cálë

light

cálë ("k")noun "light" (Markirya; in early "Qenya", cálë meant "morning", LT1:254)

cálë

noun. light

A noun for “light” appearing in the versions of the Markirya poem from the 1960s (MC/222-223).

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. kále “morning” was a derivative of the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44), and kāle was mentioned again Gnomish Lexicon Slips as a cognate of G. gaul “a light” (PE13/114). The form ᴱQ. kale “day” appeared in the Early Qenya Grammar of the 1920s, but was deleted (PE14/43). It might also be an element in ᴹQ. yúkale “twilight” (= “both lights”) from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/KAL).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d stick to the better attested Q. cala “light”.

Element in

• Q. cálë fifírula “the light fading” ✧ MC/222

Variations

• kále ✧ MC/222; MC/223

cala

light

cala ("k")noun "light" (KAL). Concerning the "Qenya" verb cala-, see #cal- above.

cala

noun. light, light; [ᴱQ.] daytime (sunlight), 12 hours

This is the most common Quenya word for “light”, derived from the root √KAL of similar meaning (RGEO/62; PE17/84). It appears in numerous compounds, either in its full form or in a reduced form cal-.

Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. kala appeared all the way back in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “daytime (sunlight), 12 hours” and derived from the early root ᴱ√KALA “shine golden” (QL/44), but it had the sense “light” in the phrase ᴱQ. i·kal’antúlien “Light hath returned” (LT1/184), and it was given as the cognate of G. gala “light, daylight” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/37).

ᴹQ. kala “light” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√KAL “shine” (Ety/KAL). Somewhat curiously in that document its primitive form was given as ᴹ✶k’lā́ (EtyAC/KAL), a form that also appeared in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ1) from the 1930s (PE18/38). Tolkien may have used this variant form to explain N. glaw “radiance” (< ᴹ✶g’lā́), but in later writings S. glaw “sunshine” was derived from √LAW.

Derivations

• √KAL “light; shine, be bright, light; shine, be bright, [ᴱ√] shine golden” ✧ PE17/084

Element in

• Q. Anducal “*Light of the West”
• Q. Calacirya “Pass of Light” ✧ RGEO/62
• Q. calambar “*light-fated”
• Q. Calantar “Light-giver”
• Q. Calaquendi “Elves of the Light, (lit.) Light Elves”
• ᴺQ. calatengwë “photograph, (lit.) light-writing”
• Q. Calion “*Son of Light”
• Q. Caliondo
• Q. Calmacil “*Sword of Light, Shining Sword”
• Q. Calmindon “Light-tower”
• Q. Herucalmo
• ᴺQ. ruical(a) “firelight”
• Q. ú calo “without the light” ✧ PE17/143; VT39/14

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√CAL > Cala	[kala]	✧ PE17/084

Variations

• Cala ✧ PE17/084; RGEO/62

Calion

the golden

Calion, Tar-Calion, masc. name, the Quenya name of King Ar-Pharazôn "the Golden". Calion would seem to be connected to cal- "shine", cálë "light". (Silm)

calina

light

calina ("k")adj. "light" (KAL), "bright" (VT42:32) "(literally illumined) sunny, light" (PE17:153) but apparently a noun "light" in coacalina, q.v.

Calmacil

light-sword

Calmacil masc. name, *"Light-sword" or possibly (if haplology of *Calmamacil*) "Lamp-sword" (Appendix A). Cf. cálë, cala, calma, macil**.