The basic Quenya word for “wave”, in particular a foaming or cresting wave, or a breaker. It was a derivative of the root √PHAL “foam, splash” (PE17/62, 73; Ety/PHAL).
Conceptual Development: Its earliest precursor seems to be ᴱQ. falmo “foam” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from the root ᴱ√FALA (QL/37). It appeared as ᴱQ. falma “foam” in the Oilima Markirya poem of 1931 (MC/213). Other poems from this period use another word ᴱQ. falmar for “wave” (MC/216, 220), and falmar appeared in Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as well with the gloss “wave as it breaks” (QL/37). In the Declension of Nouns from the 1930s, it appeared as ᴹQ. falma “wave” (PE22/22, 50), and in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹQ. falma “(crested) wave” from the root ᴹ√PHAL “foam” (Ety/PHAL). It was mentioned numerous times in later writings, generally as a foaming or breaking wave.
The 13th phrase in the prose Namárië, which is essentially the same as its poetic version, differing only in its more literal translation. As a collection of modifying elements following a verb, there is nothing particularly notable about its word order.