Quenya 

rotto

cave, tunnel

rotto noun "cave, tunnel" (VT46:12), "a small grot or tunnel" (PM:365)

rotto

noun. small grot, tunnel, tunnel, small grot, [ᴹQ.] cave

A word glossed “tunnel, small grot” derived from the root √s-rot (PM/365 note #56), appearing in 1959 notes discussing the origin of the name of Felagund, which in that document based on a Khuzdul name. The English word “grot” is an archaic form of “grotto”, referring to a cave.

Conceptual Development: There are a number of similar “cave” words in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from ᴱ√ROTO “hollow”, including ᴱQ. orot, ᴱQ. rótele, and ᴱQ. rotl, the last of these glossed “cave, hollow” with a deleted variant {rotta >> rotto} (QL/71, 80). This last word also appeared as ᴱQ. rotl “grot” in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/80). ᴹQ. rotto “cave, tunnel” appeared under the root ᴹ√ROT “bore, tunnel”, a late entry to The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/ROT). This root reappeared as the basis for “cave” words a number of places in later writings (PE17/183; VT39/9; WJ/414-415), but the only later mention of rotto is the aforementioned 1959 note on Felagund, given above.

Cognates

  • S. groth “large excavation, delving, underground dwelling, large excavation, delving, underground dwelling; [N.] cave, tunnel, [G.] grot”

Derivations

  • grottā “(large) excavation, underground dwelling”
    • ROT “cave; delve underground, dig, excavate, tunnel, [ᴹ√] bore; [ᴱ√] hollow, delve underground, dig, excavate, tunnel, [ᴹ√] bore; [ᴱ√] hollow; [√]cave” ✧ VT39/09; WJ/414; WJ/415
  • ROT “cave; delve underground, dig, excavate, tunnel, [ᴹ√] bore; [ᴱ√] hollow, delve underground, dig, excavate, tunnel, [ᴹ√] bore; [ᴱ√] hollow; [√]cave” ✧ PM/365

Element in

Phonetic Developments

DevelopmentStagesSources
rot/s-rot > rotto[rotto]✧ PM/365

rotelë

cave

rotelë noun "cave" (LT2:347)

felco

cave, mine, underground dwelling

felco noun "cave, mine, underground dwelling" (PE17:118); also felca, felehta

felya

cave

felya noun "cave" (PHÉLEG), "mine, boring, tunnel, underground dwel[ling]" (PE17:118)