lissë

sweet

lissë adj. "sweet" (Nam, RGEO:66); also noun "sweetness", used metaphorically for "grace" (VT43:29, VT44:18); in this sense the word may be compounded as #Erulissë, q.v. Genitive lissëo in VT44:18. - In the entry LIS in the Etymologies, Tolkien originally gave lissë as the noun "honey", but then changed it to lis with stem liss- (VT45:28)

lissë

adjective. sweet

lissë

noun. grace

lisselë

noun. sweetness

lís

noun. honey, honey, *sugar, sweetener

A word for “honey” in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 given as lîs and derived from the root √(G)LIS (PE17/154); the usual representation of a long vowel in Quenya would be ✱lís. In DLN Tolkien said that it sometimes appeared as līr- in inflections with the usual change of intervocalic s to r, but that its usual stem form was liss-. Indeed, in The Etymologies of the 1930s this word was ᴹQ. lis “honey” under the root ᴹ√LIS of the same meaning, and its stem form was also liss- as indicated by its [ᴹQ.] genitive lissen (Ety/LIS). Tolkien originally gave the base noun as lisse in The Etymologies, but this was deleted and replaced by lis (EtyAC/LIS). In The Etymologies its Noldorin cognate was N. glî.

Conceptual Development: A likely precursor to this word was ᴱQ. ile “honey” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, cognate to ᴱN. glí “honey” (GL/59).

Neo-Quenya: Since there are other honey-words in Quenya like Q. nehtë, I would use lís (liss-) for sweeteners in general, including both honey and sugar.

lissë miruvóreva mí oromardi

of sweet nectar in the high-halls

The 4th phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

> mi oromardi lissë miruvóreva >> lissë miruvóreva mí oromardi

Tolkien moved the possessive element lissë miruvóreva “of sweet nectar” forward in the prose version so that it immediately follows the noun it modifies, namely the lintë yuldar “swift draughts” of the previous line. Thus “swift draughts of sweet mead” as in the English translation of the poem.

lís

lîs

lís ("lîs")noun "honey", "oblique līr- but usually from stem liss-" (PE17:154). Compare the reading in the Etymologies: lis (liss-, e.g. dat.sg. lissen) (LIS; Tolkien originally wrote lissë, VT45:28)

melu

honey

#melu noun "honey", isolated from melumatya, q.v. (PE17:68)

melu

noun. honey

A word for “honey” appearing only in the compound Q. melumatya “honey-eating” in notes from 1967 (PE17/68).

nectë

honey

nectë noun "honey" (LT1:262; Tolkien's later Quenya has lis; otherwise, nectë would have had to become nehtë_, a form appearing in the Etymologies with the meaning "honeycomb" [VT45:38]. However, this word clashes with _nehtë "angle" or "spearhead, gore, wedge, narrow promontory" from later sources [PE17:55, UT:282].)

nehte

noun. honey

honey

nehtë

noun. honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb

A noun for “honey” appearing in 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2) derived from ✶negdē “exudation” based on the root √NEG “ooze, drip” (PE19/91). It was a later iteration of ᴹQ. nehte “honeycomb” in The Etymologies of the 1930s which had essentially the same derivation (EtyAC/NEG). This in turn was a later form of ᴱQ. nekte “honey” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√NEHE having to do with bees and honey (QL/65).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d use this word only for “honey”. For “honeycomb” I’d use ᴺQ. nehtelë inspired by ᴱQ. nektele “honeycomb” (QL/65)