sar

noun. earth, soil

A word for “earth, soil” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, but it was marked with an “X” and ᴱQ. kemen (of similar meaning) was written next to it as an alternative (PE16/139).

sarma

noun. saw

A word appearing as ᴱQ. sarma “a saw” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a noun form of ᴱQ. sara- “saw” under the root ᴱ√SARA of the similar meaning (QL/82).

Neo-Quenya: Since I retain ᴺQ. sara- “to saw [wood]” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would retain the noun ᴺQ. sarma “saw” as well.

sar-

verb. to write

A verb appearing as ᴱQ. sar- “write” in Early Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s. Hints at its later validity may be seen in Q. sarat, the names of the letters in the Sarati alphabet, and the root √SAR “score, incise; write”, both mentioned in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60.

Neo-Quenya: Most Neo-Quenya writers use [ᴹQ.] tec- as the ordinary word for write, given its obvious association to Q. tehta and Q. tengwa. One of the challenges with sar- for “write” is that in Tolkien’s later writings, √SAR is also associated with “stone”, as in S. sarn/Q. sar “(small) stone”. In a discussion on the Vinyë Lambengolmor Discord Server (VLDS) in April 2022, Röandil suggested restoring ᴺQ. sar- with the sense “to mark (i.e. by incision), notch, score; (by later extension) to write”. Based on this I invented the following (fan-based) etymology:

Given its derivatives, it seems likely that √SAR is associated with stone but also with marks, probably originally marks in stone but generalized from there to marks on other substances. From this sar- was used as the basis for the earliest system of writing, both as a verb and in the name sarati. However, with the introduction of Feanor’s tengwar alphabet, this word no longer seemed suitable for as a general writing word, and was displaced by tec-, originally also meaning “make a mark”, but not specifically associated with stone.

Since tec- now usually meant “write”, the archaic sense “mark, score” was restored to sar-. This was aided by the fact that sar- was primarily a transitive verb, and used some awkward constructions. In particular, with the verb sar-, the direct object was always the thing written on, rather than the thing written. Thus with sar-, the proper way to say “write a sentence on paper” was actually sare hyalin quettalénen “write [on] paper with a sentence [instrumental]”, a construction that still survives, though now somewhat archaic. Meanwhile, the direct object of tec- is the thing written, so one would say tece quettale hyalinesse “write a sentence on paper”.

Note that this last construction [sare hyalin quettalénen] is inspired by Tolkien’s usage of the ᴱQ. verb teke- from the 1910s (QL/90), and essentially reverses of the Early Qenya paradigm of the 1910s and 20s, switching the roles of tek- and sar-. There is no evidence that the above Neo-Quenya discussion matches Tolkien’s own thoughts on the subject, so it should be considered “etymological fan-fiction”.

sarqa

adjective. fleshy

A word for “fleshy” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. sarko (sarku-) “flesh” (QL/86).

sara-

verb. to saw

A verb appearing as ᴱQ. sara- “saw” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root {ᴱ√SAŘA >>} ᴱ√SARA, apparently of the same meaning (QL/82). Its Gnomish cognate G. thar- “saw (up)” indicates an actual root form of ✱ᴱ√ÞARA.

Neo-Quenya: The root √THAR means “across” in Tolkien’s later writings, but I think ᴺQ. sara- “to saw [wood]” is still salvageable from an original sense of “✱(cut) across”.

sarko

noun. elder [tree]

A word appearing as {sara >>} sarko “elder” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s in the section describing types of trees (PE16/140).

sarno

noun. table

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. {sarne >>} sarno “table” in Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√SARA having to do with sawing and sawed things like planks (QL/82). The contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa also had sarno “table” (PME/82).

sarkuva

adjective. corporeal, bodily

A word in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “corpor(e)al, bodily”, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. sarko “living flesh, body” (QL/86).

sarqin

proper name. Cannibal-ogre

A name of a race of Cannibal-ogres in the earliest Lost Tales (LT2/254), its singular form Sarqin appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa from the 1910s (PME/86). Its initial element might be a variant of sarqa “fleshy”, as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT2A/Sarqindi).

sarapenda

noun. wood-bridge

A word for a “wood-bridge” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a combination of the early root ᴱ√SARA [ÞARA] “✱saw [wood]” with ᴱQ. penda “bridge” (QL/82).

saratwa

adjective. made of planks

A word in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “made of planks”, an adjectival form of ᴱQ. sarat “plank” under the early root ᴱ√SARA [ÞARA] (QL/82).

