Quenya 

toa

töa

toa (1) ("töa")noun "wood" (VT39:6), "wood as material" (PE17:115)

toa

of wool, woollen

toa (2) adj. "of wool, woollen" (TOW; in GL:71 toa was glossed "wool", noun instead of adjective; but in Tolkien's later Quenya, the noun is tó)

töa

noun. wood (as material)

A word for “wood” mentioned in passing in notes on the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 (VT39/6), also appearing in a list of “large & small” roots from around 1968 with the gloss “wood as material” and derived from the root √TAW “wood” (PE17/115).

Conceptual Development: In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien instead had ᴹQ. tavar “wood (material)” derived from primitive ᴹ✶tawar of the same meaning, from the extended root ᴹ√TÁWAR “wood, forest” (Ety/TÁWAR). In this earlier conception, the awa became ava rather than reducing to oa because the initial a was stressed. Stress alone was probably not enough to preserve ancient áwa in Tolkien’s later conception of the language’s phonetic development.

Cognates

  • S. taw “wood as material” ✧ PE17/115

Derivations

  • √TAW “wood” ✧ PE17/115

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
√TAW > töa[tawa] > [toa]✧ PE17/115
Quenya [PE17/115; VT39/06] Group: Eldamo. Published by

oa

wool

oa (2) noun "wool" (LT1:249; evidently replaced by tó in Tolkien's later Quenya)

tó

wool

tó 1) noun "wool" (TOW)

Sindarin 

taw

wool

taw (i daw, o thaw), pl. toe (i thoe) if there is a pl. Also used as adj. ”woollen, of wool” (if the unclear wording of the entry TOW in LR:394 is taken as implying that taw corresponds in meaning to both the noun tó and the adj. toa in Quenya). See THAT for a possible homophone.

taw

wool

(i daw, o thaw), pl. toe (i thoe) if there is a pl. Also used as adj. ”woollen, of wool” (if the unclear wording of the entry TOW in LR:394 is taken as implying that taw corresponds in meaning to both the noun tó and the adj. toa in Quenya). See

Primitive elvish

towo

noun. wool

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TOW “*wool”

Variations

  • tŏwŏ ✧ PE21/80
Primitive elvish [PE21/80] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

taw

adjective. of wool, woollen

Noldorin [Ety/394] Group: SINDICT. Published by

taw

adjective. of wool, woollen

A word appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√TOW, apparently the cognate of the adjective ᴹQ. toa “of wool, woollen” (Ety/TOW).

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. toa “of wool, woollen” ✧ Ety/TOW

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TOW “*wool” ✧ Ety/TOW

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√TOW > taw[towa] > [toua] > [taua] > [tau]✧ Ety/TOW

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Qenya 

toa

adjective. of wool, woollen

An adjective in The Etymologies of the late 1930s glossed “of wool, woollen” and derived from the root ᴹ√TOW (Ety/TOW).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. oara “of wool”, an adjective form of ᴱQ. oa “wool” under the early root ᴱ√OWO (QL/71).

Cognates

  • N. taw “of wool, woollen” ✧ Ety/TOW

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TOW “*wool” ✧ Ety/TOW

Element in

Elements

WordGloss
tó“wool”
-a“adjectival suffix”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√TOW > toa[towa] > [toa]✧ Ety/TOW

tó

noun. wool

A noun in The Etymologies of the late 1930s glossed “wool” and derived from the root ᴹ√TOW (Ety/TOW).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s had ᴱQ. oa “wool” under the early root ᴱ√OWO (QL/71). This became ᴱQ. toa in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, cognate to G. tô “wool” from primitive ᴱ✶tou̯ (GL/71). ᴹQ. tó “wool” first appeared in the Declension of Nouns (DN) from the early 1930s, but there it was an example of a monosyllable ō-noun derived from -ōʒǝ: ✱tōʒǝ (PE21/40). Compare this to ᴱN. tô “wool, fleece” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s derived from primitive ᴱ✶togō or ᴱ✶togo (PE13/154, 165).

Possible Etymology: The derivation ᴹ√TOW > ᴹQ. tó in The Etymologies seems to be the result of a sound change whereby stressed ou became ō (vs. unstressed ou becoming ū); this change was mentioned in both the Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1930s (PE19/53) and the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s (PE19/106). However, in Tolkien’s later writing, the usual development of ou was to ū even if the syllable was stressed: compare ✶lou > lū and ✶lounē̆ > lūn in notes from the late 1960s (PE17/137).

Neo-Quenya: I would retain tó “wool” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but would assume it is derived from either ✱tō or ✱togō, similar to its derivation from the earlier 1930s. This also makes it easier to retain ᴱN. tô “wool” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin.

Derivations

  • ᴹ√TOW “*wool” ✧ Ety/TOW

Element in

  • ᴹQ. toa “of wool, woollen”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√TOW > tō[tou] > [tō]✧ Ety/TOW

Variations

  • tō ✧ Ety/TOW
Qenya [Ety/TOW; PE21/40] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

tô

noun. wool

Changes

  • tô → tô “well” ✧ GL/71

Cognates

  • Eq. toa “wool” ✧ GL/71

Derivations

  • ᴱ✶tou̯ “wool” ✧ GL/71

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ✶tou̯ > tô[tou] > [tō]✧ GL/71

Early Primitive Elvish

tou̯

noun. wool

Derivatives

  • Eq. toa “wool” ✧ GL/71
  • G. tôl “mantle”
  • G. taus “shaggy”
  • G. tô “wool” ✧ GL/71
Early Primitive Elvish [GL/71] Group: Eldamo. Published by

togō

noun. wool

Derivatives

  • En. tô “fleece, wool” ✧ PE13/154; PE13/165

Variations

  • togo: ✧ PE13/154
  • togo ✧ PE13/165
Early Primitive Elvish [PE13/154; PE13/165] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

toa

noun. wool

Cognates

  • G. tô “wool” ✧ GL/71

Derivations

  • ᴱ✶tou̯ “wool” ✧ GL/71

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ✶tou̯ > toa[towā] > [towa] > [toua] > [toa]✧ GL/71
Early Quenya [GL/71] Group: Eldamo. Published by

oa

noun. wool

Cognates

  • G. uf “fine wool, down”

Derivations

  • ᴱ✶OWO “*wool” ✧ LT1A/Aulë; QL/034; QL/071

Element in

  • Eq. oalúme “shearing time” ✧ QL/071
  • Eq. oa qitima “*wool for knitting” ✧ QL/078
  • Eq. oara “of wool” ✧ QL/071
  • Eq. oalle “blanket” ✧ PME/071

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ✶OWO > oa[owā] > [owa] > [oua] > [oa]✧ QL/034
ᴱ✶OWO > oa[owā] > [owa] > [oua] > [oa]✧ QL/071
Early Quenya [LT1A/Aulë; PME/071; QL/034; QL/071; QL/078] Group: Eldamo. Published by

oara

adjective. of wool

Early Quenya [QL/071] Group: Eldamo. Published by