wā

root. blow

wath

noun. wath

wan

root. depart, go away, disappear, vanish

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “depart, go away, disappear, vanish” with derivatives like ᴹQ. vanwa “gone, departed, vanished, lost, past” and N. gwann “departed, dead” (Ety/WAN). It was revised in pencil to ᴹ√VAN. The 1930s root is probably a later iteration of unglossed ᴱ√VAHA in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s which was an elaboration of ᴱ√AVA “go away, depart, leave”, and had derivatives like ᴱQ. vand- “way, path”, ᴱQ. vandl “staff”, and ᴱQ. vanwa “gone, on the road, past, over, lost” (QL/99). It also had derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon such as G. bâ “away, off”, G. bad- “travel”, and G. bang “staff” (GL/21).

In later writings, Q. vanwa was derived from the invertible root √WĀ/AWA; in the 1930s there is no indication that ᴹ√AWA “away” was invertible, so perhaps inversion √WĀ (WJ/366) can be considered the conceptual descendant of ᴹ√WAN and ᴱ√VAHA. For a time in the 1940s and 1950s, Q. vanwa was derived instead from √BA(N) “go, proceed” (PE22/97; PE17/16), but this root was abandoned in 1959. Thus, perhaps the full evolution was 1910s ᴱ√VAHA >> 1930s ᴹ√WAN >> ᴹ√VAN >> 1940s-50s √BA(N) >> 1960s √WĀ.

war

root. give way, yield, not endure, let down, betray

A (Noldorin only?) root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “give way, yield, not endure, let down, betray” with derivatives like N. awarth “abandonment”, N. gwarth “betrayer”, and N. gweria- “betray” (Ety/WAR). Tolkien said it was the opposite of ᴹ√BOR “endure” (EtyAC/WAR) which had various Noldorin derivatives having to do with loyalty (Ety/BOR).

waʒ

root. stain, soil

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “stain, soil” with derivatives like ᴹQ. vakse/N. gwass “stain” and ᴹQ. vára/N. gwaur “soiled, dirty” (Ety/WAƷ). Tolkien also gave it an alternate form ᴹ√VAG (EtyAC/WAƷ). The 1930s name N. Iarwath or Iarwaeth “Blood-stained” was based on this root (Ety/WAƷ, YAR; WJ/83). In the 1950s Tolkien change this name to S. Agarwaen (WJ/142), and the second element of this name (S. ✱gwaen) might still be based on ᴹ√WAƷ.

way

root. enfold

The earliest iteration of this root was ᴱ√VAẎA “enfold, wind about” from the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. vaile “covering”, ᴱQ. vaima “wrap, robe”, and ᴱQ. vaita- “wrap” (QL/100). The contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon had derivatives like G. baidha- “clothe”, G. bail “sheath, case, cover; pod”, and G. bain “clad”, based on the primitive form Baʒ̔- (GL/21). This likely meant the medial consonant of the root was actually the voiced palatal spirant [ʝ], which Tolkien generally represented as ẏ in Qenya roots (PE12/15-16).

{ᴱN. bain >>} ᴱN. bai “clad” and ᴱN. bail “sheath” from Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s were probably related (PE13/138). In The Etymologies from the 1930s the root appeared as ᴹ√WAY “enfold” with derivatives like ᴹQ. vaita-/N. gwaeda- “enfold” and N. ui “envelope” (Ety/WAY; EtyAC/WAY). In this entry the form was revised to ᴹ√VAY (Ety/WAY). Tolkien also indicated that it was “confused in later Q with BAYA”, perhaps an attempt to salvage the bai- forms of Gnomish and Early Noldorin, but this sentence was struck out and there is no other sign of ᴹ√BAY in The Etymologies.

