wil

root. fly, float in air

Tolkien used a similar set of Elvish roots for both “air” and “flight” for much of his life. Their earliest manifestation was in a pair of unglossed roots from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s: ᴱ√GWILI with derivatives like ᴱQ. ’wili- “sail, fly, float”, ᴱQ. ’wilin “bird”, and ᴱQ. ’wilwarin “butterfly” (QL/104), versus ᴱ√VILI with derivatives like ᴱQ. vīle “breeze — gentle”, ᴱQ. vilina “airy, breezy, light”, and {ᴱQ. Vilna >>} ᴱQ. Vilya “air (lower)” (QL/101). Both these roots had distinct sets of derivatives in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, such as G. gwail “air”, G. gwil- “sail, float, fly”, and G. gwilbrin “butterfly” < ✶gu̯il {<< u̯il} [ᴱ√GWILI] (GL/45), versus G. bilin(c) “small bird”, G. biltha- “flutter, flit”, and G. blith “air, breeze, zephyr” < ✶bil [ᴱ√VILI] (GL/22-23).

In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien gave the root as ᴹ√WIL “fly, float in air” with derivatives like ᴹQ. vilwa {>> wilma} “(lower) air”, N. gwelw “air”, and ᴹQ. wilwarin/N. gwilwileth “butterfly” (Ety/WIL). Tolkien introduced an alternate root ᴹ√WIS in The Etymologies as the basis for ᴹQ. vista “air as substance” (Ety/WIS), though there are no clear signs of ᴹ√WIS in later writings. However, Tolkien’s continued use of words like Q. vilya “air, sky” and Q. wilwarin “butterfly” (MC/222) indicate the ongoing validity of the root ᴹ√WIL.

Tolkien’s vacillation between w- and v- in Quenya derivatives of this root may indicate a variant strengthened root ✱√GWIL. Tolkien use of vilya/wilya as the name of tengwa #24 [n] (LotR/1123) is a strong indication that the root had an ancient form ✱√GWIL, as this sign is in the quessetéma series of labialized velars. However, it is also possible Tolkien was simply unwilling to abandon well-established forms like wilwarin “butterfly”, and continued to write them with an (archaic) w- rather than the expected v-.

wilwā

noun. air, lower air

berékā

adjective. wild

mrekyā

adjective. wild, fierce

ndak-

verb. will slay thee, I will slay, I will slay thee

rāba

adjective. wild, untamed

tatharē

noun. willow-tree

rab

root. *wild

tathar

root. *willow

álākō

noun. rush, rushing flight, wild wind

dēr

noun. man

eʒ-

verb. to be

galā-

verb. to grow

golā-

verb. to grow

khoth

root. gather

khugan

noun. hound

khyar

root. left hand

A root given as {ᴹ√KHAR >>} ᴹ√KHYAR “left hand” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, associated with ᴹQ. hyarmen/N. harad “south” (Ety/KHYAR). These words for “south” reappeared in The Lord of the Rings (LotR/1115), and the connection between “south” and “left” was reaffirmed in Tolkien’s discussion of the Ambidexters Sentence from the late 1960s, since the Elves aligned the cardinal directions by facing west towards Aman (VT49/6-8).

khōn

noun. heart

kuilez

noun. quiet

orta-

verb. to rise

wegtē

noun. manhood

wis

root. air

wāyā

noun. envelope

yē

root. to be

ē

root. to be

ī

root. to be

kwantā Reconstructed

adjective. full

yan

root. give

A root in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “give” with derivatives ON. yanta- “give” and ᴹQ. Ariante “Day-bringer” (EtyAC/YAN²). Tolkien marked this entry with a “?”, and elsewhere in The Etymologies he derived ᴹQ. anta-/N. anna- “give” from ᴹ√ANA (Ety/ANA¹), so I suspect this root was a transient idea.