win

root. young, young, [ᴹ√] new, fresh

Tolkien used a similar set of Elvish roots for “youth” and “freshness” for many years. The earliest of these was primitive guı̯u̯ or gu̯iu̯ [ᴱ√GWIWI] in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like G. gui “just, just now, only just, already”, G. guin “recent, fresh”, and G. gwioth “youth” (GL/42). This root reappeared as ᴹ√WIR “new, fresh, young” in The Etymologies of the 1930s with variants ᴹ√WĪ and ᴹ√WIN and derivatives ᴹQ. vírie “youth” and ᴹQ. virya “fresh” (EtyAC/WIR). The ᴹ√WIN variant had derivatives ᴹQ. vinya/N. gwîn “young”. Tolkien considered, but rejected, deriving these from strengthened ᴹ√GWIN instead, producing (also rejected) ᴹQ. winya/N. bîn (EtyAC/GWIN).

Q. vinya appeared in quite a few later names with the gloss “young” or “new”, but the Sindarin form became S. gwain as in S. Narwain “January, ✱(lit.) New Fire” (LotR/1110) and S. Iarwain “Old-young” (LotR/1114; RC/128). In Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959, both were given as derivatives of √WIN “young” along with Q. víne/S. gwîn “youth”, though the Sindarin word for “young” was given as (archaic?) gwein (PE17/191). Also related are various words for “baby” from 1968 notes such Q. †wine/S. gwinig “little-one, baby” (VT48/6). In these notes primitive wini was glossed “little” but this was deleted (VT47/26), making it likely that the earlier senses “young, new” were restored for √WIN.

As for the 1930s root ᴹ√WIR, it might have survived as an element in the month names Q. Víressë/S. Gwirith “April” (LotR/1110), perhaps meaning “✱freshness”.

wini

noun. child not yet full grown

sū

noun. wind

sūli

noun. wind

sūri

noun. wind

riʒ

root. wind about, wreathe

pir

root. close eyes, blink, wink

A root introduced by Tolkien in Definitive Linguistic Notes (DLN) from 1959 with the gloss “close eyes, blink, wink” to provide a new explanation for the flower name S. alfirin (originally “immortal = not mortal”) after he decided the prefix al- meant “well” rather than “not” (PE17/146). He derived the names Q. pirindë and S. pirin for “a flower that opened and shut quickly with any change of light”. The root ᴱ√PIRI also appeared (unglossed) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. piri- “spin, turn”, ᴱQ. pirin “thin rod, pin” and ᴱQ. piruke “swirl, twisting, pirouetting” (QL/74). Finally, the word Q. pirë “toe” appeared in notes associated with the 1955 version of the poem Q. Nieninquë, perhaps representing a third meaning for this root (PE16/96).

Neo-Eldarin: For purposes of Neo-Eldarin, I think the gloss “blink, wink” for √PIR is not a great fit, since it is a contrived etymology Tolkien invented for a word he clearly meant to be something different originally. Q. tihta- is probably a better known verb for “blink”. For “spin”, I prefer a Neo-Eldarin root ᴺ√KWIR adapted from early ᴱ√QIŘI. However, I think ᴺ√PIR might be retained as a Neo-Root with the sense “✱cylinder”; I think this works as an explanation of Q. pirë “toe”, and allows the retention of early words like ᴱQ. pirin “thin rod, pin” and ᴱQ. pirinumbe “cylinder”.

rig

root. wreathe, twine, wind about; wreath, garland, crown

This root first appeared as unglossed ᴹ√RIG in The Etymologies of the 1930s with derivatives like ᴹQ. ríe/N. rhî “crown” and ᴹQ. rína/N. rhîn “crowned” (Ety/RIG). The root was then altered to ᴹ√RIƷ (EtyAC/RĪ). A similar root √RIK with derivation ✶riknā >> Q. rína (all unglossed) appeared in the first layer of composition for the Outline of Phonology from the early 1950s, but this section was revised in green ink around 1970 and the root did not appear in the revisions (PE19/85-86 and note #79).

The root √RIG appeared a number of times in Tolkien’s writings from the 1950s and 60s, variously glossed “wreath, garland, crown” (PE17/59), “twine” (PE17/182), and “twine, wreathe” (PM/347), but √RIƷ “wind about, wreathe” also appeared in notes on the names of Galadriel and Celeborn from 1968 (NM/349, 353). Thus it seems Tolkien vacillated between √RIG and √RIƷ with a brief aside to √RIK in the early 1950s.

waile

noun. *wind

waiwa(y)

noun. *wind

pir

root. *cylinder; [ᴱ√] spin; [√]close eyes, blink, wink

tini

noun. spark

ay(ar)

root. sea

lub

root. bend

ne

root. scent

A root (?) glossed “scent” appearing in notes on the words and phrases in The Lord of the Rings from the late 1950s or early 1960s, serving in its extended form nes- “sweet smelling” as the basis for Q. alanessë and S. galanes > galenas “tobacco” = “✱sweet smelling growth” (PE17/100). It might be connected to ᴹ√NEÑ “✱nose” from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/NEÑ-WI). Elsewhere the basis for “sweet smelling” seems to be [Q.] nis- (UT/167-8).

nis

root. woman

This root first appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s as ᴹ√NIS “woman”, an extension of ᴹ√NĪ “female” (Ety/NIS). It also had a strengthened form ᴹ√NDIS, unglossed but apparently meaning “bride” based on its derivatives ᴹQ. indis/N. dîs of that meaning (Ety/NDIS). Unstrengthened ᴹ√NIS seems to have survived only in Quenya as the basis for ᴹQ. nis (niss-) “woman”, but this word was also blended with ✱ndis-sē to produce a longer form nisse of the same meaning.

In Tolkien’s later writings, both short Q. nís and longer nissë appeared as words for “woman” (MR/213; VT47/33) and Q. indis reappeared as well, though glossed “wife” (UT/8). As primitive forms, both unstrengthened √nis (VT47/33) and strengthened ✶ndī̆s “woman” also appeared in later writings, the latter given as the feminine equivalent of ✶[[p|n[d]ēr]] “man” (PE19/102).

stīrē

noun. face

uba-

verb. impend,be imminent,approach,draw near

barak

root. wrap

A hypothetical Neo-Root serving as the basis of salvaged Gnomish words brach “shawl, wrap” and braetha- “to wrap, swathe”.

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.