ro-

prefix. ro-

pref.

ro-

prefix. *superlative

-(r)on

suffix. agental suffix

A (masculine) agental suffix appearing as either -on or -ron. The -on variant is derived from ancient ✶-on(do), as seen in [N.] callon “hero” < ᴹ✶kalrondō (Ety/KAL). The -ron variant arose from the addition of ✶-on(do) to the ancient agental suffix ✶-ro after vowel losses made that suffix indistinct. This can be seen most clearly in [N.] thavron “carpenter” < [ON.] sthabro(ndo) < ᴹ✶stabrō (Ety/STAB). Other times the reduced -r became syllabic -or, as in [N.] tavor “woodpecker, [lit.] knocker” < tafr [tavr] < ᴹ✶tamrō (Ety/TAM).

Sometimes the suffix -(r)on was specifically masculine, as in Ellon vs. Elleth “Elf (m./f.)” and [N.] odhron vs. odhril “parent (m./f.)” (WJ/363; Ety/ONO). Other times it seems to be more neutral in meaning, as in pethron “speaker” or mellon “friend” (PE18/100). As a suffix in names, -on is only masculine.

Conceptual Development: The suffix G. -(r)on dates all the way back to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, but in Early Noldorin Word lists of the 1920s, it usually appeared as ᴱN. -ion.

-or

suffix. agental suffix

A general agental suffix that developed from the ancient suffix ✶-ro, mainly when final *r* became syllabic *-or* after other consonants. This can be seen most clearly in [N.] tavor “woodpecker, [lit.] knocker” derived from older tafr [tavr] < ᴹ✶tamrō (Ety/TAM).

Conceptual Development: This agental suffix also appeared as G. -or in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s in words such as G. nandor “farmer” and G. ecthor “swordsman”. It appeared in a quite a few words in The Etymologies of the 1930s. There is some evidence of it in Tolkien’s later writings, such as S. magor “swordsman” attested in S. Menelvagor “Swordsman of the Sky” (LotR/81), and in Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 Tolkien said -or was a variant of the masculine agental suffix -on used after n (PE17/141). This variant had a plural form -yr.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, most people assume -or is a gender-neutral agental suffix.

e

pronoun. he

The meaning "he" is deduced from the apparent function of this word in the so-called "King's Letter", but it also seems possible to interpret it as "indeed" (as in Q. e, LR/63, VT/45:11), used here in a way of formal address expressing the wishes or the will of the King

po

preposition. *on

A word for “on” in the Ae Adar Nín prayer of the 1950s, appearing only in its lenited form bo (VT44/21). Bill Welden suggested it might be related to primitive √apa “touch” (VT44/26), perhaps from primitive ✱pā.

Conceptual Development: Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s had ᴱN. ó “to, on” derived from primitive ᴱ✶apa, with apa > aa > á > au > o when unstressed (PE13/151), though why the intervocalic p vanished isn’t clear.

e

he

1. e (SD:128-31), 2) ho, hon, hono. (The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ho is the nominative ”he”, whereas hon is the accusative ”him”. Hono could be an emphatic form. It may be that all of these pronouns, except e, are ”Noldorin” and were not maintained in Sindarin proper.)

ho

he

hon, hono. *(The distinctions between these forms are unclear. Possibly ho is the nominative ”he”, whereas hon is the accusative ”him”. Hono could be an emphatic form. It may be that all of these pronouns, except e, are ”Noldorin” and were not maintained in Sindarin proper.)*

raw

lion

*raw (pl. roe, idh roe). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” rhaw, pl rhui. Homophones mean ”bank” (of river) and also ”rush, roaring noise”.

raw

lion

(pl. roe, idh roe). Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” rhaw, pl rhui. Homophones mean ”bank” (of river) and also ”rush, roaring noise”.

bo

preposition. *on

e

pronoun. he

raw

noun. lion

e

he

(SD:128-31)

raw

noun. lion

ro-

prefix. uprising, sunrise, east

A prefix having to do with rising, sunrise and the east, appearing as ro-, hró-, and orró- and derived from √(S)RŌ (UT/165; PE17/18). Compare with the prefix oro- “up, aloft” of similar derivation (PE17/64).

ró

adverb. the[?] [?next]

-ro

he

-ro pronominal ending "he", in antaváro, q.v. In Tolkiens later Quenya, the ending -s covers both "he", "she" and "it".

rauro

noun. lion

The common Quenya word for “lion” (more literally “roarer”) appearing in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s, as opposed to archaic Q. †rá (PE19/99, 104); see that entry for further discussion of its conceptual development.

