thū

root. blow, cause an air movement, blow, cause an air movement, [ᴹ√] puff

Tolkien used a variety of related roots for “wind” and “breath”, intermingled with the name Q. Súlimo, surname of Manwë. The earliest of these roots was ᴱ√SUHYU “air, breath, exhale, puff” with variants ᴱ√SUHU and ᴱ√SUFU from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, having derivatives like ᴱQ. sú “noise of wind”, ᴱQ. súma “nostril”, and ᴱQ. †súye “air, breezes, winds” (QL/86). Related forms in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon confirm that the root began with S-, such as: G. saul “a great wind”, G. sû, G. and sûtha- “blow (of wind)” (GL/67-68). In Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s Tolkien twice mentioned ᴱ√suru “(to) blow” as the basis for ᴱN. huiriaith “gale” (PE13/148, 163).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien instead had ᴹ√THŪ “puff, blow” with derivatives like ᴹQ. súle/N. thûl “breath” and ᴹQ. súya-/N. thuia- “breathe” (Ety/THŪ). A document grouped with Quenya Notes (QN) from 1957 had an extensive discussion of Q. súlë “spirit; breath” where he gave the root as √THŪ with variant √SŪ (PE17/124). In notes on spirit from 1957, however, Tolkien indicated that √THŪ and √SŪ were similar distinct roots, the former being “blow, cause an air movement” and the latter “blow, move with audible sound (of air)” (NM/237), that is the distinction being the absence or presense of sound. These notes also noted various extensions to these base roots such as √THUS and √SUR of similar meaning (NM/237).

The root √SŪ was mentioned in Notes on Galdriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s, along with extended form √SUR(U) serving as the basis for Q. súrë “wind” (PE17/62). In notes from the late 1960s, ✶sū was mentioned a couple times as an example of an ancient monosyllabic noun with the meaning “(noise of) wind” (VT47/12, 35). In one of these documents Tolkien clarified that base form ✶sū was “used only of the sound of wind; as noun [for actual ‘wind’] + r/l: suli, sur(i)” (VT47/12). Compare Q. súrë above as well as S. sûl “wind” (PE17/15; RC/778).

Thus it seems clear that Tolkien’s later writings, he had two distinct but related roots having to do with the movement of air: √THŪ “blow without sound, breath” and √SŪ “blow with sound, (noise of) wind”.

thus

root. evil mist, fog, darkness; blow, cause an air movement, blow, cause an air movement; [ᴹ√] *smell, stench; [√] evil mist, fog, darkness

thusta-

verb. to send on [a gust of air]

thusya-

verb. to go forth (as an emission)

thūsē

noun. horrible darkness, black mist

thū́lē

noun. blowing forth

thuk

root. resin, gum

lepetā

noun. thumb, ‘picker’; finger

nāpa Reconstructed

noun. thumb, (lit.) picker

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).

thūta-

verb. to send on [a gust of air]

lepe

noun. finger

at(ar)

root. father

As the basis for “father” words, √AT and its extended form √ATAR date all the way back to Tolkien’s earliest ideas. The root itself did not explicitly appear in the Qenya or Gnomish Lexicons of the 1910s, but forms like ᴱQ. atar, G. †ador “father” indicate its presence (QL/33; GL/17). The root ᴹ√ATA “father” did appear in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. atar, N. adar (Ety/ATA) and the base √AT(AR) “father” was mentioned again in late 1960s notes on Eldarin Hands, Fingers and Numerals (VT48/19). In this late period, the Elvish words for “father” remained Q. atar and S. adar (PM/324).

atar

noun. father

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.

leper

noun. finger

lepero

noun. finger

phay

root. spirit, spirit; [ᴹ√] radiate, send out rays of light

When this root first appeared in The Etymologies (Ety/PHAY), it was glossed “radiate, send out rays of light” and its derivatives were consistent with this definition, most notably in N. Feanor “Radiant Sun”. In later writings, this root was instead glossed “spirit” (PM/352), which is the connotation of most of its later derivatives. For example, the later meaning of S. Fëanor was changed to “Spirit of Fire”.

The earlier sense “radiate” probably also survived in Tolkien’s later conception, however. On MR/250, the word Q. fairë “spirit” is said to originally have had the sense “radiance”, which is precisely the meaning that ᴹQ. faire had in The Etymologies. There is also a primitive monosyllable ✶phāy “flame, ray of light” in the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s (OP2: PE19/102). If the root meaning “radiate” remains valid, then the word S. ✱fael “gleam of the sun”, an element of S. Faelivrin “gleam of the sun on the pools of Ivrin” (the second name of Finduilas), might be a derivative of this root.

phut

root. [unglossed]

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

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.

stol

root. helmet

thorono

noun. eagle

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).

ye(l)

root. daughter

The root √YEL was one of several competing Elvish roots for “daughter”. In The Etymologies of the 1930s ᴹ√YEL “daughter” was first used as the basis for ᴹQ. yelde/N. iell “daughter”, but it was deleted (Ety/YEL). N. iell was given a new derivation from ᴹ√SEL-D “child”, by analogy with N. ionn “son” (Ety/SEL-D), while a new Quenya word for “daughter” was introduced: ᴹQ. yende from a feminine variant ᴹ√yēn of ᴹ√YO(N) (Ety/YŌ). Note that ᴹ√SEL-D itself was initially glossed “daughter”, but was changed to “child” and given derivatives for all genders in Quenya: ᴹQ. selda [n.], ᴹQ. selde [f.], and ᴹQ. seldo [m.].

The picture in later writings is also rather muddled. In Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 Tolkien gave sel-de “daughter” (PE17/170), while S. sel(l) = “daughter” appeared in both the King’s Letter from the late 1940s (SD/129) as well as the Túrin Wrapper from the 1950s (VT50/5). The diminutive form for “daughter” appeared as Q. selyë in notes from the late 1960s (VT47/10). In several places Tolkien gave Q. Tindómerel “Daughter of Twilight” as the Quenya equivalent of S. Tinúviel, with the final element being derived from primitive ✶-sel(dĕ) > -rel (Ety/SEL-D; PE19/33, 73; VT47/37).

In this period, however, the more common suffix for “daughter” was Q. -iel as in Q. Elerondiel (S. Elrenniel) “✱Daughter of Elrond” as applied to Arwen (PE17/56) and Q. Uinéniel “Daughter of Uinen” (UT/182). Furthermore, in a list of masculine and feminine suffixes written around 1959, Tolkien gave (primitive?) yē, yel and (Quenya?) yelde for “daughter”, though in that note the feminine patronymic suffixes were revised from {-yel, iel, -yelde >>} -well-, -uell-, -wend-, -wel, and yen was given as another variant (PE17/190). In other notes from the late 1950s associated with “Changes affecting Silmarillion nomenclature”, Tolkien had feminine patronymic suffixes -en, -ien, but said that Quenya used -ielde, -iel (PE17/170).

Neo-Eldarin: All of the above indicates considerable vacillation between √SEL, √YEL, and √YEN for “daughter” words and suffixes in the 1930s to 1960s: of the three Tolkien seem to favor sel- for “daughter” words but -iel for “daughter” suffixes. For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume ᴹ√SEL(D) originally meant “child”, with √YEL an early variant meaning “daughter” under the influence of √YON “son”, especially used as a suffix. However, due to reverse influence Q. seldë and S. sell were early on used to mean “daughter”, with female child = “girl” words becoming Q. nettë and S. neth.

árātō

noun. lord

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).