ab

root. refuse, deny, say no; away, go away, depart

abar

root. *refuser

A “root” in The Etymologies from the 1930s that was an extension of ᴹ√AB “refuse, deny” (Ety/AB). It seems to just be ᴹ√AB(A) with the usual agental suffix -ro added. Its main derivative was Avari, a term that survived into Tolkien’s later writings as the name of the Elves that refused to go to Valinor.

abāro

noun. refuser, one who does not go forth

abtā-

verb. to away, go away

rim

root. abound; large number

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “abound” with derivatives such as ᴹQ. rimbe/N. rhim “crowd, host” (Ety/RIM). A likely precursor to this root appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as ᴱ√‘(A)ṚM(A)R and ᴱ√‘ṚMṚ with a Gnomish form ᴱ√grimri· (QL/32), indicating the actual primitive form was ✱ᴱ√ƷṚMṚ. Derivatives of this early root include ᴱQ. arm- “gather, collect” and G. grim “host, folk”, the last of these the likely precursor to N. rhim.

The root ᴹ√RIM also appeared in Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants from 1936, glossed “host, large number” >> “number, plenty” (PE21/57). Quenya and Sindarin forms Q. rimbë and S. rim continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writing (Let/382; PE17/50; UT/318), so it is likely the root √RIM remained valid, especially given the prevalence of suffix -rim in Sindarin collective names.

-wē

suffix. abstract suffix

lō

root. ablative element

ub

root. abound

ubrā

adjective. abundant

dyel

root. feel fear and disgust; abhor

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “feel fear and disgust; abhor” with derivatives in both Quenya and Noldorin (Ety/DYEL). It was an element in the names N. Dor-Daideloth “Land of (the Shadow of) Dread” and N. Deldúwath “Deadly Nightshade” (LR/250, 282), and the continued appearance of these names in later versions of The Silmarillion, still associated with “dread”, indicates this root may have survived in Tolkien’s later ideas of the language.

This root probably replaced ᴱ√DYELE from the Qenya Lexicon whose derivatives had to do with “winter” and “cold” (QL/106). This early root was tied to a similarly early conception of Melkor as a terrible being of heat and cold.

os

root. round, about

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “round, about”, with various derivatives like N. o “about, concerning” and ᴹQ. osto/N. ost “city, town with wall round” (Ety/OS). Tolkien also considered variant forms ᴹ√OD and ᴹ√OTH, the latter glossed “fort” (EtyAC/OS). This root in The Etymologies is a later iteration of unglossed ᴱ√OSO [’OSO] from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. ossa “wall and moat” and ᴱQ. ostar “township” (QL/71). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. ost “enclosure, yard; town” and G. osta- “to surround with walls, build up; fortify, protect” (GL/63). This early root probably meant something like “✱enclosure”.

In the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, Q. osto and S. ost were instead derived from the root √SOT “shelter, protect, defend”, but this root has no other derivatives.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, ᴹ√OS “round, about” is too useful to discard, and I prefer it over the later root √SOT, though √(O)S-OT might be salvaged as an extension of √OS.

phew

root. feel disgust at, abhor

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “feel disgust at, abhor” with derivatives ᴹQ. feuya- and N. fuia- of the same meaning (Ety/PHEW).

law

root. warm; abound

ndor

root. dwell, stay, rest, abide

od

root. ?round, about

dattā

noun. hole, pit

lauka

adjective. warm

mbar-

verb. to dwell

tundu

noun. hole

am

root. up

belē

noun. strength

epe

preposition. after

gaisrā

adjective. dreadful

geiā

adverb. ever

kor

root. round

mā

noun. land

tanka

adjective. firm

tū

adjective. strength

yagō

noun. gulf