Noldorin
lhum
noun. shade
lhum
noun. shade
Cognates
- ᴹQ. lumbe “gloom, shadow” ✧ Ety/LUM
Derivations
- ᴹ√LUM “*shadow” ✧ Ety/LUM
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴹ√LUM > lhum [lumbe] > [lumbe] > [lumb] > [l̥umb] > [l̥umb] > [l̥umm] > [l̥um] ✧ Ety/LUM
gwath
noun. shade, shadow, dim light
gwath
noun. stain
gwath
noun. shade
Cognates
- Ilk. gwath “shade” ✧ Ety/WATH
Derivations
Element in
- N. Deldúwath “Deadly Nightshade” ✧ Ety/DYEL
- N. Gwathfuin-Daidelos “Deadly Nightshade”
- N. Dolwethil “(Woman of) Secret Shadow”
- N. dú(w)ath “night-shade”
- N. Eredwethion “Shadowy Mountains” ✧ Ety/WATH
- N. Gwathlo “Greyflood”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources On. watha > gwath [waθa] > [gwaθa] > [gwaθ] ✧ Ety/WATH Variations
- gwath ✧ Ety/WATH
A word appearing as N. lhum “shade” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, derived from the root ᴹ√LUM, most notably an element in the name N. Hithlum (Ety/LUM). It was the cognate of ᴹQ. lumbe, and thus derived from primitive ✱lumbē, which explains why the final m survived as a reduction of mb.
Conceptual Development: The earliest iteration of this word was G. lôm {“pool, sl...” >>} “gloom, shade” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, based on primitive ᴱ✶lou̯me (GL/54) and probably derived from the early root ᴱ√LOMO as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Hisilómë). In this early document, G. lum or glum was “a cloud” (GL/55), likely a derivative of ᴱ√LUVU for “✱dark weather” as also suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Luvier). In Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien had ᴱN. {lom >>} lhom “shadow” (PE13/149). This became N. lhum “shade” in The Etymologies, as noted above.
Neo-Sindarin: In later writings, Hithlum was designated North Sindarin and its final element was based on a loan from Q. lómë “dusk”, with the m surviving only because it was from the North dialect (PE17/133; WJ/400). However, the root √LUM “shadow, darkness” also survived in later writings (PE17/168), so I think N. lhum “shade” can be salvaged, though if adapted to Neo-Sindarin it would need to become ᴺS. lum as suggested in HSD (HSD). Given the later use of Q. lumbo for “(dark) cloud”, I think the Gnomish sense G. lum “[dark] cloud” can be salvaged as well.