Quenya 

carco

crow

[carco ("k")noun "crow" (KARKA)] (Changed by Tolkien to corco.)

corco

crow

corco ("k")noun "crow" (KORKA, see KARKA)

quáco

crow

quáco ("q")noun "crow" _(WJ:395; _Etym also has corco, q.v.)

quáco

noun. crow

A word in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 for “crow”, derived from primitive ✶k(a)wāk (WJ/395). In notes from the late 1960s Tolkien instead had Q. {koake >>} quácë “frog” < ✶kāwāk, with primitive ✶ for “crow” (VT47/36).

See ᴹQ. korko for a discussion of earlier forms.

Derivations

  • kawāk “crow” ✧ WJ/395
    • KAWAK “*caw, croak”

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
k(a)wāk > quáko[kwāko]✧ WJ/395

Variations

  • quáko ✧ WJ/395

anca

noun. jaws

jaws, (animal's) mouth

Quenya [PE 18:85n, 87] Group: Mellonath Daeron. Published by

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. , cognate to G. gag “jaw” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/37).

Derivations

  • ankā “jaws, (animal’s) mouth, jaws, (animal’s) mouth, [ᴹ✶] row of teeth”
    • NAK “bite” ✧ PE18/085; PE18/087
Quenya [LotR/1123; SA/anca] Group: Eldamo. Published by

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.

Changes

  • antaanca “jaw” ✧ LotR/1123

Derivations

  • amtā ✧ PE18/085
    • MAT “eat” ✧ PE18/085; PE18/087

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
amtā > anta[amtā] > [antā] > [antā]✧ PE18/085

nangwa

jaw

nangwa noun "jaw" (NAK)

anta

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

Sindarin 

carach

noun. jaw, row of teeth

Sindarin [S/429, RC/607] Group: SINDICT. Published by

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).

Derivations

  • KARAK “*sharp fang, spike, tooth, [ᴹ√] sharp fang, spike, tooth”

Element in

craban

noun. kind of crow of large size, raven

Sindarin [LotR/II:III] Group: SINDICT. Published by

carach

jaws

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

carach

jaws

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

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.

anc

jaw

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

anc

jaw

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

naew

jaw

naew; no distinct pl. form;

naew

jaw

; no distinct pl. form;

Adûnaic

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.

Derivations

  • ✶Ad. khaw “crow” ✧ SD/426; SD/426

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
✶Ad. khāw > khâu[khāw] > [khāu]✧ SD/426
✶Ad. khăw > khō[khaw] > [khau] > [khō]✧ SD/426

Variations

  • khō ✧ SD/426

Primitive elvish

kawāk

noun. crow

Derivations

  • KAWAK “*caw, croak”

Derivatives

  • Q. quáco “crow” ✧ WJ/395

Variations

  • ✧ VT47/36
  • k(a)wāk ✧ WJ/395
Primitive elvish [VT47/36; WJ/395] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

carach

noun. jaws

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KARAK “sharp fang, spike, tooth”

Element in

Variations

  • Carach ✧ SD/033

corch

noun. crow

Noldorin [Ety/362] Group: SINDICT. Published by

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”.

Changes

  • carachcorch “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. korko “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA; Ety/KARKA

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KORKA “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA; Ety/KARKA

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√KORKA > corch[korka] > [korkʰa] > [korxa] > [korx]✧ Ety/KARKA

Variations

  • carach ✧ Ety/KARKA (carach)
Noldorin [Ety/KARKA] Group: Eldamo. Published by

anc

noun. jaw, row of teeth

Noldorin [Ety/348, Ety/374] Group: SINDICT. Published by

naew

noun. jaw

Noldorin [Ety/374] Group: SINDICT. Published by

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.

Cognates

  • ᴹQ. nangwa “jaw” ✧ Ety/NAK

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶nakma “jaw” ✧ Ety/NAK
    • ᴹ√NAK “bite” ✧ Ety/NAK

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶nakma > naew[nakma] > [nagma] > [naŋma] > [naima] > [naim] > [naem] > [naev] > [naew]✧ Ety/NAK

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!

Primitive adûnaic

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.

Derivatives

  • Ad. khô “crow” ✧ SD/426; SD/426

Variations

  • khăw ✧ SD/426
Primitive adûnaic [SD/426] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Qenya 

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 ✶ 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.

Changes

  • karkokorko “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA

Cognates

  • N. corch “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA; Ety/KARKA

Derivations

  • ᴹ√KORKA “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA; Ety/KARKA

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ√KARKA > karko[karko]✧ Ety/KARKA
ᴹ√KORKA > korko[karko]✧ Ety/KARKA

Variations

  • karko ✧ Ety/KARKA (karko)

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”.

Cognates

  • N. naew “jaw” ✧ Ety/NAK

Derivations

  • ᴹ✶nakma “jaw” ✧ Ety/NAK
    • ᴹ√NAK “bite” ✧ Ety/NAK

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴹ✶nakma > nangwa[nakma] > [nagma] > [naŋma] > [naŋgwa]✧ Ety/NAK

Middle Primitive Elvish

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.

Changes

  • KARKAKORKA “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. korko “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA; Ety/KARKA
  • N. corch “crow” ✧ Ety/KARKA; Ety/KARKA

Variations

  • KARKA ✧ Ety/KARKA (KARKA)
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/KARKA] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nakma

noun. jaw

Derivations

  • ᴹ√NAK “bite” ✧ Ety/NAK

Derivatives

  • ᴹQ. nangwa “jaw” ✧ Ety/NAK
  • N. naew “jaw” ✧ Ety/NAK
Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/NAK] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Gnomish

crunc

noun. crow

Cognates

Variations

  • crwnc ✧ PE13/111
Gnomish [GL/27; PE13/111] Group: Eldamo. Published by

gag

noun. jaw

Cognates

  • Eq. “jaw” ✧ GL/37
Gnomish [GL/37; GL/40] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Noldorin

cara-

verb. to make, do, perform, act (trans. and absolute)

Derivations

  • ᴱ√KARA “do, make”

Element in

  • En. cara hont “to honk trumpet loudly” ✧ PE13/163
  • En. -garn “*-made” ✧ PE13/161

Variations

  • cara ✧ PE13/161; PE13/163
Early Noldorin [PE13/161; PE13/163] Group: Eldamo. Published by

crunc

noun. crow

Early Noldorin [PE13/141] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Primitive Elvish

kar-

verb. to make

Derivations

  • ᴱ√KARA “do, make”

Derivatives

  • Eq. kara- “to do, make” ✧ PE14/058

Variations

  • kar ✧ PE14/058
Early Primitive Elvish [PE14/058] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Quenya

karon

noun. crow

Cognates

Early Quenya [PME/045; QL/045] Group: Eldamo. Published by

noun. jaw

Cognates

  • G. gag “jaw” ✧ GL/37
Early Quenya [GL/37] Group: Eldamo. Published by

maqar

noun. jaw

A noun for “jaw” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√MATA “eat” (QL/59-60).

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MATA “eat” ✧ QL/059

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√MATA > maqar[matkʷar] > [makʷkʷar] > [makʷar]✧ QL/059
Early Quenya [QL/060] Group: Eldamo. Published by

anto

noun. jaw

Derivations

  • ᴱ√MATA “eat” ✧ QL/031

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
ᴱ√MATA > anto[ṃtu] > [ṇtu] > [ṇto] > [anto]✧ QL/031
Early Quenya [PME/031; QL/031; QL/059] Group: Eldamo. Published by