mō

root. labour, be afflicted

This root first appeared as unglossed ᴹ√MŌ in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. mól/N. mûl “slave, thrall” and ᴹQ. móta-/N. muda- “labour, toil” (Ety/MŌ). The root √mō was mentioned again in notes associated with 1950s Quenya prayers, where it was glossed “labour, be afflicted” along with verb Q. moia- of similar meaning and noun (Q. or primitive) mōl “slave” < mō-l; Tolkien went on to suggest √mol might be a better root, though he marked it with a “?” (VT43/31).

In notes on “large vs. small” from 1968 Tolkien had (root or verb?) mol- “labour” and (noun?) mōle, followed by MBOL/BOL with derivative Q. molda “big, large”, but this note was crossed through and √(M)BOL “✱large” did not appear in the next list of the large/small roots (PE17/115). Thus I think √MO(L) reverted back to the meaning “labour”.

mō

noun. person

moina

adjective. moina

mor

root. black, dark, darkness

This root was connected to “black” and “darkness” for all of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√MORO in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. móre “night” and ᴱQ. morna “black” (QL/62). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. morn “dark, black” and G. morth “darkness” (GL/58). It appeared as ᴹ√MOR in The Etymologies of the 1930s with a similar set of derivatives (Ety/MOR) and √MOR was mentioned regularly in Tolkien’s later writings with glosses like “black, dark, darkness” (Let/308, 382; PE17/73).

mot

root. fen, marsh

A root in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 glossed “fen, marsh” with derivatives like [Q?] motto and [S?] both or moth, apparently of similar meaning (PE17/165). A likely precursor is the unglossed root ᴹ√MBOTH in The Etymologies of the 1930s serving as the basis for words like ᴹQ. motto “blot”, N. both “puddle, small pool”, and Ilk. umboth “large pool”, the last of these being the basis for Ilk. Umboth Muilin “Veiled Pool” (Ety/MBOTH, MUY).

In the Gnomish of the 1910s, the first element of G. Umboth-muilin “Pools of Twilight” was derived from ᴱ√mbaþ-, a strengthened form of ᴱ√MAÞA “dusk”, with the second element muilin meaning “pools”, the plural G. muil (LT2/225; GL/58, 75). Later still this name became S. Aelin-uial, and it seems √M(B)OT was repurposed for swamp words.

mōl

noun. slave, slave, [ᴹ✶] thrall

moriñgotho

masculine name. Black Foe

mornyā

place name. Black Pit

mor(o)kē

noun. she-bear

mori

adjective. black

morikwende

noun. *Dark-elf, [ᴹ✶] Dark-elf

mornā

adjective. dark

morokō

noun. bear

am

root. mother

For most of Tolkien’s life, the Primitive Elvish root for “mother” was √AM. This began with the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien gave the root as ᴱ√AMA (QL/30). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹ√AM with derivatives ᴹQ. amil and (archaic) N. emil “mother” (Ety/AM¹). In Quenya prayers of the 1950s, the word for mother was Q. Amille. In the last few years of his life, however, Tolkien toyed with the notion of changing this root to √EM. In notes associated with Eldarinwe Leperi are Notessi written in the late 1960s, Tolkien first gave the root as am, but then wrote em next to it with a question mark, along with several new em-derivatives (VT48/19 note #16). The Q. affectionate word emme for “mommy” appeared in the main article, indicating Tolkien did, in fact, adopt this new root, at least for some period of time.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Quenya writing, I personally prefer to ignore this late change to the root for “mother” and stick with the √AM-forms Tolkien used for most of his life. However, the √AM-forms were less stable in the Sindarin branch of the languages, so I’d use √EM-forms like S. emel and emig, and would assume √AM and √EM were variants of the root, as they were on VT48/19 (see above).

