tel-

verb. to end, finish (intr.)

telu-

verb. roof in

sac-

verb. close

telu-

verb. cover in, roof over

tel

root. close, end, complete, come to an end

Tolkien used words beginning with tel- or tyel- for “end” and these were intermixed with “roof” words, but the exact arrangements evolved over Tolkien’s life. In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, the base root was ᴱ√TELE “cover in” with derivatives like ᴱQ. tel (teld-) “roof” and ᴱQ. telimbo “canopy; sky”, along with a vocalic extension ᴱ√TEL+U “to finish, close, end, complete” having derivatives like the verb ᴱQ. telu- of the same meaning and ᴱQ. telwa “last, late” (QL/90-91). Both the base root and its extension had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. teld “roof” vs. G. telu “end” (GL/70).

In the Early Qenya Word Lists of the 1920s, however, Tolkien gave the words ᴱQ. talle “ended” and ᴱQ. talma “end” (PE16/143, 144) versus ᴱQ. telu- “cover, roof” and ᴱQ. telume “firmament” and (QL/134, 142). Indeed, in The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had unglossed ᴹ√TEL with the vocalic extension ᴹ√TELU having derivatives like ᴹQ. telme “hood, covering” and ᴹQ. telume/N. telu “roof (of heaven)” (Ety/TEL). The primitive verb form ✶telu- “roof in” appeared in Quendian & Common Eldarin Verbal Structure (EVS1: PE22/98) from the 1930s and again in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure from the early 1950s (EVS2: PE22/135), and finally one more time with the gloss “roof in, put the crown on a building” in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 (WJ/411).

The “end” words went down a different route. In The Etymologies Tolkien gave ᴹ√KYEL “run out, come to an end” as an etymological variant of ᴹ√KEL “go, run (especially of water), ✱flow”; ᴹ√KYEL had derivatives like ᴹQ. tyel- “to end, cease” and ᴹQ. tyelima “final” (Ety/KEL, KYEL). Tolkien mentioned this etymological variation of √KEL “flow” vs. √KYEL “cease, come to an end” in both the first and second version of Tengwesta Qenderinwa from the 1930s and around 1950 respectively (TQ1: PE18/58; TQ2: PE18/103), and the two variants were also mentioned in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/114). However, in Common Eldarin: Verb Structure of the early 1950s Tolkien gave √TEL “close, end, complete” with vocalic extension telu “roof in” (PE22/135), a paradigm repeated in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, though with a bit less certainty:

> The stem ✱TELE, the primary sense of which appears to have been “close, end, come at the end” ... This was possibly distinct from ✱tel-u “roof in, put the crown on a building”, seen in Q telume “roof, canopy” ... But ✱telu may be simply a differentiated form of ✱TELE, since the roof was the final work of a building (WJ/411).

The conceptual development seems to be 1910s ᴱ√TELE “cover” vs. ᴱ√TEL-U “end” >> 1920s ✱ᴱ√TALA “end” vs. ᴱ√TELU “cover” >> 1930s-1950 ᴹ√KYEL “end” vs. ᴹ√TEL(U) “✱cover” >> early 1950s √TEL “end” vs. √TELU “roof in”. Thus Tolkien ultimately came full circle back to his original root forms, but with reversed meanings.

See also the root √TELES for discussion of the conceptual shifts in the derivation of Q. Teleri “Hindmost”.

telu

root. roof in, put the crown on a building

tel-

verb. to end, finish, be done

hol

close

#hol- (i chôl, i chelir), pa.t. perhaps holl as suggested by the passive participle hollen ”closed” (the only attested form of this verb). Conceivably, hollen in the source could be a lenited form of sollen, in which case this verb should begin in s- rather than h- when not mutated.

hol

close

(i chôl, i chelir), pa.t. perhaps holl as suggested by the passive participle hollen ”closed” (the only attested form of this verb). Conceivably, hollen in the source could be a lenited form of sollen, in which case this verb should begin in s- rather than h- when not mutated.****