Early Quenya
nelma
noun. needle
Derivations
Element in
- Eq. horinel “pine-needle” ✧ QL/041
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources ᴱ√NELE > nelma [nelmā] > [nelma] ✧ QL/065 ᴱ√NEME > nemya [nemjā] > [nemja] ✧ QL/065 Variations
- nemya ✧ QL/065 (nemya)
A word appearing as ᴱQ. nelma “needle” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but Tolkien vacillated on whether it was derived from the early root ᴱ√NELE “point” or ᴱ√NEME “✱sew” (QL/65). As a derivative of ᴱ√NEME, Tolkien considered an alternate form nemya. The word nelma “needle” also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/65).
Neo-Quenya: I would retain ᴺQ. nelma “needle” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but as a derivative of √NEL since √NEM “sew” did not survive in Tolkien’s later writing. In Quenya of the 1930s and later, the root √NEL was generally glossed “three”, but was still associated with pointed things like in √NELEK “tooth” due to triangular shapes.