-da

suffix. motion to or towards a point, allative suffix

am(a)

adverb/conjunction. moreover, furthermore, to proceed

amal

noun. mother

amba

?. more

and(ă)

adverb/conjunction. moreover, to go on further, to say more

firīne

adjective. mortal, dying

rānā

noun. moon

amas

noun. mother

amma

noun. mother

amme

noun. mother

em

root. mother

emel

noun. mother

emer

noun. mother

gor

root. deep, profound; warn, counsel; urge, impel, move, deep, profound; warn, counsel; urge, impel, move; [ᴹ√] impetus, haste, violence

The root ᴹ√GOR “violence, impetus, haste” first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. orme “haste, violence, wrath” and N. gorn “impetuous” (Ety/GOR), along with a variant ᴹ√ƷOR whose only derivative was ᴹQ. orro or horro “ugh, alas!, ow!” (EtyAC/ƷOR). The root √GOR reappeared in 1968 notes on Gender and Sex with the gloss “deep, profound”, and there it served as the basis for órë (see below) along with other derivatives like Q. orda “profound”, S. gœria- “to ponder”, and S. gordh “deep thought” (NM/176). The root appeared again in another essay from 1968 on the topic of órë (VT41/11-15; NM/219-224), where Tolkien explained its meaning as follows:

> Nearest to the original sense is “warn”, but (a) it did not refer only to dangers, evils, or difficulties ahead; and (b) though it could be used of the influence of one person upon another by visible or audible means (words or signs) — in which case “counsel” was nearer to its sense — this was not its chief use. This can best be explained by consideration of its principal derivative. This was in Common Eldarin ✱gōrē: Quenya óre, Telerin ōre, Sindarin gûr (NM/219).

Tolkien went on to explain Q. órë as the source of deep emotions, that “advises, but is never represented as commanding”, roughly analogous to one’s conscience; see the entry on Q. órë for further details. Note that when this essay on órë was first published in Vinyar Tengwar 41 in the year 2000, Carl Hostetter gave the root and the primitive form as √ƷOR and ✱ʒōrē (VT41/11), but in his book The Nature of Middle-earth (NM) from 2021, he corrected them to √GOR and ✱gōrē (NM/219).

In rough notes after the main essay, Tolkien altered the root to √HOR with glosses “urge, impel, move” specifically limited to “mental impulses” (VT41/13; NM/221). This revised form might be a later iteration of ᴹ√KHOR “set going, put in motion, urge on” from The Etymologies (Ety/KHOR) as suggested by Carl Hostetter (VT41/17 note #9). Tolkien gave the Quenya derivative of this revised form as (h)óre but did not specify its Sindarin derivative (VT41/13; NM/222). In another rough note in the same bundle he gave [primitive?] hor- “warn” as the basis for T. hŏra or ora and Q. óre (VT41/15).

Neo-Eldarin: The root √HOR is problematic and difficult to reconcile with either Q. óre and S. gûr, since typically primitive h- survived in Quenya but vanished in Sindarin. I think it is preferable to assume the root remaining √GOR. As for its meaning, I would assume the basic sense was “warn, council” as well as “mental impulse”, with ✶gorē serving as the source of deep-seated thoughts and emotions. This interpretation would allow the continued use of the majority of the root’s attested derivatives from both the 1930s and 1960s, including various 1930s words having to do with “haste” and “impetousness”.

gwal

root. be stirred, excited; emotion, movement of feelings

This root appeared in a couple different notes from the late 1950s, as {√GWAL} >> √WAL “emotion, movement of feelings” in one (PE17/189) and as √GWAL “be stirred, excited” in the other (PE17/154). However, its one Sindarin derivative balch “fierce, ferocious” (PE17/154) requires the primitive form be √GWAL, since it demonstrates the Ancient Telerin sound change whereby labialized velars became labials (gw > b). This is further supported by the prevalence of w-forms in its Quenya derivations, since primitive ✶gw- would have remained w- for longer in Quenya (PE19/75).

men

root. go, move, proceed (in any direction); make for, go towards; have as object, (in)tend; direction, object, point moved toward; region

This root first appeared as unglossed ᴹ√MEN in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but seemed to be stationary in nature given its derivatives ᴹQ. men “place, spot” and ᴹQ. ména “region” (Ety/MEN). It was an element in direction words like ᴹQ. formen/N. forven, apparently meaning “✱north place” at this conceptual stage. In the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s, Tolkien first gave the root the gloss “aim at, intend, purpose” with the more specific sense “make for, proceed towards” when used with the allative, but then crossed this out and simply made the gloss “go, proceed” (PE22/103 and note #21). In Common Eldarin: Noun Structure of the early 1950s, Tolkien first gave √MEN the gloss as “place, situation, site”, then revised it to “direction, object, point moved toward” (PE21/79 and note #39).

