A root connected to sickness, first appearing as ᴱ√QAMA from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. qáme “sickness, nausea”, ᴱQ. qama- “to be ill, vomit”, G. cwam “ill”, and G. côma “disease, illness” (QL/76; GL/26, 28). It reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√KWAM with derivatives ᴹQ. qáme, N. paw and Ilk. côm “sickness” (Ety/KWAM). It does not appear again in Tolkien’s later writing, but there is nothing contradicting its validity either.
Middle Primitive Elvish
kwa
root. something
kwǣ
root. onomatopoetic
kwam
root. *sick
kwal
root. die (in pain)
kwar
root. clutching hand, fist
kwat
root. *fill; full
kwantā Reconstructed
adjective. full
kwǣnē
noun. small gull, petrel
a-
prefix. complete
gem
root. *sick
geng
root. *sick
kayan
root. ten
An onomatopoeic root from The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for Elvish words for “small gull, petrel” (EtyAC/KWǢ). Similar words also appeared in The Feanorian Alphabet from the late 1930s, derived from ᴹ✶kwǣnē (PE22/32). This root is unusual in that it is the only published root using ǣ (an a-fortified e) as its root vowel.