[tolmo noun "thumb", rejected by Tolkien in favour of nápo (VT48:15)]
Quenya
leptollë
noun. *thumb
nápo
thumb
tollë
noun. thumb
Changes
(tal)tolle→ (lep)tolle ✧ VT47/27Derivations
- √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ VT47/26
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √TOL > tolle [tolle] ✧ VT47/26 Variations
- tolle ✧ VT47/26
- (lep)tolle ✧ VT47/27
- (tal)tolle ✧ VT47/27 (
(tal)tolle)
tolmo
thumb
tolpë
thumb
tolpë noun "thumb" (VT47:28, VT48:8), a form Tolkien may have rejected in favour of nápo, q.v.
tolpë
noun. thumb
Changes
tolpe→ nāpo ✧ VT47/10- tolpe → tolbo “thumb” ✧ VT47/28
Cognates
- T. tolmo “thumb” ✧ VT47/28
Variations
- tolpe ✧ VT47/26 (
tolpe); VT47/28; VT47/28
toltil
thumb
[toltil noun "thumb" (VT47:26)]
toltil
noun. thumb
lepta
noun/adjective. fingered; thumb, fingered; thumb, [ᴱQ.] finger
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. leptafinya “clever-fingered” ✧ PE17/017
- Q. Tyelpelepta ✧ VT47/27
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶lepet(ā) > lepta [lepetā] > [leptā] > [leɸtā] > [leɸta] ✧ VT47/27
nápo
noun. thumb, (lit.) picker
A word for “thumb” in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from 1968 (VT47/10; VT48/5). In rough drafts of these notes it was glossed “picker” as a derivative of √NAP “pick up” (VT47/29). Its (fossilized?) dual form nápat was used to refer to the “thumb and index [finger] as a pair” (VT48/5). Presumably the ordinary dual for a pair of thumbs was ✱nápot or ✱nápu (I personally prefer ✱nápu as a bit more distinctive).
Conceptual Development: In rough drafts of these notes, Tolkien explored several alternate words for “thumb”: Q. tolle, Q. toltil, {(tal)tolle >>} (lep)tolle and tolpe (< ✱tol-lepe), all based on the root √TOL “stick up” (VT47/26-28). In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s it was ᴱQ. tyúte “thumb” from the early root ᴱ√TYU whose derivatives had to do with “thick” things (QL/50).
Cognates
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √NAP > nāpo [nāpo] ✧ VT47/29 ✶napata > nápat [nāpata] > [nāpat] ✧ VT48/16 Variations
- nāpo ✧ VT47/10; VT47/29
tolbo
big toe
tolbo noun "big toe" (VT47:10), "a stump, stub (as of a truncated arm or branch)" (VT47:28). Since it is elsewhere implied that the commonest form of Quenya shows lv for lb, the form *tolvo may also be usual. Compare tolmo.
tolbo
noun. big toe; stump, stub; thumb
A word for the “big toe” in notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, an elaboration of √TOL “stand up” (VT47/10). It was originally written as (deleted) taltolpe (VT47/27 note #37). It appeared beside similarly derived {tolpe >>} taltol “big toe” with an initial element of tál “foot”. It seems tolbo was a “play name”, while taltol was a more ordinary word.
