Early Quenya
malo
noun. moth
Derivations
- ᴱ√MALA “crush, squeeze, pulp” ✧ QL/058
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√MALA¹ > [mal]wǝ > malo [malwǝ] > [malw] > [malu] > [malo] ✧ QL/058 Variations
- malo ✧ PME/058; QL/058
malu-
verb. to devour
Derivations
- ᴱ√MALA “crush, squeeze, pulp” ✧ QL/058
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√MALA¹ > malu- [malu-] ✧ QL/058
A noun appearing as ᴱQ. malo “moth” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from primitive ᴱ✶[mal]wǝ under the early root ᴱ√MALA “crush, squeeze, pulp” (QL/58). It had a plural malwi, and in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa it was given the stem form of malu-.
Neo-Quenya: This word conflicts with later words like ᴹQ. malo (malu-) “pollen, yellow powder” (Ety/SMAL) or “rust” (PE21/12; PE15/77), making its continued validity as “moth” rather questionable. However, the only other attested Elvish “moth” word is G. fufril of unclear etymology (GL/36), making it very challenging to adapt to Neo-Quenya. Thus I currently recommend retaining ᴺQ. malo for “moth”, as a derivative of the later root ᴹ√MBAL, but altering its stem form to malo- (< ✱mbalō) to make it more distinct from the “pollen, rust” words.