oro

mount, mountain

oro (1) noun "mount, mountain" (PE17:64), cf. Qenya oro noun "hill" (LT1:256; rather ambo in LotR-style Quenya, though #oro "mountain, hill" appears in Orocarni and orofarnë, q.v. [PE17:83], also with the meaning "high" in oromar, q.v.) Cf. oro- element "up, aloft" (PE17:64).

oro

(high) above

oro

noun. mount, mountain, hill

An element meaning “mountain” or “hill” given as a derivative of √ORO/RŌ (PE17/64, 83) and appearing in various Quenya compounds in the 1950s and 60s: Q. Orocarni “Red Mountains” (MR/77), Q. Orofarnë “Mountain Ash” (PE17/83), Q. oromandi “mountain dweller[s]” (PE16/96), and Q. Pelóri “Mountain Wall” (PE17/26). It also appeared as ᴱQ. oro “hill” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√ORO (QL/70).

See the discussion in the entry for Q. oron “mountain” for more details on the conceptual developments of this and related words.

Derivations

• √RŌ/ORO “up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount, up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount; [ᴹ√] high, [ᴱ√] steepness, rising” ✧ PE17/063

Element in

• Q. Orocarni “Red Mountains”
• Q. Orofarnë “Mountain Ash; Mountain-dwelling” ✧ PE17/083
• Q. oroman “mountain dweller”
• Q. Oromet “?Hill at the End”
• Q. Pelóri “Mountain Wall, Fencing Heights”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√OR/ORO > oro	[oro]	✧ PE17/063

oro-

rise

oro- (2) vb. "rise" (LT1:256; Tolkien's later Quenya has orta-, but cf. oro #1)

oron

mountain

oron (oront-, as in pl. oronti) noun "mountain" (ÓROT; the root occurs in orotinga, q.v.) Oron Oiolossë "Mount Everwhite" (WJ:403)

oron

noun. mountain

A word for “mountain” in Quenya whose stem form was oront-, so that it’s plural would be oronti (Ety/Ety/ÓROT).

Conceptual Development: There were a number of competing “mountain” words in Quenya of similar derivation, all based on the root √ORO “rise”; its Sindarin cognate S. orod “mountain” was much more stable in form. The earliest iteration of these Quenya words was ᴱQ. oro “hill” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√ORO, unglossed but with other derivatives like ᴱQ. oro- “rise” and ᴱQ. orto- “raise” (QL/70). The word oro “hill” also appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa from this period, alongside a variant form oron(d) of the same meaning (PME/70).

The variant oron reappeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s, now with the gloss “mountain” (PE21/33); its inflected forms indicate a stem form of {orom- >>} orum- (PE21/34 and note #125). ᴹQ. oron “mountain” appeared again in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√OROT, this time with a stem form oront- as indicated by its plural oronti (Ety/ÓROT). Oron appeared once more in the name Q. Oron Oiolossë “Mount Everwhite” from the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 (WJ/403).

In Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien gave the variant forms oro, orto “mountain” as derivatives of √ORO/RŌ “rise, mount” (PE17/63-64). ᴹQ. orto had previously appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as a derivative of the root ᴹ√OROT but with the gloss “mountain-top” (Ety/ÓROT). Hints of this earlier meaning can be seen in the 1968 word Q. orotinga “mountain-top” though in this compound the second element Q. inga also means “top” (VT47/28). Orto “mountain” may be the final element of the 1968 name Q. Tarmacorto “High Mountain Circle”, but more likely the last element is derivative of √KOR “round”, perhaps ✱Q. corto “circle” (NM/351).

As for oro, it meant “mountain” as an element in many late names: Q. Orocarni “Red Mountains” (MR/77), Q. Orofarnë “Mountain Ash” (PE17/83), Q. oromandi “mountain dweller[s]” (PE16/96), and Q. Pelóri “Mountain Wall” (PE17/26), though in one place Tolkien glossed the prefix oro- as “hill” (PE17/83), perhaps a callback to its meaning in the 1910s.

