pulu

root. swell

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing as ᴱ√PULU “swell”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. pulko “body, trunk, bole of tree”, ᴱQ. pulu- “swell (intr.)”, and ᴱQ. pulwa “fat, bulky” (QL/75). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. polc “thick, fat” (GL/64) and G. famfolc “fat-bellied” (GL/34), but also G. baul “body, trunk” was compared to ᴱQ. pulka (GL/22), hinting at a blending with ✱ᴱ√BULU. In the Gnomish Lexicon there is also a primitive form ᴱ✶lūpe with derivatives G. lub “fat, fat flesh” and G. lubi “corpulent” (GL/55), which might be an inversion of ᴱ√PULU. This inversion reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s as ᴱN. lhub “fat”.

Neo-Eldarin: In Tolkien’s later writings, “swell” and “fat” seems to have been transferred to the root ᴹ√TIW, but I think it is worth retaining ᴺ√PUL as a Neo-Eldarin root to serve as the basis for Elvish words for “trunk” and “torso”. Helge Fauskanger also used this root in connection to the rising of yeast in NQNT (Neo-Quenya New Testament).

pulu-

verb. to swell (intr.)