ser

root. love, be fond of (of liking, friendship)

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “love, be fond of (of liking, friendship)” with derivatives like ᴹQ. serme, ᴹQ. sermo, and ᴹQ. seron, all meaning “friend” = feminine, masculine and neuter respectively (Ety/SER). Tolkien also considered given this root the form ᴹ√THER (EtyAC/SER). Tolkien compared ᴹ√SER to ᴹ√SON “love, befriend, cherish” which was “only used of persons” and had derivatives ᴹQ. sonda “dear, fond” and ᴹQ. sondo/N. thond “friend” (the latter implying a root ✱ᴹ√THON), but the root ᴹ√SON was rejected (EtyAC/SON). Tolkien further compared ᴹ√SER to ᴹ√MEL “love (as friend)” (EtyAC/MEL), which is a much better known basis for “love” and “friend” words in both earlier and later writings. However, Tolkien’s use of S. seron “lover” in the 1968 name S. Seron Aearon “Sea-lover” (PM/348) indicates he did not complete abandon ᴹ√SER.

Neo-Eldarin: I would retain this root for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, but would assume it applies to a less intense form of love and friendship than √MEL, more “like” than “love”.

bew

root. follow, serve

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s meaning “follow, serve” with various Telerin and Noldorin derivatives (Ety/BEW). Its most notable derivative is N. Beor, which meant “vassal” at this conceptual stage. The phonetic development of this name was rather dubious, however, even in the Noldorin of the 1930s, so in later notes Tolkien said it was actually a word from the Bëorian language (WJ/218). Despite this, the root ᴹ√BEW remains popular as a source for neologisms in both Neo-Quenya and Neo-Sindarin for words having to do with service, as there are not really any other good alternatives.

beuyā-

verb. follow, serve

n(d)ur

root. bow down, bend (low), obey, serve; grow/be dark

sed

root. rest

angwa

root. snake

The root √ANGWA “snake” with variant √ANGU appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as the basis for the words ᴹQ. ango “snake” (Ety/ANGWA) and angulóke “dragon” (Ety/LOK). The Noldorin equivalent am- seems to have survived only as a prefix (Ety/ANGWA), and is a good example of how [[on|[ŋgw] > [mb]]] in that language. There are a variety of other words for “snake” in Tolkien’s later writings, so whether this root remained valid is unclear.

lungā

adjective. heavy

mālō

noun. friend

nut-

verb. to tie, to tie, *bind

rīgē

noun. crown

yel

root. friend

A new gloss for the root ᴹ√YEL “daughter”, with a new set of derivatives like ᴹQ. -iel “-friend” and ᴹQ. yelda “friendly” (Ety/YEL), but it was rejected in turn and probably replaced by ᴹ√MEL.

ezdē

noun. rest

gonod

root. stone

The Elvish words for “stone” were established very early as Q. ondo and S. gond. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien gave the root of these words as ᴱ√ONO “hard” with derivatives like ᴱQ. ondo “stone, rock” and ᴱQ. onin “anvil” (QL/70). But its Gnomish derivatives like G. gonn “stone” and G. gontha “pillar” (GL/41) indicate the actual root was ✱ᴱ√ƷONO, since initial ʒ > g in Gnomish.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√GONOD or √GONDO “stone” with essentially the same Elvish forms: ᴹQ. ondo and N. gonn (Ety/GOND). The root itself did not appear in later writings, but Tolkien continued to state, with great frequency, that the primitive form of the word was ✶gondō (Let/410; PE17/28; PE18/106; PE21/81; PM/374; RC/347).

khil

root. follow

yar

root. blood