Primitive elvish
el
root. lo, behold; star, lo, behold; star, [ᴹ√] starry sky
Derivatives
- ✶ēl “star” ✧ WJ/360
- ✶el-ā “lo!, look!, see!” ✧ WJ/360
- ✶eledā “star-folk, of the stars” ✧ Let/281
- ✶elen “star” ✧ Let/281; PE17/067; VT42/11; WJ/360
- ✶elenā “connected with or concerning the stars” ✧ PE17/139
- Q. Elda “Elf, (lit.) one of the Star-folk” ✧ PE17/139; PE17/152
- Q. elenya “adjective referring to the stars, *of the stars, stellar” ✧ WJ/360
- S. Eledh “Elf” ✧ PE17/139; WJ/360
- Q. elen “star” ✧ PE17/067; PE17/151; WJ/360
- S. êl “star” ✧ PE17/067; PE17/139; PE22/150; WJ/360
- T. elen “star” ✧ WJ/360
- Q. él “star” ✧ PM/340
- Q. elen “star” ✧ PE17/151; PM/340; RGEO/65; SA/êl
- S. êl “star” ✧ Let/281; RGEO/65; SA/êl
Element in
Variations
- el- ✧ PM/340; VT42/11
- el ✧ RGEO/64
- ele ✧ SA/êl
- ELE ✧ WJ/360
ēl
noun. star
Derivations
- √EL “lo, behold; star, lo, behold; star, [ᴹ√] starry sky” ✧ WJ/360
Derivatives
Element in
- ✶eledā “star-folk, of the stars” ✧ WJ/360
- ✶elen-barathī “star-queen” ✧ PE17/066
Variations
- el ✧ PE17/066
elen
noun. star
Derivations
- √EL “lo, behold; star, lo, behold; star, [ᴹ√] starry sky” ✧ Let/281; PE17/067; VT42/11; WJ/360
Derivatives
Element in
- ✶elenā “connected with or concerning the stars” ✧ WJ/360
- ✶elen-barathī “star-queen” ✧ MR/387
- Q. Elentári “Queen of the Stars, Star-queen” ✧ PE17/022
- S. Elbereth “Queen of Stars, (lit.) Star-queen” ✧ PE17/022; PE17/023
Variations
- ĕlĕn ✧ Let/281
- ELEN ✧ PE17/022; PE17/139; PE17/152
- el-en ✧ PE17/023
- elen- ✧ VT42/11
imin
masculine name. One
Element in
- Q. Imillië “Company of Imin”
min
cardinal. one
Derivations
- √MIN “one, first of a series, one, first of a series; [ᴹ√] stand alone, stick out”
Derivatives
- Q. min “one, one, [ᴱQ.] one (in a series), the first”
Element in
Variations
- Min ✧ NM/060
Tolkien introduced ᴹ√EL as the basis for Elvish star-words in The Etymologies of the 1930s at the same time as he devised a new etymology for the words for “Elf” as the “Star-Folk” using an extended form of this root ᴹ√ELED (Ety/EL, ELED). The extended root √ELED seems to have survived at least up until around 1950, where it appear among list of examples of roots for Elvish tribal names, with deleted variant √EDEL (PE18/84). But later on the extended form seems to have fallen away, at least as the basis for Elf-words, being replaced in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 by the root √DEL “walk, go, proceed, travel” and its Quenya-only variant √LED.
In the Quendi and Eldar essay, the words for “Elf” were recontextualized as a blend of the senses “star” and “departure”, referring to Elves both as the people of the stars and the specific group of the Eldar as those Elves who left for Aman (WJ/362-3). In these same notes Tolkien said that ele originated first as an interjection meaning “lo!, behold!”, as uttered when the Elves first beheld the stars (WJ/360). In this sense, it might have been a partial restoration of a (hypothetical) early root ✱ᴱ√ELE used for various words of wonderment and “otherness” in the 1910s and 20s; see that entry for details.