nā

root. be, exist

nařa

root. NAŘA

naẏa

root. NAẎA

nala

root. NALA

nara

root. NARA

nasa

root. taste nasty

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “taste nasty”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. nasa- “(impersonal) mislike, tasty nasty” and ᴱQ. násea “loathsome” (QL/64). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

naqa

root. steal, take; get by stealth, unlawfully

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “steal, take; get by stealth, unlawfully”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. nak (naq-) “anything stolen, a theft, a trick” and ᴱQ. naqar “thief” (QL/64). There are no signs of this root in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, but words like G. nig- “steal, creep, do or go by stealth” and G. nigla- “to thieve, pilfer” might be derived from a variant (GL/60); there is otherwise no ✱ᴱ√NIKI root appearing in the Qenya Lexicon. There are no signs of either of these roots in Tolkien’s later writing with these meaning; later √NIK means “small” (VT47/26; VT48/18).

naða

root. *plain

naka

root. bite

nalda

noun. yellow-lily

napa

root. *seize

nava

root. suspect, guess, have an inkling of

naχū́a

noun. *giant

nap-

verb. seize

nawa Speculative

root. dwarf

ene

root. *name

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with various derived words having to do with names or being called a name (QL/35). There were similar forms in the contemporaneous Gnomish lexicon, such as G. enn “name” and G. entha- “name, call, indicate, point out” (GL/32). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it seems this root was replaced by ᴹ√ES “indicate, name” (Ety/ES). However, in Sindarin prayers from the 1950s, Tolkien used the word S. eneth for “name” (VT44/24), perhaps indicating the continued validity of this root in the Sindarin branch of the languages.

fiŋi

root. *narrow

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives having do with narrow things like ᴱQ. fingwa “narrow” and ᴱQ. fingil “narrows, straits, gulf” (QL/38). Both these words have Gnomish cognates: G. fing “narrow” and G. fingli “a narrow place, straits, a sound, a pass in mountains” (GL/35). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

nāma

noun. nāma

saw̯a

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/82), which may have reemerged as √SAWA “disgusting, foul, vile” in notes from the 1950s (PE17/172, 183).

sivi

root. [unglossed]

Unglossed roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SIVI and ᴱ√SIWI and a single unglossed derivative ᴱQ. sivilda (QL/84). It is difficult to guess what Tolkien intended for these forms to mean, though they conceivably reemerged as the later roots ᴹ√SIW “excite, egg on, urge” (Ety/SIW) or √SIB “rest, quiet” (VT44/35).

tołᵂo

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s illustrating a hypothetical series of ancient lateral approximants, with derived roots like ᴱ√TOLO and ᴱ√TOẆO [with ẇ = ɣʷ] (PE12/16). The former appeared in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as the basis for island words (QL/94), but the latter appeared nowhere else in Early Qenya writings.

toŋo

root. to hammer

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “to hammer”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. tonga “great hammer”, ᴱQ. tongar “smith”, and several erased derivatives having to do with “iron” (QL/94). In later writings the root for “hammer” was ᴹ√(N)DAM, but ᴱ√TOŊO may have survived as ᴹ√TON “tap, knock” from the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 (PE22/103).

tuðu

root. kindle

The root ᴱ√TUŘU “kindle” [TUÐU] appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variant forms ᴱ√TUSO and ᴱ√TUSU as well as derivatives like ᴱQ. tunda- “kindle”, ᴱQ. turu “wood, properly firewood”, and ᴱQ. tusturin “match” (QL/96). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had a similar primitive form tudh- with derivatives like G. tund “log for the fire”, G. tusta- “inflame, kindle, set light to, burn”, and G. tuthli “match” (GL/72). However, the Gnomish Lexicon also had words like G. drui “wood, forest” and G. duru “wood; a pole, beam, or log” (GL/31). Since initial d- > t- in Early Qenya, it seems likely that ᴱ√TUŘU “kindle” may also represent a blending with an unattested root ✱ᴱ√DURU “wood”.

Many years later Tolkien gave a hypothetical root √TUD in contrasted to √TUL to illustrate certain principles of etymological variations (VT48/25). It is not clear whether this √TUD is related to earlier ᴱ√TUÐU “kindle”. Nevertheless, I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√TUD “firewood, kindling” to salvage Early Qenya and Gnomish words of similar meaning.

tyaka

root. hew

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “hew” with derivative ᴱQ. tyakta- of the same meaning (QL/49). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

uluku

root. wolf

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “wolf”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. ulku and G. ulug of the same meaning (QL/97). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon Tolkien first gave G. ulug “wolf”, but this word’s gloss was revised to “dragon” as a cognate to ᴱQ. lōke (GL/74), and Tolkien added a new word G. urc “wolf” as an equivalent to harw. None of the later Elvish “wolf” words resemble either √ULUK- or √URUK-.

ū

root. under

The root ᴱ√Ū⁽¹⁾ “under” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a reduced form of {ᴱ√UGU >>} ᴱ√UƷU, with derivatives like ᴱQ. ū “beneath” and ᴱQ. umbe “dale, dell” (QL/96-97). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. um⁽⁾ “lowlying” and G. umbel “a dell” (GL/74). Tolkien noted that ᴱ√Ū also meant “not”, and contrasted ᴱ√Ū¹ “under” with ᴱ√NŪ (ᴱ√NUHU) of similar meaning (QL/68, 96). Indeed, in Tolkien’s later writings, √NŪ/UNU was the usual basis for “under” words, and ᴱ√Ū¹ “under” seems to have been abandoned.

ḷqḷ

root. rend

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱ√(U)ḶQ(U)Ḷ and glossed “rend”, having what appears to be unglossed verb forms ᴱQ. ulqin “✱I rend” and alqe “✱rended [past]” as derivatives (QL/97). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

ŋahya

root. hurt, grieve

pṛtṛ Reconstructed

root. judge

A hypothetical root explaining words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such G. pridu- “decide” and G. pridwir “judge” (GL/64). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

-yǝ

suffix. [unglossed]

ama

root. *mother

dak-

verb. to slay

ekta

noun. thorn

kantya

noun. edge

kasa

root. head

kenye

root. prick

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “prick” (QL/46). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

kere

root. turn

kili

root. edge

kulu

root. gold

kulū

noun. gold

lepse

?. [unglossed]

lopse

?. [unglossed]

maha

root. grasp

maka

root. slay

mapa

root. seize

mapa-

verb. to seize

meχse

noun. gore

ndagta-

verb. to slay cruelly

nele

root. point

nindyā

adjective. blue

nyeχie

noun. tear

nı̯ēr

noun. grief

nḷdle

noun. dell

nṝgwé

noun. pain

oho

root. cry

ourū̆

noun. sun

roto

root. hollow

saχ[a]

noun. fire

teled-

noun. [unglossed]

toẇo

root. [unglossed]

ī

root. be

ŋaista-

noun. to oppress, cause great grief to

ŋara

root. (properly) bite at

ō

root. be, exist

χilþē

noun. youth

n(d)ala Reconstructed

root. ring, play

þoro Reconstructed

root. eagle

kwere

root. turn

kyere

root. turn

nū

root. *under

tḷkḷ

root. [unglossed]