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I feel oron(t) for “mountain” is better established among Neo-Quenya writers; it is the form used in Helge Fauskanger’s NQNT (NQNT), for example. The word Q. orto was not used for “mountain” until quite late, and I would stick with its 1930s meaning “mountain-top”. As for Q. oro, I would use it as “mountain” only in compounds, not as an independent word.

Derivations

• ᴹ√OROT “height, mountain”

Element in

• Q. Oron Oiolossë “Mount Everwhite” ✧ WJ/403

Variations

• Oron ✧ WJ/403

orto

noun. mount, mountain, hill, [ᴹQ.] mountain-top; [Q.] mount, mountain

A word meaning “mount, mountain” given as a derivative of √ORO/RŌ in Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/64). In The Etymologies of the 1930s, ᴹQ. orto “mountain-top” appeared as a derivative of the root ᴹ√OROT (Ety/ÓROT).

Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I think it is best to use orto with its 1930s sense “mountain-top”, and use Q. oron for “mountain”; see that entry for more details on the conceptual developments of this and related words.

Cognates

• S. orod “mountain” ✧ PE17/064

Derivations

• ᴹ√OROT “height, mountain”
• √RŌ/ORO “up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount, up(wards); rise (up), go high, mount; [ᴹ√] high, [ᴱ√] steepness, rising” ✧ PE17/063

Element in

• Q. orotinga “mountain-top”
• ᴺQ. ortosta “mountain range”

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√OR/ORO > orto	[orto]	✧ PE17/063

orta-

rise

orta- vb. "rise", also transitive "raise, lift up", pa.t. ortanë (Nam, RGEO:67, ORO; misreading "ortani" in Letters:426). According to PE17:63-64, this pa.t. form ortanë is only transitive ("raised"), whereas the intransitive pa.t. ("rose") is orontë. Cf. orya-.

orya-

rise

orya- vb. "rise" (intrasitive only, contrast orta-), pa.t. oronyë (PE17:64)

orta/orya

verb. rise

ambo

hill, rising ground

ambo noun "hill, rising ground" (Markirya, PE17:92), "mount" (PE17:157), allative pl. ambonnar "upon hills" in Markirya (ruxal' ambonnar "upon crumbling hills") According to VT45:5, ambo was added to the Etymologies as a marginal note.

umbo

hill, lump, clump, mass

umbo, umbon noun "hill, lump, clump, mass" (PE17:93)

tundo

hill, mound

tundo noun "hill, mound" (TUN)

ambona

noun. hill

amba

adverb. up(wards)

Cognates

• S. am “up, up, [G.] upwards, towards head of, above”

Derivations

• √AMA “addition, increase, plus” ✧ PE17/091
• √AM “go up, go up, [ᴹ√] up” ✧ PE17/157

Element in

• ᴺQ. ambahep- “to maintain, (lit.) upkeep”
• ᴺQ. ambalasar “stalagmite, (lit.) up-growing stone”
• Q. ambalotsë “uprising-flower”
• Q. Ambaráto “*High Champion”
• Q. Ambaróna “Eastern (Land)” ✧ PE17/082; PE17/091; RC/385
• Q. ambarónë “dawn, dawn; [ᴹQ.] uprising, sunrise, Orient”
• Q. Ambarto “*High and Lofty” ✧ PM/354
• Q. Ambarussa “Top-russet” ✧ PM/354

Phonetic Developments

Development	Stages	Sources
√AMA > amba	[amba]	✧ PE17/091
√AM > amba-	[amba]	✧ PE17/157

Variations

• amba- ✧ PE17/082; PE17/157
• amba ✧ PE17/091; PM/354; RC/385; UT/255

Túna

hill, mound

Túna (also Tún) place-name, used of the hill on which Tirion was built (Silm, TUN, KOR), derived from a stem (TUN) apparently meaning simply *"hill, mound".

amun

hill

amun (amund-) noun "hill" (LT2:335; in Tolkien's later Quenya ambo)