sō

root. *together

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s that Tolkien said was used only for the prefix ᴱQ. so- “grouped, together”, but immediately under it he wrote another (non-prefixal?) root ᴱ√SŌ with a single derivative ᴱQ. sóma “state, condition” (QL/85). There are no signs of either of these functions for this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

souna

adjective. souna

sou̯þ-

adjective. sou̯þ-

solo

root. SOLO

soro

root. SORO

sowo

root. SOWO

sovo

root. wash

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SOVO and ᴱ√SOW̯O glossed “wash”, having derivatives like ᴱQ. sovo- “wash” and ᴱQ. saune “bath” (QL/85), the latter a result of the Early Qenya sound change whereby [[eq|[ei], [ou] became [ai], [au]]] (in later Quenya phonology, these generally became [ī], [ū]). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, the primitive form was given as soƀ with derivatives like G. sô- “wash clean, bathe” and G. sôn “pure, clean” from primitive ᴱ✶sou̯na (GL/68). This last primitive form reappeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s where it had derivatives like ᴱQ. sauna “clean” and ᴱN. hûn “polished, burnished, shining” (PE13/148).

Neo-Eldarin: I think it is worth positing an Neo-Root ᴺ√SOW “wash, ✱bath” (and verbal variant ᴺ√SOB “✱bathe”) to salvage various early nouns having to do with baths, but would use the later root √SWAL for the verb “wash”.

soko

root. *drink

soto

root. drop, fall

maƀa

root. something nice

A root given as maƀ or mam in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “something nice”, with derivatives like G. mab(a) “mother”, G. mam “grandmother”, G. mav- “like”, and G. mavri “appetite” (GL/57). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, but I think it is worth positing a Neo-Sindarin root ᴺ√MAB to salvage some of these early words.

keme

root. soil

mama

root. something nice

mara

root. *sand, soil

A root appearing in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as root {ᴱ√MAŘA² >>} ᴱ√MARA that Tolkien indicated was a dialectical variation or byform of ᴱ√MṚŘṚ [MṚÐṚ] “grind”, with a single derivative: ᴱQ. marilla “pearl” (QL/59). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, G. brithla “pearl” was most likely a derivative of ᴱ√MṚÐṚ (GL/24). However, in the m-section of GL Tolkien said “mar and môr probably conceal two roots and a confusion [with] mbara”, with various apparent derivatives of mar- such as G. mar “Earth, ground, soil”, G. marol “sand” and G. Môr “the Earth” (GL/56). Tolkien also had G. mara- “dwell”, but it appeared before a variant (m)bara and so likely was derived from ᴱ√MBARA “dwell, live” as mentioned in the Qenya Lexicon (QL/60). As for ᴱ√MARA² itself, it may have meant “✱sand, soil”.

ẏala

root. ring, sound hollow

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “ring, sound hollow” with derivatives ᴱQ. yalka “ice” and ᴱQ. yalle “a hollow ring” (QL/105). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

šoro

root. ŠORO

oro

root. *sow

ðoto

root. drop, fall

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “drop, fall” but with no Qenya derivatives (QL/86). In the Qenya Lexicon Tolkien gave the root as SOTO with ÐOTO in parenthesis, but Gnomish cognates like G. dod- “to fall down, drop” and G. dont “fall, bump, drop” make it clear the true form was ÐOTO.

Neo-Eldarin: I think it is worthwhile to salvage this root as ᴺ√DOT in the more limited sense “drop” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, so we can salvage Gnomish words such as dod- “to drop” and dod “berry”. This hypothetical ᴺ√DOT could be a variant of √DAT “fall”.

vo(no) Reconstructed

root. son

moyo Reconstructed

root. *soft, gentle

ðoro

root. sit

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “sit” with derivatives mean “sit” or “seat” (QL/85-86). In the Qenya Lexicon Tolkien gave the root as SORO with ÐORO in parenthesis, but Gnomish cognates like G. dorn “seat” and dortha- “to settle” (GL/30) make it clear ÐORO was the true form of the root. There were a variety of different roots for “sit” in later writings such ᴹ√KHAM or √KHAD.

sara Speculative

root. *surf

A hypothetical root explaining various related words in Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as G. saros “surf, sea” and G. sôr “wave” (GL/67). There are no signs of this root being used this way in Tolkien’s later writing.

bapa Speculative

root. drink

A (hypothetical) early root to explain Gnomish words from the 1910s like bab- “to drink”. It was almost certainly replaced by later roots like √SOK and √YUL.

þolo

root. *surf

lini

root. gentle

nı̯ēr

noun. grief

stor’onturá

masculine name. King of Eagles

sōđā

noun. house

sḷt-

verb. to sift

tiw̯i

root. thick

þoro Reconstructed

root. eagle

-yǝ

suffix. [unglossed]

ili

root. many

lene

root. long

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱ√LENE “long”, with the added explanation that it “developed in opp. directions of slow, tedious, trailing, etc. and - stretch, thin, etc.”. Tolkien originally put the word ᴱQ. lenka “slow, left” under this root, but seems to have transferred this word to ᴱ√LEKE, perhaps at the same time he elaborated on the meaning of ᴱ√LENE “long”. Its remaining derivatives include ᴱQ. lenwa “long and thin, straight, narrow” and ᴱQ. lenu- “stretch”.

There are a number of words in the Gnomish Lexicon that seem to be derived from this root, including G. len “wherewith, far, long, away” and G. lenwi “length, distance”, but these were rejected, and Tolkien replaced them with G. lenc “far, distant” derived from ᴱ√leŋe (which was followed by other similar Gnomish derivatives), possibly representing a conceptual shift in this root (GL/53). In any case, there are no clear signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing, unless perhaps it remanifested as ᴹ√LEN “way, (?road)” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/LEN).

lepse

?. [unglossed]

lopse

?. [unglossed]

mele

root. love

nyeχie

noun. tear

ornĕ

noun. tree

saw̯a

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/82), which may have reemerged as √SAWA “disgusting, foul, vile” in notes from the 1950s (PE17/172, 183).

sivi

root. [unglossed]

Unglossed roots in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with variants ᴱ√SIVI and ᴱ√SIWI and a single unglossed derivative ᴱQ. sivilda (QL/84). It is difficult to guess what Tolkien intended for these forms to mean, though they conceivably reemerged as the later roots ᴹ√SIW “excite, egg on, urge” (Ety/SIW) or √SIB “rest, quiet” (VT44/35).

sḷp-

verb. to drink

teled-

noun. [unglossed]

tołᵂo

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in The Qenya Phonology of the 1910s illustrating a hypothetical series of ancient lateral approximants, with derived roots like ᴱ√TOLO and ᴱ√TOẆO [with ẇ = ɣʷ] (PE12/16). The former appeared in the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon as the basis for island words (QL/94), but the latter appeared nowhere else in Early Qenya writings.

toẇo

root. [unglossed]

tḷkḷ

root. [unglossed]

uqu

root. wet

A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “wet”, with derivatives like ᴱQ. úqa “wet” and ᴱQ. úqil “rain” (QL/98). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. ub⁽⁾ “wet” and G. uch “rain” (GL/74). In later writings Tolkien used different roots for “wet”.

vī

root. as

ŋuarenđā

noun. family

fasa Speculative

root. wash

A hypothetical early root to explain words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as G. fas- “wash” and G. fôs “bath” (GL/34). It seems to have at least one Qenya derivative as well in the 1910s-name: ᴱQ. Faskala-númen “Bath of the Setting Sun” (LT1/187). There are no signs of this root in Tolkien’s later writing.

wasa Speculative

root. juice

ʒono Reconstructed

root. hard