lebnā

adjective. left behind

lepti

noun. lepti

lek

root. loose, let loose, release

lem

root. stay, stick, adhere, remain, tarry

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “stay, stick, adhere, remain, tarry”, with variants ᴹ√LEB and ᴹ√LEM (Ety/LEM), but some of its derivatives can only plausibly be derived from ᴹ√LEM: ᴹQ. lemya- “to remain, tarry” (EtyAC/LEB). Its most notable derivative was Q. Lembi “Lingerers”, but Tolkien’s seems to have abandoned this word and the root may have been abandoned with it. It nevertheless remains useful for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin.

led

root. go, fare, travel

len

root. (?road), way

lep

root. *finger

lep(e)ne

noun. five

lepen

root. five

lepenar

noun. week

lepet

root. finger

leb

root. stay, stick, adhere, remain, tarry

lepek

root. five

telek

root. stalk, stem, leg

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “stalk, stem, leg” with derivatives like ᴹQ. telko “leg” and N. telch “stem” (Ety/TÉLEK). Tolkien’s continuing use of Q. telco for “leg” or “stem (of a tengwa symbol)” indicates the ongoing validity of this root (PE22/51; PE17/122; LotR/1118). In earlier writings, Tolkien first gave ᴱQ. pelko “leg” < ᴱ√PELE (QL/73), but ᴱQ. telko “stem” appeared in Qenya Declensions from the late 1920s (PE16/113), and both pelko and telko appeared in declensions from early 1930s (PE21/48, 53) before Tolkien settled more firmly on telko in the mid-1930s, as noted above.

kap

root. leap, leap, [ᴱ√] spring

This root appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “leap” (Ety/KAP), and was simply a later iteration of ᴱ√KAPA “leap, spring” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/45). The root appeared in various other places in the 1920s (PE14/66), 30s (PE19/42) and 40s (PE22/102), always with the same meaning. The root itself did not appear in Tolkien’s later writing, but his continued use of derivatives like S. cabed “leap” (S/224) and S. cáfru “✱flea” < ✶kamprū (PE17/131) indicate its continued validity.

khyar

root. left hand

A root given as {ᴹ√KHAR >>} ᴹ√KHYAR “left hand” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, associated with ᴹQ. hyarmen/N. harad “south” (Ety/KHYAR). These words for “south” reappeared in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1115), and the connection between “south” and “left” was reaffirmed in Tolkien’s discussion of the Ambidexters Sentence from the late 1960s, since the Elves aligned the cardinal directions by facing west towards Aman (VT49/6-8).

istāyā

adjective. learned

lassekwelēne

noun. leaf-fading

lassē

noun. leaf

nid

root. lean against

pathmā

noun. level place, sward

slinyā

adjective. lean, thin, meagre

tekmē

noun. letter, symbol, writing

kurum

root. *left

A (Noldorin-only?) root in The Etymologies of the 1930s whose derivatives have to do with “left” such as N. crom “left” and N. crumui “left-handed” (Ety/KURÚM). It seems this root had some “sinister” connotations, much like English/Latin uses of left, such as N. crumguru “wiley, sinister, guilty” (EtyAC/KUR). Left also had negative connotations in Tolkien’s earlier writings, such as G. gôg “clumsy; left (hand)” (GL/40). However, in the Ambidexters Sentence from 1969, Tolkien declared that Elves were ambidextrous and had no negative associations with “leftness”. I would recommend against using the root ᴹ√KURUM for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, sticking to more neutral ᴹ√KHYAR instead.

war

root. give way, yield, not endure, let down, betray

A (Noldorin only?) root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “give way, yield, not endure, let down, betray” with derivatives like N. awarth “abandonment”, N. gwarth “betrayer”, and N. gweria- “betray” (Ety/WAR). Tolkien said it was the opposite of ᴹ√BOR “endure” (EtyAC/WAR) which had various Noldorin derivatives having to do with loyalty (Ety/BOR).

garta

noun. hide, leather

krumbā

adjective. *left

krumbē

noun. *left hand

kwentā

noun. tale

las

root. *leaf

ngolwina

adjective. wise, learned in deep arts

talat

root. to slip or slide down, incline, slope, lean, tip, topple over

angwa

root. snake

The root √ANGWA “snake” with variant √ANGU appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as the basis for the words ᴹQ. ango “snake” (Ety/ANGWA) and angulóke “dragon” (Ety/LOK). The Noldorin equivalent am- seems to have survived only as a prefix (Ety/ANGWA), and is a good example of how [[on|[ŋgw] > [mb]]] in that language. There are a variety of other words for “snake” in Tolkien’s later writings, so whether this root remained valid is unclear.

