A root appearing in 1959 notes as a variant of √AL(A) “good” with a single derivative: Q. lá or alá “yes” (PE17/158). A possible precursor is the rejected root ᴹ√LAƷ from The Etymologies of the 1930s, unglossed but with one derivative ᴹQ. lá whose gloss is difficult to read by might be “please” (EtyAC/LAƷ). I recommend against using this root for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, as it is easily confused with the negative root √LA.
Primitive elvish
la
root. no, not; negative; not to be
Derivatives
- ✶lā- “to not be” ✧ PE22/153
- Q. al(a)- “in-, un-, not; †-less, without” ✧ PE22/153; VT42/33
- Q. ala- “to deny”
- Q. la- “not, in-, un-”
- Q. lá- “to not be” ✧ PE22/156; VT42/33; VT49/13
- Q. lá “no, not” ✧ PE22/153; VT42/33
- ᴺQ. lana “no, not any, not (a); none”
- S. al- “no, not”
- ᴺS. lad “nothing, zero”
- ᴺS. law “not”
Variations
- AL ✧ PE17/143 (
AL); PE17/146; PE22/140- al ✧ PE18/088; PE22/140; VT42/32 (
al)- la ✧ PE18/088; VT42/32 (
la)- lā ✧ PE22/140
- LĀ ✧ PE22/153
- ALA ✧ PE22/153
- (A)LA ✧ PE22/156
- ala ✧ VT42/33; VT49/13
- al/la ✧ VT48/25
lā
root. interjection of pleasure/assent
Derivations
- √AL(A) “good (physically), blessed, fortunate, prosperous, health(y)”
Derivatives
- Q. (a)lá “yes” ✧ PE17/158; VT42/33
Variations
- lā ✧ VT42/33
lā̆
preposition/adverb. beyond
Derivations
- √LAƷ “cross, pass over, go beyond” ✧ PE17/065
Derivatives
- Q. lá “beyond, over, across, athwart” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/065
Element in
Variations
- laŋa ✧ PE17/065
ala
root. no, not; negative; not to be
lā-
verb. to not be
Derivations
- √LA “no, not; negative; not to be” ✧ PE22/153
Derivatives
Element in
- ✶lāni/lanjē karnē-sa “I did not do it” ✧ PE22/140; PE22/140
- ✶lasa “not it = it is/was not so” ✧ PE22/140
Variations
- la ✧ PE22/140
- lā ✧ PE22/153
laʒ
root. cross, pass over, go beyond
Tolkien considered several similar roots for the Elvish words “neck”, “throat” and “beyond”.
In The Etymologies, the words for “throat” were ᴹQ. lanko and N. lhanc from the root ᴹ√LAK with nasal-infixion (Ety/LAK, Ety/TARAG). The Noldorin form also appeared as an element in the adjective N. tarlanc “stiff-necked, obstinate”. In The Lord of the Rings, it seems that this last word had shifted to S. tarlang, as in the place name Tarlang (LotR/790). The earlier words reappeared as S. lang and Q. lango “neck, passage”, whose roots were either √LAG (PE17/65) or √LAƷA (PE17/91-92).
Tolkien also established the word Q. lá as the Quenya element meaning “beyond”, most notably in the preposition pella (the Namárië poem, LotR/377), whose literal meaning was “beyond the border”. There is an early hint of this sense in The Etymologies in the root ᴹ√LĀ, unglossed but said to be related to the “ablative element” ᴹ√LŌ (EtyAC/LŌ). Other possible precursors are ᴱ√ALA “spread” and related ᴱ√LAHA or ᴱ√LĀ from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/29, 32, 50).
In notes from 1965, Tolkien stated that the root of lá “beyond” was √LAŊ, distinct from the root √LAG of lango (PE17/65). But in notes from 1967, Tolkien briefly considered using the root √ALA/LA for lá “beyond” (PE17/90), but quickly changed it to √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond” (PE17/91-92), the same as the root of Q. lango “neck” as noted above. This leaves us with two scenarios: that lango “neck” and lá “beyond” had distinct origins from the roots √LAG and √LAÑ respectively (1965: PE17/65), or that lango “neck” and lá “beyond” had the same origin in the root √LAƷ “cross, pass over, go beyond” (1967: PE17/91-92).
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin I prefer the 1967 scenario with the root √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond”, and would assume “neck” is based on the sense “passage”, since it frees up the root √LAG to retain its meaning from The Etymologies: ᴹ√LAG “✱cut” (Ety/LAG). For “throat” words, see the discusssion in the entry for ᴹ√LAK.
Derivatives
- ✶lā̆ “beyond” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lá “beyond, over, across, athwart” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/065
- ✶langa ✧ PE17/091
- Q. langë “surpassingly, superlatively, extremely” ✧ PE17/091
- ✶langō “route or connection between to places; neck” ✧ PE17/091
- ✶lañna “athwart” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lanna “athwart, (to a point) beyond, athwart, (to a point) beyond, *across” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lá “beyond, over, across, athwart” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/090; PE17/091
- Q. lahta- “to cross, pass over, go over; to surpass, excel” ✧ PE17/065; PE17/092
- Q. lan “*while”
- Q. langa “thing that crosses, ferry, ford, crossway, bridge, cross-bar” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lango “neck, neck, [ᴹQ.] throat” ✧ PE17/065
- Q. lanna “athwart, (to a point) beyond, athwart, (to a point) beyond, *across” ✧ PE17/065
- ᴺS. lo “while”
Element in
Variations
- LAŊ ✧ PE17/065; PE17/159
- LAG ✧ PE17/065; PE17/159
- ALA/LA ✧ PE17/090; PE17/146
- LAƷA ✧ PE17/091; PE17/092; PE17/159
- LA ✧ PE17/158
An invertible root, √LA or √ALA, used for negation. Its earliest iteration was as the primitive negative prefix ᴱ✶ḷ- from the 1910s (GL/50; PE12/11; QL/97). Its first appearance as ᴹ√LA “no, not” was in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/LA), and it regularly appeared in documents from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Tolkien then abandoned this form of negation in 1959 (PE17/143), but restored it again around 1969 (PE22/160) only to abandon it again shortly after (VT44/4). For a full history of Tolkien’s shifting conceptions of negation in Elvish, see the Quenya entry on the negative.