nus

root. sense, wisdom, sense, wisdom; *sense of smell

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “sense, wisdom”, with the derivative ON. nuhina > N. noen “wise, sensible” (EtyAC/NUS). This is probably a later iteration of unglossed ᴱ√NUSU from the Qenya Lexicon with variant ᴱ√NUFU, both with derivatives having to do with “✱the act of smelling” such as ᴱQ. nuste “sense of smell” and ᴱQ. nuvu- “smell, sniff at” (QL/68). Derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon also had to do with “smell”, but there were also words like G. nus- “take notice, perceive” and G. nusimos “sagacity” (GL/61). Hence the early root was also connected to the meanings “perceptive” and “wise”. The verb ᴹQ. nusta- “smell” from the 1948 Quenya Verbal System (QVS) indicates Tolkien’s later conception of the root was also still connected to “(sense of) smell”.

ithil

noun. moon

ranā

proper name. Moon

ñgolda

adjective. wise

ñol-

noun. smell