coi ("k")"life" (LT1:257; in Tolkien's later Quenya cuilë)
Quenya
cuilë
life, being alive
coi
life
coivië
life
coivië _("k")_noun "life" (coivierya, *"his/her life", VT49:41, 42). In early material, the word is glossed "awakening" instead (LT1:257; in LotR-style Quenya cuivië, as in Cuiviénen)
coivië
noun. life, life, [ᴱQ.] liveliness; awakening
The usual word for “life” in Tolkien’s later writings based on the root √KOY (NM/84, 119; VT49/42), in one place appearing with the variant koive (PE17/68). In another place Tolkien instead used kuivie for “life” in the phrase kuivie-lankasse “on the brink of life”, reflecting Tolkien’s ongoing vacillation between √KOY and √KUY as the root for life.
Conceptual Development: ᴱQ. koivie was “awakening” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/48) as reflected in the name ᴱQ. Koivie-néni “Waters of Awakening” from this period (QL/48), but the word was glossed “liveliness” in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/29). The noun for “life, being alive” was ᴹQ. kuile in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KUY “come to life, awake” (Ety/KUY), but was usually coivie in Tolkien’s writings from the 1950s and 60s, as noted above.
Neo-Quenya: I prefer √KOY as the root for “life” for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, so I’d use coivie as the noun “life, liveliness”, and use cuivië for “awakening” as seen in the later form of the name Q. Cuiviénen “Water of Awakening” (S/48).
Derivations
- √KOY “*live, have life, [ᴹ√] live, have life”
Element in
- ᴺQ. coivenqua “lively, vibrant, vivacious, (lit.) full of life”
- Q. cuivië-lancassë “on the brink of life” ✧ VT42/08
- Q. nai amanya onnalya ter coivierya “*may your (sg.) child be blessed throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
- Q. nai calambar onnalda ter coivierya “*may your (pl.) child be light-fated throughout his/her life” ✧ VT49/42
Variations
- koive ✧ PE17/068
- koivie ✧ PE17/068
- kuivie ✧ VT42/08
coivë
noun. life
cuivië
noun. life
laulë
noun. mode of life, *lifestyle
Derivations
- √LAW “flourish (green), grow, flourish (green), grow, [ᴹ√] abound; warm”
Element in
cuilë ("k")noun "life, being alive" (KUY)