lī

root. *many

liþi

root. *flow of time

A root for various words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s having to do with the flow of time, such as G. lith- “go, depart, be over, finish, end, die”, G. lithin “bygone, ended”, and G. lint “quick, agile, nimble, light” (GL/54), as well as G. laith “time, the course of time; lapse”, and G. laith(r)a- “let slip, lose, mislay, forget; (intr.) to be lost” (GL/52). The last of these was “a confusion of two distinct roots — see lech and lith-”, referring to ᴱ√lech “smooth, slippery” whose derivatives included laitha- “slip (intr.), slide by” (GL/53).

lipi

root. *drip, drop

liya

root. unite many as one

liði

root. sing

limi

root. *bind

lini

root. gentle

liqi

root. flow, water; clear, transparent

lisi

root. sweetness

liři

root. sing

ili

root. many

kili

root. edge

likini Speculative

root. *curved horn

A hypothetical triconsonantal root underlying words like ᴱQ. likin “horn, curled horn” and G. ligin “curved horn, trump” in the Qenya and Gnomish Lexicons of the 1910s (QL/54; GL/54). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

liŋi Reconstructed

root. snake

hunu

root. lie low

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “lie low” with the derivative ᴱQ. hunda “low, lowly” (QL/41). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

kama

root. lie down

kaya

root. lie, rest; dwell

lava

root. lick

lṇqṇ

root. catch, come on, light on, find, get

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “catch, come on, light on, find, get”, with derivatives ᴱQ. lanq- “get by lot or luck, find” and ᴱQ. lanqa “lot, luck, piece of fortune, happen” (QL/55). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

ŋwaða

root. tarry, linger

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “tarry, linger” (QL/63), but it was blended and confused with ᴱ√MBARA “dwell, live” (QL/60), since [[eq|initial [ŋʷ] became [m]]] in Early Qenya. This makes its precise derivatives tricky to determine. Tolkien also indicated ᴱ√ŊWAÐA was a variant of {ᴱ√W̯AŘA >>} ᴱ√ẆAÐA “dwell” (QL/102), where the Ẇ probably indicates an ancient labialized velar spirant ʒw [ɣʷ].

Derivatives of ᴱ√ŊWAÐA are easier to find in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, as they begin with gwa-: Tolkien indicated that G. gwast “dwelling”, G. gwadhra “habitable”, and G. gwadhron “inhabitant” were all derived from ŋwa- (GL/47), though on another page a deleted noted gave the primitive form as gu̯ađ (GL/46), probably the Gnomish result of ᴱ√ẆAÐA. Indeed, in the Qenya Lexicon Tolkien indicated that Gnomish gwadh- forms were also blended with waða (QL/63). In Tolkien’s later writing, he abandoned this confusing muddle with ᴱ√ŊWAÐA and ᴱ√ẆAÐA in favor of just using √MBAR.

gu̯eđeþlī

noun. maiden, little girl

kaı̯-

verb. to lie down

lawa

root. *life (esp. plants)

mbara

root. dwell, live

sḷpḷ

root. *lick up

dṇtṇ Speculative

root. light up

A hypothetical early root that would explain Gnomish words like G. dant “lamp” and G. dantha- “illuminate, light up, illustrate” (GL/29). In Tolkien’s later writing it was probably ousted by √DA(N)T “fall”.

hiþi Speculative

root. *listen

A hypothetical early root explaining words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as G. hist “listening, attention” and hitha- “listen, hearken, listen to” (GL/49). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

miki Reconstructed

root. *little

kṇðṇ

root. shine

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱ√KṆŘṆ “shine” with derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish, such as ᴱQ. kanda- “blaze”, G. cintha- “to light, set alight”, ᴱQ. kanwa “lurid”, and G. cantha “flame” (QL/47; GL/25-26). It may be a variant of ᴱ√KṚN “✱red” (QL/48). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

laqa

root. catch

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “catch”, contrasted with ᴱ√LAPA “enfold” and ᴱ√LṆQṆ “catch, come on, light on, find, get” (QL/51, 55). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, and it may have been replaced by ᴹ√GAT of similar meaning (Ety/GAT).