Neo-Eldarin: In The Etymologies, the Noldorin words for “clothing” seem to have moved to a new root, ᴹ√KHAP “enfold”, but this root had no Quenya derivatives. I think it is best to reconceive of the Early Qenya derivatives of ᴱ√VAẎA related to “clothing” as derivatives of ᴹ√WAY instead. The Gnomish derivatives of ᴱ√VAẎA can’t be easily salvaged, however, since the later roots changed to make it difficult produce their initial b.

wad

root. err, stray

In the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s, Tolkien gave the verbal root {ᴹ√MAD >>} ᴹ√WAD “err, stray” as the basis {ᴹQ. mare >>} ᴹQ. ware “err” (PE22/102), but neither the root nor the verb seem to be mentioned anywhere else.

wahsē

noun. stain

wahtā-

verb. to soil, stain

wahtē

noun. a stain

wath

root. shade

waʒrā

adjective. soiled, dirty

wān

noun. goose

waiwa

root. blow

wanōrō

noun. one of kin

wannā

adjective. departed, dead

wanta-

verb. to depart, die

wanwē

noun. death

waw

root. blow

gengwa

root. sick

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “sick” with derivatives ᴹQ. engwa/N. gem “sickly” (Ety/GENG-WĀ). It was given as ᴹ√GENG-WĀ, and thus represented an extension of an otherwise unattested root ᴹ√GENG. In the entry for ᴹ√YEN from The Etymologies it appeared as ᴹ√GEM in the discussion of N. ingem “old, (lit.) year-sick” (EtyAC/YEN), but I believe this represents the Noldorin phonetic developments of the true primitive form rather than a conceptual variation. The continued appearance of Q. Engwar in The Silmarillion narratives of the 1950s and 60s hints that this root may have remained valid as well.

kalpa

root. water-vessel

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “water-vessel”, with derivatives ᴹQ. kalpa/N. calf “water-vessel, bucket”, as well as ᴹQ. kalpa- “draw water, scoop out, bale out” (Ety/KALPA). It is a later iteration of ᴱ√KḶPḶ from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “hold, contains (esp. of liquids)”, with functionally identical noun forms ᴱQ. kalpa/G. calph “bucket, vessel”, but a different verb form ᴱQ. kulp- due to variations in how syllabic ḷ developed in Early Qenya (QL/47; GL/25). It illustrates how early roots with syllabic consonants from the 1910s were sometimes transformed later into KALTA-stem roots.

rat

root. walk, go in a line (as a road), go in a line (as a road), walk

lauka

adjective. warm

law

root. warm; abound

ndākō

noun. warrior, soldier

nendā

adjective. watery, wet

nē̆n

noun. water

rambā

noun. wall

ran

root. wander, stray

tir

root. watch, guard

nē

adverb. was; then, ago

dar

root. stay, wait, stop, remain

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “stay, wait, stop, remain” with derivatives N. dar- “stop, halt” and N. dartha- “wait, stay, remain, last, endure” (Ety/DAR). Given the appearances of the command S. daro in The Lord of the Rings, unglossed but clearly meaning “stop!” or “halt!”, this root almost certainly survived in Tolkien’s later conceptions (LotR/342). It was probably also the basis of the words Q. lár/S. daur “league”, which Tolkien said originally meant “stop, pause” (UT/279).

mer

root. wish (for), want, desire

In The Etymologies of the 1930s there were two roots: unstrengthened ᴹ√MER “wish, desire, want” and strengthened ᴹ√MBER, unglossed but with derivatives like ᴹQ. meren(de)/N. bereth “feast, festival” and ᴹQ. merya/N. beren “festive, gay, joyous” (Ety/MBER, MER). It is not clear whether Tolkien intended these roots to be related; the entry for ᴹ√MBER first gave the root as ᴹ√MER with N. mereth and meren, only to change it to ᴹ√MBER, N. bereth and beren when ᴹ√MER “wish, desire, want” was introduced (Ety/MBER; EtyAC/MBER).