Conceptual Development: In drafts of these notes, {tolpe >>} tolbo was used for “thumb”, along with an alternate meaning “a stump, stub (as of a truncated arm or branch)” (VT47/28 note #40). I would discard “thumb” as a possible meaning, but would retain “stump, stub” as a valid meaning for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
Changes
taltolpe→ tolbo ✧ VT47/10Derivations
- √TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” ✧ VT47/10; VT47/28
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √TOL > tolbo [tolbo] ✧ VT47/28 Variations
- taltolpe ✧ VT47/27 (
taltolpe)
Návatar
father
Návatar noun a title of Aulë referring to his position as the immediate author of the Dwarvish race, apparently including atar "father", but the first element cannot be related to any known term for "Dwarf" (PM:391 cf. 381)
atar
father
atar noun "father" (SA; WJ:402, UT:193, LT1:255, VT43:37, VT44:12). According to the Etymologies (ATA) the pl. is atari, but contrast #atári in Atanatári "Fathers of Men" (q.v.); possibly the word behaves differently when compounded. Atarinya "my father" (LR:70), atar(inya) the form a child would use addressing his or her father, also reduced to atya (VT47:26). Diminutive masc. name Atarincë ("k") "Little father", amilessë (never used in narrative) of Curufinwë = Curufin (PM:353). Átaremma, Ataremma "our Father" as the first word of the Quenya translation of the Lord's Prayer, written before Tolkien changed -mm- as the marker of 1st person pl. exclusive to -lm-; notice -e- as a connecting vowel before the ending -mma "our". In some versions of the Lord's Prayer, including the final version, the initial a of atar "father" is lengthened, producing #átar. This may be a contraction of *a atar "o Father", or the vowel may be lengthened to give special emphasis to #Átar "Father" as a religious title (VT43:13). However, in VT44:12 Atar is also a vocative form referring to God, and yet the initial vowel remains short.
atar
noun. father
atar
noun. father
The Quenya word for “father”, derived from the root √AT(AR) (PM/324; WJ/402; VT48/19).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. atar “father” dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, though in that document it was “a more solemn word ... usually to 1st Person of the Blessed Trinity”, as opposed to more ordinary ᴱQ. attu “father” (QL/33). In the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s, ᴱQ. atar was the ordinary word for “father”, but with variant archaic form †attar (PE15/72). ᴹQ. atar “father” reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√ATA of the same meaning (Ety/ATA). It appeared again in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s in various inflected forms (PE22/118-119). It continued to appear regularly in Tolkien’s later writings. Thus this word was established early and retained its form throughout Tolkien’s life with only minor variations.
Cognates
- S. adar “father” ✧ PM/324
Derivations
Element in
- Q. alcar i Ataren ar i Yondon ar i Airefëan “glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit” ✧ VT43/37
- Q. Atanatar “Father of Men” ✧ SA/atar
- Q. atar aranya “*royal father” ✧ UT/193
- Q. Átaremma i ëa han Eä “our Father who art in Heaven” ✧ VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13; VT43/13
- Q. Atarincë “Little Father”
- Q. Atar meneldëa Eru órava (o)messë “God the Father of Heaven, have mercy on us” ✧ VT44/16
- Q. atartil “thumb [nursery rhymes]”
- Q. atya “daddy, (my) father”
- Q. Ilquendatar “Father of All Quendi”
- Q. Ilúvatar “Father of All” ✧ SA/atar; WJ/402
- Q. Návatar “*Dwarf-father”
- ᴺQ. atartur “patriarch, (lit.) master-father”
Variations
- atar ✧ PM/324; SA/atar; UT/193; VT43/37; WJ/402
- Atar ✧ VT44/16
nápat
thumb and index as a pair
nápat noun "thumb and index as a pair", a dual formation. Apparently formed from #nápa, an alternative form of nápo "thumb"; Telerin also has a final -a (rather than -o) in this word (VT48:5; etymology, VT48:16)
atto
father, daddy
atto noun "father, daddy" (hypocoristic)(ATA, LR:49), supposedly a word in "actual 'family' use" (VT47:26), also used in children's play for "thumb" and "big toe" (VT47:10, 26, VT48:4, 6). The dual form attat listed in VT48:19 seems to be formed from the alternative form atta, though attat was changed by Tolkien from attot. - Compare atya.
atya
daddy
atya (2) noun "daddy", supposedly a word in "actual 'family' use" (VT47:26, PE17:170), also used in children's play for "thumb" and "big toe" (VT47:10, 26, VT48:4, 6); reduction of at(an)ya "my father" (or, as explained in VT48:19, reduction of at-nya of similar meaning). Compare atto.
