carach angren
place name. Isenmouthe, (lit.) Iron Jaws
carach
noun. jaws, rows of teeth
A noun for “jaws, rows of teeth” (RC/607) appearing as an element in the name Carach Angren “Iron Jaws” (LotR/920), likely derived from the root √KARAK and probably a cognate to Q. caraxë.
Conceptual Development: N. Carach Angren was already translated “Jaws of Iron” when it first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (SD/33).
Carach Angren
noun. iron fang
carach (“spike, tooth or rock”) + angren (“iron”)
Carach Angren
a ravine leading into Udûn
carach
noun. jaw, row of teeth
Carach Angren
Carach Angren
Both Carach Angren and Isenmouthe mean "Iron-mouth": "It was so called because of the great fence of pointed iron posts that closed the gap leading into Udûn, like teeth in jaws." Isen is an old English variant form of iron; and mouthe represents Old English mūða < mūð "opening, mouth" especially used of the mouths of rivers, but also applied to other openings. Despite the Old English, the name is not to be understood as Rohirric, but rather as archaic Westron, translation of Sindarin Carach Angren.
carach
jaws
(set of jaws) carach (i garach, o charach), pl. ceraich (i cheraich)
carach
jaws
(i garach, o charach), pl. ceraich (i cheraich)
craban
noun. kind of crow of large size, raven
anc
jaw
anc (row of teeth), pl. ainc, coll. pl. angath.
anc
jaw
(row of teeth), pl. ainc, coll. pl. angath.
corch
crow
corch (i gorch, o chorch), pl. cyrch (i chyrch). Also *craban (i graban, o chraban), pl. crebain (i chrebain). Only the pl. crebain* is attested. The sg. could be either craban, creban or croban**, but the first of these seems the most likely.
corch
crow
(i gorch, o chorch), pl. cyrch (i chyrch). Also ✱craban (i graban, o chraban), pl. crebain (i chrebain). Only the pl. crebain is attested. The sg. could be either ✱craban, ✱creban or ✱croban, but the first of these seems the most likely.
naew
jaw
naew; no distinct pl. form;
naew
jaw
; no distinct pl. form;
carach
noun. jaws
carach angren
place name. Jaws of Iron
corch
noun. crow
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “crow” derived from the root ᴹ√KORKA of the same meaning, replacing rejected N. carach derived from ᴹ√KARKA (Ety/KARKA).
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. crunc “crow”, probably related to G. crug “beak” (GL/27) and possibly also to ᴱQ. karon “crow” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/45). The forms crunc and crwnc “crow” appeared in Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document (PE13/111), and ᴱN. crunc “crow” appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (PE13/141). The word ᴱN. corch also appeared in the same Early Noldorin Word-lists, but was unglossed, so it is not clear whether it was connected to 1930s N. corch “crow”.
anc
noun. jaw, row of teeth
corch
noun. crow
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 > 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.
carco
crow
[carco ("k")noun "crow" (KARKA)] (Changed by Tolkien to corco.)
anca
noun. jaws
jaws, (animal's) mouth
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").
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 for tengwa #15 (f). 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).
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.
corco
crow
corco ("k")noun "crow" (KORKA, see KARKA)
nangwa
jaw
nangwa noun "jaw" (NAK)
quáco
crow
quáco ("q")noun "crow" _(WJ:395; _Etym also has corco, q.v.)
quáco
noun. crow
anta
noun. jaw, [ᴹQ.] face, *front of the head, [ᴱQ.] cheek; [Q.] jaw
khô
noun. crow
A noun translated “crow” (SD/426). Tolkien listed this noun in two forms, khâu and khô, both as examples of seemingly uniconsonantal nouns that prehistorically were biconsonantal (from prehistoric ✶khaw). Most authors have suggested these are simply variations on the same noun illustrating different paths of phonetic development (AAD/18, AL/Adûnaic). Another interesting possibility is that khâu is an (archaic?) subjective form of khô, produced from the usual a-fortification of primitive ✶khaw → ✶khāw, which would develop phonetically in Classical Adûnaic to khâu and khô. As support for this idea, the plural form of khâu is given as khāwī(m), which appears to include the subjective plural suffix -im.
