An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. pen “through”, ᴱQ. penda “bridge”, and ᴱQ. penwa “over, passed, past”; Tolkien said it was similar to ᴱ√PERE (QL/73). In later writings the sense “through” was transferred to ᴹ√TER.
Early Primitive Elvish
pē
root. PĒ
pe
root. at, by
peke
root. *plume
pene
root. *through
peqe
root. *comb
pere
root. *endure
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien said was similar in meaning to ᴱ√PENE “✱through” (QL/73). Some of its derivatives had similar meanings like ᴱQ. perma “passage; pass, aperture”, but most of its derivatives had to do with enduring and endurance. In Tolkien’s later writings the sense “endure” was generally assigned to the root ᴹ√BOR(ON).
pete
root. *knock, hammer
peia
noun. scorn
pelesa
noun. fence
pele
root. fence in
pele
root. *revolve
pelek Reconstructed
root. axe
ṛtyṛ
root. peck, prick
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱ√ᴵRTYᴵR “peck, prick” with derivatives ᴱQ. irtin “I peck, prick” and ᴱQ. irt “a peck, pinprick” (QL/43); the vowel i is simply the usual result of the syllabification of ṛ before a palatal consonant in Early Qenya (PE12/10). The words G. irt⁽⁾ “beak (of small birds)” and G. irtha- “peck” are clearly related (GL/52). I think it’s worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√IRIT “peck, prick” to salvage these early words.
iti
root. peck, bite (of flies), annoy
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “peck, bite (of flies), annoy” with derivatives like ᴱQ. itisya- “to itch, irritate” and ᴱQ. itse “small fly” (QL/43). The Gnomish word for “fly”, G. sitha, was probably related (GL/68). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, and the word for “fly” became Q. pupso/S. budhu (PE19/101). However, I think it is worth postulating a Neo-Eldarin root ᴺ√ITITH to salvage early Qenya words for itch and annoy.
qele
root. perish, die, decay, fade
raða
root. *peel
tun+tǝ
root. *see, notice, perceive
{ᴱ√TUNU >>} ᴱ√TUN + Tǝ or Kǝ appeared as unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. tunke “bright, witty, smart” and ᴱQ. tunta- “see, notice, perceive” (QL/95). I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√TUNTU to salvage some of these early words having to do with general perception.
wiı̯ḗ
noun. teors, *penis
gwili
root. *peace, quiet
para
root. *peel
paða Reconstructed
root. *peel
sṣtyṣ
root. ‽
The unglossed root ᴱ√SṢT͡YṢ appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. sastya “sore, galled” and ᴱQ. sist (sisty-) “ulcer, sore” (QL/86). The latter word was also mentioned as siste in “ulcer, boil” as a derivative of ᴱ✶sṣtē (PE12/14), and the primitive form was given as sistyi, though Tolkien did say it was indicative of ancient syllabic ṣ (PE12/3). However, in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s it seems primitive ᴱ✶sṣt- = “✱hiss” (PE13/163); see the entry on ᴹ√SUS “hiss” for discussion.
Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√SISTI to salvage some of these early words.
tołᵂo
root. [unglossed]
An unglossed root in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s illustrating a hypothetical series of ancient lateral approximants, with derived roots like ᴱ√TOLO and ᴱ√TOẆO [with ẇ = ɣʷ] (PE12/16). The former appeared in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as the basis for island words (QL/94), but the latter appeared nowhere else in Early Qenya writings.
ru’u
root. ‽
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, probably actually ✱ᴱ√RUƷU, with derivatives like ᴱQ. rú “dwelling, village, hamlet”, ᴱQ. rue “rest, stillness, remaining, steadfastness”, and ᴱQ. ruin “peace” (QL/80). There were a number of likely-related words in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. rô “enduring, long suffering; quiet, gentle, docile”, G. rû “dwelling, house”, and G. rûtha- “dwell, remain”, though Tolkien seems to have rejected the Gnomish forms beginning with rô- (GL/66). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√RUH “✱still” to preserve some of these early words.
manga
root. lacking
nulu
root. ‽
saw̯a
root. [unglossed]
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/82), which may have reemerged as √SAWA “disgusting, foul, vile” in notes from the 1950s (PE17/172, 183).
siŋi
root. ‽
The root ᴱ√SIŊI appeared unglossed in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives ᴱQ. singe “salt” and (adjective) ᴱQ. singwa “salt” (QL/83). It had similar derivatives the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon: G. sing and singrin “salt”, noun and adjective (GL/67). I think it is worth positing a Neo-Root ᴺ√SIÑGI to salvage these early words.
koto Reconstructed
root. nut
-ya
suffix. present
kar-
verb. to make
lepse
?. [unglossed]
lopse
?. [unglossed]
ornĕ
noun. tree
teled-
noun. [unglossed]
toẇo
root. [unglossed]
þehe
root. *see
pini
root. *small
tala
root. support
tum(b)u
root. ‽
ŋolo
root. to know
ŋuarenđā
noun. family
bē Reconstructed
root. ‽
miki Reconstructed
root. *little
nawa Speculative
root. dwarf
-yǝ
suffix. [unglossed]
ese
root. out
eðe
root. out
eře
root. out
fulu
root. strip
gwori
root. ‽
hama
root. ‽
hese
root. wither
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “wither”, with derivatives having to do with withered things and winter (QL/40). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon the root was given as heth², but it is not clear whether this was intended to be a variant root or a replacement (GL/49). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is worth salvaging as a Neo-Eldarin root ᴺ√KHES “wither” to salvage Gnomish and Early Qenya wither-words.
hulu
root. strip
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “strip”, with derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish such as ᴱQ. hulqa/G. hulc “naked” (QL/41; GL/49). It had a variant ᴱ√FULU which seems to have no derivatives (QL/38). There are quite a few later roots of similar meaning, so likely the root was abandoned.
ini
root. small
lefe
root. half
lehe
root. half
nele
root. point
oso
root. ‽
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. oksa “joint” and ᴱQ. oswe “hip” (QL/71). In Tolkien’s later writings “joint” words seem to be based on √LIM “link, join” as in Q. málimë/S. molif “wrist, (lit.) hand-link” (VT47/6), but ᴱQ. oswe “hip” may be salvaged as a derivative of ᴹ√OS “round, about” referring instead to a rotating joint rather than a link.
oto
root. knock
piki
root. *small
po
root. ‽
pol-i
root. ‽
pī
root. *small
sehe
root. *see
sivi
root. [unglossed]
Unglossed roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SIVI and ᴱ√SIWI and a single unglossed derivative ᴱQ. sivilda (QL/84). It is difficult to guess what Tolkien intended for these forms to mean, though they conceivably reemerged as the later roots ᴹ√SIW “excite, egg on, urge” (Ety/SIW) or √SIB “rest, quiet” (VT44/35).
sē
root. ‽
tyaka
root. hew
A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “hew” with derivative ᴱQ. tyakta- of the same meaning (QL/49). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.
tḷkḷ
root. [unglossed]
vḷkḷ
root. ‽
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. valkane “torture” and ᴱQ. vilkin “bitter, evil”, serving as the basis for ᴱQ. Valkarauke, the Qenya name of Balrogs (QL/100). In later writings the initial element of this name was derived from √BAL “(divine) power”.
ðana
root. day
dala Reconstructed
root. support
wasa Speculative
root. juice
An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. pekte/G. pectha “plume” (QL/73; GL/63). It was compared to ᴱ√PEQE of similar meaning. Later “feather” words were derived from ᴹ√KWES (Ety/KWES).