rauro

noun. lion

lion

-r(o)

suffix. agental suffix

An agental suffix derived from ancient ✶-rō̆ (WJ/371), usually appearing as suffixal -r but sometimes as -ro as in quentaro “speaker, minstrel” (PE19/83; PE18/51). The fuller form appears especially in cases where the word is taken to be masculine: compare its feminine form [ᴹQ.] quentare “minstrel [f.]” (PE23/85). Tolkien indicated -rō was sometimes accompanied by nasal infixion, and that there was another variant -rdŏ > rd (WJ/371), but there are no clear signs of -r(d) in his later writings (but see the ᴱQ. examples below).

Based on the example ontari “parents” plural of [ᴹQ.] ontaro “parent [m.]”, it seems the usual plural form of this suffix may be -ri even in cases where -ro survived into Modern Quenya. This plural could be because of Quenya’s general dislike of repeated r-sound. However, ontaro may also be a specifically masculine form of an unattested gender neutral ✱ontar “parent” and ontari may be the plural of that gender neutral form, in which case likely there is no plural for the specifically masculine form. Regardless of the exact phenomenon in play, I would assume the plural of words like quentaro “minstrel” is quentari, referring to a group of minstrels of any gender.

Conceptual Development: There are no examples of -ro in the Early Qenya of the 1910s and 20s, but there are examples of agental -r and sometimes -ar, as in ᴱQ. maksar “cook” from ᴱQ. maksa- (QL/59), and ᴱQ. vaktelear “merchant” from ᴱQ. vaktele “trade” (QL/99). There are also examples of -r(d), such as ᴱQ. ektar (ektard-) “swordman” (QL/35) and ᴱQ. moar (moard-) “shepherd” (QL/60).

-mo

suffix. agental suffix

A suffix of which Tolkien said “the ending -mo often appeared in names or titles, sometimes with an agental significance” (WJ/400). It is based on the pronoun mo “(some)one”. This suffix is often specifically neuter, as in [ᴹQ.] nilmo “friend” vs. male and female [ᴹQ.] nildo and nilde (Ety/NIL).

Conceptual Development: The suffix ᴱQ. -mo appears all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s in words like ᴱQ. laulemo “inhabitant” and ᴱQ. qolimo “invalid” (QL/52, 78).

rá Archaic

noun. lion

An archaic word for “lion” mentioned in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s, versus more common Q. rauro (PE19/99, 104).

Conceptual Development: This word has a lengthy history in Tolkien’s conception of Elvish, dating all the way back to ᴱQ. rau “lion” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a derivative of the early root ᴱ√RAVA (QL/79). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, Tolkien had rú “lion” (PE21/40). It appeared in The Etymologies from later in the 1930s as ᴹQ. rá “lion” derived from primitive ᴹ✶rāu [rāw] under the root ᴹ√RAW, with plural form rávi (Ety/RAW).

In the Outline of Phonetic Development (OP1) from the 1940s Tolkien had (unglossed) rāva < rāwa (PE19/62), but in Notes for Qenya Declensions from this same period Tolkien had (unglossed) rāu < rắwă (PE21/69). The last clear mention in currently published materials is in the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the 1950s, as discussed above.

essë

he

essë (2) pron? "he" (and also "she, it"?), possible emphatic 3rd sg. emphatic pronoun, attested in the sentence essë úpa nas "he is dumb" (PE17:126)

hando

agent

[hando] noun "agent" (male; fem. [yendi]) (VT45:16)

rau

lion

rau (pl. rávi) noun "lion" (LT1:260; the pl. of this "Qenya" form is valid in Tolkien's later Quenya as well, but the sg. he changed to rá, q.v.)

rá

lion

rá (2) noun "lion", stem #ráv- as in the pl. rávi (RAW). Compare rau.

se

he, she, it

se (1) pron. "he, she, it" also object "him, her, it", 3rd person sg. Used "of living things including plants" (VT49:37; the corresponding inaimate pronoun is sa). The pronoun comes directly from se as the original stem-form (VT49:50). Stressed form sé, VT49:51, attested in object position in melin sé "I love him" (VT49:21). Ósë "with him/her", VT43:29; see ó-. Long dative/allative sena "[to/for] him" or "at him", VT49:14, allative senna "to him/her" (VT49:45, 46). Compare the reflexive pronoun insë *"himself, herself".

