ulca adj. "evil, bad, wicked, wrong" (QL:97, VT43:23-24, VT48:32, VT49:14; compounded in henulca "evileyed", SD:68); variant olca, q.v. Compare noun ulco. The adj. ulca may also itself be used as a noun "evil", as in the ablative form ulcallo "from evil" (VT43:8, 10) and the sentence cé mo quetë ulca *"if one speaks evil" (VT49:19).
Quenya
ulca
adjective. dark
ulca
evil, bad, wicked, wrong
ulca
adjective. evil; dark, gloomy, sinister, evil; dark, gloomy, sinister; [ᴱQ.] bad, wicked, wrong
This is one of two later words Tolkien consider for “evil”; the other is Q. olca < √OKO. Of the two, ulca has the longer conceptual history, dating back to early Quenya (QL/97). Both words have the same Sindarin cognate, S. ogol.
Ulca has two attested late derivations. One is from the root √UK (PE17/149), listed as a possible replacement of √OKO, but Tolkien marked this derivation as uncertain. Another derivation is ✶ū “not” + KAL “light” = ✶uk’la “gloom, gloomy” (PE18/88), an example of abnormal vocalization. If this second derivation is accepted, ulca could have later developed the senses “sinister, evil” either due to the “bad” connotations of Q. ú- or perhaps by influence of Q. olca. If so, it may have even supplanted olca as the general word for “evil” as it appears to have done in Tolkien’s later writings.
Cognates
- S. ogol “bad, evil, wrong; gloom(y)” ✧ PE17/149; PE18/088
Derivations
Element in
- Q. cé mo quetë ulca “*if one speaks evil” ✧ VT49/19
- Q. epetai i hyarma ú ten ulca símaryassen “consequently the left hand was not to them evil in their imaginations” ✧ VT49/14
- ᴹQ. henulca “*evil-eyed”
- Q. násië “but deliver us from evil: Amen” ✧ VT43/23
- ᴺQ. ulcarindo “evil-doer”
- ᴺQ. ulquet- “to accuse”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶UKLA > ulca [ukla] > [ulka] ✧ PE17/149 ✶ū̆k’la > ulka [ukla] > [ulka] ✧ PE18/088 ✶ū̆k’lā > ulka [uklā] > [ulkā] > [ulka] ✧ VT43/24 ✶ukla > ulca [ukla] > [ulka] ✧ VT48/32 Variations
- ulka ✧ PE18/088; VT43/24
olca
evil, bad, wicked
olca adj. "evil, bad, wicked" (VT43:23-24, VT48:32, VT49:14, PE17:149). The root meaning implies "wickedness as well as badness or lack of worth" (PE17:170). Variant of ulca.
ulco
evil
ulco (stem #ulcu-) noun "evil", pl. *ulqui (VT43:23-24; the stem-form is attested in the ablative case: ulcullo "from evil", VT43:12)
ulco
noun. evil
Derivations
- √UK “nasty”
Element in
nulla
dark, dusky, obscure
nulla adj. "dark, dusky, obscure" (NDUL), "secret" (DUL). See also VT45:11.
núla
dark, occult, mysterious
núla ("ñ")adj. "dark, occult, mysterious" (PE17:125)
úra
evil, nasty
úra (1) adj. "evil, nasty" (VT43:24, VT48:32)
lóna
dark
?lóna (4) adj. "dark" (DO3/DŌ). If this is to be the cognate of "Noldorin"/Sindarin dûr, as the context seems to indicate, lóna is likely a misreading for *lóra in Tolkien's manuscript.
lúna
dark
lúna adj. *"dark" in Lúnaturco and Taras Lúna, Quenya names of Barad-dûr (Dark Tower). (PE17:22). In the Etymologies, lúnë "blue" was changed by Tolkien from lúna (VT45:29).
