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
aldarion
masculine name. *Son of Trees
Elements
Word Gloss alda “tree, tree, [ᴱQ.] branch” -ion “-son, masculine patronymic”
alda
tree
alda
noun. tree
alda
noun. tree, tree, [ᴱQ.] branch
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”.
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- Q. Aldalómë “Tree-twilight” ✧ RC/385
- Q. Aldamir “*Tree Jewel”
- Q. Aldanil “Lover of Trees”
- Q. aldarembina “tree-meshed” ✧ PE17/135
- Q. Aldarion “*Son of Trees”
- Q. Aldaron “Lord of Forests, (lit.) Of Trees” ✧ SA/alda
- Q. Aldëa “*Tuesday, Tree-day (Númenórean)”
- ᴺQ. aldeon “avenue (of trees)”
- Q. aldinga “tree-top”
- Q. Aldudénië “Lament for the Two Trees” ✧ MR/100; SA/alda
- Q. Aldúya “*Tuesday, Day of the Two Trees”
- Q. culumalda “laburnum, *(lit.) orange-tree”
- ᴺQ. eccalda “cactus, (lit.) spine tree”
- Q. Malinalda “Tree of Gold” ✧ SA/alda
- ᴺQ. milpialda “olive tree”
- Q. Nísimaldar “Fragrant Trees” ✧ UT/167
- ᴺQ. paltalda “palm tree”
- ᴺQ. relyávalda “fig-tree”
- Q. yéni únótimë ve rámar aldaron “long years numberless as the wings of trees” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
- Q. yéni únótimë ve aldaron rámar “long-years not-countable as trees’ wings” ✧ RGEO/58
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ Let/426 ✶galada > alda [galada] > [galda] > [ɣalda] > [alda] ✧ NM/352 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/025 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/050 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/063 ✶galadā > ʒalaðā > ʒalðā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [ɣalðā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/135 ✶galadā́ > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/153 ✶galadā > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE17/153 √GAL > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ PE22/160 ✶ʒalda > alda [galadā] > [galdā] > [ɣaldā] > [aldā] > [alda] ✧ VT39/07 Variations
- Alda ✧ RC/385
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).
Tar-Aldarion was the name assumed by the sixth ruler of Númenor (LotR/1038, UT/219). His name seems to be a compound aldar “trees” and the patronymic suffix -ion “-son”. He adoped this name “because he was much concerned with trees, and planted great woods to furnish timber for the shipyards” (UT/219).