suku

root. *sweet

The root ᴱ√SUKU⁽²⁾ appeared unglossed in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. suksa “sweet” and ᴱQ. sutya- “sweeten, soothe” (QL/87). A parenthetical comment indicated that ᴱ√ÐUKU might be the true root form. There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

tołᵂo

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s illustrating a hypothetical series of ancient lateral approximants, with derived roots like ᴱ√TOLO and ᴱ√TOẆO [with ẇ = ɣʷ] (PE12/16). The former appeared in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as the basis for island words (QL/94), but the latter appeared nowhere else in Early Qenya writings.

tuðu

root. kindle

The root ᴱ√TUŘU “kindle” [TUÐU] appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variant forms ᴱ√TUSO and ᴱ√TUSU as well as derivatives like ᴱQ. tunda- “kindle”, ᴱQ. turu “wood, properly firewood”, and ᴱQ. tusturin “match” (QL/96). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had a similar primitive form tudh- with derivatives like G. tund “log for the fire”, G. tusta- “inflame, kindle, set light to, burn”, and G. tuthli “match” (GL/72). However, the Gnomish Lexicon also had words like G. drui “wood, forest” and G. duru “wood; a pole, beam, or log” (GL/31). Since initial d- > t- in Early Qenya, it seems likely that ᴱ√TUŘU “kindle” may also represent a blending with an unattested root ✱ᴱ√DURU “wood”.

Many years later Tolkien gave a hypothetical root √TUD in contrasted to √TUL to illustrate certain principles of etymological variations (VT48/25). It is not clear whether this √TUD is related to earlier ᴱ√TUÐU “kindle”. Nevertheless, I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√TUD “firewood, kindling” to salvage Early Qenya and Gnomish words of similar meaning.

uqu

root. wet

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “wet”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. úqa “wet” and ᴱQ. úqil “rain” (QL/98). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. ub⁽⁾ “wet” and G. uch “rain” (GL/74). In later writings Tolkien used different roots for “wet”.

kulu

root. gold

-yǝ

suffix. [unglossed]

ak’lā

noun. ray

gu̯ara-

verb. to dwell

ini

root. small

iwi

root. *fish

kala

root. shine golden

kantya

noun. edge

kulū

noun. gold

lepse

?. [unglossed]

lopse

?. [unglossed]

lḷt-

verb. to dance

lḷtḷ

root. dance

nene

root. flow

pelesa

noun. fence

saw̯a

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/82), which may have reemerged as √SAWA “disgusting, foul, vile” in notes from the 1950s (PE17/172, 183).

sivi

root. [unglossed]

Unglossed roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SIVI and ᴱ√SIWI and a single unglossed derivative ᴱQ. sivilda (QL/84). It is difficult to guess what Tolkien intended for these forms to mean, though they conceivably reemerged as the later roots ᴹ√SIW “excite, egg on, urge” (Ety/SIW) or √SIB “rest, quiet” (VT44/35).

siði

root. flow

tegna

adjective. straight

teled-

noun. [unglossed]

toẇo

root. [unglossed]

t’lépe

noun. silver

t’lḗpe

noun. butter

vī

root. as

yn̄t

adjective. large

ẇaða

root. dwell

ẏata

root. join

kok Speculative

root. catch

A hypothetical root serving as the basis for early words like G. cog “claw, fist”, G. crog “hook” and G. croctha- “catch” (GL/27).

kḷnḷ Speculative

root. *ring

A hypothetical root serving as the basis for “bell” words in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s such as ᴱQ. kilin “bell” and ᴱQ. kalon “(large) bell” (QL/46); syllabic Ḷ would help explain the vowel variations. In Tolkien’s later writings, “bell” words were derived from ᴹ√NYEL.

aya(la) Speculative

root. lake

gana Speculative

root. young

A hypothetical early root that would explain words appearing in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as ᴱQ. kana and G. gân “young” (GL/37). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writings.

kiniki Reconstructed

root. hang

kṇřṇ

root. shine

mī

root. in

siři

root. flow

tḷkḷ

root. [unglossed]