lavan

noun. animal

A word for an “animal” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said it “usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds” (WJ/416). It was derived from the root √LAM in the sense “inarticulate voiced sound”.

Conceptual Development: ᴱN. lafn was mentioned as a cognate to ᴱQ. lama “animal” in the Early Qenya Phonology from the 1920s, derived from primitive ᴱ✶labna (PE14/70).

lavan

noun. animal (usually applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds)

tad-dal

noun/adjective. biped, two-legged animal

lavan

animal

(quadrupedal mammal) lavan, pl. levain (WJ:416)

lavan

animal

pl. levain (WJ:416)

pôd

animal’s foot

(i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. p**ŷd (i ph**ŷd)

pôd

animals foot

pôd (i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. pŷd (i phŷd)

pôd

foot

(of animal) pôd (i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. pŷd (i phŷd).

carach

noun. jaw, row of teeth

graug

noun. a powerful, hostile and terrible creature, a demon

raug

noun. a powerful, hostile and terrible creature, a demon

anc

jaw

anc (row of teeth), pl. ainc, coll. pl. angath.

anc

jaw

(row of teeth), pl. ainc, coll. pl. angath.

carach

jaws

(set of jaws) carach (i garach, o charach), pl. ceraich (i cheraich)

carach

jaws

(i garach, o charach), pl. ceraich (i cheraich)

graug

powerful, hostile and terrible creature

(i ’raug), pl. groeg (in groeg), coll. pl. grogath (WJ:415)

naew

jaw

naew; no distinct pl. form;

naew

jaw

; no distinct pl. form;

pôd

foot

(i bôd, o phôd, construct pod), pl. p**ŷd (i ph**ŷd).

tad-dal

biped

(also as adj. ”two-legged”) *tad-dal (i dad-dal, o thad-dal), pl. tad-dail (i thad-dail)

tad-dal

biped

(i dad-dal, o thad-dal), pl. tad-dail (i thad-dail)

telluin

sole of the foot

(i delluin, o thelluin), pl. tellyn (i thellyn). *Suggested Sindarin form of ”Noldorin” telloein, tellen (LR:384 s.v. *

tâl

foot

(body-part and unit of measure) tâl (i dâl [LR:298], o thâl), also -dal in compounds; pl. tail (i thail). In LR:390 s.v.

tâl

foot

(i dâl [LR:298], o thâl), also -dal in compounds; pl. tail (i thail). In LR:390 s.v.

ûn

creature

ûn (pl. uin).

ûn

creature

(pl. uin).

laman

noun. animal, animal, [ᴹQ.] tame beast

A word for an “animal” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said it “usually only applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds” (WJ/416). It was derived from the root √LAM in the sense “inarticulate voiced sound”. It had plural forms lamni and lamani based on distinct primitive forms ✶laman(a) and ✶lamān, the first form being subject to the Quenya syncope and the second immune to it.

Conceptual Development: The earliest precursor to this word was ᴱQ. {lāma >>} lăma in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√LAMA, with the glosses “a head of cattle or sheep; an animal, beast” (QL/50). In this document it had an ancient form lamṇ, and accusative forms lamna or laman. The origin of this final -a is made clear in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, where Tolkien said “-a < ṇ”, citing lama as an example with plural form lamni (PE14/44, 74). This singular and plural form also appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists (PE16/132) and the English-Qenya Dictionary of the 1920s (PE15/69), and in the latter Tolkien specified that the word “can be used generally, but popularly as in English excludes birds & insects, and men”.

The form ᴹQ. laman emerged in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, where Tolkien gave it the gloss “tame beast” (PE21/19). Inflected forms indicate the stem was still lamn-, and the plural remained lamni (PE21/28). Thus it seems that by this stage the word’s stem form was the result of the Quenya syncope. The word laman “animal” appeared in the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) from 1948, but there it was rejected and replaced by ᴹQ. nasto (PE22/116). Laman “animal” appeared again in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, as noted above.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would assume this word mostly applies to either tame or tameable four-legged mammals, as opposed to hravan for “wild beasts” and celva for animals in general.

laman

noun. animal

animal

laman

animal

laman (lamn- or simply laman-, as in pl. lamni or lamani) noun "animal" (usually applied to four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles and birds; a more general word may be #celva) (WJ:416)

cuima

noun. animal

cuiva

noun. animal

cuima

noun. creature, animal

A word for “animal” in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969, appearing only in its plural form kuimar (PE22/155). It is clearly based on the root √KUY “live”, also appearing in the same document (PE22/156), hence probably meaning “✱living thing”.