Thereafter Tolkien mostly gave this root the basic sense “go” (PE17/93, 143, 165; VT39/11; VT42/32). Tolkien gave a somewhat lengthy description of the root in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959:

> √MEN go, move, proceed in any direction (irrespective of speaker’s position, or assumed point of thought). mēn- a way, a going, a mov[ement] (PE17/165).

Thus in the 1950s and 1960s, Q. formen likely meant “✱north way” rather than “✱north place”. However, in a footnote in The Road Goes Ever On, Tolkien did say that men had the meaning “direction, region” as part of an explanation of √MENEL “heavens” = men + el (“region of stars”), so it seems Tolkien did not entirely abandon the use of this element as a name for places.

For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I sometimes see √MEN use for movement in general (as in motion picture) rather than movement in a direction. I personally recommend using ᴱQ. lev- “(intr.) move” from Qenya Wordlists of the 1920s for that purpose (PE16/132) since I think it is important to distinguish “move” from “go”, but if you prefer to use only later words you might be more comfortable expanding the semantic scope of √MEN to movement in general.

na/ana

root. to, towards; at side of, alongside, besides; moreover, in addition, plus

The root √ANA was connected to “giving” and “movement toward” for much of Tolkien’s life. The root first appeared as ᴱ√ANA “give, send towards” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, and in this period was the basis for words like ᴱQ. anta-/G. antha- “give” and ᴱQ. ana “to(wards)” (QL/31; GL/19). The root reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√ANA with an inverted variant ᴹ√NĀ¹ “to, towards”; the most notable derivative of this inverted form was N. na “with, by” (Ety/ANA¹, NĀ¹). In the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1), √AN was given as one of the primary examples of the inversion of roots, where √AN(A) was originally a “biconsontal root” (²√) with a vocalic beginning, and the inverted form √NA was an abnormal vocalization of the basic root (PE18/38).

This same example of inversion was used in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from around 1950 (TQ2: PE18/88), and this invertible root appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings almost always with glosses like “to, towards, motion to”. There were a few instances in which Tolkien explored some alternate meanings for the root, however. In Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s Tolkien said that:

> It is true that in Q. na appears with sense “to”, but this at nearest means “towards, to a position near, alongside” ... The original sense of Eldarin ana was plainly “at side of, alongside, besides”, hence also “moreover, in addition, plus” (seen in use of an- as an intensive prefix), and so an or na in some languages has the sense “along with, with, accompanied by, provided with, associated with” and the like (PE21/79).

Likewise in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN) Tolkien said:

> √ANA/NĀ, to, towards — added to, plu-. Quenya verbal prefix ana, na-, as in napan-, add. an­ “plu-”, intensive prefix, arcalima, preeminently bright, ancalima, very bright ... S an, dative chiefly with pronouns or persons. < ana, hence vocalic mutation, but takes form m before m, b. ✱ to, for (PE17/146-7).

In this note Tolkien went on to explore various non-allative meanings associated with the root such as the conjugation/adverb Q. an “for, then, or, but” and prepositions S. na(n) “with” vs. S. na “to, towards”, differing mainly in the mutations they cause (nasal versus soft). It seems the association of this root with both the intensive an- and words like Q. an “for; moreover” and S. na(n) “with” motivated Tolkien to find a more nuanced meaning for the root. This likewise probably motivated Tolkien to explore an alternate basis for the intensive prefix in the mid-1960s, deriving it from √AMA rather than √AN (PE17/90-94).

