Quenya 

vehtë

noun. [a span of] life; habitat, haunt

A noun for “life” appearing in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 derived from primitive {✶we’te [weʒte] >>} ✶weg-tē “activity, occupation” (PE17/189). Tolkien said that vehte meant:

> not Life in general or as a principle, but (a period of) individual activity, as in vehtequentale “biography”. It was used therefore sometimes almost like nóre “land” — of the place where a person, people etc. lived and had their business, i.e. habitat, haunt. So Beleriand might be described as an Eldavehte, a habitation, haunt or place occupied by Eldar.

Thus vehte refers to a span of life or activity (temporal or physical), and in this sense was the basis for words like vehtequentalë “biography = ✱life-history” as well as various place names as habitats where people lived.

Quenya [PE17/189; PE17/190] Group: Eldamo. Published by

vehtë

life - not life in general or as a principle, but (a period of) individual activity

vehtë noun "life - not Life in general or as a principle, but (a period of) individual activity", thus also "the place where a person, people &c. lived and had their business, i.e. habitat, haunt" (PE17:189)

vehtequentalë

biography

vehtequentalë noun "biography" (PE17:189)

vehtequentalë

noun. biography

Eldavehtë

elf-haunt

Eldavehtë noun *"Elf-haunt", description of Beleriand as "a habitation, haunt or place occupied by Eldar. See vehtë. (PE17:189)

coi

life

coi ("k")"life" (LT1:257; in Tolkien's later Quenya cuilë)

coivië

life

coivië _("k")_noun "life" (coivierya, *"his/her life", VT49:41, 42). In early material, the word is glossed "awakening" instead (LT1:257; in LotR-style Quenya cuivië, as in Cuiviénen)

coivië

noun. life, life, [ᴱQ.] liveliness; awakening

The usual word for “life” in Tolkien’s later writings based on the root √KOY (NM/84, 119; VT49/42), in one place appearing with the variant koive (PE17/68). In another place Tolkien instead used kuivie for “life” in the phrase kuivie-lankasse “on the brink of life”, reflecting Tolkien’s ongoing vacillation between √KOY and √KUY as the root for life.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. koivie was “awakening” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/48) as reflected in the name ᴱQ. Koivie-néni “Waters of Awakening” from this period (QL/48), but the word was glossed “liveliness” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/29). The noun for “life, being alive” was ᴹQ. kuile in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY), but was usually coivie in Tolkien’s writings from the 1950s and 60s, as noted above.

Neo-Quenya: I prefer √KOY as the root for “life” for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, so I’d use coivie as the noun “life, liveliness”, and use cuivië for “awakening” as seen in the later form of the name Q. Cuiviénen “Water of Awakening” (S/48).

Quenya [NM/084; NM/119; PE17/068; VT42/08; VT49/42] Group: Eldamo. Published by

coivë

noun. life

cuilë

life, being alive

cuilë ("k")noun "life, being alive" (KUY)

cuivië

noun. life

Sindarin 

cuil

life

cuil (i guil, o chuil), no distinct pl. form except with article (i chuil)

cuil

life

(i guil, o chuil), no distinct pl. form except with article (i chuil)

Noldorin 

cuil

noun. life

Noldorin [Ety/366] Group: SINDICT. Published by

cuil

noun. life, life, [G.] lifetime

A noun for “life” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY).

Conceptual Development: This word dates back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien clarified that G. cuil “life” was “usually [the] quality of being alive, but [was] also used = lifetime” (GL/27). ᴱN. cuil “life” also appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/141).


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!

Early Noldorin

cuil

noun. life

Early Noldorin [PE13/141; PE13/155; PE13/156] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

koi

noun. life

koile

noun. life

koire

noun. life

Early Quenya [LT1A/Koivië-néni; PE13/141; PE16/060; QL/048] Group: Eldamo. Published by

laume

noun. life

loa

noun. life

A noun for “life” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√LAWA, apparently an alternate name of ᴱQ. Vána (QL/52).

Early Quenya [QL/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by