Primitive elvish

tal

root. foot; *flat; [ᴱ√] support

This root was the basis for “foot” words for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√TALA “support” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, but its derivatives were broken into two groups, the first with derivatives like ᴱQ. tala “foot” and ᴱQ. talas “sole”, and the second with derivatives like ᴱQ. tala- “carry, bring; weigh”, ᴱQ. talan “burden” and ᴱQ. talma “a weight, measure” (QL/88). This probably represents a blended root ᴱ√TALA and ✱ᴱ√DALA as suggested by Roman Rausch (HPG/§2.1), since there were derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon that began with both t- and d-: G. tâl “foot” and G. talc “upright” (GL/68) vs. G. dalech “(upright) stone” and G. daltha- “erect, set up”.

In The Etymologies of the 1930s, the root ᴹ√DAL “flat” seems unrelated to any of its meanings from the 1910s, but ᴹ√TAL “foot” was clearly a continuation of the 1910s root, with derivatives like ᴹQ. tál/N. tâl “foot” and an extended root ᴹ√TALAM “floor, base, ground” with derivatives like ᴹQ. talan (talam-)/N. talaf “floor, ground” (Ety/TAL). Both the root ᴹ√TAL “foot” and its extension ᴹ√TALAM “base, root, foundation” were mention in the contemporaneous Primitive Quendian Structure: Final Consonants (PE21/56), whereas ᴹ√TAL “foot” was mentioned in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s (PE21/70). The extended form √talam- “flat space” appeared again in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from the Lord of the Rings written in the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/52), and both Q. tál and S. tâl “foot” appeared regularly in Tolkien’s later writings.

Primitive elvish [PE21/70] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tāl

noun. foot

Primitive elvish [PE19/102; PE21/73; PE21/75] Group: Eldamo. Published by

talat

root. to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin; slipping, sliding, falling down; ground (bottom), to slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin; slipping, sliding, falling down; ground (bottom); [ᴹ√] slide down, incline, slope, lean, tip, topple over

This root was connected to the name Q. Atalantë “Downfall(en)” as a sort of multilingual pun on “Atlantis”. The first appearance of this root was as unglossed ᴱ√TḶTḶ in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. talta “shaky, wobbling, tottering; sloping, slanting” and ᴱQ. tilt- “make slope, incline (tr.), decline, shake at foundations, make totter” (QL/93). Further signs of this early root can be found in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s where Tolkien gave ᴱ✶tḹtá > ᴱN. tlad “hillside, slope” and ᴱ✶tḷtā́ > ᴱN. tleth/ᴱQ. tilta “slanting” (PE13/165).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√TALAT “to slope, lean, tip” with derivatives like ᴹQ. talta-/N. atlanna- “to slope” and ᴹQ. talta/N. talad “an incline” (Ety/TALÁT). The root was mentioned regularly thereafter, mostly in a verbal sense with glosses like “incline, slope, slide down” (PE18/38), “slip (downwards)” (PE18/61), “topple over, slip down” (SD/249), “slip (down)” (PE18/85) and “collapse, fall in ruin” (PM/158). In notes from the late 1950s or early 1960s, Tolkien gave the root a noun sense “ground (bottom)” alongside “fall down” (PE17/150) and in a 1964 letter to Christopher Bretherton gave it the sense “slipping, sliding, falling down” (Let/347).

Primitive elvish [Let/347; PE17/150; PE17/186; PE18/085; PE18/089; PM/158] Group: Eldamo. Published by

talam

root. flat space, flat space, [ᴹ√] floor, ground; base, root, foundation

Primitive elvish [PE17/052] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tald(a)

adverb. to the foot

Primitive elvish [PE21/76] Group: Eldamo. Published by

talam

noun. floor; flat space, platform, floor; flat space, platform, [ᴹ✶] ‘flet’; ground

