alda noun "tree" (GALAD, GÁLAD, SA, Nam, RGEO:66, LR:41, SD:302, LT1:249, LT2:340, VT39:7), also name of tengwa #28 (Appendix E). Pl. aldar in Narqelion; gen. pl. aldaron "of trees" in Namárië. Etymology of alda, see Letters:426 and UT:266-7. The latter source states that primitive ¤galadā, whence Quenya alda, originally applied to stouter and more spreading trees such as oaks or beeches, while straighter and more slender trees such as birches were called ¤ornē, Quenya ornë - but this distinction was not always observed in Quenya, and it seems that alda became the general word. According to PE17:25, primitive galada (sic) referred to "a plant (large) and was a general term". Place-name Aldalómë ""tree-night" or "tree-shade-night" (LotR2:III ch. 4, translated in PE17:82); Aldarion masc. name, *"Son of (the) Trees" (Appendix A), Tar-Aldarion a Númenorean King (UT:210). Aldaron a name of Oromë (Silm); aldinga "tree-top" (VT47:28), aldarembina (pl. aldarembinë attested) adj. "tree-tangled", the cognate of Sindarin galadhremmin**(PM:17:26).Aldúya fourth day of the Eldarin six-day week, dedicated to the Trees (Appendix D). The word seems to include Aldu, a dual form referring to the Two Trees. The Númenóreans altered the name to Aldëa (presumably < aldajā), referring to one tree (the White) only. The dual Aldu seems to occur also in Aldudénië** "Lament for the Two Trees" (a strange word, since Quenya does not permit intervocalic d as in this word perhaps the Vanyarin dialect of Quenya did) (Silm)
Quenya
alda
noun. tree, tree, [ᴱQ.] branch
alda
tree
alda
noun. tree
culumalda
culumalda
culumalda noun: a kind of tree (evidently orange-tree, culuma + alda) (SA:mal-)
lavaralda
(golden) blossom
lavaralda (changed by Tolkien from lavarin) noun some kind of tree (alda) (LR:57). The initial element lavar- seems to connect with the root LAWAR having to do with golden colour; cf. lávar "(golden) blossom" (PE17:159).
malda
yellow, of golden colour
malda adj. "yellow, of golden colour" (PE17:51), variant of malina. An earlier source (the Etymologies, entry SMAL) has malda as the noun "gold" but LotR gives malta, q.v., and according to VT46:14 the form malta originally appeared in the Etymologies as well. Since Quenya sometimes uses adjectives as nouns (see for instance fanya), malda could still be regarded as a valid side-form of the noun malta "gold".
yá tenn’ aldar lente landanóressë ólaner
when still trees grew free in a wide country
palda
adjective. wide, broad, wide, broad, *expansive
An adjective glossed “wide, broad” in notes from the late 1960s, derived from ✶palnā and related to adverb Q. palan “far and wide” (VT47/8).
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. palla “wide, expansive” under the root ᴹ√PAL “wide (open)” (Ety/PAL), which presumably was derived from ✱pallā.
alda
alda
The word derives from the Primitive Quendian root GALÁD.
inga
top, highest point
inga (1) noun "top, highest point" (PM:340), "only applied to shapes pointing upwards...[it] referred primarily to position and could be used of tops relatively broad". Compounded in the nouns aldinga "tree-top" (alda + inga) (VT47:28), ingaran "high-king" (PM:340)
malina
yellow
malina adj. "yellow" (SMAL, Letters:308), "yellow, of golden colour" (PE17:51). Malinalda *"Yellow-tree", a name of Laurelin (SA:mal-; evidently malina + alda), translated "Tree of Gold" in the Silmarillion index. Cf. also malinornë.
ornë
tree
ornë noun "tree" _(Letters:308, SD:302: "when smaller and more slender like a birch or rowan", Etym stem ÓR-NI: "tree, high isolated tree"). For the etymology, see Letters:426; for (original) difference in meaning between ornë and alda, see alda. In ornemalin "tree-yellow"; see laurelindórenan lindelorendor... (LotR2:III ch. 4; cf. Letters:308), also as final element in malinornë "yellow-tree, mallorn" (q.v.) Masc. name Ornendil *"Tree-friend" (Appendix A)_, compound Ornelië "tree-folk" (Quenya name of the Galadhrim, the tree-people of Lórien) (TI:239).
lávar
noun. (golden) blossom
A word in notes from the 1960s for a “(golden) blossom” with variants löar and lávar, both based on the √LAWAR having to with the colour “gold” (PE17/159). The element ᴹQ. lavar also appeared as an element in the name for a Númenorean tree ᴹQ. lavaralda in stories from the 1930s which Tolkien described as having “long green leaves [that] were golden on the undersides” and whose “flowers were pale with a yellow flush” (LR/57-68). For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use lávar for “(golden) blossom”, since that form is more distinctive.
landa
adjective. wide, wide, [ᴱQ.] broad
A word for “wide” appearing as an element in the compound landanóre “wide country” in the 1958 poem Löa Yucainen. ᴹQ. landa “wide” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√LAD (Ety/LAD).
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. landa “wide, broad” appeared all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it was derived from the early root ᴱ√LAŘA [LAÐA] (QL/51). In this document it also had an augmented form alanda of the same meaning (QL/34, 51), and this augmented alanda appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa with the gloss “wide” (PME/34).
landa
wide
landa (2) adj. "wide" (LAD). Maybe in landatavárë = *"wide-wood"? (TI:415)
loar
(golden) blossom
loar noun "(golden) blossom" (not to be confused with the pl. form of loa). Also lávar. (PE17:159)
lávar
(golden) blossom
lávar noun "(golden) blossom". Also loa. (PE17:159)
löar
noun. (golden) blossom
palla
wide, expansive
palla adj. "wide, expansive" (PAL)
tulca
yellow
tulca (3) ("k") adj. "yellow". Adopted and adapted from Valarin; the normal Quenya word for "yellow" is rather malina (WJ:399)
yanda
wide
yanda adj. "wide" (PE17:115); variant of yána #1, q.v.
yanda
adjective. wide
yonda
wide, roomy, extensive
yonda adj."wide, roomy, extensive" (PE17:43), also (as alternative form of yonna) glossed "enclosed", with the latter meaning perhaps intended as the passive participle of the verb yor-
The basic Quenya word for “tree” (LotR/1113), derived from primitive ✶galadā and very well attested. This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where ᴱQ. alda “tree” appeared under the early root ᴱ√ALA “spread” (QL/29). Tolkien seems to have switched its derivation to ✱galadā in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where ᴹQ. alda “tree” appeared under the root ᴹ√GALAD of the same meaning (Ety/GALAD). See also ornë “(tall) tree” for a discussion of another similar word.
Conceptual Development: There were a few instances where the word alda had a different meaning. In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, alda was glossed “branch” (PE16/139). In notes from 1959 Tolkien said “✱galadā, originally only large flourishing plant, as tree, and especially one that flowered, Q alda, S galað; the general word for ‘tree’ was Q orne ‘upstanding plant’ (PE17/153)”. But in its numerous appearance elsewhere, alda was simply a general word for “tree”.