Primitive elvish

id

root. desire, long for

Primitive elvish [PE17/112; PE17/155] Group: Eldamo. Published by

in(id)

root. mind, (inner) thought, inmost heart, inner senses

A root appearing in various notes written around 1957 connected to the mind (PE17/145, 155, 189; UT/400; VT43/16). Its most notable derivatives are Q. indo/S. ind “(state of) mind”. In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. indo “heart, mood” and N. ind “inner thought, meaning, heart” were instead derived from the root ᴹ√ID; this 1930s root was unglossed but had derivatives connected to both thoughts and desires, such as ᴹQ. íre “desire, longing” (Ety/ID).

Tolkien introduced a new derivation of indo from √IN(ID) in Quenya Notes written in 1957 (PE17/145, 189):

> IN-I-D, mind, inner thought. These refer to the movements or activities of the fëa or “spirit” (rational soul). indo, inner thought, in fea as exhibited in character or [?personality]. indóme, settled character, also used of the “will” of Eru (PE17/189).

The root √IN- “inmost heart, thought, mind” with extended forms √INID and √INIS also appeared in contemporaneous Notes on Names (NN), again as the basis for indo (PE17/155).

Tolkien coined yet another etymology of Q. indo in notes written in 1969, deriving it from √NID “force, press(ure), thrust” (PE22/165). This new derivation doesn’t necessarily invalidate √INID, but rather gives a new basis for the root itself as an vocalic augment of √NID rather than an extended form of √IN-.

Primitive elvish [PE17/145; PE17/155; PE17/189; UT/400; VT43/16] Group: Eldamo. Published by

spin(id)

root. fine thread, filament; hair

Tolkien had Elvish “hair” words that began with fin- for most of his life, but the details of their derivation evolved. The earliest form of this root was unglossed ᴱ√FIÐI [FIÐI] in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. findl “lock of hair” and ᴱQ. firin “ray of sun” (QL/38). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. fiðra “collective hair” and {findel >>} G. finn “a lock of hair” (GL/35), the latter an element in the name G. Glorfindel “Golden Hair”, a name that retained this form and meaning for all of Tolkien’s life.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had unglossed ᴹ√SPIN with derivatives like ᴹQ. finde “tress, braid of hair” and N. finnel “(braided) hair” (Ety/SPIN). He made a point that this root was distinct from ᴹ√PHIN “nimbleness, skill” (Ety/PHIN), a distinction he reemphasized in later writings as well (PE17/17, 119). The additional form ᴹQ. fine “larch” (a species of tree with needle-like leaves) indicates the 1930s root was not limited exclusively to “hair” (Ety/SPIN). The root √SPIN appeared a number of times in Tolkien’s later writings, variously glossed “single hair, filament” >> “fine thread, filament” (PE17/17), “lock, tress of human/elvish hair” as extended √SPIN-ID (PE17/119), or “single hair” (PE17/185). However, in The Shibboleth of Feanor from 1968 Tolkien gave the root as √PHIN “hair” (PM/340).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would ignore this 1968 change of √SPIN >> √PHIN. Furthermore, I would assume √SPIN referred to a single hair or other kind of filament, and extended √SPINID referred to a tress of hair.

Primitive elvish [PE17/017; PE17/119; PE17/185; PM/340] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ir

root. desire, long for, desire, long for; [ᴹ√] desirable, beautiful

Tolkien experimented with a variety of roots for “desire, desirable”, many in connection to the name Idril. Perhaps the earliest iteration of this root is indicated by the Gnomish word G. irn “desired, wished for” (GL/52), but given its other related forms such as G. îr- “will, intend to”, G. irm “wish, intention, resolve” and ᴱQ irya “wish” (GL/52; PE13/116), the (unattested) early root ✱ᴱ√IRI probably meant “wish, intend”.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s there was a root ᴹ√ĪR “desirable, beautiful”, but it had no derivatives (EtyAC/ĪR). Elsewhere in the document ᴹQ. íre “desire” was derived from the root ᴹ√ID (Ety/ID), perhaps a new iteration of the (hypothetical) early root ✱ᴱ√ITI “precious”. This second root ᴹ√ID had various derivatives having to do with both thoughts and desires, such as ᴹQ. indo “heart, mood”, N. ind “inner thought, meaning, heart”, ᴹQ. írima “lovely, desirable”, and N. idhren “pondering, wise, thoughtful”. Among its derivatives Tolkien also gave N. Idhril, untranslated but probably meaning “✱Desirable One”.

The problem with this last derivation is that in the contemporaneous narratives, Tolkien generally gave her name as Idril (SM/36, LR/141), which was the form of her name dating all the way in The Lost Tales of the 1910s (LT2/164). When writing the appendices to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien again used Idril (LotR/1034).

This form of the name could not be derived from √ID, and Tolkien wrestled with this question in his Notes on Names (NN) written in 1957 (PE17/112). Acknowledging the problem, Tolkien first considered introducing a new root √IT “(great) enhancement” to serve as the basic of Idril, but he reversed himself, giving √ID “desire, long for” as a better basis for the name, saying: “Decision: [S.] íđril, Q Írilde”. But then he crossed all this through, and considered reintroducing √IT with a modified meaning “repeat, multiply” (PE17/112).

