undu

adverb. down, under, down, under, [ᴹQ.] beneath

An adverb in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “down, under, beneath” under the root ᴹ√UNU, parallel to amba “up(wards)” (Ety/UNU). It was also used as a prefix meaning “down, under” in unduláve “swallowed = down-licked” from the Namárië “poem” (LotR/377; PE17/72). As a prefix, it had a shorter form un(u)- as in untup- “cover down” (PE17/73) and [ᴹQ.] unutikse “under dot [in writing]” (Ety/TIK).

Conceptual Development: A rejected page of verbal roots from the Quenya Verbal System (QVS) of 1948 had ᴹQ. undu “down from on high” (prefixal form unu-) and ᴹQ. undo “down, low down”, both based on ᴹ√NDŪ (PE22/127).

undu

down, under, beneath

undu adv. (and prep.?) "down, under, beneath" (UNU, VT46:20); prefixundu- "down", in undulávë "down-licked" = covered. (Nam)

undu

down

undulav-

verb. to drown, swallow, submerge, (lit.) lick down, to swallow, *engulf; (lit.) lick down; drown, submerge

A verb whose past form appears in the Namárië poem in the phrase ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë “and all paths are drowned deep in shadow” (LotR/377; RGEO/58). It is a combination of undu “down” and lav- “lick” (PE17/72). Thus, its literal meaning is “lick down” and it has various other less-literal translations such as “swallow, wash down, submerge” (PE17/72).

I suspect this verb is purely poetic and not used in ordinary speech, but if it is used outside of poetry I believe its closest meaning would be “swallow, ✱engulf”. This is because in Notes on Galadriel’s Song (NGS) from the late 1950s or early 1960s Tolkien glossed it “down-lick = swallow” (PE17/72), and similarly translated its past tense as “swallowed (lit. down-licked)” in the prose Namárië from The Road Goes Ever On of 1967 (RGEO/59). In particular, I think the gloss “drowned” in the Namárië poem from The Lord of the Rings is a loose translation.

ar lumbulë undulávë ilyë tier

and (heavy) shadow swallowed (lit. down-licked) all roads

The 11th phrase of the prose Namárië. Tolkien altered the text from the poetic version as follows:

> ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë >> ar lumbulë undulávë ilyë tier

Tolkien simply swapped the subject lumbulë “(heavy) shadow” with the object ilyë tier “all roads” to be consistent with the usual Quenya subject-verb-object word order.

ar ilyë tier undulávë lumbulë

and all paths are drowned deep in shadow

Eleventh line @@@

#lav-

verb. lick

#lav- (1) vb. "lick", pa.t. #lávë in undulávë, see undu (Nam); 1st person aorist lavin "I lick" in the Etymologies(LAB)

untúpa

down-roofs

untúpa vb. "down-roofs" = covers (perhaps for *undutúpa-, cf. undu-). Present tense of untup- with lengthening of the stem vowel and the suffix -a (cf. síla "shines" from sil-)

lav-

verb. lick

sulp-

verb. lick

sulp- vb. "lick" (LT1:266; rather lav- in Tolkien's later Quenya)