tur

root. dominate, master, conquer; power [over others], mastery (legitimate or illegitimate), control (of other wills); strong, mighty in power, dominate, master, conquer; power [over others], mastery (legitimate or illegitimate), control (of other wills); strong, mighty in power; [ᴹ√] victory; [ᴱ√] am strong

This root was connected to strength, victory and power for most of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√TURU “am strong” the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. túre “might, strength, power”, ᴱQ. túrin “kingdom”, and ᴱQ. turu- “can, to be able” (QL/95). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon it had derivatives like G. tûr “king” and G. turm “authority, rule; strength” (GL/72).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s it appeared as ᴹ√TUR “power, control, mastery, victory” with derivatives like ᴹQ. taura/N. taur “mighty”, ᴹQ. tur-/N. tortha- “wield, control”, and ᴹQ. túre/N. tûr “mastery, victory” (Ety/TUR). The root √TUR was mentioned regularly in Tolkien’s later writings with glosses like “dominate, master, conquer” (PE17/104), “power” (PE17/113), “strong, mighty (in power)” (PE17/115), and “power of domination or dominion, control of other wills, legitimate or illegitimate mastery” (PE22/151).

turukondō

masculine name. Turukondō

turuk

root. *strong

A root in notes from the late 1960s (PMB) serving as the basis for Q. {turma >>} turko, unglossed but probably meaning “✱stronghold” (PE17/22); it was likely an extension of √TUR “power, mastery”. It was probably also the basis for Q. turka “strong, powerful (in body)” in the name Q. Turkafinwe from 1968 (PM/352). However, in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s, primitive ✶turuk was glossed “stake” (PE22/71).

turū

noun. Great Lord or King

tura-mbar

masculine name. master of fate

turuk

noun. stake

turukāno

masculine name. Ruling Lord

turunku

noun. great stake

neb

root. turn towards (speaker), turn towards (speaker), *front

A root glossed “turn towards (speaker)” appearing in notes on the words and phrases in The Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s serving as the basis for nef “on this (the speaker’s) side” (PE17/27). It replaced a deleted form √NIB, indicating it likely replaced the root ᴹ√NIB “face, front” from The Etymologies of the 1930s which had derivatives like Dor. nef “face”, Dor. nivra- “to face, go forward”, and N. nîf “front, face” (Ety/NIB); the last of these could still be derived from √NEB > nēb > S. nîf.

olā-

verb. to become, come into being, turn into (another state)

taw

root. wood

Tolkien used a similar set of words for “forest” starting with the earliest versions of Elvish, but their derivation evolved somewhat over time. The earliest related root was ᴱ√TAVA “beam” with variant ᴱ√TAFA (the latter marked by Tolkien with a “?” and with no obvious derivatives) from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as the basis for words like ᴱQ. taule “great tree”, ᴱQ. tauno “forest” and ᴱQ. tavar “dale-sprite” (QL/90). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. tavros/G. taur “forest” and G. tavor “wood fay” (GL/69).

ᴱQ. taure “forest” did not appear as an independent word until drafts of the Oilima Markirya from around 1930 (PE16/62; MC/213). Thereafter Tolkien mostly stuck with Q. taurë and N./S. taur for “forest”. In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root ᴹ√TAWAR “wood, forest” (Ety/TÁWAR), though in one place it was ᴹ√TAR (EtyAC/TUR). In notes associated with the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60 Tolkien gave √TAWA “wood”, and in notes on “large & small” roots from 1968 Tolkien had √TAW “wood” (PE17/115).

artaurē

noun. Realm

stir Reconstructed

root. face

The root ✱√STIR is implied by the names Elestirnë “Star-brow” (UT/184) and Carnistir “Red-face” (PM/353), as well as the primitive word ✶stīrē “face” (VT41/10). It is probably an s-fortification of the root TIR “watch”. It likely replaces the root ᴹ√THĒ “look (see or seem)” from The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like N. thio “to seem” and N. thîr “look, face, expression, countenance”, the latter providing an earlier etymology for N. Cranthir “Ruddy-face” (Ety/THĒ). The original gloss of this 1930s root was “perceive, see” (EtyAC/THĒ). This deleted gloss in turn indicates that 1930s ᴹ√THĒ was itself a later iteration of 1910s ᴱ√SEHE [þeχe] from the Qenya Lexicon, which was mostly connected to eye-words but also had derivatives like ᴱQ. sehta-/G. thê- “see” (PE12/21; QL/82; GL/72); see the entry √KHEN for the later derivation of eye-words.