Primitive elvish [PE17/052; PE21/71; PE21/75] Group: Eldamo. Published by

talat-

verb. slip (down), collapse, fall in ruin

Primitive elvish [PE17/186; PE18/085; PE18/086; PE18/088; PE22/133; PE22/134; PE22/135] Group: Eldamo. Published by

talmā

noun. basis

Primitive elvish [PE17/167; PE21/71; PE21/80] Group: Eldamo. Published by

taltā

adjective. tottering, unsteady

Primitive elvish [PE18/089] Group: Eldamo. Published by

taltas-

verb. begin to slip down

Primitive elvish [PE 22:135] Group: Mellonath Daeron. Published by

taltas-

verb. begin to slip down

Primitive elvish [PE22/135] Group: Eldamo. Published by

thara

adjective. tall (or long) and slender

Primitive elvish [WJ/412] Group: Eldamo. Published by

karap

root. *talk, speech

The root √KARAP appeared with various forms and meanings throughout Tolkien’s life. Perhaps the earliest iteration was ᴱ√KᴬRPᴬR [KṚPṚ] “pluck” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/45), with derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon as well such as G. carp “bundle, bunch” and G. crib- “gather, pluck” (GL/25, 27). The verb form ᴱ✶kṛp- > ᴱQ. karpe “pluck” reappeared in the Early Qenya grammar of the 1920s (PE14/58).

The root ᴹ√KARPA appeared unglossed in the first version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ1) from the 1930s as an example of a KALTA-stem root, but whether it was related to earlier √KṚPṚ is unclear. Possibly also related is N. carab “hat”, appearing in N. Amon Carab which was an earlier name of S. Amon Rûdh.

Finally, the root √KARAP appeared in notes probably dating to the early 1960s, serving as the basis for various “speech” words such as Q. carpa-/S. carfa- “talk, speak, use tongue”, but that root was probably replaced by √PAKAT (PE17/126). Given the muddled history of this root, I would mostly avoid its use for purposes of Neo-Eldarin, though it is needed to justify N. carab “hat”.

Primitive elvish [PE17/126; PE17/156] Group: Eldamo. Published by

pakat

root. *talk, speech

This root appeared in notes probably dating to the early 1960s as the basis for words for “speech”, probably replacing another root √KARAP of similar meaning, and with a deleted variant √PATAK (PE17/126). The root √PAKAT itself was probably a restoration of a (hypothetical) early root ✱ᴱ√PAKATA, the likely basis for “speech” words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s such as G. pactha- “utter, speak, talk” and G. paithron “orator” (GL/63).

Primitive elvish [PE17/126] Group: Eldamo. Published by

ornā

adjective. uprising, tall

Primitive elvish [NM/349; NM/350; PE17/112; PE17/113; UT/266] Group: Eldamo. Published by

aikwā

adjective. steep, tall

Primitive elvish [PE18/100] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tā/taʒ

root. high, high, [ᴹ√] lofty; noble

This root and ones like it were used for “high” things for much of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√TAHA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. “high; high above, high up”, ᴱQ. tahōra or tayóra “lofty”, and ᴱQ. tāri “queen”; it had a variant form ᴱ√TAʕA where the ʕ might be a malformed Y (QL/87). The corresponding forms in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon were G. “high” and G. dara “lofty” (GL/29), indicating the true form of the root was ᴱ√DAHA, since initial voiced stops were unvoiced (d- > t-) in Early Qenya (PE12/17). Primitive forms like ᴱ✶dagá > ᴱN. /ᴱQ. “high” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s indicates the root continued to begin with D for the following decade (PE13/141, 161).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave this root as ᴹ√TĀ/TAƷ “high, lofty; noble” with derivatives like ᴹQ. tára “lofty, high”, ᴹQ. tári “queen” and N. taen “height, summit of high mountain” (Ety/TĀ). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 Tolkien gave the root as √TAG or Tā- “high”, and in notes from around 1967 Tolkien gave √TAƷ as the explanation of the initial element of Q. Taniquetil and contrasted it with √TĂR “stand” (PE17/186). In 1970 green-ink revisions to the Outline of Phonology (OP2), Tolkien wrote a marginal note giving √TAƷ > “high”, but this note was rejected with a statement “transfer to Gen. Structure. No [ʒ] existed in Eldarin” (PE19/72-73 note #22).

