win

root. new, fresh, young

win(i)d

root. pale blue

A rejected with roots with derivatives having to do with “blue-grey” and “fading” (Ety/WIN), perhaps replacing another rejected root ᴹ√GWINDI (EtyAC/GWINDI).

windı̯ā

adjective. pale blue

winyē

noun. evening

wingē

noun. foam, crest of wave, crest

ñiw

root. wink, hint

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “wink, hint”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. hiuta- and ON. (g)yūta- “hint” (EtyAC/ÑIW).

ramna

noun. wing (horn), extended point at side

rāmā

noun. wing

wey

root. wind, weave

vey

root. wind, weave

ram

root. *wing, fly

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. ráma “wing”, N. rhofal “pinion”, and N. rhenia- “fly, sail” (Ety/RAM). In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, very similar “wing” words were instead derived from ᴱ√RAHA: ᴱQ. ráma and G. ram (QL/78; GL/64). In Tolkien’s later writings, he continued to use Q. ráma and S. raw for “wing” (PE17/63), indicating the ongoing validity of ᴹ√RAM.

lip

root. *wine

wig

root. *foam

The Elvish words for “foam” were establish very early, retaining forms similar to Q. wingë and S. gwing throughout Tolkien’s life. The earliest basis for these words were the (unglossed) roots ᴱ√GWIŊI and ᴱ√GWIGI in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives ᴱQ. winge (QL/104) and G. gwing “foam”, the latter also connected to G. uin “whale” via ancient uı̯u (GL/45).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√WIG with derivatives ᴹQ. winge and N. gwing, all of the same basic meaning. The continued appearance Q. wingë and S. gwing in Tolkien’s later writings indicates the continued validity of this root, but the related verb Q. winta- “scatter, blow about” (PM/376 note #6) hints the root may have become √WIÑ, or at least had such a variant. In notes from 1968 Tolkien’s considered having gwing along with ross “spray” be loan words from Beorian (PM/368, 371), but he ultimately abandoned this idea (PM/376 note #6); see the entry on √ROS for further discussion.

way

root. enfold

The earliest iteration of this root was ᴱ√VAẎA “enfold, wind about” from the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. vaile “covering”, ᴱQ. vaima “wrap, robe”, and ᴱQ. vaita- “wrap” (QL/100). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had derivatives like G. baidha- “clothe”, G. bail “sheath, case, cover; pod”, and G. bain “clad”, based on the primitive form Baʒ̔- (GL/21). This likely meant the medial consonant of the root was actually the voiced palatal spirant [ʝ], which Tolkien generally represented as ẏ in Qenya roots (PE12/15-16).

{ᴱN. bain >>} ᴱN. bai “clad” and ᴱN. bail “sheath” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s were probably related (PE13/138). In The Etymologies from the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√WAY “enfold” with derivatives like ᴹQ. vaita-/N. gwaeda- “enfold” and N. ui “envelope” (Ety/WAY; EtyAC/WAY). In this entry the form was revised to ᴹ√VAY (Ety/WAY). Tolkien also indicated that it was “confused in later Q with BAYA”, perhaps an attempt to salvage the bai- forms of Gnomish and Early Noldorin, but this sentence was struck out and there is no other sign of ᴹ√BAY in The Etymologies.

Neo-Eldarin: In The Etymologies, the Noldorin words for “clothing” seem to have moved to a new root, ᴹ√KHAP “enfold”, but this root had no Quenya derivatives. I think it is best to reconceive of the Early Qenya derivatives of ᴱ√VAẎA related to “clothing” as derivatives of ᴹ√WAY instead. The Gnomish derivatives of ᴱ√VAẎA can’t be easily salvaged, however, since the later roots changed to make it difficult produce their initial b.

wínda-

verb. fade

ay(ar)

root. sea

glindi

root. pale blue

A rejected root in The Etymologies of the 1930s for “pale blue” used in an abandoned explanation of N. Eredlindon as “Blue Mountains” (Ety/GLINDI; EtyAC/GLINDI). Later this name was S. Ered Lindon “Mountains of Lindon” (Ety/LIN²; S/123).

khap

root. enfold

kwessē

noun. feather

neth

root. young

nethrā

adjective. young

nis

root. woman

nī

noun. woman

nī̆s

noun. woman

phal

root. foam

spal(as)

root. *foam

The root ᴹ√SPAL with extended form ᴹ√SPÁLAS appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a variant of ᴹ√PHAL(AS) (Ety/SPAL). Given that both ᴹ√SPAL(AS) and ᴹ√PHAL(AS) produce the same results in both Quenya and Noldorin, it is had to say which derivatives belong to which root, but Ilk. espalass and ᴹT. spalasta- are definitely from ᴹ√SPAL(AS) (Ety/PHAL; EtyAC/PHAL). This root is likely a later iteration of unglossed ᴱ√Palas or ᴱ√Palat from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien indicated it was related to ᴱ√PḶTYḶ “✱strike; flat of the hand” (QL/72); it had derivatives like ᴱQ. palasse “foam, splashing” and ᴱQ. palasya- “splash, foam” (QL/72), and it might be related to G. osp(a) “foam” from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/63).

In general, however, Tolkien used √PHAL (earlier ᴱ√FALA) much more regularly as the basis for wave/beach/foam words.

vaiā

noun. sea

wir

root. new, fresh, young

wis

root. air