kelvar

animals, living things that move

kelvar (sg. #kelva) noun "animals, living things that move" (Silm)

celvar

animals, living things that move

celvar (sg. #celva) ("k")noun "animals, living things that move" (Silm)

celva

noun. animal, living thing that moves

A word used in its plural form kelvar to describe animals in The Silmarillion, as opposed to Q. olvar = “plants” (S/45). In a marginal note to a short document on Ents and Eagles from 1958-9 (or later), it was translated “animals, all living things that move” (WJ/341); this document was the basis for the reference in the published version of The Silmarillion. The word kelvar was also translated as “animals” in some notes the Death of Animals and Plants from 1957-8 (NM/271), where it was a replacement for deleted Q. kuivar along with a note explaining the reason for the change being that “cuy = awake not live” (NM/274 note #6).

Possible Etymologies: Wynne, Smith, and Hostetter suggested kelvar might be derived from 1930s ᴹ√KEL “go, run (especially of water), flow away downhill” from The Etymologies (VT43/31), perhaps in the sense of “a thing that runs”. If this is the case, kelva would be the only derivative of that root not connected to flowing water.

kelvar

Kelvar

Kelvar is an Elvish word meaning "animals, living things that move", probably derived from the stem KEL-, meaning "go" or "run". It has been suggested that kelvar is a Quenya word, and that the (unattested) singular form would likely be kelva. Other words for "animal" (names which in general only referred to "four-footed beasts, and never to reptiles or birds") were Quenya laman (pl. lamni or lamani), and Sindarin lavan (pl. levain). In Gnomish, one of Tolkien's early conceptions of an Elven language, the word for "living creature, animal" is cuid. The word meg is glossed as "any small animal, especially mole".