Conceptual Development: Perhaps the first precursor of this word was ᴱQ. koite (koisi-) “living thing, being, animal” from the early root ᴱ√KOẎO “have life” (QL/48). A similar form kuivar appeared for “animals” in some notes the Death of Animals and Plants from 1957-8, but there Tolkien said “cuy = awake not live” (NM/274 note #6), and replaced this term with Q. kelvar, which is the word for “animal” Christopher Tolkien used in the published version of The Silmarillion (S/45). By 1969 Tolkien decided √KUY did mean “live”, and (re)introduced a derivative of that root for “animal” (see above).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer for √KUY to mean only “awake” and keep √KOY for “live”; see those entries for discussion. As such, I recommend against using cuima for “animal”, especially since Q. celva is a much better known term, being a word used in The Silmarillion as published.

celva

noun. animal, living thing that moves

A word used in its plural form kelvar to describe animals in The Silmarillion, as opposed to Q. olvar = “plants” (S/45). In a marginal note to a short document on Ents and Eagles from 1958-9 (or later), it was translated “animals, all living things that move” (WJ/341); this document was the basis for the reference in the published version of The Silmarillion. The word kelvar was also translated as “animals” in some notes the Death of Animals and Plants from 1957-8 (NM/271), where it was a replacement for deleted Q. kuivar along with a note explaining the reason for the change being that “cuy = awake not live” (NM/274 note #6).

Possible Etymologies: Wynne, Smith, and Hostetter suggested kelvar might be derived from 1930s ᴹ√KEL “go, run (especially of water), flow away downhill” from The Etymologies (VT43/31), perhaps in the sense of “a thing that runs”. If this is the case, kelva would be the only derivative of that root not connected to flowing water.

nasto

noun. animal, beast

celvar

animals, living things that move

celvar (sg. #celva) ("k")noun "animals, living things that move" (Silm)

kelvar

animals, living things that move

kelvar (sg. #kelva) noun "animals, living things that move" (Silm)

celvamatta

noun. animal food

A neologism coined by Paul Strack in 2022 specifically for Eldamo as a combination of Q. celva “animal” and Q. matta “food”, replacing earlier ᴱQ. koisimatl from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s.

celvavëa

adjective. animal-like

A neologism for “animal-like” coined by Helge Fauskanger for his NQNT (NQNT), a combination of celva “animal” and vëa “seeming, apparent”.

lamanwa

adjective. animal-like, beastly, stupid

anca

noun. jaws

jaws, (animal's) mouth

anca

noun. jaws, jaws; [ᴹQ.] jaw, row of teeth

A noun for “jaws” appearing in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E as the name of tengwa #15 [f] (LotR/1123). ᴹQ. anka was first introduced in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the glosses “jaw, row of teeth” and derived from primitive ᴹ✶ankā under the root ᴹ√(A)NAK “bite” (Ety/ÁNAK, NAK).

Conceptual Development: In tengwar charts and other earlier documents from the 1930s up through the early 1950s, anca was in competition with an earlier word anta “jaw” < ✶amtā (earlier ᴱ✶ṃtā) based on the root √MAT “eat” (PE22/22, 51; PE18/85 note #72), but Tolkien ultimately settled on anca. Another early word that might be a precursor to anca is ᴱQ. kâ, cognate to G. gag “jaw” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/37).

anca

jaws, row of teeth

anca noun "jaws, row of teeth" _(ÁNAK [there spelt anca in Etym as printed in LR, but according to VT45:5, Tolkien's own spelling in the Etym manuscript was anka], NAK [there spelt anka], Appendix E, SA - despite what Christopher Tolkien says in the entry _anca in SA, the Quenya word anca_ as such does NOT appear in the Sindarin dragon-name Ancalagon, but its Sindarin cognate anc does. See ÁNAK in the Etymologies.) Also name of tengwa #15 (Appendix E). _Despite its English gloss, anca is a singular word (in Etym the gloss is indeed "jaw", not "jaws").

anta

noun. jaw

A noun appearing as ᴹQ. anta “face” in The Etymologies written around 1937 under the root ᴹ√ANA “to, towards” (Ety/ANA¹), based on an extension of this root: ᴹ√ANAT (EtyAC/ANA¹).

Conceptual Development: The earliest appearance of this word was as ᴱQ. anta “jaw” in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s, where it was derived from ᴱ✶mtā, related to ᴱ√MATA “eat” (PE12/26). It was mentioned again in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as a cognate to G. ant “cheek” (GL/19), but in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it was ᴱQ. anto “jaw” (QL/31; PME/31). ᴱQ. anta reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, but there it had the gloss “cheek” and its Gnomish cognate G. ant was “face” (PE13/137, 160). In Early Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s, however, anta retained the gloss “jaw” (PE16/136).