sarko

noun. flesh, living flesh, body

sarat

noun. plank

saramór

noun. *writing-ink

sári

proper name. Sun

A name for the Sun in the earliest Lost Tales (LT1/186), probably a derivative of the root ᴱ√SAH(Y)A “be hot” as suggested by Christopher Tolkien (LT1A/Sári).

vea

noun. sea

sastya

adjective. sore, galled

An adjective appearing as {sartya >>} sastya “sore, galled” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√SṢTYṢ (QL/86).

sár(e)a

adjective. fiery

An adjective in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “fiery” with variants sāra and sārea (the second added later) derived from the early root ᴱ√SAH(Y)A “be hot” (QL/81).

ahúra

noun. Sun

An early Qenya word for the Sun appearing in a word list from the 1920s (PE15/77). Its etymology is obscure.

alle

?. [unglossed]

anaukante

?. [unglossed]

angwe

?. [unglossed]

anwe

?. [unglossed]

aukaine

?. [unglossed]

auro

noun. sun

A noun appearing in Early Noldorin Word-lists as {ūru >>} auro, cognate of ᴱN. úr “sun”, and derived from {✶ourǝ >>} ✶ourū̆ (PE13/155). Elsewhere Q. Úr(in) was a name for the Sun from the 1910s up through the 1950s, but Tolkien eventually changed this to Vása (MR/198).

eant

?. [unglossed]

ematte

?. [unglossed]

fingwe

?. [unglossed]

hingwe

?. [unglossed]

hyanta

?. [unglossed]

hyelle

noun. pebble

A word for “pebble” in Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s (PE16/138; PE16/144). Its etymology is unclear, and in later writings ᴹQ. hyelle was used as a word for “glass”.

intya

?. [unglossed]

ka

?. [unglossed]

kaune

noun. grave

laisifalle

noun. [unglossed]

las

noun. [unglossed]

lilyen

?. [unglossed]

linqarassea

adjective. [unglossed]

lossiattea

?. [unglossed]

lungwe

?. [unglossed]

láwakéle

?. [unglossed]

mimbe

noun. flesh

A word for “flesh” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from the early root ᴱ√MIMI (QL/61).

min-

verb. [unglossed]

nauto

noun. [unglossed]

nawa-

verb. [unglossed]

nierme

?. [unglossed]

ningwe

?. [unglossed]

nyúken

?. [unglossed]

omba

adjective. hard (*as stone)

palastor

noun. surf

A word for “surf” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, derived from ᴱ√Palas (QL/72).

palukta

noun. table

A noun appearing as ᴱQ. palukta “table” in Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√PALA having to do with flat things (QL/71).

Neo-Quenya: Since √PAL was still associated with flat things in Tolkien’s later writing ([ᴹQ.] palar “flat field”, Q. palta “flat of the hand”), I would retain this word for purposes of Neo-Quenya in a slightly modified form: ᴺQ. paluhta “table”.

pingwe

?. [unglossed]

porokoi

?. [unglossed]

pundo

noun. [unglossed]

póya

adjective. [unglossed]

ralle

?. [unglossed]

saile

noun. [unglossed]

saqa-

verb. [unglossed]

sauke

?. [unglossed]

sinqita-

verb. [unglossed]

sivilda

?. [unglossed]

soraksa

noun. shingle

A noun in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “shingle”, a combination of ᴱQ. so- “together” and some variant of ᴱQ. arak “shingle, piles of stones” (QL/85).

súlimarya

?. [unglossed]

súme

?. [unglossed]

talarin

adjective. [unglossed]

tantilta-

verb. [unglossed]

teket

noun. letter

@@@ used for “letter (epistola)” in NQNT

teketta

noun. letter

tekta-

verb. to write

tirípti

?. [unglossed]

toron

?. [unglossed]

tultárie

adjective. [unglossed]

tyanta

?. [unglossed]

táne

adjective. [unglossed]

tánie

adjective. [unglossed]

ukárele

noun. [unglossed]

umpai

?. [unglossed]

upaitya-

verb. [unglossed]

usult

?. [unglossed]

valle

?. [unglossed]

vingwe

?. [unglossed]

wara-

verb. to rub

yu

?. [unglossed]

lalle

noun. pebble

A word for “pebble” the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s appearing under the root ᴱ√LALA, though Tolkien marked it with a “?” and other derivatives of the root had to do with “babble” (QL/50). This word was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/50).