A word for plants appearing only in its plural form olvar “plants” (S/45; NM/270). It may be related to the roots √OLOB “branch” and √OL “grow”, hence “growing thing” as opposed to a celva = “moving thing” (WJ/341). For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I think this word refers mainly to plants as a category of beings (as in the Plant Kingdom), as opposed to an individual plant which would laima.
Quenya
olvar
growing things with roots in the earth, *plants
olva
noun. plant, growing things with roots in the earth
Derivations
- √OLOB “branch”
olba
branch
olba noun "branch" (PM:340; the form *olva may be more frequent; olba can only occur in the Quenya variant that uses lb for lv_. The Etymologies, stem GÓLOB, has _olwa. See also olvar.)
olba
noun. branch
A noun for “branch” in The Shibboleth of Fëanor from 1968 derived from primitive √OLOB (PM/341). It may be a variant of olva “plant”, since lv was sometimes pronounced lb (LotR/1121; PE17/129).
Conceptual Development: The Etymologies of the 1930s had ᴹQ. olwa “branch” derived from primitive ᴹ✶golbā under the root ᴹ√GOLOB (Ety/GÓLOB). The lw in this word seems to be a remnant of Early Qenya phonetic developments, where sometimes lb became lw, the best example being early ᴱQ. elwen vs. Elben “heart” (QL/35; LT2/202). There was a similar word ᴱQ. olwe(n) that was cognate to G. olf(in) “branch, wand, stick” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/62), possibly also an example of lb > lw.
Derivations
- √OLOB “branch” ✧ PM/341
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √OLOB > olba [olba] ✧ PM/341
olwa
branch
olwa noun "branch" (GÓLOB). Read perhaps *olva in LotR-style Quenya (since the root indicates that lw originates from lb, which in Tolkiens later scheme would rather yield lv, reverting to lb in some forms of late pronunciation; the form olba is attested in PM:340).
empanya-
plant
*empanya- vb. "plant" (deduced from the "Qenya" pl. past tense empannen, VT27:20-22)
laima
plant
laima noun "plant" (PE17:159). Cf. olvar.
laima
noun. plant
A noun for “plant” appearing in Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 derived from the root √LAY (PE17/159).
Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s had ᴱQ. laute (lausi-) “living thing, (esp.) vegetable” and ᴱQ. lauke (lauki-) “vegetable, plant species”, both derived from the early root ᴱ√LAWA (QL/52). The word lauke also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa with the gloss “plant” (PME/52) and appeared again in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s with the gloss “vegetable” and an accusative form of lautya (PE16/141), indicating a new stem form lauty-.
Derivations
- √LAY “*be alive, flourish, [ᴱ√] be alive, flourish” ✧ PE17/159
Element in
- ᴺQ. laimamatta “vegetable food, (lit.) plant food”
- ᴺQ. laimamatya “herbivorous, vegetarian, (lit.) plant-eating”
- ᴺQ. nastalaima “thistle, (lit.) spear plant”
Phonetic Developments
Development Stages Sources √LAY > laima [laima] ✧ PE17/159
olwen
branch, wand, stick
olwen (olwenn-) noun "branch, wand, stick" (LT2:342)
ala-
plant, grow
ala- (4) vb. "plant, grow" _(the first gloss would suggest that the following one is transitive: to "grow" plants) (PE17:100). _Compare al- "thrive, *grow" (which however seems intransitive).
olvar
Olvar
olvar (sg. #olva) noun "growing things with roots in the earth, *plants" (Silm). Apparently more or less the same word as olwa, olba, which is however glossed "branch". Cf. laima.