not

root. count, reckon

This root was the basis for Elvish words for “counting” for much of Tolkien’s life. The earliest indications of the root are in primitive ᴱ✶notta > ᴱN. noth “number” in Early Noldorin word lists of the 1920s, along with related words like ᴱN. gonod- “count” (PE13/145, 151); the revision of noth “number” to nath may represent some uncertainty on its initial form, but it seems Tolkien restored noth in a marginal note (PE13/150, 151).

The root reappeared as ᴹ√NOT “count, reckon” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with a number of derivatives of similar meaning, the most notable being N. arnœdiad or arnediad “innumerable, countless, endless” (Ety/NOT) as in Nirnaeth Arnoediad “[Battle of] Tears Unnumbered”, a name Tolkien introduced in the 1930s and retained thereafter with minor variations: Nirnaith vs. Nirnaeth, Arnediad vs. Arnoediad. The root √NOT itself appeared several times in Tolkien’s later writings (PE17/62; PE19/86), most notably as the basis for Q. únótima “numberless” from the Q. Namárië poem (LotR/377).

la

root. no, not; negative; not to be

An invertible root, √LA or √ALA, used for negation. Its earliest iteration was as the primitive negative prefix ᴱ✶ḷ- from the 1910s (GL/50; PE12/11; QL/97). Its first appearance as ᴹ√LA “no, not” was in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/LA), and it regularly appeared in documents from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. Tolkien then abandoned this form of negation in 1959 (PE17/143), but restored it again around 1969 (PE22/160) only to abandon it again shortly after (VT44/4). For a full history of Tolkien’s shifting conceptions of negation in Elvish, see the Quenya entry on the negative.

umu

root. not, expressing privation, not, expressing privation; [ᴹ√] negative stems

The roots √UMU and variant √UGU were often assigned a negative sense, either as elaborations on the base root negative √Ū or sometimes (especially in the case of √UGU) serving as its source. The earliest iteration of these more elaborate negative roots was ᴱ√UMU or ᴱ√UVU in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like the negative verb ᴱQ. um- or ᴱQ. uv- as well as ᴱQ. ūvanimo “monster” (QL/98); ᴱQ. munta “nothing” from the Qenya Grammar of the 1920s was probably related (PE14/48, 81).

The Etymologies of the 1930s had negative stems ᴹ√UMU and ᴹ√UGU with derivatives like the negative verb ᴹQ. um- as well as ᴹQ. úmea “evil” (Ety/UGU; UMU). This document also had inverted forms ᴹ√MŪ and ᴹ√GŪ, the latter the basis for the negative prefix ᴹQ. ú- with a bad or evil connotation (Ety/GŪ; MŪ). Finally both √UMU and √UGU were mentioned a number of times in later writings in connection to negation (PE17/143, 172; VT49/29). See the entry on negative √Ū and the entry on Quenya negation for further information.

hek-wā

preposition and adverb. leaving aside, not counting, excluding, except

lasa

adverb. not it = it is/was not so

lā-

verb. to not be

ndī

preposition. beneath, not touching, under

nuktā-

verb. stunt, prevent from coming to completion, stop short, not allow to continue

wini

noun. child not yet full grown

(au)be

adverb. not so

ala

root. no, not; negative; not to be

lā̆-ni

I (am/do) not, not me

ug

root. dislike

In a 1969 essay on negation, Tolkien restored √LA as basis for the “negative of fact”, and altered the meaning of Q. ú to be “bad, uneasy, hard” as a sort of “negative with a bad sense” based on this new root √UG “dislike” (PE22/160). This is similar to the usage of these ú-forms in The Etymologies of the 1930s, where the root ᴹ√GŪ was a negative root, but its derivative ᴹQ. ú- was “not (with evil connotation)” (Ety/GŪ), though in the 1930s it seems to have been a true negative, as opposed to 1969 where it meant “difficult” or “impossible”. See the entry on the Quenya negative for a more information on the conceptual development of this and other negative roots.

au-

prefix. away

awa-

prefix. away

awā

adverb. away

bani

adjective. fair

khyē̆

pronoun. other person

mat-

verb. to eat

melā-

verb. to love

mō

noun. person

te

pronoun. they

tī

pronoun. they

ugu

root. expressing privation

wanyā

adjective. fair