waile

noun. *wind

waiwa(y)

noun. *wind

gō

preposition. from

stīrē

noun. face

sūli

noun. wind

thandā

noun. shield

barathī

noun. queen

bel

root. *strong, [ᴹ√] strong

The root √BEL “strong” has a long history in Tolkien’s writing. Its most notable derivative is S. beleg “great, mighty”. This word dates back all the way to the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where G. beleg already had this meaning (GL/22). In this document, its Qenya equivalent was ᴱQ. velike, meaning the early root must have been ✱ᴱ√ɃELE: in Early Quenya, ancient initial ƀ- > v- but initial b- > p-.

The root ᴹ√BEL appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with the gloss “strong” and a number of Noldorin, Telerin and Ilkorin derivatives starting with bel- and having to do with strength (Ety/BEL). In the 1930s this root had no Quenya derivatives. The root √BEL reappeared in a list of “large & small” roots from around 1968, where it had the variant √MBEL and was also used in its extended form √MBELEK as the basis for the Quenya name Q. Melkor (PE17/115). This extended form was also given as the basis for S. beleg in these notes, which was given the glosses “large, great” implying the root had as much to do with size as strength.

This note indicates that S. beleg began with an ancient nasalized stop, but various mutations elsewhere in the corpus imply this was not the case, such as the soft mutation in S. Cûl Veleg “Bigload” (RC/536) and the nasal mutation in S. Taur-i-Melegyrn “Forest of the Great Trees” (WJ/185). I suspect the ancient strengthening of initial b- to mb- must have been limited to the Quenya branch of the language; see the √MBELEK for further discussion.

khag

root. stake

khaw

root. big

mbel

root. *strong

rik

root. twist, twist; [ᴹ√] jerk, sudden move, flirt

This root first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√RIQI or ᴱ√RIKI in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives ᴱQ. riqi- “wrench, twist” and ᴱQ. marikta “wrist” (QL/80). This root also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such G. raig “awry, twisted, distorted, perverse, wrong, leering (of face)”, G. rig “a snarl, a sneer”, and G. rig- “twist, contort” (GL/64-65). These forms were also linked to G. grinn “ankle (talgrin), wrist (mabrin)” (GL/42) and G. arc “fierce, harsh, ill tempered; awkward, difficult” < ᴱ✶r̄k- (GL/20). The latter reappeared as ᴱN. arch “rough, fierce” >> “rough” in Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s (GL/137), though in the somewhat later Early Noldorin Dictionary, ᴱN. arch “rough” was given a new derivation from ᴱ✶a-rak-wa (PE13/160), and thus was no longer tied to ᴱ√RIKI.

The root ᴹ√RIK reappeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s (EtyAC/RIK(H)) but it was revised to ᴹ√RIK(H) “jerk, sudden move, flirt” with derivatives like ᴹQ. rinke “flourish, quick stroke” and ᴹQ. rihta-/N. rhitha- “jerk, twitch” (Ety/RIK(H)). In notes from 1959-60 the root appeared again as √RIK “twist” with a single derivative Q. raika “crooked” (VT39/7), a word that in The Etymologies of the 1930s was derived from ᴹ√RAYAK. This 1959-60 appearance seems to be harkening back to its meaning in the 1910s.

stal

root. strong

The unglossed root ᴹ√STALAG appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like N. thala “stalwart, steady, firm” and N. thalion “hero, dauntless man” (Ety/STÁLAG), the latter a sobriquet of Húrin typically translated as “Steadfast” in the narratives themselves (S/199). Similar forms appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s derived from the primitive form ᴱ✶stalga (PE13/153).

The root √STAL “strong” was mentioned in passing as the basis for the adjective Q. astalda in a rejected page associated with roots having to do with “large & small” words, probably from the late 1960s (PE17/115; VT47/26 note #26). The name Q. Astaldo “Valiant” appeared as a sobriquet of Tulkas in later versions of The Silmarillion (S/28), replacing the earlier name Q. Poldórëa of similar meaning (MR/146, 149; LR/206). For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume √STAL (and its derivatives) means “✱valiant” rather than “strong”.

sū

noun. wind

sūri

noun. wind

tawinā

adjective. wood

te

pronoun. they

¤kurwē

noun. power, ability

árātō

noun. lord

ăwă

preposition. from

ʒō

preposition. from