This line of reasoning is quite speculative. Nevertheless, it is probably easier to use the form khô over khâu, since the inflections of khô would be more regular: plural khôi, dual ✱khôwat, objective ✱khôwu, etc.
kawāk
noun. crow
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
cara-
verb. to make, do, perform, act (trans. and absolute)
crunc
noun. crow
korka
root. crow
A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “crow”, with derivatives ᴹQ. korko and N. corch of the same meaning; it replaced a root ᴹ√KARKA with derivatives ᴹQ. karka and N. carach (Ety/KARKA). The deleted form conflicted with contemporaneous ᴹ√KARAK “sharp fang, spike, tooth” (Ety/KARAK). This deleted form nevertheless may be connected to S. crebain from The Lord of the Rings (LotR/285), whose singular craban “bird of crow-kind” (PE17/37) might be derived from ✱k(a)rak-wan.
There is another primitive form ✶k(a)wāk used as the basis for “crow” in the Quendi and Eldar of 1959-60 (WJ/395), but even later this primitive form was the basis for Q. quácë “frog” (VT47/36); see the entry on √KAWAK for discussion. As a result, I think earlier ᴹ√KORKA is probably the best choice for “crow” words for the purpose of Neo-Eldarin.
nakma
noun. jaw
korko
noun. crow
A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “crow” derived from the root ᴹ√KORKA of the same meaning, replacing rejected ᴹQ. karko derived from ᴹ√KARKA (Ety/KARKA).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. karon “crow” (QL/45), a word that was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/45). In the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, Tolkien had Q. quáco “crow” derived from primitive ✶k(a)wāk (WJ/395), but in notes from the late 1960s Tolkien instead had Q. {koake >>} quácë “frog” < ✶kāwāk, with primitive ✶kā for “crow” (VT47/36).
Neo-Quenya: Since quácë “frog” is later than (and possibly replaces) Q. quáco “crow”, I prefer corco as “crow” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
nangwa
noun. jaw
A noun for “jaw” The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶nakma under the root ᴹ√NAK “bite” (Ety/NAK). It was possibly displaced by anca “jaw, jaws”, which was also introduced in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but continued to appear in later documents included The Lord of the Rings Appendix E (LotR/1123). However, it might be that nangwa refers to a single “jaw” (upper or lower), while anca refers collectively to both “jaws”.
crunc
noun. crow
gag
noun. jaw
kar-
verb. to make
anto
noun. jaw
karon
noun. crow
kâ
noun. jaw
maqar
noun. jaw
A noun for “jaw” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√MATA “eat” (QL/59-60).
khaw
noun. crow
A Primitive Adûnaic word glossed “crow” (SD/426). Tolkien gave two primitive forms of this word, khāw and khăw, which could just be variant forms of the same root ✱KHAW. A more intriguing possibility is that khāw is actually the subjective form of khăw, since this would indicate that this subjective formation dates back to the primitive stages of the language. As evidence of this, the derived plural khāwī(m) (SD/426) does resemble the Classical Adûnaic subjective plural.
Contradicting this conjecture is the fact that khaw, as an animal name, should be declined as a common-noun, using the common subjective suffix -an. Elsewhere, though, Tolkien declined some animal names as if they were neuter nouns, for example narîka as the subjective plural of #narak (SD/251). Perhaps not all animals were common nouns, or perhaps Tolkien’s ideas for the subjective tense were not fully formed when these examples were written.
Sindarin name of the Isenmouth, translated “Iron Jaws” (LotR/920) or “Iron Mouth” (RC/772, PE17/101). This name is a combination of carach “jaws” and angren “iron” (SA/carak).
Conceptual Development: This name was already N. Carach Angren when it first appeared in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s (SD/33).