Primitive elvish

kul

root. golden-red, golden-red; [ᴱ√] gold

The root √KUL was connected to gold and gold-coloured things throughout Tolkien’s life but gradually shifted in meaning. The earliest form of this root was ᴱ√KULU “gold” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/49), but at this early stage it was connected to actual metallic gold as much as the colour, as opposed to ᴱQ. laure which was “magic” name of gold (LT1/100). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹ√KUL was first glossed “gold (metal)”, but was eventually revised to “golden-red” (replacing a rejected variant ᴹ√GUL), and metallic gold became ᴹQ. malta < ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” (Ety/SMAL) while ᴹQ. laure shifted in sense to “golden light” (Ety/GLAW(-R)).

Tolkien’s continued use of names like Q. Culúrien (S/38) and Q. culumalda “tree with hanging yellow blossoms (prob[ably] a laburnum)” (RC/626) indicate the continued validity of this root, though I suspect in later writings it primarily referred to a golden-red or orangish colour.

Derivatives

  • ᴺS. colof “orange [fruit]”
  • ᴺS. culuin “golden-red, orange (in colour)”

Element in

  • ᴺQ. cullingwë “goldfish”
  • ᴺQ. culmírë “sardius, carneol [carnelian], (lit.) orange-jewel”
  • Q. culumalda “laburnum, *(lit.) orange-tree” ✧ SA/mal
  • Q. Culúrien “*Golden Garland” ✧ SA/cul
  • ᴺQ. culvelyávë “pumpkin”
  • ᴺS. collorn “laburnum, *(lit.) orange-tree”

Variations

  • cul- ✧ SA/cul; SA/mal
Primitive elvish [SA/cul; SA/mal] Group: Eldamo. Published by