nu

preposition. under, beneath

The usual Quenya word for “under, beneath”, derived from the root √NŪ (LotR/377; MC/222; PE17/64, 66).

Conceptual Development: This word first appeared in drafts of the ᴱQ. Oilima Markirya poem from around 1930. In the initial drafts, it had the form no (PE16/62, 72, 76), but in the version presented in the “A Secret Vice” essay it was nu “under” (MC/214).

ᴹQ. no “under” was restored in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√NŪ̆ (Ety/NU), followed by a parenthetical word nau perhaps indicating its primitive form (EtyAC/NU). However, au > o is pretty implausible as a Quenya phonetic development, and elsewhere Tolkien stuck to nu in his writings from the 1930s forward (LR/56; SD/246).