hen

root. again; middle

This root and its extensions √HENET and (deleted) √HENED appeared in notes from 1968 as a way to better distinguish the roots for √EN “again” and √ENED “middle”; Tolkien alternately explored assigning both these meanings to √HEN(ET) instead, leaving √EN(ED) with the other meaning (VT41/16). Since the resulting forms in Quenya had no initial h-, this must have been in a period where Tolkien felt ancient voiceless velar spirants vanished in Quenya. These roots are problematic within the larger framework of Tolkien’s languages, and were most likely transient ideas.

porok

root. hen

An onomatopoeic root appearing in notes from the late 1960s with variants porok- and korok and the gloss “hen” (VT47/36). It seems to be a restoration of the form ᴱQ. poroke “barn fowl” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/75) with Gnomish cognate G. porog “fowl (domestic)” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/64). ᴱQ. poroke “hen” reappeared in Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s (PE16/132), and primitive ✶porokĭ “fowl” and ✶porokē “hen” appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s (PE21/82). Thus this root seems to be a pretty enduring notion.

kholyē

noun. hen

porokē

noun. hen

korok

root. hen

siē

pronoun. she

poroki

noun. fowl

si

root. this, this, [ᴹ√] here, now

Tolkien used √SI as the basis for “near demonstratives” like “here” and “now” from very early in his writings on Elvish. The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had two competing roots ᴱ√HYA “this by us” with derivatives like ᴱQ. hyá “here by us” (QL/41) and ᴱ√KI “this by me” with derivative ᴱQ. tyá (< ᴱ✶kı̯-ā) “now” (QL/41, 49). Indications of the latter can be seen words in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. cî {“now” >>} “here” and G. cîrin “present (place or time), modern” [gloss deleted] (GL/26). However, Tolkien also introduced a new root ᴱ√si(n) “this here by me” with derivatives like G. sî “here” and G. sith “hither” (GL/68). Revisions of Gnomish ci- word glosses indicate Tolkien was vacillating on which forms were temporal and which were spatial.

In The Etymologies Tolkien gave the root ᴹ√SI “this, here, now” with derivatives like ᴹQ. sí or sin “now” and ᴹQ. sinya/N. sein “new” (Ety/SI). The root √SI was mentioned a couple times in Tolkien’s later writings, usually glossed “this” (PE17/67; VT48/25; VT49/18) and in one place with the variant √SIN (PE17/67). This root was not entirely without competition in Tolkien’s later notes, however: in one place he gave primitive ✶khĭn- as the possible basis for Q. hí “here” and S. hí “now” in 1968 notes on demonstratives, though it appeared beside primitive ✶si- forms (VT49/34 note #21).

sin

root. this

sinā

adjective. this

sloy

root. *poison

An unglossed root appeared in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 with derivatives like Q. hloima/S. lhoew “poison” and Q. hloirë/S. lhoer “venom” (PE17/185).