ele

root. drive, push, thrust, send forth

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “drive, push, thrust, send forth”, with derivatives like “spear” and “thrust” (QL/35). It was also the basis for the rootᴱ√LEHE “come, be sent, approach” (QL/52). There are indications in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon that Tolkien gradually gave up this root: he first gave the forms G. elta- “to thrust, dig, poke (inward)” and G. elt “a dig, a poke (probe)”, then apparently revised them to G. elta-/eltha- “draw, tug, lug” and G. elt “a tug, lug”, representing a semantic shift from “push” to “pull” (GL/32).

These Gnomish forms were all eventually deleted and replaced by G. eltha- “to alter, change” and G. elt “a change”. These replacements are sufficiently distinct in meaning that I think they represent the introduction of a new root ✱ᴱ√ELE connected to “wonder” and “otherness”; see that entry for details. Meanwhile, it seems the Gnomish “thrust” words were transferred to the root ᴱ√ḶTḶ, as in G. ilta- “to stick in, prod, prick” (GL/51).

Derivatives

• ᴱ√LEHE “come, be sent, approach” ✧ QL/052
  • Eq. lehta- “to ride, move (tr.)”
  • Eq. lé- “to come, be sent, approach”
  • G. lentha- “to come towards speaker, approach, draw near”
  • G. lent “near, close to, up by, along side of; (c. dat.) at, towards, up to side of; therewith, with it, withal”
  • G. len “come, arrived”
• Eq. elk “spear” ✧ QL/035
• Eq. ele- “to drive; to come” ✧ QL/035
• Eq. elte- “to thrust in” ✧ QL/035
• Eq. elta “a thrust” ✧ QL/035
• G. elt “dig, poke (probe), tug, lug”
• G. elta- “to draw, tug, lug; to thrust, dig, poke (inward)”

Variations

• ELE ✧ QL/035; QL/052

ele Speculative

root. ?wonder

A hypothetical early root serving as the basis for Gnomish words having to do with “otherness”, such as G. eleg “other”, G. elfel “different, like something else” and possibly also eltha- “to alter, change”, though the last word seems to have been part of a separate etymological paradigm (GL/32). This collection of words also included G. elm “wonder” and elma- “marvel at, admire”. Similar forms appeared in the 1920s: ᴱN. elvennai “wonderful, marvelous” and ᴱN. elven “wonder, wonderment”, the latter with a Qenya cognate ᴱQ. elmenda (PE13/143, 161).

Some of this sense of wonderment may have resurfaced in the root √EL in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said of ELE that “according to Elvish legend this was a primitive exclamation, ‘lo! behold!’ made by the Elves when they first saw the stars” (WJ/360). On this basis, I think it worth concocting an extended Neo-Eldarin root ᴺ√ELEM “wonder, marvel” to salvage the “wonder” words from the 1920s. It might also be worthwhile to concoct an extended root ᴺ√ELEK “different, strange; other” to salvage Gnomish “other” words from the 1910s, but that one is more of a stretch and I no longer recommend its use. Neologisms based on later roots serve better for that purpose.

Derivatives

• ᴱ✶elmendā
  • Eq. elmenda “wonder, wonderment” ✧ PE13/143
  • En. elven “wonder, wonderment” ✧ PE13/143
  • G. elm(en) “wonder; singular, marvelous or unique thing; something strange” ✧ PE13/116
• ᴱ✶elmendiya
  • En. elvennai “wonderful, marvelous” ✧ PE13/143; PE13/161
• ᴱ✶elménd(i)ya
  • En. elvain(n) “wondrous, marvelous, wonderful; wonder(ful thing), marvel” ✧ PE13/143
• G. eleg “other, else”
• G. elc “else, something else”
• G. el “or”
• G. elfel “different, like something else”
• G. elt “change”
• G. el(u)m “think of that!”
• G. elma- “to marvel at, admire”

Element in

• G. eltha “or, otherwise”
• G. eltha- “to alter, change”