Qenya
mallo
adverb. whence
Cognates
- ᴺS. oman “whence, from where, (lit.) from what”
Element in
- ᴹQ. mallo le, aiano? “whence (come) you, stranger?” ✧ PE22/124
Variations
- Mallo ✧ PE22/124
mál
noun. grit
Variations
- māl ✧ PE21/24
ma
adverb. interrogative particle
Derivations
- √MA “interrogative base, interrogative base; [ᴱ√] root of indef[inite]”
Element in
má
noun. hand
Cognates
- On. mō “hand” ✧ Ety/MAƷ
Derivations
Element in
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴹ✶māʒ > mā [māɣ] > [mā] ✧ Ety/MAƷ ᴹ✶magā > mā [magā] > [maɣā] > [mā] ✧ EtyAC/MAƷ ᴹ✶mā > mā [mā] ✧ PE18/035 Variations
- mā ✧ Ety/MAƷ; EtyAC/MAƷ (
mā); PE18/035; PE21/40; PE22/021
má
noun. land, region
Changes
má→ má “hand” ✧ PE21/41Derivations
- ᴹ✶mā “land” ✧ PE21/38
Element in
- ᴹQ. ilduma “heaven” ✧ PE21/08; PE21/38
Variations
- mā ✧ PE21/08 (mā)
- mā- ✧ PE21/38 (mā-)
- má ✧ PE21/41; PE21/41 (
má)
A word in Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s glossed “grit” with various forms representing the inflections of nouns with lost ancient vowels: malǝ- (PE21/19, 24). It may be a later iteration of ᴱQ. mar (mard-) “grit, course grain or powder” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a derivative of the root ᴱ√MṚŘṚ [MṚÐṚ] “grind” (QL/63). Later still Tolkien gave the primitive form ✶smalŭ with the gloss “dust, grit” in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure (EVS2) from the early 1950s, though this primitive form had no derivatives.
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to use ᴹ✶smalu with its 1930s sense “pollen, yellow powder”, as this form has derivatives in The Etymologies (Ety/SMAL), and its root meaning ᴹ√SMAL “yellow” is a better match to the later root √MAL “yellow, gold”. I think it is possible to retain ᴹQ. mál “grit”, however, by assuming that it is a derivative of ᴹ√MBAL “✱pound”, which is a better match with 1910s ᴱQ. mar < ᴱ√MṚÐṚ “grind”.