leuta
noun. finger
Derivations
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶lepta > leꝑta > leu̯ta [lepta] > [leɸta] > [leuta] ✧ PE19/084 Variations
- leu̯ta ✧ PE19/084
tollë
steep isle
tollë noun "a steep isle". Another meaning, "thumb", was apparently abandoned by Tolkien (VT47:13, 26)
ataryo
daddy
ataryo, also taryo (cited as (a)taryo), noun "daddy", also used as a name for the thumb in children's play, but Tolkien emended it to atto/atya (VT48:4). Compare atar "father".
taltol
big toe
taltol noun "big toe" (VT47:10); also tolbo
taltol
noun. big toe
Changes
tolpe→ taltol ✧ VT47/10Elements
Word Gloss tál “foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part” TOL “stick up or out, stand up (out and above neighboring things), raise the head” Variations
- tolpe ✧ VT47/28 (
tolpe)
(a)taryo
noun. daddy
leper
finger
leper (pl. leperi given) noun "finger" (VT44:16, VT47:10, 14, 24, VT48:5; an older source gives the word for "finger" as lepsë, q.v.)
leper
noun. finger
The Quenya word for “finger” appearing in various notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from 1968, derived from the root √LEP “pick up” (VT47/10; VT48/5).
Conceptual Development: The Quenya “finger” words went through quite a few conceptual changes, but they were always based on the root √LEP. The earliest of these was ᴱQ. let (lept-) “finger” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√LEPE with plural form lepsi (QL/53). In Qenya word lists of the 1920s, however, this became ᴱQ. lepta “finger”, still with the plural lepsi (PE15/72; PE16/137).
The form was ᴹQ. let (leps-) in the Declension of Nouns of the early 1930s (PE21/19, 26), expanded to ᴹQ. lepse “finger” in The Etymologies written around 1937, based on the root ᴹ√LEPET of the same meaning (Ety/LEPET). This form demonstrated the 1930s sound change whereby pt became ps (PE19/44 note #44). Tolkien revised this sound change so that the result remained pt (PE19/44), and in 1940s drafts to The Lord of the Rings Tolkien used the word ᴹQ. rakkalepta “✱claw-fingered” in Treebeard’s description of orcs (SD/68), though in the published version this word only appeared in English.
In the Outline of Phonology from the 1950s (OP1) Tolkien considered restoring the sound change pt > ps (PE19/84 note #75), and Q. lepsë appeared in notes from the late 1950s or early 60s on the tree name S. lebethron, so named because “its leaves (like chestnut) [were] shaped like a fingered hand” (PE17/89). However, he again abandoned this, clarifying that the actual result of [[q|[pt] was a spirantal [ɸt]]] (spelled pt to represent the bilabial pronunciation), and that in Tarquesta pronunciation (Exhilic Quenya of the first age) the [ɸ] vocalized to [u̯] so that ✶lepta > leꝑta > Q. leu̯ta “finger” (PE19/84). Q. lepta appeared in several words in the 1960s: Q. leptafinya “clever-fingered” (PE17/17) and Q. Tyelpelepta “✱silver-fingered” (VT47/27).
In drafts of the 1968 notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals, lepta reappeared as an independent word, but with the gloss “thumb” (VT47/27). In the final versions of these notes, however, Tolkien used leper for “finger”, as noted above.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use leper for “finger”, but would retain lepta as an adjective meaning “fingered”, especially in compounds like [ᴹQ.] raccalepta “claw-fingered”.
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Eldarinwë Leperi ar Notessi “Elvish Fingers and Numerals” ✧ VT47/04
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶leper- > leper [leper] ✧ VT47/10 ✶leper- > leper [leper] ✧ VT47/24 ✶leper > leper [leper] ✧ VT48/05
lepsë
finger
lepsë noun "finger" (LEP/LEPET; see leper). According to VT45:27, Tolkien derived lepsë from primitive ¤lepti; if so, lepsë should have the stem-form *lepsi-. However, Tolkien struck out the ancestral form lepti, so we cannot be sure whether this idea was maintained or not. In later sources, the word for "finger" appears as leper.
nápo noun "thumb" (VT47:10, VT48:4, 5). Compare nápat.