côm

noun. sickness

A noun meaning “sickness” (Ety/KWAM). Its Quenya cognate ᴹQ. qáme indicates a primitive form ✱✶kwāmē, so this word is an example of how [[ilk|initial [kwo] became [ko]]] after the primitive vowel [[ilk|[ā] became [ō]]]. Both these developments were noted by Helge Fauskanger (AL-Ilkorin/côm).

Conceptual Development: This word is nearly identical to earlier Gnomish côma “disease, illness” before Tolkien revised the phonological history of the Noldorin language so that [[on|[kw] became [p]]].