mō

root. *labour

morn-ʒoth

masculine name. morn-ʒoth

morok

root. *bear

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for “bear” words: ᴹQ. morko, N. brôg, and Ilk. broga (Ety/MORÓK), replacing rejected ᴹ√MOROG (EtyAC/LIS). The primitive form ✶morokō “bear” reappeared in the Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s, but Tolkien wrote an “X” above it (PE21/82 and note #55). In Tolkien’s later writings it may have been replaced by ✶grā “bear” which appeared in notes from the late 1960s, but in those notes Tolkien changed the gloss of ✶grā to “dog” (VT47/12, 35). This leaves ᴹ√MOROK as the best available root for “bear”.

moy

root. *dear, *dear; [ᴱ√] *soft, gentle

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for ᴹQ. moina and N. muin “dear” (Ety/MOY). An early root ✱ᴱ√MOYO “✱soft, gentle” is strongly implied by words appearing in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s: G. muig/ᴱQ. moika “soft, gentle” and G. muis “softness, tenderness, gentleness” (GL/58). The words G. muin/ᴱQ. moina “safe, secure” and G. muil/ᴱQ. moile “tarn [mountain lake]” may also be related. Given the semantic variation of all these words, it’s hard to know the common meaning (if any) of their root, but for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, “soft, gentle” is probably a good foundation.

mōl

noun. slave, thrall

mor

root. *black, dark

mori

adjective. black

morókō

noun. bear

morikwende

noun. Dark-elf

yay

root. mock

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “mock” with derivatives like ᴹQ. yaiwe/N. iaew “mocking, scorn” (Ety/YAY). Primitive ᴱ✶peia “scorn” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s is a possible precursor; its primitive form is very different, but its Early Noldorin derivative ᴱN. hai is not that dissimilar (PE13/146).

am

root. mother

amī̆l

noun. mother

etsiri

noun. mouth of a river

indo

noun. mood, heart

ithil

noun. moon

neiti

adjective. moist, dewy

pē

noun. mouth, lips

ranā

proper name. Moon

ulgundō

noun. monster, deformed and hideous creature

ūbanō

noun. monster

kub

root. *mound, heap

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for ᴹQ. kumbe/N. cum “mound, heap” (Ety/KUB). It was undoubtably a later iteration of ᴱ√KUMU “heap up” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with similar derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish (QL/49; GL/27). This earlier root also had derivatives having to do with “burden” such as ᴱQ. kumba “burdened, laden”, but based on Gnomish words like G. gûm “burden” and G. gumriol “burdensome” (GL/43), this was probably due to blending with an otherwise unattested root ✱ᴱ√GUMU.

These roots were the basis of G. Cûm a Gumlaith “Mound of the First Sorrow” which later became N. Cûm-na-Dengin “Mound of Slain” (SM/312, LR/147). Eventually this name became Haudh-en-Ndengin “Mound of the Slain”, indicating that ᴹ√KUB was abandoned for this purpose. Indeed, in later writings Tolkien instead gave √KUB as “hide, secrete” instead (PE22/155).

nan

root. *mother

A (Noldorin only?) root in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for a couple Noldorin mother words: N. naneth “mother” and N. nana “mother (hypocoristic)” (Ety/NAN).

orot

root. height, mountain

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “height, mountain” given as an extension of ᴹ√ORO “up, rise, high”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. oron (oront-) “mountain” and N. orod “mountain” (Ety/ÓROT). The latter dates all the way back to G. orod “mountain” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/63), and continued to be used in later writings as S. orod as well (e.g. on LotR/469). The derivatives of the root on the Qenya side were more variable, sometimes given as Q. orto (PE17/64) or orot- (VT47/28) instead.

tun

root. *tall; mound

An unglossed root in The Etymologies of the mid-1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. tunda/N. tonn “tall” and ᴹQ. tundo/N. tunn “hill, mound”; its most notable use was as the basis for the name ᴹQ. Túna (Ety/TUN), which continued to appear in later writings as the name of a hill (S/59). The word ᴹQ. lopotundo “rabbithole” from the Declension of Nouns of the early 1930s indicates the root may have had a difference sense (“hole”?) in earlier writings (PE21/10, 31).

mun

root. ‽groan, moan

A root appearing in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s with the gloss “groan, moan”, serving as the basis for the verb ᴹQ. mun- “dislike” (PE22/103).

khagdā

noun. heap, pile, (piled) mound

peg

root. (?outer) mouth

tundu

noun. hill, mound

ulda

noun. torrent, mountain stream

tul

root. come, approach, move towards (point of speaker)

doʒ

root. night

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “night” that (along with ᴹ√DOM) was the basis for the ᴹQ. lóme/N. dû “night” (Ety/DOƷ). It replaced some rejected variants ᴹ√LOƷ and ᴹ√DAW (EtyAC/LOƷ). Many of the derivatives of ᴹ√DOƷ were later assigned to other roots: N. dûr “dark” became S. dûr “dark” < √NDU “under, down” in notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/152) and ᴹQ. lóna “dark” became Q. lúna (PE17/22). There are no signs of ᴹQ. ló “night” and N. daw “night-time, gloom” in Tolkien’s later writing. Future derivations of Q. lómë/S. dû only mention the root √DOM (PE17/152; PE22/153) and thus ᴹ√DOƷ may have been abandoned.

In a message to the Elfling mailing list from July 2012 (Elfling/362.96), David Salo suggested there might be a later root ✱√DU serving as the basis for Q. lúna “dark” and Q. lúmë “darkness”, though the latter might instead be from √LUM. Such a root ✱√DU is not attested in Tolkien writings, but if it existed, it could be a later iteration of ᴹ√DOƷ. Another possible example of the root ✱√DU is primitive ✶durnŭ “dark of hue”.

ar

root. day

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “day” with various derivatives like ᴹQ. are, N. aur “day” and ᴹQ. arin “morning” (Ety/AR¹). In Tolkien’s later writings, the Quenya word for “day” became aurë (RC/727; S/190), and in 1957 Quenya Notes he devised a new etymology for these day-words from the root √UR “heat” as in ✶auri “heat, period of sun” (PE17/148). That opens the question whether the various 1930s Quenya “morning” words from ᴹ√AR remain valid, but many Neo-Quenya writers (including me) retain them since there aren’t really any good alternatives. They might be salvageable as derivatives of the later root √AS “warmth” (so that “day” = “hot” and “morning” = “warm”).

maʒ

root. hand

māʒ

noun. hand

mǭri

noun. blackness, dark, night

kwenedē

noun. Elf

lin

root. pool

mazgā

adjective. soft, pliant

maʒiti

adjective. handy, skilled

silimē

noun. light of Silpion, †silver

ala-

prefix. very

ari

noun. day

ay(ar)

root. sea

day

root. shadow

dēr

noun. man

dōmilindē

noun. nightingale

geigolosse

place name. ever-snow

gālæ

noun. light

kalat

noun. light

kas

root. head

kas

noun. head

khotsē

noun. assembly

khōn

noun. heart

kwen(ed)

root. Elf

kyelep

root. silver

k’lā

noun. light

lab

root. lick

magā

noun. hand

mapā

noun. hand

mazgē

noun. dough

mbarat

root. fate

mizdā

adjective. wet

mā

noun. land

nis

root. woman

nī

noun. woman

nī̆s

noun. woman

span

root. white

telep

root. silver

tul-

verb. come, am coming, have come, am arrived, am here

tundu

noun. hole

ungwē

noun. gloom

vaiā

noun. sea

wahsē

noun. stain