lís

noun. honey, honey, *sugar, sweetener

A word for “honey” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 given as lîs and derived from the root √(G)LIS (PE17/154); the usual representation of a long vowel in Quenya would be ✱lís. In DLN Tolkien said that it sometimes appeared as līr- in inflections with the usual change of intervocalic s to r, but that its usual stem form was liss-. Indeed, in The Etymologies of the 1930s this word was ᴹQ. lis “honey” under the root ᴹ√LIS of the same meaning, and its stem form was also liss- as indicated by its [ᴹQ.] genitive lissen (Ety/LIS). Tolkien originally gave the base noun as lisse in The Etymologies, but this was deleted and replaced by lis (EtyAC/LIS). In The Etymologies its Noldorin cognate was N. glî.

Conceptual Development: A likely precursor to this word was ᴱQ. ile “honey” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, cognate to ᴱN. glí “honey” (GL/59).

Neo-Quenya: Since there are other honey-words in Quenya like Q. nehtë, I would use lís (liss-) for sweeteners in general, including both honey and sugar.

Derivations

• √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√(G)LIS > lîs	[līs]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• lîs ✧ PE17/154

melu

honey

#melu noun "honey", isolated from melumatya, q.v. (PE17:68)

melu

noun. honey

A word for “honey” appearing only in the compound Q. melumatya “honey-eating” in notes from 1967 (PE17/68).

Element in

• Q. melumatya “honey-eating” ✧ PE17/068
• ᴺQ. meluquetya “sweet-speaking person, flatterer”

nectë

honey

nectë noun "honey" (LT1:262; Tolkien's later Quenya has lis; otherwise, nectë would have had to become nehtë_, a form appearing in the Etymologies with the meaning "honeycomb" [VT45:38]. However, this word clashes with _nehtë "angle" or "spearhead, gore, wedge, narrow promontory" from later sources [PE17:55, UT:282].)

nehte

noun. honey

honey

nehtë

noun. honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb

A noun for “honey” appearing in 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) derived from ✶negdē “exudation” based on the root √NEG “ooze, drip” (PE19/91). It was a later iteration of ᴹQ. nehte “honeycomb” in The Etymologies of the 1930s which had essentially the same derivation (EtyAC/NEG). This in turn was a later form of ᴱQ. nekte “honey” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√NEHE having to do with bees and honey (QL/65).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d use this word only for “honey”. For “honeycomb” I’d use ᴺQ. nehtelë inspired by ᴱQ. nektele “honeycomb” (QL/65)

Cognates

• S. nîdh “juice, [N.] honeycomb; [S.] juice” ✧ PE19/091
• T. nettë “honey” ✧ PE19/091

Derivations

• ✶negdē “exudation” ✧ PE19/091
  • √NEG “‽ooze, drip, ooze, drip; *honey” ✧ PE19/091

Element in

• ᴺQ. nehtelë “honeycomb”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶negdē > nehte	[negdē] > [nektē] > [nextē] > [nexte]	✧ PE19/091

Variations

• nehte ✧ PE19/091

lissë

sweet

lissë adj. "sweet" (Nam, RGEO:66); also noun "sweetness", used metaphorically for "grace" (VT43:29, VT44:18); in this sense the word may be compounded as #Erulissë, q.v. Genitive lissëo in VT44:18. - In the entry LIS in the Etymologies, Tolkien originally gave lissë as the noun "honey", but then changed it to lis with stem liss- (VT45:28)

lissë

adjective. sweet

Cognates

• S. liss “fragrant, sweet”
• S. laich “sweet” ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• ✶lissĭ- ✧ PE17/154
  • √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/154

Element in

• ᴺQ. lisselë “sweetness”
• Q. mi oromardi lissë miruvóreva “of the sweet mead in lofty halls” ✧ LotR/0377; RGEO/58
• Q. lissë miruvóreva mí oromardi “of sweet nectar in the high-halls” ✧ RGEO/58

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶lissĭ- > lisse	[lissi] > [lisse]	✧ PE17/154

