neg

root. ‽ooze, drip, ooze, drip; *honey

This root served as the basis for honey words and (in earlier writings) for bee words. Its earliest form is unglossed ᴱ√NEHE in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it had derivatives like ᴱQ. nekte “honey” and ᴱQ. nier “honey bee” (QL/65). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon the root was given as neg- with derivatives like G. neglis “honey” and G. nio “bee” < ᴱ✶nēgu, with another (feminine?) form nios (GL/59-60).

The root ᴹ√NEG reappeared unglossed in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. nehte and N. nîdh “honeycomb” (EtyAC/NEG). It appeared in the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s with the gloss “ooze, drip” (marked by Tolkien with a “?”) and derivatives Q. nehtë/T. nettë “honey” and S. nîdh “juice” (PE19/91).

Derivatives

• ✶negdē “exudation” ✧ PE19/091
  • Q. nehtë “honey, honey; [ᴹQ.] honeycomb” ✧ PE19/091
  • S. nîdh “juice, [N.] honeycomb; [S.] juice” ✧ PE19/091
  • T. nettë “honey” ✧ PE19/091
• ᴺQ. nier “(honey) bee”
• ᴺQ. niétë “oozing, dripping, exuding”
• ᴺS. nîw “bee”