Neo-Eldarin: For Neo-Eldarin, I prefer to retain an- as the basis for intensives in both Quenya and Sindarin, and thus I think it is best to retain the extended meanings of √AN from the 1950s to include senses like “add to, more” and “up to the side of”, hence by extension “alongside” becoming (in S.) “with, accompanying, possessing, having the trait of” as in S. na(n) “of, with”.

peñ

root. *lip, mouth

The word Q. pé was the main Quenya word for “lip(s)” for all of Tolkien’s life, but its derivation evolved over time. The root first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√PĒ in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with the derivative ᴱQ. pé “the two lips, the (closed) mouth” (QL/72). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon compared this Qenya word to G. beg “chin” or “beard” (GL/22), hinting that the actual root might have been ✱ᴱ√BĒ. In the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, the primitive form was given as PĒ “lips, mouth” (PE21/1, 38). In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root became ᴹ√PEG “(?outer) mouth” with derivative ᴹQ. pé “mouth” (Ety/PEG; EtyAC/PEG).

In Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s the root is given as unglossed √PEÑ (PE21/71), and in notes associated with the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 the primitive form is given as peñe (VT39/11). In both cases it was an example of a primitive form that resulted in ancient monosyllabic nouns from weak consonant loss: √PEÑ > ✶pē. In notes from the late 1960s Tolkien again gave ✶pē in a list of primitive monosyllabic nouns, but said “of these all except pe, su had probably lost a consonant in Common Eldarin”, implying the original form was actually √PĒ. But in green-note revisions made in 1970 to Outline of Phonology Tolkien had:

> ñ disappeared prehistorically, so that words such as peñ were for Quenya long monosyllabic nouns with only an initial consonant: pē (PE19/102 and note #168).

Thus it seems the lost ñ in √PEÑ was restored, though it could also be a remnant of the earlier version of this sentence from the 1950s that gave both peñ and maʒ as examples of consonant-loss.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume the root is √PEÑ.

rō/oro

root. up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount, up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount; [ᴹ√] high, [ᴱ√] steepness, rising

This invertible root had a long history in Tolkien’s writings. Its earliest iteration was in a pair of roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s: ᴱ√OŘO [OÐO] with derivatives having to do with the “dawn”, and ᴱ√ORO “steepness, rising” with which it was much confused (QL/70). The latter had derivatives like ᴱQ. orme “summit, crest, hilltop” and ᴱQ. orto- “raise” (QL/70), and Tolkien mentioned an inverted variant ᴱ√RŌ or ᴱ√ROHO with derivatives like ᴱQ. róna- “arise, rise, ascend” (QL/80). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon also gave it as in an invertible root ᴱ√rō-, oro with derivatives like G. oros “rising” and G. ront “high, steep” (GL/63, 66).

The root reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√ORO “up, rise, high” and ᴹ√RŌ “rise” (Ety/ORO, RŌ). The root was mentioned very frequently in his writings from the 1930s, 40s, 50s and 60s, generally glossed “rise” or “up(wards)”. Thus the root was very well established in Tolkien’s mind.

soñ

root. *mouth

A root given as √SOŊ in notes having to do with the apparatus used for vocal sound production, with a single derivative Q. songa “mouth” as the “interior cavity behind the teeth containing tongue” (PE17/126).

tul

root. come, approach, move towards (point of speaker), come, approach, [ᴹ√] move towards (point of speaker); [ᴱ√] fetch, bear, bring; (originally) uphold, support, bear, carry

The root √TUL was used for Elvish words having to do with motion towards a speaker for much of Tolkien’s life, but the precise meaning evolved over time. The earliest appearance of this root was as ᴱ√TULU “fetch, bear, bring; move, come”, but with an original sense = “uphold, support, bear, carry” (QL/95). It had a derived verb ᴱQ. tulu- matching the verbal sense of the root along with an added sense “produce, bear fruit”, but it had other derivatives like ᴱQ. tulma “bier, tray” and ᴱQ. tulwe “tall thin pillar, standard, pole; banner” connected to the older “support” sense of the root. It had a similar divergence of meaning in its derivatives from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, such as G. taul “a pillar” vs. G. tul- “bring; come to” (GL/69, 71). This 1910s root ᴱ√TULU may also have been connected to ᴱ√TḶPḶ which likewise had derivatives having to do with “support” (QL/93).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root ᴹ√TUL had the gloss “come, approach, move towards (point of speaker)” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tul-/N. tol- “come” and ᴹQ. tulta-/N. toltha- “send for, fetch, summon” = “(orig.) make come” (Ety/TUL); in the 1930s the “support” words seem to have been transferred to (probably unrelated) ᴹ√TULUK. √TUL “come” was mentioned regularly in Tolkien’s later writings (PE22/103; PE17/188; PE22/156), in one 1969 note with the extra gloss “approach” (PE22/168), so the 1930s senses for the root seem to have been retained thereafter.

