ur

root. heat, be hot

This root was connected to “heat” for most of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as unglossed ᴱ√URU in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, with derivatives like ᴱQ. úrin “(blazing) hot”, ᴱQ. uru “fire”, G. urin “hot, very hot”, and G. urna- “blaze, burn” (QL/98; GL/75). In this early period it was blended with the root ᴱ√UŘU with variant ᴱ√USU which had derivatives like ᴱQ. urna “oven” and ᴱQ. usta- “burn” (QL/98). This second root had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. gund “boil, pus” and gusta- “burn, destroy” from primitive ✱gudh (GL/42), indicating the actual root form was ✱ᴱ√ƷUÐU.

✱ᴱ√ƷUÐU seems to have been abandoned in Tolkien’s later writings, but ᴹ√UR “be hot” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. úr/N. ûr “fire” and ᴹQ. urya- “blaze” (Ety/UR). This entry was deleted and replaced by ᴹ√UR “wide, large, great”. This was likely a transient change, however, as ᴹQ. Úrin as a name of the Sun remained in contemporaneous Silmarillion drafts (LR/240). Indeed primitive √UR appeared several times in later writings as the basis for words for “sunlight”, “fire” and “heat” (PE17/120, 148; PE21/71; PE22/160).

Derivatives

• Ad. ûri “sun”
  • Wes. uir “sun” ✧ SD/306
• ✶auri “heat, period of sun” ✧ PE17/148
  • Q. aurë “day (as opposed to night), daylight, sunlight, morning, day (as opposed to night), daylight, morning; sunlight, [ᴱQ.] sunshine, gold light, warmth” ✧ PE17/148
  • S. aur “(whole) day, (whole) day, sunlight, [N.] morning” ✧ PE17/148
• ✶ūr “a fire (on hearth)”
  • S. ûr “fire, fire; [ᴱN.] sun” ✧ PE21/71
• Q. aurë “day (as opposed to night), daylight, sunlight, morning, day (as opposed to night), daylight, morning; sunlight, [ᴱQ.] sunshine, gold light, warmth” ✧ PE17/120; SA/ur
• Q. úrë “heat”
• Q. Úrimë “August, *Hot-one” ✧ SA/ur
• Q. Úr(in) “Sun” ✧ PE17/148
• ᴺQ. úrin “(blazing) hot”
• ᴺQ. urna “oven”
• ᴺQ. urta- “to burn”
• ᴺQ. urwa “on fire, afire”
• Q. urya- “to be hot, to be hot; [ᴹQ.] to blaze, [ᴱQ.] burn (intransitive)” ✧ PE17/148
• ᴺS. ora- “to heat up”
• ᴺS. orna- “to burn (tr. and intr.)”
• S. uir “*fiery”
• ᴺS. uru “brazier, grate”
• S. Urui “August, *Hot-one” ✧ SA/ur

Element in

• Q. urulócë “fire-serpent, fire-drake, fire-serpent, fire-drake, [ᴹQ.] fire-dragon” ✧ SA/ur
• ᴺQ. ur(u)ma “coal, charcoal”
• ᴺS. ordh “boil, pus”

Variations

• ur- ✧ PE17/120; SA/ur

ūr

noun. a fire (on hearth)

Derivations

• √UR “heat, be hot”

Derivatives

• S. ûr “fire, fire; [ᴱN.] sun” ✧ PE21/71

anār

noun. Sun

Derivations

• √NAR “fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame”

Derivatives

• Q. Anar “Sun” ✧ SA/nár
• S. Anor “Sun” ✧ SA/nár

Variations

• (a)nar ✧ SA/nár

nar

root. fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame

A root for “fire” first appearing as ᴹ√NAR “flame, fire” in The Etymologies of the 1930s along with derivatives like ᴹQ. nár(e)/N. naur “flame” (Ety/NAR¹). There was also an augmented variant ᴹ√ANÁR that served as the basis for “Sun” words: ᴹQ. Anar and N. Anor (Ety/ANÁR). These roots and the various derivatives continued to appear in Tolkien’s later writings in the 1950s and 60s (PE17/38; Let/425), and in one place Tolkien specified that nār- was “fire as an element” as opposed to √RUYU for an actual blaze.

Derivatives

• ✶Anār “Sun”
  • Q. Anar “Sun” ✧ SA/nár
  • S. Anor “Sun” ✧ SA/nár
• ✶nāro “fire”
• Q. Anar “Sun” ✧ Let/425; PE17/038
• Q. nár “fire (as an element), fire (as an element); [ᴹQ.] flame” ✧ PE17/038
• Q. Naira
• S. Anor “Sun” ✧ PE17/038
• S. naur “fire, fire, [N.] flame” ✧ PE17/038

Element in

• Q. Narsil “Red and White Flame” ✧ Let/425; PE17/038
• Q. Narsilion “(Song) of the Sun and Moon”
• S. narthan “beacon”

Variations

• (A)NAR ✧ PE17/038; PE17/147

nāro

noun. fire

Derivations

• √NAR “fire, fire, [ᴹ√] flame”

Element in

• ✶Phayanāro “Spirit of Fire” ✧ PE17/039

yad

root. wide