This last rejection seems to be part of Tolkien’s general vacillation on the nature and phonetic evolution of velar spirants in Primitive Elvish in 1968-70. For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume the root form was √TAH or √TAƷ > √ as the basis for “high” words, much like √MAH or √MAƷ > ✶ was the basis for “hand” words.

Primitive elvish [PE17/186; PE19/073] Group: Eldamo. Published by

takala Reconstructed

noun. post, mark

Primitive elvish [VT42/28] Group: Eldamo - neologism/reconstructions. Published by

kalak

root. glass

A root appearing in etymological notes from 1968 glossed “glass” with Quenya and Telerin derivatives Q./T. calca of the same meaning (VT47/35). It seems to be a late restoration of the much earlier root ᴱ√kail(i)k or ᴱ√tail(i)k that was the basis of “glass” words in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s; in this early period the Qenya derivatives began with t- and the Gnomish derivatives with c- [k-] (GL/25). It may also have replaced Q. cilin (< ✱√KILIN?) from the late 1950s or early 1960s (PE17/37). Given its Quenya/Telerin derivatives, √KALAK was probably coined in Aman as was also the case with earlier Q. cilin, since the Sindarin word for “glass” is the unrelated word S. heledh borrowed from Khuzdul (PE17/37).

Primitive elvish [VT47/35] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lemek

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s illustrating certain phonetic combinations (PE19/98), and therefore possibly not a “real” root.

Primitive elvish [PE19/098] Group: Eldamo. Published by

palad

noun. plain

Primitive elvish [PE21/71] Group: Eldamo. Published by

palda

noun. flat surface

Primitive elvish [PE21/80] Group: Eldamo. Published by

pendā

adjective. sloping

Primitive elvish [PE17/173; WJ/375] Group: Eldamo. Published by

phut

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root appearing in the second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa (TQ2) as an etymological variation of √PUT (PE18/90).

Primitive elvish [PE18/090] Group: Eldamo. Published by

sal

root. [unglossed], *harp(ing), lyre

The unglossed root ᴱ√SALA appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. salma “lyre, small harp” and ᴱQ. salumbe “harping, music” (QL/81). The root √SAL appeared again Common Eldarin: Verb Structure from the early 1950s to illustrate the reformed perfect form of its verb Q. asálie (PE22/132), but since these later forms are unglossed it is unclear whether they have the same meaning (“✱harp(ing)”) as the earlier version of the root.

Primitive elvish [PE22/133] Group: Eldamo. Published by

san-

noun. that

Primitive elvish [PE17/042] Group: Eldamo. Published by

sinkitamo

noun. smith

Primitive elvish [PE17/108] Group: Eldamo. Published by

stuk

root. [unglossed]

An unglossed root in a rejected section of the Outline of Phonology (OP2) from the early 1950s, serving to illustration certain phonetic developments: ✶stuknā > Q. thúna (PE19/86).

Primitive elvish [PE19/086] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tig

root. [unglossed]

A root appearing in Late Notes on Verb Structure (LVS) from 1969 as the basis for the verb Q. tinga- “go (for a long while)” (PE22/157). The etymology was marked with an “X” and so was probably a transient idea (PE22/157 note #70).

Primitive elvish [PE22/157] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tulku

noun. prop, support

Primitive elvish [PE21/80] Group: Eldamo. Published by

tāra

adjective. high

Primitive elvish [PE17/067; PE17/186] Group: Eldamo. Published by

graw Reconstructed

root. [unglossed], [ᴹ√] dark, swart

This root appeared as a primitive form grawa serving as the basis of the word Q. roa “bear” >> “dog” in notes on monosyllabic roots from 1968 (VT47/35); a Sindarin derivative S. graw “bear” appeared in other notes written around the same time (VT47/12). Patrick Wynne suggested that in the sense “bear” grawa might be connected to the root ᴹ√GRAWA “dark, swart” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/GRAWA).

Primitive elvish [VT47/35] Group: Eldamo. Published by

lungu Reconstructed

adjective. heavy