dar

root. stay, wait, stop, remain

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “stay, wait, stop, remain” with derivatives N. dar- “stop, halt” and N. dartha- “wait, stay, remain, last, endure” (Ety/DAR). Given the appearances of the command S. daro in The Lord of the Rings, unglossed but clearly meaning “stop!” or “halt!”, this root almost certainly survived in Tolkien’s later conceptions (LotR/342). It was probably also the basis of the words Q. lár/S. daur “league”, which Tolkien said originally meant “stop, pause” (UT/279).

darak

root. *wolf

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. ráka/N. draug “wolf” (Ety/DARÁK), the latter an element in the name N. Draugluin “[Blue] Werewolf” (LR/134), originally “Werewolf Pale” (LB/205). The continued appearance of this name in later versions of the Silmarillion imply the continued validity of this root.

daram

root. beat, hew, beat, hew; [ᴱ√] batter, thud

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the glosses “beat, hew” (Ety/DARÁM). It is probably a later iteration on the early root ᴱ√TARA(MA) “batter, thud, beat” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/89). Its Gnomish forms DAR/D(A)RAM/DAM make clear the actual early root was ᴱ√DARA(MA), since initial d- > t- in Early Qenya. The last Gnomish form hints that the root in the 1930s might also have been related to ᴹ√(N)DAM “hammer, beat”.

dun

root. dark (of colour)

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “dark (of colour)”, with derivatives like Ilk. dunn “black” or N. donn “swart, swarthy” (Ety/DUN). The most notable derivative of this root was Ilk. Nan Dungorthin “Vale of Black Horror” (Ety/DUN; LR/261), which in later writings appeared as S. Nan Dungortheb “Valley of Dreadful Death” (S/81; MR/297). Given the revised translation of this name, ᴹ√DUN “dark” may not have survived, though the etymology of S. Dungortheb is also unclear. However, given Tolkien’s reinterpretation of S. baran as “golden brown” rather than “dark brown” as it was in the 1930s, N. donn is probably the best remaining word for “dark brown” in Neo-Sindarin.

graw

root. dark, swart

morikwende

noun. Dark-elf

ndulla

adjective. dark, dusky, obscure

kan

root. dare

bérya-

verb. to dare

mor

root. *black, dark

mǭri

noun. blackness, dark, night

phuy

root. *darkness

doʒ

root. night

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “night” that (along with ᴹ√DOM) was the basis for the ᴹQ. lóme/N. dû “night” (Ety/DOƷ). It replaced some rejected variants ᴹ√LOƷ and ᴹ√DAW (EtyAC/LOƷ). Many of the derivatives of ᴹ√DOƷ were later assigned to other roots: N. dûr “dark” became S. dûr “dark” < √NDU “under, down” in notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/152) and ᴹQ. lóna “dark” became Q. lúna (PE17/22). There are no signs of ᴹQ. ló “night” and N. daw “night-time, gloom” in Tolkien’s later writing. Future derivations of Q. lómë/S. dû only mention the root √DOM (PE17/152; PE22/153) and thus ᴹ√DOƷ may have been abandoned.

In a message to the Elfling mailing list from July 2012 (Elfling/362.96), David Salo suggested there might be a later root ✱√DU serving as the basis for Q. lúna “dark” and Q. lúmë “darkness”, though the latter might instead be from √LUM. Such a root ✱√DU is not attested in Tolkien writings, but if it existed, it could be a later iteration of ᴹ√DOƷ. Another possible example of the root ✱√DU is primitive ✶durnŭ “dark of hue”.

tap

root. stop

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “stop” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tampa “stopper” and ᴹQ. tape “he stops, blocks” (Ety/TAP; EtyAC/TAP). The word Q. tapta “impeded” from notes associated with the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 was probably related (VT39/17), indicating the root’s ongoing validity.

baran

root. russet, brown

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “russet, brown”, with the derived adjectives ᴹQ. varne and N. baran of similar meaning (Ety/BARÁN). The continued appearance of S. baran in later words such as S. Baranduin “Brown River” (LotR/1138) and Berennyr “Brown Lands” (RC/343) indicates its continued validity. However, in The Lord of the Rings appendices Tolkien translated S. baran as “golden brown”, so it seems in later writings Tolkien considered this to be a brighter shade of brown.

kwenedē

noun. Elf

mori

adjective. black

ndulna

adjective. secret

tubnā

adjective. deep

adnō

noun. gate

bor(on)

root. endure

The root ᴹ√BOR “endure” along with its extended form ᴹ√BORON appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s along with various derivatives having to do with endurance, faithfulness and everlastingness (Ety/BOR, BORÓN). It was simply a later version of the root ᴱ√VORO from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed but clearly of a similar meaning based on its Qenya and Gnomish derivatives like ᴱQ. voronda “faithful”, ᴱQ. vorima “everlasting” and G. bron(n) “steadfast, firm” (QL/102; GL/23-24).

Similar forms like Q. voronda or vórima “faithful” continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writing (UT/317). The well established names Q. Voronwë or S. Bronwe(g) “Steadfast, Faithful” retained the same basic form and meaning throughout Tolkien’s life, testifying to the enduring nature of the Elvish root for “endurance”.

day

root. shadow

gāsa

noun. void

kum

root. void

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “void”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. kúma “void” and N. caun “empty” (Ety/KUM). It was probably also the basis of ᴹQ. kumba in ᴹQ. saurikumba in Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s, unglossed but probably “✱foul-bellied” (SD/86).

kwen(ed)

root. Elf

nur

root. deep

A root mentioned in The Etymologies as an extension of ᴹ√NU with the gloss “deep” and derivatives ᴹQ. núra and N. nûr of the same meaning (Ety/NU). Possibly related is the later word Q. nurtalë “hiding” as in Q. Nurtalë Valinóreva “Hiding of Valinor” (S/102).

nūrā

adjective. deep

pal

root. beat

ruskā

adjective. brown

spāna

noun. cloud

tārā

adjective. lofty

ungwē

noun. gloom

ñgaram

root. *wolf

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with various derivative “wolf” words like ᴹQ. narmo and N. garaf (Ety/ÑGAR(A)M). It replaced a rejected root ᴹ√ƷARAM of the same meaning (Ety/ƷARAM). Unlike other wolf words, this root seems to be more neutral, without the “evil” connotations of words like S. gaur “werewolf”.

ñgolda

adjective. wise