As noted above, in The Etymologies ᴹQ. anta had the gloss “face” and a new derivation from ᴹ√ANA “to, towards” (Ety/ANA¹), perhaps meaning “✱front of the head”. In that document Tolkien introduced ᴹQ. anka for “jaw” based on ᴹ√NAK “bite” (Ety/NAK). In notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from around this time, he revised the gloss of ᴹQ. anta from “jaw” to “face” (PE22/21 note #64), which was followed by a chart that had both anta “face” and anka “jaw” (PE22/22). However, he then wrote “jaw” faintly above anta and marked through the gloss of anka (PE22/22 note #67).

In version of these notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s, Tolkien had anta “jaws”, but there it was revised to ᴹQ. anto “mouth” (PE22/50 and note #185). In the version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from around 1950 (TQ2) Tolkien again had Q. anta “jaw” < ✶amtā based on the root √MAT, but he revised the primitive form to ✶ankā and then marked through the entire paragraph (PE18/85 note #72). In the tengwar charts from Appendix E of The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien had Q. anca “jaw” and Q. anto “mouth” (LotR/1123).

To summarize, it seems Tolkien revised the meaning of word anta from “jaw” >> “cheek” >> “face” in the 1910s through 1930s; then in the 1940s and 50s he considered restoring anta “jaw” but ultimately settled on Q. anca “jaw” and Q. anto “mouth”.

Neo-Quenya: Given the ultimate result above, I think it is possible that the sense ᴹQ. anta “face” < √ANA “to(wards)” from The Etymologies remains viable, and I would use the word anta with that meaning for purposes of Neo-Quenya. I would also let it retain its ᴱQ. meaning “cheek”, as we have no other Quenya words with this sense.

attalaitë

biped

attalaitë adj. "biped" (having two feet) (VT49:42, PE12:88)

nangwa

jaw

nangwa noun "jaw" (NAK)

onna

creature

onna noun "creature" (ONO), "child" (PE17:170), also translated "child" in the plural compound Aulëonnar "Children of Aulë", a name of the Dwarves (PM:391), and apparently also used = "child" in the untranslated sentence nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya ("k") "be it that your child [will be] blessed thoughout his/her life" (VT49:41). The form onya (q.v.), used as a vocative "my child", is perhaps shortened from *onnanya.

tál

noun. foot, foot; [ᴹQ.] bottom, [ᴱQ.] lowest part

The Quenya word for “foot” derived from the root √TAL of similar meaning (PE19/103; VT49/17; Ety/TAL). Given its Sindarin cognate S. tâl (not ✱✱taul) its ancient stem form must have had a short vowel, with the long vowel in the uninflected form the result of the subjective noun case which lengthened the base vowel of monosyllables (PE21/76). Q. tál could also refer to the bottom of things (PE21/21, 76) analogous to English “foot of the mountain” and similar phrases.

Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was ᴱQ. tala “foot” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TALA “support” (QL/88), a form also appearing in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/88). In the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s it became ᴱQ. tál with plural tăli indicating an ancient short vowel (PE14/43, 76). In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, ᴹQ. tāl had inflected forms with tal-, again indicating a short vowel in the stem (PE21/21), and likewise with the (1930s-style) genitive form talen in The Etymologies written around 1937 (Ety/TAL). Most of its later appearances also imply a short vowel in the stem, the main exception being the plural form táli in the 1950s version of the Nieninquë “poem”.

anta

noun. jaw, [ᴹQ.] face, *front of the head, [ᴱQ.] cheek; [Q.] jaw

lamā̆n(a)

noun. animal

tāl

noun. foot

pôd

noun. animal’s foot

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “animal’s foot” derived from the (Noldorin only?) root ᴹ√POTŌ of the same meaning (Ety/POTŌ). It had a Noldorin-style plural pŷd. Its Sindarin-style plural might instead be ✱puid; compare thuin plural of S. thôn “pine” (PE17/81). Based on the example tad-dail “two-legged” referring to two legged beasts (WJ/388), it seems tâl “foot” can be used to refer to the feet of both people and animals, so that tâl is a more general term than pôd. This makes pôd comparable to words for more specialized kinds of feet such as hoof, paw, etc.

pôd

noun. animal's foot

anc

noun. jaw, row of teeth

carach

noun. jaws

naew

noun. jaw

naew

noun. jaw

A noun for “jaw” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶nakma (✱“bite-thing”) under the root ᴹ√NAK “bite” (NAK). This word remains phonologically plausible in Sindarin, with ancient k vocalizing to i and the resulting diphthong ai become ae, after which the m became v &gt; w; see VT42/26 for a description of the basic phonetic changes. However, naew might have been displaced conceptually by anc “jaw”, which appeared in a number of later Sindarin names and whose Quenya cognate Q. anca appeared in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E.

rhaug

noun. a powerful, hostile and terrible creature, a demon

tâl

noun. foot

ûn

noun. creature

ûn

noun. creature

A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “creature” derived from the root ᴹ√ONO “beget” (Ety/ONO), perhaps from a primitive form ✱ōno with ancient ō becoming ū.