nes
root. feminity (apart from sex)
nes-
adjective. sweet smelling
nes
root. give to feed; feed, pasture; graze
neth
root. (young) woman, female person; sister; fresh, lively, merry, (young) woman, female person; sister; fresh, lively, merry; [ᴹ√] young
nes-
sweet smelling
nes- ?verb/?root "sweet smelling" (PE17:100); cf. Nísimaldar
nes
noun. food, feed, fodder
úpa-
verb. [unglossed]
Beware, older languages below! The languages below were invented during Tolkien's earlier period and should be used with caution. Remember to never, ever mix words from different languages!
nes
noun. mead, valley, land
nes
noun. food, feed, fodder
nese
root. give to feed; feed, pasture; graze
A root given as ᴱ√NESE “give to feed; feed, pasture, etc.; graze” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, with derivatives like ᴱQ. nesse “herb, grass, fodder”, ᴱQ. nesta- “feed” and ᴱQ. nes (ness-) “mead, valley, land”, the last of these transferred from ᴱ√NEŘE (QL/66). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. nesta- “put to grass, graze, pasture, feed”, G. nethron “herd”, and G. ness “water meadow, long grass” (GL/60). The later word S. ness “headland” (UT/28) might be a remnant of G. ness.
Neo-Eldarin: I think this may be used as a Neo-Root ᴺ√NES in order to salvage various early words for “feed” and “pasture”. In earlier versions of this lexicon, I used to recommend √NAD for pasture words as suggested by Boris Shapiro in PPQ, but The Nature of Middle-earth published in 2021 revealed that the gloss for this root was “hollow” (NM/351), making it less suitable for pasture words.
This root had a variety of meanings over Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴹ√NETH “young” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with various Quenya and Noldorin derivatives of similar meaning, the most notable being the name ᴹQ. Nessa (Ety/NETH). In rough notes probably from around 1959, Tolkien redefined √NETH or √NES to mean “feminity apart from sex”, contrasted with √WEG or √WEƷ for masculinity, but he abandoned this line of reasoning deciding that √WĒ simply meant “person” independent of gender (PE17/189-190).
In notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals from the late 1960s, Tolkien again redefined √NETH, this time as the basis for Elvish “sister” words, either specifically meaning “sister” (VT47/12, 26, 34), meaning “(young) woman” (VT47/15, 32, 39) or perhaps “fresh, lively, merry” (VT47/32), the last of these probably a callback to its 1930s meaning “young”. In notes from 1959-60, however, the name Q. Nessa was disconnected from the root √NETH, derived instead from ✶Neresā meaning “she that has manlike valour or strength” (WJ/416).
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best for √NETH to retain its essential 1930s meaning “young, fresh, lively”, but with an association to young women as described in Tolkien’s notes from the 1960s, and thus by extension “sister” as named from the perspective of the parents.