phaw

root. emit (foul breath), *breath, puff of breath, breath, puff of breath; blow, emit (foul breath); [ᴹ√] gape

Tracing the conceptual development of this root is difficult. Its earliest precursor might have been unglossed ᴱ√FAGA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with the derivative ᴱQ. fâ = ᴱQ. vilna “air” (QL/37) with Gnomish cognate G. Fâ “lower airs” (GL/33). G. faf- “puff, blow, pant” may also be related (GL/33).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, however, there was the root ᴹ√PHAU̯ “gape” with derivatives ᴹQ. fauka/N. faug “thirsty” (Ety/PHAU; EtyAC/PHAU). The Noldorin derivative was used in the names N. Anfauglin “Jaws of Thirst” (SM/115) and N. Fauglith “Thirsty Sand; Gasping Dust” (LR/132) from contemporaneous Silmarillion drafts. Sindarin variants of these names S. Anfauglir “Jaws of Thirst” (S/180) and S. Anfauglith “Gasping Dust” (S/150) continued to appear in later versions of The Silmarillion.

In Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 Tolkien gave a new gloss for the root √PHAW as “emit (foul breath etc.)” serving as the basis for Q. foalóke, unglossed but perhaps “✱breath-dragon” (PE17/181). The root √PHAW reappeared again in 1964 notes on Dalath Dirnen (DD) as the basis for Q. foa and S. faw, all unglossed (PE17/181). Finally ✶phā appeared in some notes from 1968 as an example of a primitive monosyllablic noun, with glosses “puff, (?blow)” or “breath, puff of breath” and probably-related forms fawa and foa (VT47/34-35). All these hints at a possible restoration of the sense of early ᴱ√FAGA from the 1910s: “emit (breath), puff, blow”.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume √PHAW had its 1950s-60s meaning “emit (breath), puff, blow”, but that ᴹQ. fauka and N. faug “thirsty” were derived from another root ✱√PHAWAK or ✱√PHAUKA, either an extension or unrelated.

phā

noun. breath, puff of breath

phaw

foa

Q. foa. >> faw

faw

noun. *breath, puff of breath

An unglossed word in 1964 notes on Dalath Dirnen (DD) derived from the root √PHAW (PE17/181). Since this root was elsewhere glossed “emit (foul breath etc.)”, this word probably mean something like “✱breath, puff of breath”, like its cognate Q. foa (VT47/35).

faw

foa

Q. foa. >> phaw

faug

adjective. gape, [N.] thirsty, [S.] gape

An adjective for “thirsty” appearing in names like Anfauglir “Jaws of Thirst”.

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “thirsty” was G. luib (GL/55) clearly based on the early root ᴱ√LOYO (QL/56). By Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, the word had become ᴱN. faug “thirsty” (PE13/143), and N. faug “thirsty” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√PHAU̯ “gape” (Ety/PHAU). Christopher Tolkien gave faug the gloss “gape” in The Silmarillion appendix (SI/faug), but that seems to refer to the root meaning from the 1930s.

föa

noun. breath, puff of breath

A word appearing as fā in 1968 notes on primitive monosyllables as a derivative of ✶phā “breath, puff of breath” (VT47/35). Tolkien said this word survived in Quenya, but in a later sentence he wrote Q. fawa, foa, perhaps indicating its more common form was foa. The form foa appeared unglossed in 1964 notes on Dalath Dirnen (DD), and also in 1957 Quenya Notes (QN) as a derivative of √PHAW “emit (foul breath etc.)” and an element in foalóke, probably = “✱breath-dragon” (PE17/181). As such, I consider foa the most likely Quenya form and “breath, puff of breath” its most likely meaning.

Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, this word appeared as ᴱQ. foa “hoard, treasure” under the early root ᴱ√FOƷO “hide, hoard, store up, lay up in secret”, also as an element in ᴱQ. Foalôke as the name of a dragon (QL/38).

fá

noun. breath, puff of breath