galad

root. tree

The basis for Elvish “tree” words, this root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as an extension of ᴹ√GALA “thrive” (Ety/GALAD). This replaced the earliest derivation of “tree” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where the Qenya word for “tree” ᴱQ. alda was derived from ᴱ√ALA “spread” (QL/29). In The Etymologies, the Quenya form of this word remained the same, but the 1910s Gnomish words G. âl “wood” and †alwen “tree” (GL/19) became the 1930s Noldorin word N. galadh “tree” (Ety/GALA). Quenya and Sindarin retained these words for “tree” thereafter, and while Tolkien did not mention the root √GALAD again, his continued use of primitive ✶galadā “tree” (Let/426; PE17/153; PE21/74; UT/266) made it clear this root remained valid.

gengwa

root. sick

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “sick” with derivatives ᴹQ. engwa/N. gem “sickly” (Ety/GENG-WĀ). It was given as ᴹ√GENG-WĀ, and thus represented an extension of an otherwise unattested root ᴹ√GENG. In the entry for ᴹ√YEN from The Etymologies it appeared as ᴹ√GEM in the discussion of N. ingem “old, (lit.) year-sick” (EtyAC/YEN), but I believe this represents the Noldorin phonetic developments of the true primitive form rather than a conceptual variation. The continued appearance of Q. Engwar in The Silmarillion narratives of the 1950s and 60s hints that this root may have remained valid as well.

kwam

root. *sick

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.

ndar

root. sign

A rejected root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with a single derivative: ᴹQ. narwe “sign, token”, along with an unglossed (and probably incomplete) form nar... (EtyAC/NDAR).

stā

root. [unglossed]

A deleted root reference in The Etymologies apparently serving as the basis for the verbal action suffix ᴹ✶-stā “-ing” in ᴹ✶khau̯-stā “rest-ing” (Ety/KHAW; EtyAC/KHAW). See the entry on ✶-stā for further discussion.

ed(er)

root. open

A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “open” and the forms √ED and extended √EDÉR, but it had no derivatives (EtyAC/ED).

maiga

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root appearing in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1) to illustrate certain patterns of root formation (PE18/66). It may have serving as the basis for ᴹQ. Maia, though this word was given different derivations later.

phan

root. [unglossed]

A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/PHAN).

skil

root. [unglossed]

A root mentioned in passing in as a variant of ᴹ√KIL “divide” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but it had no derivatives and appeared nowhere else (Ety/KIL).

uruk

root. [unglossed]

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/URUK).

us

root. [unglossed]

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s with no glosses or derivatives and no clear function (EtyAC/US).

yan

root. give

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “give” with derivatives ON. yanta- “give” and ᴹQ. Ariante “Day-bringer” (EtyAC/YAN²). Tolkien marked this entry with a “?”, and elsewhere in The Etymologies he derived ᴹQ. anta-/N. anna- “give” from ᴹ√ANA (Ety/ANA¹), so I suspect this root was a transient idea.

kundu

root. prince

span

root. white

(l)alam

root. elm-tree

al

prefix. without

andā

adjective. long

auluta-

verb. [unglossed]

ba(n)

root. go, proceed

bad-

verb. to judge

daiō

noun. shade, shadow cast by any object

dal

root. flat

danta-

verb. fall

dēr

noun. man

eʒ

root. be

eʒ-

verb. to be

galadā

noun. tree

kab-

verb. can, I can

kaltwa

?. [unglossed]

kayan

root. ten

ke

pronoun. thou

kott-

noun. quarrel

kwen(ed)

root. Elf

kwenedē

noun. Elf

kōmā

noun. [unglossed]

lot(h)

root. flower

lāda

adjective. flat

magā

noun. hand

mapā

noun. hand

maʒ

root. hand

men

root. go, proceed

māʒ

noun. hand

pantā

adjective. open

path

root. *smooth

pathnā

adjective. smooth

patnā

adjective. wide

slīwē

noun. sickness

ta

root. that

tainā

adjective. long

torōmā

noun. [unglossed]

wath

root. shade

weirē

feminine name. Weaver

yē

root. to be

ñgolda

adjective. wise

bay

root. [unglossed]

gem

root. *sick

geng

root. *sick

iw

root. [unglossed], [ᴱ√] *fish

khlip

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in a rejected paragraph from the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/112 note #78).

lak

root. swift

nyol

root. ring

stin

root. [unglossed]

tul-

verb. come, am coming, have come, am arrived, am here

ē

root. to be

ī

root. to be