thin

root. *grey

thindi

adjective. pallid, grey, wan

ting

root. ting (onomatopoeic)

An onomatopoeic root with variants ᴹ√TING and ᴹ√TANG appearing in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. tinge or tango “twang”, ᴹQ. tinga- “to twang”, and N. tang “bowstring” (Ety/TING). The entry had a reference to a deleted variant ᴹ√THING (EtyAC/TING) and another variant ᴹ√TUNG was listed in the entry ᴹ√DING (EtyAC/DING). In the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s Tolkien gave the root ᴹ√TAÑ as the basis for the verb ᴹQ. tanga- “twang”, which is probably another instance of this root (PE22/103).

nindi

root. fragile, thin

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “fragile, thin” with derivatives like ᴹQ. ninde/N. ninn “slender” (Ety/NIN-DI), replacing deleted ᴹ√NIN-DA “blue” (EtyAC/NIN-DI) which was probably a later manifestation of ᴱ√NINI “✱blue” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s (QL/66). ᴱ√NINI had derivatives in both Qenya and Gnomish in the 1910s, but there are no signs of nin- as “blue” in Tolkien’s later writing.

slinyā

adjective. lean, thin, meagre

now

root. think, form idea, imagine

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s given as ᴹ√NOWO “think, form idea, imagine”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. nó “conception” and N. nauth “thought” (Ety/NOWO). It replaced deleted roots ᴹ√ÑŌ¹ and ᴹ√NAWA (EtyAC/ÑŌ¹, NOWO). The latter is a strong indication that its original precursor was the root ᴱ√NAVA [NAɃA] “suspect, guess, have an inkling of” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. nauma “hint, clue” and ᴱQ. nauta- “guess” (QL/64-65), as well as G. naf- “suspect, have inkling of” and G. naus “keen-witted, observant” from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (GL/59).

gaw

root. think out, devise, contrive

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “think out, devise, contrive”, appearing beside a variant ᴹ√GOWO (Ety/GAWA). Its most notable derivative is the name Q. Aulë, which Tolkien usually translated as “Maker” (S/44) or “Smith” (LotR/1137). Its Noldorin counterpart in the 1930s was N. Gaul, replacing G. Ôla from the 1910s, but Tolkien did not revisit the etymology of Aulë’s name in his later writings. This leaves ᴹ√GAWA as the best known basis for this name, and its 1930s meaning remains consistent with later tranlations of Aulë.

takmā

noun. thing for fixing

kwa

root. something

mbakhā

noun. article (for exchange), ware, thing

tinkō

root. metal

The “root” ᴹ√TINKŌ (more likely just a primitive word) appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “metal” and derivatives like ᴹQ. tinko/N. tinc of the same meaning (Ety/TINKŌ). The reappearance of Q. tinco “metal” in The Lord of the Rings appendices (LotR/1122) strongly indicates its ongoing validity.

ᴹ√TINKŌ may have replaced the root ᴱ√SINI “pale blue” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. sink “mineral, gem, metal” and G. sinc “metal” (QL/83; GL/67); these early mineral words were originally attributed to ᴱ√SṆT͡YṆ “twinkle” before they were transferred to ᴱ√SINI, leaving only derivatives like ᴱQ. sintl “crystal” and ᴱQ. sinty- “sparkle” under ᴱ√SṆT͡YṆ (QL/85). However, in notes from the late 1960s Tolkien had primitive ✶sinki as an element ✶sinkitamo, the basis for Q. sintamo “smith” (PE17/108). Likewise there is evidence of the earlier root in Q. sinca “flint” as in Q. sincahonda “flint-hearted” (LotR/979), initially given as ᴹQ. tingahondo in Lord of the Rings drafts (SD/68).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would definitely use ✶tink- = “metal”, but I think it is worth keeping ✶sinki = “✱mineral = any inorganic solid including both stone and metal” as a variant.

rauta

root. metal

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s, first glossed “copper” and then “metal”, with derivatives ᴹQ. rauta/N. rhaud “metal” and serving mainly to explain names like N. Angrod and N. Finrod (Ety/RAUTĀ). It might have reappeared in the name S. Rodëol “metal of Eöl” from later Silmarillion drafts (WJ/322), but by 1957 Tolkien was explaining the final element of S. Finrod as S. raud “noble” (PE17/49, 118), so I think it is likely that ᴹ√RAUTA “metal” was abandoned.

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I’d use Q. tinco (LotR/1122) and its cognate [N.] tinc (Ety/TINKŌ) for “metal” words. For “copper” I'd use derivatives of √(U)RUS (VT41/10).

stintā

root. short

akrā

adjective. narrow

andā

adjective. long

dōmilindē

noun. nightingale

ista-

verb. to know

krab

root. press

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “press” used as the basis for the [Noldorin] word for cram (Ety/KRAB). Later Tolkien decided this was a word in the language of the men of Dale; see Wes. cram for discussion.

kundu

root. prince

kur

root. craft

mit

root. small

A deleted root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “small” with various Quenya and Noldorin derivatives of similar meaning (Ety/MIT).

mitra

adjective. small

mālō

noun. friend

sok

root. drink

span

root. white

sug

root. drink

tainā

adjective. long

tang

root. ting (onomatopoeic)

terēn(ē)

adjective. slender

tung

root. ting (onomatopoeic)

winyē

noun. evening

wínda-

verb. fade

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.