In both earlier and contemporaneous Silmarillion drafts of the 1930s, however, Tolkien used N. Mereth Aderthad for “Feast of Reuniting” (SM/329; LR/126, 253) and continued to use S. Mereth Aderthad in the Silmarillion narratives of the 1950s and 60s (S/113; WJ/34). Possibly also related was the revision of the name Beril “Rose” to S. Meril in the unpublished epilogue to The Lord of the Ring written from the end of the 1940s (SD/117; SD/126). Conversely, {√MED >>} √MER “wish for, want” appeared in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s (PE22/102; 103 note #23) and Q. mer- “hope” appeared in the so-called “Merin Sentence”: Q. merin sa haryalyë alassë nó vanyalyë Ambarello “I hope that you have happiness before you pass from the world”, of unknown date but certainly written after the 1st edition of The Lord of the Rings (MS).

Thus it seems Tolkien merged ᴹ√MBER back into ᴹ√MER, though the meaning of the combined root isn’t clear given its various derivatives with senses like “feast”, “rose” and “wish, hope”. The last of these probably remained the core meaning, perhaps with “festive” extrapolated from “hopeful”.

mis

root. go free, stray, wander

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “go free, stray, wander”, with derivatives like ᴹQ. mista-/N. mista- “stray (about)”, ᴹQ. mirima “free” and N. mist “error, wandering” (Ety/MIS). It was originally just glossed “free” (EtyAC/MIS).

rab

root. *wall

In The Etymologies as published by Christopher Tolkien in The Lost Road, this “root” is given as RAMBĀ (Ety/RAMBĀ). However, Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne clarified that the root form was actually given as RAB⁽²⁾, and ᴹ✶rambā is simply the primitive form of ᴹQ. ramba/N. rham “wall” (EtyAC/RAMBĀ). The root form ᴹ√RAB² is consistent with other derivatives of the root: ᴹQ. ráva/N. rhaw “bank (especially of a river)”. Tolkien’s continued use of S. ram for “wall” in later writings (S/122; RC/512) indicates the ongoing validity of at least the strengthened form of this root.

skor

root. look out for, expect, wait for

A root appearing in the Quenya Verbal System from the 1940s given as {skop >> kop >>} skor “look out for, expect, wait for” serving as the basis for the verb {hopa- >> kopa- >>} ᴹQ. hora- “wait for” (PE22/113).

thur

root. surround, fence, ward, hedge in, secrete

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “surround, fence, ward, hedge in, secrete”, with derivatives like N. thora- “fence” and Ilk. thúren “guarded, hidden”, the latter serving as an element in the names Ilk. Thuringwethil “(Woman of) Secret Shadow” and Ilk. Garthurian “Hidden Realm” (Ety/THUR). Both these names survived in later versions of The Silmarillion (S/178; WJ/189), and later names like S. Thurin “Secret” and S. Thuringud “Hidden Foe” (UT/157; WJ/256) imply the ongoing validity of this root, though the survival of u in S. thurin is rather mysterious; David Salo suggested the ancient form might originally have been thūrin(e) (GS/291).

The earliest precursor to Garthurian was G. Gar Furion “Secret Place” from the 1910s (PE13/102; PE15/24), which was based on the unglossed root ᴱ√FURU or ᴱ√HURU from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. furin/G. furion “secret, hidden, concealed” and Q. furu/G. fûr “a lie” (QL/39; GL/36). In the Lost Tales of this period, Tolkien changed {G. Gar Furion >>} G. Gar Thurion (LT2/202), so it seems the shift from ᴱ√FURU >> ✱√ÞURU was very early.

berō

noun. valiant man, warrior

et-kuiwē

noun. awakening

len

root. (?road), way

mbakhā

noun. article (for exchange), ware, thing

nen

root. *water

oktā

noun. strife, war

ramya-

verb. to fly, sail; to wander

skorā-

verb. look out for, expect, wait for

teʒē

noun. path, course, line, direction, way

wegō

suffix. man; warrior

thindi

adjective. pallid, grey, wan

tirnō̆ Reconstructed

noun. watcher

ar

root. day

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “day” with various derivatives like ᴹQ. are, N. aur “day” and ᴹQ. arin “morning” (Ety/AR¹). In Tolkien’s later writings, the Quenya word for “day” became aurë (RC/727; S/190), and in 1957 Quenya Notes he devised a new etymology for these day-words from the root √UR “heat” as in ✶auri “heat, period of sun” (PE17/148). That opens the question whether the various 1930s Quenya “morning” words from ᴹ√AR remain valid, but many Neo-Quenya writers (including me) retain them since there aren’t really any good alternatives. They might be salvageable as derivatives of the later root √AS “warmth” (so that “day” = “hot” and “morning” = “warm”).

