olwë

masculine name. Olwë

Younger brother of Elwë (Thingol), who became the leader of the Teleri after Elwë was lost (S/58). The name is ancient and of unclear meaning. Its final element is the suffix -wë common in ancient names, and the initial element is generally assumed to be the root √OL associated with plants and dreams (PM/340).

Conceptual Development: In the earliest Lost Tales, the leader of the third tribe of Elves was named Sol. Ellu or Ellu Melemno (LT1/155). At this early stage the character was distinct from the contemporanerous character that would develop into Thingol (G. Tinwelint). The name Ellu changed to (Telerin?) Elu with one l in very early Silmarillion drafts (SM/13, 85), with a Qenya cognate of ᴱQ. Elwe.

In the Annals of Beleriand from the 1930s, this ᴹQ. Elwe was identified as the brother of Thingol (SM/264) and so remained in Silmarillion drafts of that period (LR/217). It was not until Silmarillion revisions from the 1950s-60s that the name Q. Elwë was assigned to Thingol and his brother was became Solwë >> Olwë (MR/82, 169).

Olwë

olwë

Olwë noun masc. name (PM:340), difficult to interpret (PM:341)

holwë

noun. stink

holwë noun "stink" (or *"stench"), *holwëa adj. "stinking". PE13:162 gives holwë "stink", derived from 3olwē; PM13:145 however gives the Q word as olwë and the adj. "stinking" as olwëa, though primitive forms with initial ʒ- (the spirant gh) are presupposed also there. Tolkien later used a system where primitive words in ʒ- yield Quenya forms in h-, as demonstrated by relevant entries in the Etymologies, so we prefer holwë to olwë (which would also clash with the later personal name Olwë, unlikely to mean "stink"), and we similarly read *holwëa rather than olwëa as the adj. "stinking". In Etym, the root ÑOL seems to represent a later experiment with similar words having to do with smell, and once again we observe shifting conceptions as to whether the Quenya words should show initial h- or not; in this conception the initial consonant in Primitive Elvish was ñ- rather than ʒ-.

olwen

branch, wand, stick

olwen (olwenn-) noun "branch, wand, stick" (LT2:342)

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).

köarya olwe

the house of him, Olwe

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.

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.)