Variations

• lissë ✧ LotR/0377
• lisse ✧ PE17/064; PE17/064; PE17/154; RGEO/58
• lísse ✧ RGEO/58

lís

lîs

lís ("lîs")noun "honey", "oblique līr- but usually from stem liss-" (PE17:154). Compare the reading in the Etymologies: lis (liss-, e.g. dat.sg. lissen) (LIS; Tolkien originally wrote lissë, VT45:28)

medlin

adjective. honey-eater, bear-like

laich

adjective. sweet

Cognates

• Q. lissë “sweet” ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• ✶lisyā “sweet” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154
  • √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
✶lisyā > liχı̯ā > leχı̯ > leich > laich	[lisjā] > [lixjā] > [lixja] > [lexja] > [lexia] > [lexi] > [leix] > [laix]	✧ PE17/148
✶lisyā > lîch	[lisji] > [lixji] > [lixī] > [lix] > [līx]	✧ PE17/148

Variations

• leich ✧ PE17/154

leich

adjective. sweet

glî

honey

glî (i **lî**);

glî

honey

(i ’lî);

nîdh

honeycomb

(construct nidh; no distinct pl. form) (VT45:38).

lend

sweet

(tuneful), pl. lind. Note: a homophone means ”way, journey”. No Sindarin adjective describing sweet taste occurs in published material.

melui

sweet

1) (= lovely) melui (lenited velui; no distinct pl. form) (VT42:18). 2) lend (tuneful), pl. lind. Note: a homophone means ”way, journey”. No Sindarin adjective describing sweet taste occurs in published material.

melui

sweet

(lenited velui; no distinct pl. form) (VT42:18).

necte, nette

noun. honey

honey

nettë

noun. honey

Cognates

• Q. nehtë “honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb” ✧ PE19/091

Derivations

• ✶negdē “exudation” ✧ PE19/091
  • √NEG “‽ooze, drip, ooze, drip; *honey” ✧ PE19/091

Variations

• necte/nette ✧ PE19/091

neg

root. ‽ooze, drip, ooze, drip; *honey

This root served as the basis for honey words and (in earlier writings) for bee words. Its earliest form is unglossed ᴱ√NEHE in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it had derivatives like ᴱQ. nekte “honey” and ᴱQ. nier “honey bee” (QL/65). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon the root was given as neg- with derivatives like G. neglis “honey” and G. nio “bee” < ᴱ✶nēgu, with another (feminine?) form nios (GL/59-60).

The root ᴹ√NEG reappeared unglossed in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. nehte and N. nîdh “honeycomb” (EtyAC/NEG). It appeared in the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s with the gloss “ooze, drip” (marked by Tolkien with a “?”) and derivatives Q. nehtë/T. nettë “honey” and S. nîdh “juice” (PE19/91).

Derivatives

• ✶negdē “exudation” ✧ PE19/091
  • Q. nehtë “honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb” ✧ PE19/091
  • S. nîdh “juice, [N.] honeycomb; [S.] juice” ✧ PE19/091
  • T. nettë “honey” ✧ PE19/091
• ᴺQ. nier “(honey) bee”
• ᴺQ. niétë “oozing, dripping, exuding”
• ᴺS. nîw “bee”

lisyā

adjective. sweet

Changes

• leχa → lisya ✧ PE17/154

Derivations

• √LIS “*sweet, [ᴱ√] sweetness, [ᴹ√] honey” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

Derivatives

• S. laich “sweet” ✧ PE17/148; PE17/154

Variations

• lisya ✧ PE17/154
• leχa ✧ PE17/154 (leχa)

glî

noun. honey

glî

noun. honey

A word for “honey” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶g-lisi under the root ᴹ√LIS of the same meaning (Ety/LIS).

Conceptual Development: In Early Noldorin Word-lists Tolkien also had ᴱN. glí “honey” (PE13/144), presumably similarly derived from the early root ᴱ√LISI. However, in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “honey” was G. neglis with an initial element √neg- (GL/59), the Gnomish equivalent of the early root ᴱ√NEHE that was the basis for ᴱQ. nekte “honey” (QL/65). It is possible that the second element of G. neglis was based on ᴱ√LISI and this was carried forward into later “honey” words.

Cognates

• ᴹQ. lis “honey” ✧ Ety/LIS

Derivations

• ᴹ✶glisi “honey” ✧ Ety/LIS
  • ᴹ√LIS “honey” ✧ Ety/LIS

Element in

• ᴺS. glidheb “like honey”
• N. megli “bear, (lit.) honey-eater”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
ᴹ✶g-lisi > glî	[glisi] > [glihi] > [glih] > [glīh] > [glī]	✧ Ety/LIS

meglin

adjective. honey-eater, bear-like