yendi

agent

[yendi] noun "agent" (fem.; masc. [hendo]). The word yendi Tolkien changed to yendë before deleting all of this (VT45:16)

orró-

prefix. uprising, sunrise, east

rá†

noun. lion

lion

rō/oro

root. up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount, up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount; [ᴹ√] high, [ᴱ√] steepness, rising

This invertible root had a long history in Tolkien’s writings. Its earliest iteration was as a pair of roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s: ᴱ√OŘO [OÐO] with derivatives having to do with the “dawn”, which it was much confused with ᴱ√ORO whose derivatives were rising things (QL/70). The latter had derivatives like ᴱQ. orme “summit, crest, hilltop” and ᴱQ. orto- “raise” (QL/70), and Tolkien mentioned an inverted variant ᴱ√RŌ or ᴱ√ROHO with derivatives like ᴱQ. róna- “arise, rise, ascend” (QL/80). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon also gave it as in an invertible root ᴱ√rō-, oro with derivatives like G. oros “rising” and G. ront “high, steep” (GL/63, 66).

The root reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√ORO “up, rise, high” and ᴹ√RŌ “rise” (Ety/ORO, RŌ). The root was mentioned very frequently in his writings from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, generally glossed “rise” or “up(wards)”. Thus √RŌ/ORO “rise” was very well established in Tolkien’s mind, but distinct ᴱ√OŘO “✱dawn” seems to have been abandoned very early.

-ro

suffix. an old agental formation

oro

root. up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount

(s)rō Reconstructed

root. *east

rāw

noun. lion

rhaw

noun. lion

A noun appearing as N. rhaw “lion” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶rāu [rāw] under the root ᴹ√RAW (Ety/RAW), where the initial *r* was unvoiced to *rh* as was generally the case in Noldorin. It had a Noldorin plural form of rhui.

Conceptual Development: G. rau “lion” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/65), probably a derivative of the early root ᴱ√RAVA like its cognate ᴱQ. rau “lion” (QL/79).

Neo-Sindarin: Since the unvoicing of initial liquids did not occur in Sindarin, many people adapt this word as ᴺS. raw “lion” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, as suggested in HSD (HSD). Its Sindarin-style plural is more likely to be roe(w) rather than ✱✱rui: compare Sindarin plural S. noeg of naug “dwarf” (UT/100) vs. its Noldorin plural N. nuig (EtyAC/NAUK).

-(r)on

suffix. agental suffix

-or

suffix. agental suffix

ho

pronoun. he

-on

suffix. agental suffix

ho

pronoun. he

hon

pronoun. he

hon(o)

pronoun. he

hono

pronoun. he

rhaw

noun. lion

u

pronoun. he

A well-attested pronominal prefix, the masculine singular pronoun “he” (SD/433). See the entry on pronominal-prefixes for more discussion. Tolkien said that it had another variant hu- (SD/433), but this variant was only appears in the early and rejected hunekkū, which was changed to unekkū (see nakh-). Tolkien further indicated that the form u- primitively had an initial consonant [ɣ] or [ʔ] that was lost (SD/433).

-ân Reconstructed

suffix. agental suffix

A suffix that is used in some examples for agental-formation: creating nouns from verbs that indicate the agent who performs the verb’s action. The clearest example is sapthân “wise man” derived (after some ancient sound modifications) from saphad- “to understand”. This formation means “✱one who understands”. Less clear examples are ✱magân “wright, ✱builder”, perhaps from a verb ✱mag- “to build”, and kathuphazgân “conquerer”, perhaps a combined of katha “all” and a verb ?phazag- “to take”, meaning “✱one who takes all”.

It is not clear how this suffix related to the similar participle suffix -ân used for form adjectives from verbs. See the entry on participle for further discussion. Andreas Moehn suggested (EotAL/TAN) that -ân as an agental formation may be related to anâ “human being”.

ʒu Reconstructed

root. he

A Primitive Adûnaic form attested as u “he” (SD/435), but given the later Adûnaic pronoun Ad. u or hu “he”, the actual primitive pronoun may have been ✱ƷU [ɣu], ✱ʔU or ✱HU [xu], as Tolkien indicated in a footnote (SD/433, note #7). The suffix -u was also a common feature of Classical Adûnaic masculine-nouns.

-ān Reconstructed

suffix. agental suffix

An apparent primitive form of the Classical Adûnaic agental suffix -ân, attested in the Primitive Adûnaic word saphdān = SAPHAD + -ān (SD/421).

-ró

suffix. future suffix