ui

no

ui interjection "no" (originally an endingless negative verb in the 3rd person aorist: "it is not [so]"; see #u-). Apparently this is the word for "no" used to deny that something is true (compare vá, which is rather used to reject orders, or to issue negative orders). (VT49:28) Compare uito.

il-

verb. no, *un-

il- (prefix) "no, *un-" (LA); cf. ilfirin "immortal" (vs. firin "dead"). This prefix "denotes the opposite, the reversal, i.e. more than the mere negation" (VT42:32). But il- can also mean "all, every"; see ilaurëa, ilqua, ilquen.

la

no, not

la negation "no, not" (see lá); also prefix la- as in lacarë, q.v. (VT45:25)

lá

no, not

lá (1) adv. "no, not" (LA, VT45:25) According to VT42:33, lá is the stressed form, alternating with la when the negation is unstressed. In another conceptual phase of Tolkien's, lá had the opposite meaning "yes" (VT42:32-33), but this idea is contradicted by both earlier and later material: usually lá is conceived as a negation. The negation can receive tense markers and be used as a negative verb "when [another] verb is not expressed" (VT49:13), apparently where the phrase "is not" is followed by a noun or an adjective as a predicate, or where some verb is understood, as in English "I do not" (i.e. "I do not do whatever the context indicates"). With pronominal endings la- in the aorist, e.g. lanyë "I do not, am not" (etc.) (Tolkien abandoned the form lamin.) Exemplified in the sentence melin sé apa lanyë hé *"I love him but I do not [love] him" (another person) (VT49:15). Present tense laia, past lánë, perfect alaië, future lauva.

lá

adverb. no, not

Derivations

• √LA “no, not; negative; not to be” ✧ PE22/153; VT42/33

Element in

• Q. ála “do not”
• Q. alasaila ná lá carë tai mo nave mára “it is unwise not to do what one judges good” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
• Q. itas la tuluvanyë “in that case I shan’t come (something will prevent me)” ✧ PE22/162
• Q. lá asanyë “I don’t wish to, I don’t agree” ✧ PE22/166
• Q. lá carita i hamil mára alasaila ná “not to do (in this case) what you judge good (would be) unwise” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
• Q. lá caritas alasaila cé nauva “not doing this may be/prove unwise” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
• Q. lá caritas, navin, alasaila ná “not doing this would be (I think) unwise” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
• Q. la navin caritalyas mára “I do not advise you to do so, (lit.) I don’t judge your doing (it) good” ✧ PE22/154; VT42/33
• Q. láquet- “to deny (fact or accusation); (lit.) to say ‘it is not’”
• Q. lá istan “I suppose so, I don’t know” ✧ PE22/158
• Q. quí(ta) la tuldes, nánë márië (nin) “[if he had not come], it was well to me (I was glad)” ✧ PE22/158
• Q. lasir “rather the reverse” ✧ VT49/18
• ᴺQ. yola “neither, nor”
• ᴺQ. yúla “neither, nor”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√ALA > lā	[lā]	✧ PE22/153
√ala > la	[lā]	✧ VT42/33

Variations

• lā ✧ PE22/153; VT49/13
• la ✧ PE22/154; PE22/158 (la); PE22/160; PE22/162; VT42/33; VT49/18
• lá ✧ PE22/154; PE22/158; PE22/160; PE22/161; PE22/166; PE22/166; VT42/33; VT42/33

óma

voice

óma noun "voice" (OM), "voice, resonance of the vocal chords" (VT39:16), "voice /vowel" _(PE17:138, where it is said that the root _OM refers to "drawn-out" sounds; contrast tomba, q.v.). With pronominal suffix #ómarya "his/her voice", genitive ómaryo "of his/her voice" (Nam, RGEO:67). Instrumental pl. ómainen "with voices" _(WJ:391). Adj. ómalóra "voiceless" (VT45:28)_. The term óma is closely associated with vowels, see óma-tengwë, ómëa; cf. also the compounds ómataina "vocalic extension", the addition to the base a final vowel identical to the stem-vowel (WJ:371, 417; also called ómataima, VT42:24, 25), ómatehtar "vowel-signs", signs used for vowels (usually called simply tehtar, but the latter term strictly includes all kinds of diacritics, not just the vowel-signs) (WJ:396)

û

interjection. no

adv. or interj. no, not (of fact).

û

adverb/interjection. no, not, no, not, [G.] nor

Derivations

• ✶ū “primitive negative interjection” ✧ PE17/144
  • √Ū “denial of fact, privation, negative element, denial of fact, privation, negative element, [ᴱ√] not” ✧ PE17/143

Element in

• S. ú- “no, not, negative; impossible, no, not, negative; impossible; [N.] bad-” ✧ PE17/144

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶ū > û	[ū]	✧ PE17/144

ú

prefix. no, not (negative prefix or particle)

glim

noun. voice, voice, *utterance

Element in

• S. glim maewion “(the) voices of gulls” ✧ PE17/097

al-

prefix. no, not

Cognates

• Q. al(a)- “in-, un-, not; †-less, without”

Derivations

• √LA “no, not; negative; not to be”

Element in

• S. alfirin “immortal, (lit.) not dying; a species of flower” ✧ PE17/101
• ᴺS. alhad “nowhere”
• ᴺS. allu “never”
• ᴺS. alnad “nothing”
• ᴺS. alphen “no one, nobody”
• ᴺS. alben “no one”

Variations

• al- ✧ PE17/101

baw

interjection. no, don't!

baw!

no

! (interjection expressing refusal or prohibition, not denying facts) baw! (dont!) Prefix

baw!

no

(don’t!) Prefix

conath

noun. many voices

conath

noun. lamentation

lamath

noun. echoing voices

û

noun. voice

Cognates

• Q. óma “voice, resonance of the vocal chords, vowel”

Derivations

• √OM “of resonant sounds”

gú

no, not

also ú

gú

no, not

gú-, also ú-

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

ōma

noun. voice

Derivatives

• Q. óma “voice, resonance of the vocal chords, vowel” ✧ PE17/076

Element in

• ᴺS. úvae “vowel; vocalic”

mû

interjection. no

Derivations

• ᴹ√GŪ “no, not” ✧ Ety/MŪ

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ√MŪ > mû	[mū]	✧ Ety/MŪ

al-

prefix. no, not

al-

prefix. no, not

@@@ the phrase “the only place in Noldorin where the primitive prefix is preserved” was deleted (EtyAC/AR²)

Cognates

• ᴹQ. il- “no, not” ✧ Ety/LA

Derivations

• ᴹ✶al “without”
  • ᴹ√LA “no, not; to be not” ✧ Ety/AR²
• ᴹ✶la- “no, not, negative prefix” ✧ Ety/LA
  • ᴹ√LA “no, not; to be not” ✧ Ety/LA; EtyAC/LA

Element in

• N. Alchorin “Not-of-Kôr” ✧ Ety/LA

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶la- > al	[la-] > [al-]	✧ Ety/LA

Variations

• al ✧ Ety/LA