Primitive elvish

ringā

adjective. ringā

Primitive elvish [PE21/81] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ringi

root. cold

Tolkien used very similar forms for Elvish words for “cold” for all of his life. The earliest iteration of this root was unglossed ᴱ√RIŊI in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. rin (ring-) “dew” and ᴱQ. ringa “damp, cold, chilly” (QL/80). The root had similar derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. “coolness, cool” and G. ring “cool, cold” (GL/65). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root {ᴹ√RINGĀ >>} ᴹ√RINGI “cold” with derivatives like ᴹQ. ringe/N. rhing “cold” (Ety/RINGI; EtyAC/RINGI). Primitive forms ✶riñgi “chill” and ✶riñgā appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s (PE21/80), and Christopher Tolkien mentioned √ring as the basis for cold words in the Silmarillion Appendix (SA/ring).

Primitive elvish [SA/ring] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ringi

adjective. chill

Primitive elvish [PE21/81] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ñyel

root. ring(ing), ring(ing), [ᴹ√] sing, give out a sweet sound

This root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√NYEL “ring, sing, give out a sweet sound”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. nyelle/N. nell “bell”, ᴹQ. nyello “singer” and N. nella- “sound (of bells)” (Ety/NYEL, EtyAC/NYEL), though an earlier hint of it might be seen in the Gnomish verb G. nelu- “ring (tr. & intr.)” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/60). Tolkien also mentioned this root in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s (TQ1) as having a variant √NYOL, also meaning “ring” but representing a deeper sound (PE18/45).

In the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the early 1930s (TQ2), he gave the variants as √ŊYEL/√ŊYOL “ring”, in keeping with his decision to remove initial palatalized dentals from Primitive Elvish. A similar set of variants √(Ñ)GYEL/√(Ñ)GYOL “ringing” appeared in a list of sound roots from around 1959-60 (PE17/138).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to ignore Tolkien’s decision to remove initial palatalized dentals from Primitive Elvish, and I recommend retaining √NYEL as the root for “bell” words.

Primitive elvish [PE17/138; PE17/155; PE17/169; PE18/094] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ñyol

root. ring(ing)

gyel

root. ringing, [ᴹ√] *cry of joy or triumph, [√] ringing

This root appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s unglossed, but with derivatives like ᴹQ. yello “call, shout, cry of triumph” and N. gell “joy, triumph, (?victory)” (Ety/GYEL); the last gloss being unclear (EtyAC/GYEL). In The Etymologies, it replaced deleted ᴹ√GEL, also indicated by ᴹQ. ello >> yello. The root reappeared a couple decades later in a list of sound words as part of the set √GYEL, √ÑGYEL, √GYOL, √ÑGYOL collectively glossed “ringing” (PE17/138); see √ÑYEL for further discussion. For the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think it is best to assume this root retained its 1930s meaning, which was probably something like “✱cry of joy or triumph”.

Primitive elvish [PE17/138; PE17/155] Group: Eldamo. Published by

gyol

root. ringing

lepe

noun. finger

Primitive elvish [PE21/71; VT47/10; VT47/11; VT47/28] Group: Eldamo. Published by

leper

noun. finger

Primitive elvish [VT44/16; VT47/10; VT47/11; VT47/24; VT47/29; VT48/05] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lepero

noun. finger

Primitive elvish [VT47/13; VT47/24] Group: Eldamo. Published by

nēthā

noun. sister

Primitive elvish [VT47/14] Group: Eldamo. Published by

phin

root. hair