Variations
- losse ✧ PE16/096; PE17/026; PE17/161; PE17/161; RGEO/61
- lossë ✧ SA/los; VT42/18
olos
snow, fallen snow
†olos (2) noun "snow, fallen snow" (prob. oloss-, cf. the longer form olossë below; this form should be preferred since olos also = "dream, vision") (GOLOS)
olossë
snow, fallen snow
†olossë noun "snow, fallen snow" (GOLÓS, LOT[H])
fanoiolossë
proper name. bright (angelic) figure upon uilos
An adaptation of the Sindarin title for Varda, Fanuilos.
Cognates
- S. Fanuilos
Elements
Word Gloss fana “raiment, veil; (bright) shape or figure; bodily form of an angelic spirit” oi(o) “ever, everlastingly; an endless period, ever, everlastingly; an endless period, *aeon” lossë “snow, fallen snow; snow-white, snowy”
lossëa adj. "snow-white" (so in VT42:18; this would be an adjective derived from lossë "snow", but elsewhere, Tolkien implies that lossë itself can also be used as an adjective "snow-white"; see lossë #1 above)