ū

root. denial of fact, privation, negative element, denial of fact, privation, negative element, [ᴱ√] not

A negative root first mentioned as ᴱ√Ū “not” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with various derivatives in Qenya and Gnomish (QL/96, 98; GL/73). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it became {ᴹ√ƷŪ >>} ᴹ√GŪ or ᴹ√MŪ “no, not”, and in this document had “evil connotations” (Ety/GŪ, MŪ; EtyAC/ƷŪ), but in later writings it again became √Ū (PE17/143; PE22/153). For much of its existence this root was in competition with invertible √LA for negation, but in notes from 1959 Tolkien decided √Ū was the only negative root (PE17/143), though √LA was briefly restored in 1969 (PE22/160) only to be abandoned again (VT44/4). For a full history of Tolkien’s shifting conceptions of negation in Elvish, see the Quenya entry on the negative.

Derivatives

• ✶ū “primitive negative interjection” ✧ PE17/143
  • S. û “no, not, no, not, [G.] nor” ✧ PE17/144
• √UMU “not, expressing privation, not, expressing privation; [ᴹ√] negative stems”
  • ᴺQ. munta “nothing, *zero”
  • Q. ui- “to not be, to not do” ✧ VT49/29
  • Q. um(ba)- “[unglossed]” ✧ PE17/172
  • ᴺS. ont “no, none”
  • ᴺS. unt “nothing”
• Q. ú “without, destitute of” ✧ PE17/143
• Q. ú- “no, not, un-, in-; hard, difficult, bad, uneasy; hardly, with difficulty, ‘badly’” ✧ VT42/33
• ᴺQ. ui(y)a “no, not any, not (a); none”
• Q. úna “deprived of, destitute, forlorn” ✧ PE17/143
• S. ú- “no, not, negative; impossible, no, not, negative; impossible; [N.] bad-” ✧ VT42/33

Variations

• Ú ✧ PE22/153
• ū ✧ VT42/32
• û ✧ VT42/33

ū

interjection. primitive negative interjection

Derivations

• √Ū “denial of fact, privation, negative element, denial of fact, privation, negative element, [ᴱ√] not” ✧ PE17/143

Derivatives

• S. û “no, not, no, not, [G.] nor” ✧ PE17/144

Element in

• ✶uklā “gloom, gloomy” ✧ PE18/088

Variations

• ū̆- ✧ PE18/088

-ū

suffix. dual ending for pairs

Derivations

• √YU “both, both, [ᴹ√] two”

Derivatives

• Q. -u “dual ending” ✧ Let/427

Variations

• ū ✧ Let/427

we

root. dual

A primitive “dual” element mentioned in notes on numbers from the late 1960s, contributing to the forms of primitive ✶enekwe “six” and ✶yun(e)kwe “twelve” in the Quenya branch of Elvish, as well as the ancient 1st person inclusive pronoun ✶ñwe (VT48/10). It was probably related to the ancient dual suffix ✶-ū (Let/427). It was also likely a later iteration the dual root ᴱ√WI from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s which was likewise connected to dual U (QL/33). This early root was mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as ᴱ✶u̯i (GL/45).

Variations

• we ✧ VT48/10

-t

suffix. dual ending

Derivatives

• Q. -t “dual ending”

Variations

• t ✧ VT49/50