wā/awa

root. away (from); go (away), depart, pass away, move (from speaker); before (of time), ago, away (from); go (away), depart, pass away, move (from speaker); before (of time), ago; [ᴹ√] forth, out

This invertible root and ones like it were the basis for “away” words for much of Tolkien’s life. The earliest iteration was ᴱ√AVA “go away, depart, leave” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. au “away from” and ᴱQ. avanwa “going, passing, nearly gone” (QL/33). This early root remanifested as ᴹ√AB “go away, depart, leave” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, but the gloss of that root was revised to “refuse, deny” (Ety/AB). As a replacement, Tolkien introduced ᴹ√AWA “away, forth; out” with derivatives like ᴹQ. ava “outside”; Tolkien also considered deriving a privative prefix ᴹQ. ava- from this root (Ety/AWA).

The root √AWA was mentioned many times in Tolkien’s later writings, along with its inverted variant √WĀ, usually with the sense “away (from)” or a verbal sense “go (away), depart, pass away”. Its most detailed description appeared in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, where Tolkien said:

> The element ✱AWA ... referred to movement away, viewed from the point of view of the thing, person, or place left. As a prefix it had probably already developed in CE the form ✱au-. The form ✱awa was originally an independent adverbial form, but appears to have been also used as a prefix (as an intensive form of ✱awa-, ✱au-). The form ✱wā- was probably originally used as a verbal stem, and possibly also in composition with verbal stems (WJ/361).

In this same document Tolkien said of Sindarin that:

> The only normal derivative [of √AWA] is the preposition o, the usual word for “from, of”. None of the forms of the element ✱awa are found as a prefix in S, probably because they became like or the same as the products of ✱wō, ✱wo (WJ/366).

Indeed, most of the attested derivatives of this root are in Quenya, but there are a couple in Sindarin, such as the aforementioned S. o from AWA, as well S. gwanwen “departed” (WJ/378) and the verb S. gwae- “go”, probably only in the limited sense “depart” (PE17/148), both from WĀ.

In late notes from 1969 Tolkien gave the root √AWA the sense “before or ago (of time)” (PE22/167 note #117; PE22/168), but I suspect this was a transient idea.

lab

root. lick, move the tongue

This root for licking had precursors dating all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where it appeared as ᴱ√LAVA “lick” with derivatives like ᴱQ. lava- and G. lav- of the same meaning (QL/52; GL/53). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it became ᴹ√LAB “lick” (Ety/LAB), and √LAB continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings with the glosses “lick” (PE17/72; PE22/151; PE19/92) or “lick, move the tongue” (VT39/15; WJ/416). It was thus quite stable in Tolkien’s mind.

indō

noun. interior reflection or mind, the mind in its purposing faculty, the will; mood, heart

omen-

verb. to move to a common point, meet

peñ

noun. lip, mouth

sū

root. blow, move with audible sound (of air)

hor

root. urge, impel, move

oro

root. up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount

sray

root. easy, pliant, moving with ease

wal

root. be stirred, excited; emotion, movement of feelings

phum

root. moth

kyelep

root. silver

This root and ones like it were used for Elvish words for “silver” throughout Tolkien’s life. The earliest iteration of the root began with T-, however, appearing as unglossed ᴱ√TELEPE in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. telpe “silver” (QL/91). Even at this early stage, however, the Gnomish equivalent was G. celeb (GL/25), but the reason for the t/c variation isn’t clear. The closest explanation is that palatal consonants like [c] became [tʲ] in Qenya vs. [k] in Gnomish (compare ᴱQ. tyava- vs. caf- “taste” from ᴱ√TYAVA) but this doesn’t explain why the Qenya form has initial t- rather than ty-.