Based on The Shibboleth of Fëanor written 1968, it seems Tolkien stuck with the notion of basing Idril on a √IT, though he revised the meaning of the root again to “glitter” or “sparkle” (PM/363). As for √ID, the meaning “desire” seems to have been transferred back to √IR, which Tolkien gave with the gloss “desire” in notes on roots having to do with “beautiful” written in 1959-60 (PE17/155). Also, around 1957 Tolkien introduced a new root √IN-I-D to serve as the basis for Q. indo “mind” (PE17/155). The various words having to do with “thoughts” derived from 1930s ᴹ√ID may have been transferred to √IN-ID, a possibility suggested by Elaran in a Discord chat on January 26, 2018. If so, Tolkien may have abandon √ID, using only √IR and √INID going forward.

Assuming the above reasoning is correct, the conceptual development would be 1910s ✱ᴱ√IRI “wish, intend” >> 1930s ᴹ√ID “desire, thoughts” >> 1957 √ID “desire” >> 1959 √IR “desire”, with thought words transferred to √IN-ID (later √I-NID) and the name Idril transferred to √IT “glitter”.

Primitive elvish [PE17/150; PE17/155] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Sindarin 

Id(h)ril

noun. Id(h)ril

#inner brilliance; ind (“inner thought, mind, heart”) + rill (“brilliance”) S form of Q Itarillë (“Itarildë”), but neither of the Q stems that the word contains were found in S.

Sindarin [Tolkiendil] Group: Tolkiendil Compound Sindarin Names. Published by

-m(m)id

1st du

1st du. pron. suff. #we (you and me). Q. -mmo.See paradigm PE17:132.

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:132] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

-ngid

1st du

1st du. pron. suff. #we (you and me). Q. -lmo.See paradigm PE17:132. >> -nc

Sindarin [(PE17 Sindarin Corpus) PE17:132] -. Group: Parma Eldalamberon 17 Sindarin Corpus. Published by

idhr

id

> idhor as the later forms.)

car-

verb. to do, make

Car- is the Sindarin verb for “do, make”, derived from the root √KAR of the same meaning. Tolkien often used it for examples of verb inflections in his writings.

Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this verb was G. {car- >>} cartha- “make, finish” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with past tense côri (GL/25), reappearing as cartha- “to finish” in the Gnomish Lexicon Slips modifying that document with past tense cair- or cawr- (PE13/111). A set of rough verb forms caron, {cur}, côr, {carn}, crantha, cor and cranthi appear in the margin of a page of the Early Noldorin Grammar, which the editors suggested might be related to the (unglossed and rejected) sentence ᴱN. on gós i·bhelon ar cranthi gwaist ’worin o nomad othra, perhaps meaning “✱he made everyone aware of your sinking” (PE13/128 and note #76).

In the Early Noldorin Dictionary, also from the 1920s, Tolkien had ᴱN. cara- “to make, do, perform, act (trans. and absolute)” with a new past form agor (PE13/161). Hints of the verb N. car- can be found in The Etymologies of the 1930s in words like N. ceredir “doer, maker” and N. osgar “cut round, amputate” (Ety/DER, OS). The verb appeared regularly in conjugation charts and sentences Tolkien’s later writings of the 1950s and 60s (VT50/22; PE17/132).

Sindarin [PE17/068; PE17/132; PE17/144; PE17/145; PE17/148; PE17/170; PE22/168; VT44/21; VT44/22; VT44/25; VT44/30; VT50/14; VT50/18; VT50/21; VT50/22; WJ/371; WJ/415] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Noldorin 

îdh

feminine name. Rest

Noldorin [Ety/EZDĒ; EtyAC/EZDĒ; PE19/045] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!

Middle Primitive Elvish

id

root. *desire, ?thought

Middle Primitive Elvish [Ety/DUL; Ety/ID; Ety/KHOR; Ety/LÁWAR; Ety/TUR] Group: Eldamo. Published by

Early Primitive Elvish

iði

root. dwell‽

A root in the Qenya and Gnomish Lexicons given as ᴱ√IŘI (QL/43) and iđ- (GL/50), the latter more representative of its true form. In the Qenya Lexicon it was glossed “dwell”, but Tolkien marked this gloss with a “?”. It had derivatives like ᴱQ. indo/G. ind “house”, ᴱQ. irmin/G. Idhru “world”, and ᴱQ. Indi/G. idhrin “men, earth dwellers”. Based on the last of these, a probable variant is the deleted root ᴱ√(I)LÐ(I)L, also in the Qenya Lexicon with the (rejected) derivative ᴱQ. ildi “men” (QL/42).

There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, and both “men” and “world” were generally derived from other roots, the latter from √MBAR “dwell”, the likeliest replacement for this root.

Early Primitive Elvish [GL/17; GL/50; LT2A/Idril; QL/043] Group: Eldamo. Published by