galad

root. tree

The basis for Elvish “tree” words, this root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as an extension of ᴹ√GALA “thrive” (Ety/GALAD). This replaced the earliest derivation of “tree” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where the Qenya word for “tree” ᴱQ. alda was derived from ᴱ√ALA “spread” (QL/29). In The Etymologies, the Quenya form of this word remained the same, but the 1910s Gnomish words G. âl “wood” and †alwen “tree” (GL/19) became the 1930s Noldorin word N. galadh “tree” (Ety/GALA). Quenya and Sindarin retained these words for “tree” thereafter, and while Tolkien did not mention the root √GALAD again, his continued use of primitive ✶galadā “tree” (Let/426; PE17/153; PE21/74; UT/266) made it clear this root remained valid.

sab

root. juice

This root was one of a surprisingly large number of roots Tolkien used for “juice”, appearing as ᴹ√SAB in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives ᴹQ. sáva/N. saw “juice” (Ety/SAB). It might be a variant of (hypothetical) early root ✱ᴱ√WASA needed to explain the forms G. gwâs and ᴱQ. vasa “juice” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/44). The primitive form ᴹ✶sāba also appeared in a rough 1940 note with the word N. iofog “fruit drink”, though Tolkien ultimately decided the second element was derived from ᴹ√SUK “drink” (TMME/53).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I would assume this root refers mainly fruit juice and pulp, as opposed to syrup and tree sap which would be derived from ᴹ√PIS.

wo

root. together

smal

root. yellow

wāyā

noun. envelope

wāyārō

masculine name. Wāyārō

ay(ar)

root. sea

golbā

noun. branch

kelun

noun. river

lan

root. weave

lin

root. sing

mat-

verb. to eat

nay

root. lament

phal

root. foam

ranā

proper name. Moon

smalinā

adjective. yellow

smalwā

adjective. fallow, pale

solos

noun. surf

tor

root. brother

Tolkien gave this root in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√TOR “brother” with derivatives like ᴹQ. toron and N. tôr of the same meaning (Ety/TOR). Hints of the roots continued use appear in the 1959 term Q. melotorni “love-brothers” for close male friends (NM/20). In notes from the late 1960s, Tolkien gave Q. háno and S. hanar as the words for “brother”, both from the root √KHAN. Nevertheless, I think it is worth retaining ᴹ√TOR to represent more abstract notions of “brotherhood” for the purposes of Neo-Eldarin, for “metaphorical” brothers as opposed to Q. háno/S. hanar for brothers by blood.

vaiā

noun. sea

wǣdē

noun. bond, troth, compact, oath

-iyē

suffix. gerund, -ing

al

prefix. without

anār

noun. Sun

ari

noun. day

berékā

adjective. wild

bányā

adjective. beautiful

danta-

verb. fall

day

root. shadow

dēr

noun. man

eʒ-

verb. to be

galadā

noun. tree

ithil

noun. moon

kalrondō

noun. hero

khap

root. enfold

makla

noun. sword

mat

root. eat

mbar-

verb. to dwell

mizdā

adjective. wet

morókō

noun. bear

neth

root. young

nethrā

adjective. young

ni

pronoun. I

nāyǝ

noun. lament

orta-

verb. to rise

parkā

adjective. dry

ruskā

adjective. brown

rāmā

noun. wing

sir

root. flow

span

root. white

turumbē

noun. shield

turumā

noun. shield

vag

root. stain, soil

wedā

noun. bond

weirē

feminine name. Weaver

wínda-

verb. fade

wō̆-

prefix. together

yē

root. to be

ē

root. to be

ī

root. to be