naqa

root. steal, take; get by stealth, unlawfully

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “steal, take; get by stealth, unlawfully”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. nak (naq-) “anything stolen, a theft, a trick” and ᴱQ. naqar “thief” (QL/64). There are no signs of this root in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, but words like G. nig- “steal, creep, do or go by stealth” and G. nigla- “to thieve, pilfer” might be derived from a variant (GL/60); there is otherwise no ✱ᴱ√NIKI root appearing in the Qenya Lexicon. There are no signs of either of these roots in Tolkien’s later writing with these meaning; later √NIK means “small” (VT47/26; VT48/18).

oro

root. steepness, rising

yaya

root. *steel, possession

A root implied by the primitive form {ᴱ✶ı̯aksĕ >>} ᴱ✶ı̯aisa in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s that was the basis for derivatives like G. gais/ᴱQ. yaisa “steel” and similar words (GL/37); in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon, the word was ᴱQ. Y̯akse “steel”, consistent with the deleted form in GL (QL/105). In the Early Qenya Grammar and English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, the Qenya word was ᴱQ. akse “steel” (PE14/48, 81; PE15/77). I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root √GAK “steel” to salvage these early words.

aikwa

adjective. high, steep

tuluku

root. *steady, firm

eðe

root. *iron, steel

yere(ne)

root. *iron

This root appeared in two different forms in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s: as ᴱ√DYEÐE = ‘EÐE equivalent of ᴱQ. anga “iron” (QL/105), and as ERE(N) “iron or steel” = ᴱ√YEREN (QL/36). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon Tolkien had related forms G. ger “ore, metal” and G. geth “ore of metals (esp. raw iron)” (GL/38); the second of these was deleted, which probably means Tolkien selected ᴱ√YEREN over ᴱ√DYEÐE. In Tolkien’s later writing he largely used √ANGA for “iron”.

Neo-Eldarin: In a 2024-08-17 post in the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS), Luinyelle suggested restoring ᴺQ. yeren “pig iron” with the added meaning “✱ore”, which also implies the preservation of ᴺS. [G.] ger “ore, [unrefined] metal”. Presumably these words would be derived from a Neo-Root ᴺ√GYEREN of similar meaning.

nusu

root. *smell

fawa

root. smell

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “smell” along with several Qenya derivatives, most unglossed (QL/37). It seems this was a neutral “smell” root based on words in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, such as G. faust “smell, odour (neither pleasant nor unpleasant)” (GL/34). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

nufu

root. *smell

sulu

root. *support

tyulu

root. tall

tḷpḷ

root. *support, prop