il

root. all

A root meaning “all” in Tolkien’s writings from the 1930s through 1960s (VT48/25) with derivatives in both Quenya and Sindarin, the most notable being Q. Ilúvatar “All-father” (MR/39). Its earliest precursor is the root ᴱ√ILU “ether, the slender airs among the stars” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, whose derivatives include various sky-words as well as ᴱQ. Ilúvatar, since in this early period the name meant “Heavenly Father” (QL/42). The meaning of the root shifted to ᴹ√IL “all” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/IL), and it retained this sense thereafter.

Derivatives

• ✶ilū “all, everything, the whole”
  • Q. ilu “everything, all, the whole, everything, all, the whole; [ᴹQ.] universe, world; [ᴱQ.] ether” ✧ VT39/20
  • ᴺS. ilu “universe, the whole, cosmos”
• Q. il- “every, *all”
• Q. ilya “every, each, all (of a particular group of things), every, each, all (of a particular group of things), [ᴹQ.] the whole”
• S. il “*all”

Element in

• Q. Ilion
• Q. Ilwen
• ᴺS. illad “everything”

-il

suffix. old tool and weapon names

Element in

• ✶katal “carving tool” ✧ PE21/71
• ✶makla “sword” ✧ PE21/71

Variations

• al ✧ PE21/71
• il ✧ PE21/71