Elsewhere in the Elvish languages of the 1910s there seem to be etymological variations of [k] vs. [t], such as ᴱQ. kitya- vs. G. tisca- “tickle” (QL/47; GL/70) and ᴱQ. talqe vs. G. celc “glass” (QL/88; GL/25), so perhaps ᴱQ. telpe vs. G. celeb “silver” is another example of this. Another explanation appeared in Early Noldorin word lists from the 1920s, where the primitive form was ᴱ✶kelekwé which produced ᴱN. celeb as usual but the Qenya form was ᴱQ. telqe with “k = t by dissimilation” (PE13/140), presumably away from q.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had the root ᴹ√KYELEP with variant ᴹ√TELEP, producing N. celeb but ᴹQ. tyelpe or ᴹQ. telpe (Ety/KYELEP). But Tolkien revised this entry, marking ᴹ√TELEP as questionable and introducing the Telerin form ᴹT. telpe < ᴹ√KYELEP, concluding that ᴹQ. telpe must be a loan from Telerin. This finally put N. celeb vs. ᴹQ. telpe (borrowed from Telerin) on a solid phonological foundation. Tolkien seems to have stuck with this explanation, mentioning this borrowing from Telerin to Quenya several times in his later writings, with the proper but now archaic Quenya form being Q. †tyelpë (Let/426; PM/356; UT/266).

ras

root. horn, horn; [ᴹ√] stick up

This root first appeared as ᴹ√RAS “stick up (intr.)” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. rasse and N. rhas or rhasg “horn (especially on living animal, but also applied to mountains)” (Ety/RAS; EtyAC/RAS). It reappeared as ᴹ√RASA “stick up” on an rejected page of roots in the Quenya Verbal System from the 1940s (PE22/127). Finally, √RAS “horn” appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure of the early 1950s, but that was merely the last appearance of the root in Tolkien’s published writings. Q. rassë and S. rass “horn” continued to appear regularly as an element in mountain names in the 1950s and 60s.

dom

root. dark, dark, [ᴹ√] faint, dim

This root was the basis for the main Elvish words for “dusk, night”, which was established as Q. lómë in Quenya for most of Tolkien’s life. The earliest form of this root was ᴱ√LOMO in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed but with various derivatives having to do with “dusk” and “shadow” (QL/55). One notable derivative was ᴱQ. lóme “dusk, gloom, darkness”, which survived in Tolkien’s later writings as “night” and in the 1910s was the basis for ᴱQ. Hisilóme/G. Hithlum “Shadowy Twilights”. Another notable derivative was G. lómin “shady, shadowy, gloomy; gloom(iness)” (GL/45) used in the name G. Dor Lómin, which in the 1910s was translated as “Land of Shadow” (LT1/112).

The “shadow” meaning of this early root seems to have transferred to ᴹ√LUM from The Etymologies of the 1930s, which served as the new basis for N. Hithlum (Ety/LUM), as opposed contemporaneous N. Dor-lómen which was redefined as “Land of Echoes (< ᴹ√LAM via Ilkorin or in later writings, via North Sindarin). The “dusk” sense was transferred to a new root ᴹ√DOM “faint, dim”, which (along with ᴹ√DOƷ) was the basis for the pair words ᴹQ. lóme/N. dû “night” (Ety/DOMO).

