A word for “spider’s web” appearing in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E, the name of tengwa #8 [x] (LotR/1122).
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. ungwe was a word for “spider” under the early root ᴱ√GUŊU (QL/98). However, in The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. ungwe was glossed “gloom” under the root ᴹ√UÑG (Ety/UÑG) in keeping with the 1930s translation of the name ᴹQ. Ungoliante = “Gloomweaver” (LR/230) where the second element ᴹQ. liante meant “spider” (Ety/SLIG). In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s ungwe was also glossed “(spider) gloom” (PE22/51). In Tolkien’s later writings he said √ungu- was again the basis for “spider words” (PE22/160), which explains the new translation in The Lord of the Rings appendices.
ungwë noun "spider's web", also name of tengwa #8 (Appendix E), or, in the pre-classical Tengwar system presupposed in the Etymologies, tengwa #20 which letter Tolkien would later call nwalmë (VT46:20). The word as such was defined as "gloom" in the Etymologies(UÑG), while in early "Qenya" it meant "spider" ("especially Ungwë the Gloomweaver" = Ungoliant) (LT1:271)