úmëa
evil
úmëa (2) adj. "evil" (UGU/UMU). Obsoleted by #1 above? Possibly connected to úmëai in Narqelion, if that is a "Qenya" plural form.
lúrëa
dark, overcast
lúrëa adj. "dark, overcast" (LT1:259)
morĭ
adjective. dark
PQ. dark
móri
dark
móri adj. "dark" (MC:221; this is "Qenya"; in Tolkien's later Quenya mórë, morë)
naxa
adjective. evil
naxa
noun/adjective. evil
Element in
- Q. carë mára quí tyarë naxa “doing good may cause evil” ✧ PE22/154
Variations
- naxa ✧ PE22/154
úro
evil
úro noun "evil" (VT43:24); Tolkien may have abandoned this form in favour of ulco, q.v.
morna
dark, black
morna adj. "dark, black" (Letters:282, LT1:261; also used of black hair, PE17:154), or "gloomy, sombre" (MOR). Used as noun in the phrase mi…morna of someone clad "in…black" (PE17:71). In tumbalemorna (Letters:282), q.v. Pl. mornë in Markirya**(the first version of this poem had "green rocks", MC:215, changed to ondolisse mornë** "upon dark rocks" in the final version; see MC:220, note 8).
hróva
dark, dark brown
hróva adj. "dark, dark brown", used to refer to hair (PE17:154)
mori-
dark, black
mori- "dark, black" in a number of compounds (independent form morë, q.v.):Morimando "Dark Mando" = Mandos (MBAD, VT45:33), morimaitë "black-handed" (LotR3:VI ch. 6, VT49:42). Moriquendi "Dark Elves" (SA:mor, WJ:361, 373), Moringotto "Black Foe", Sindarin Morgoth, later name of Melkor. The oldest form is said to have been Moriñgotho (MR:194). In late material, Tolkien is seen to consider both Moringotto and Moricotto _("k") _as the Quenya form of the name Morgoth (VT49:24-25; Moricotto also appears in the ablative, Moricottollo). Morion "the dark one", a title of Morgoth (FS). Morifinwë "dark Finwë", masc. name; he was called Caranthir in Sindarin (short Quenya name Moryo). (PM:353) In the name Morinehtar, translated "Darkness-slayer", the initial element is defined would thus seem to signify "darkness" rather than "dark" as an adjective (see mórë). (PM:384, 385)
hen
eye
hen (hend-, as in pl. hendi) noun "eye" (KHEN-D-E); possibly dual #hendu in hendumaica, q.v. Noun henfanwa "eye-screen, veil upon eyes" (PE17:176), adj. henulca "evileyed" (SD:68; cf. ulca).
hen
noun. eye
The Quenya word for “eye”, derived from the root √KHEN for eye-words (PE17/187; Ety/KHEN-D-E) and with stem-form hend- given its dual hendu (WJ/337).
Conceptual Development: This word first appeared as ᴱQ. hen in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶þχe-ndǝ and appearing beside ᴱQ. sé “eye, pupil” < ᴱ✶þeχē (PE12/21). Hen (hend-) “eye” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon though it was marked “†” for archaic (QL/40), and ᴱQ. hend- also appeared in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as the cognate of G. hen “eye” (GL/48). ᴱQ. hen appeared regularly in documents from the 1920s (PE13/147; PE14/43, 76; PE16/136), although in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s ᴱQ. sinda was given as the cognate of ᴱN. hen(n) “eye” (PE13/122). The form ᴱQ. sinda seems to have been a transient idea.
A lengthy declension of ᴹQ. hen “eye” appeared in documents from the early 1930s (PE21/52) and in The Etymologies of the 1930s it was based on a new the root ᴹ√KHEN-D-E “eye” (Ety/KHEN-D-E). In both these documents, inflected forms indicate a stem form of hend-. Thus this word and its stem were quite stable in Tolkien’s mind, though he did alter its root from early ᴱ√SEHE [ÞEHE] to later √KHEN.
Cognates
- S. hen(d) “eye”
Derivations
- √KHEN “base of eye-words, base of eye-words; [ᴹ√] look at, see, observe, direct gaze”
Element in
- Q. alahen “eyeless”
- ᴺQ. hencalcat “eye-glasses, spectacles”
- ᴺQ. hendelë “window”
- ᴺQ. hendelúpea cecet “peafowl, (lit.) eye-plumed pheasant”
- Q. hendumaica “sharp-eye[d]” ✧ WJ/337
- Q. henfanwa “eye-screen, veil upon eyes”
- Q. henta- “to eye, examine, read, scan”
- ᴺQ. hentópa “eyelid”
dark, gloomy, sinister