These two words for “night” survived in Tolkien’s later writing in both Quenya and Sindarin (Let/308; SA/dú). In notes from the 1940s Tolkien clarified that it “has no evil connotations; it is a word of peace and beauty and has none of the associations of fear or groping that, say, ‘dark’ has for us” (SD/306). The Elves were quite comfortable being under the night sky, dating back to the time when the Elves lived under the stars before the rising of the Sun and the Moon. The root √DOM reappeared in etymologies for star-words from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/152). It appeared again in some very late notes from 1969 where it was glossed “dark” and served as the basis for words meaning “blind” as well as “night”, though this paragraph was rejected (PE22/153, note #50).

kas

root. head

The root for “head” was established very early in Tolkien’s Elvish languages, appearing in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as ᴱ√KASA “head” (QL/45), though in this period its Qenya derivative was ᴱQ. kar (kas-) because [[eq|final [s] became [r]]] in Early Quenya (PE12/26). It had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. cas “head, skull” (GL/25), a word that reappeared in Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s as ᴱN. cas “skull” (PE13/140).

The root ᴹ√KAS “head” reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s, still with the form ᴹQ. kár (kas-) “head” (Ety/KAS), but Tolkien eventually abandoned the Early Qenya phonology and the Quenya form became Q. kas after some vacillation (PE19/103). The root √KAS “head” continued to appear frequently in Tolkien’s later writing (PE17/114; PE21/70; VT42/12).

kat

root. shape, shape, [ᴹ√] make

The root ᴹ√KAT “shape” first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. kanta- “to shape”, ᴹQ. kanta “shaped”, and N. echad- “fashion, shape” (Ety/KAT). All these derivatives reappeared in Tolkien’s later writings, though Q. canta was more typically used as the noun “shape” (PE17/175; PE18/84, 90). The root appeared frequently in both the first and second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa as an example of a biconsonantal root (TQ1: PE18/34, 46, 62; TQ2: PE18/84-85, 87, 89-90, 95).

nis

root. woman

This root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√NIS “woman”, an extension of ᴹ√NĪ “female” (Ety/NIS). It also had a strengthened form ᴹ√NDIS, unglossed but apparently meaning “bride” based on its derivatives ᴹQ. indis/N. dîs of that meaning (Ety/NDIS). Unstrengthened ᴹ√NIS seems to have survived only in Quenya as the basis for ᴹQ. nis (niss-) “woman”, but this word was also blended with ✱ndis-sē to produce a longer form nisse of the same meaning.

In Tolkien’s later writings, both short Q. nís and longer nissë appeared as words for “woman” (MR/213; VT47/33) and Q. indis reappeared as well, though glossed “wife” (UT/8). As primitive forms, both unstrengthened √nis (VT47/33) and strengthened ✶ndī̆s “woman” also appeared in later writings, the latter given as the feminine equivalent of ✶[[p|n[d]ēr]] “man” (PE19/102).

mōya-

verb. to toil, labour, be afflicted

mul Reconstructed

root. grind (fine)

The root ᴱ√MULU “grind fine” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. mulda “powdery” and ᴱQ. mulma “fine flour” (QL/63). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, G. bloss “wheat” was derived from mol- (GL/25). This root probably as served as the basis for ᴹQ. mulo “dust” from the early 1930s (PE21/10-11). The root √MUL may have been restored later on, as evidenced by the word Q. mŭle “meal [ground grain]” from a list of words having to do with “large & small” from 1968, replacing Q. polë of similar meaning (PE17/115).

ambō

noun. hill

kyelepē

noun. silver

manrā

adjective. good

mizdē

noun. drizzle

mā-limi

noun. wrist, (lit.) hand-link

pī

noun. small insect, fly

tilte

noun. peak

us(u)kwē

noun. dusk

kah

root. cause

(m)bol

root. *labour

ay(ar)

root. sea

bani

adjective. fair

ekka

noun. hole

imin

masculine name. One

kalat

noun. light

kas

noun. head

keme

noun. earth

kemen

noun. earth

khaw

root. big

kirissi

noun. cleft

lañna

adverb. athwart

mbā

noun. sheep

min

cardinal. one

mā

noun. hand

māmā

noun. sheep

ndorē

noun. land

ndē̆r

noun. man

ndōro

noun. land

nēnā

adjective. wet

rass

noun. horn

tul-

verb. come, is coming, has come, is here

wanyā

adjective. fair

wath

noun. shadow

du Reconstructed

root. dark

en

root. name

tad

root. enclosure

tyuk

root. chew