Sindarin
lass
noun. leaf, leaf; [G.] petal
Cognates
Derivations
Element in
- S. athelas “kingsfoil, a healing herb” ✧ PE17/049; PE22/166
- S. Eryn Lasgalen “Greenwood the Great, (lit.) Wood of Greenleaves”
- S. Finglas “Leaflock” ✧ RC/760
- S. Iorlas
- S. lais geledhion “leaves of trees” ✧ PE17/097
- S. Lasgalen “Green of Leaf”
- S. Mithrellas
- S. Nellas “?Three-leaf”
- ᴺS. parlas “parchment, document”
- ᴺS. suithlas “tea, *(lit.) drink of leaf”
- ᴺS. yllas “tea, *(lit.) drink of leaf”
- ᴺS. tuilas “petal, (lit.) bud-leaf”
Variations
- las(s) ✧ Let/282; RC/760
- las ✧ PE17/062; PE22/166
The basic Sindarin word for “leaf”, derived from the root √LAS (PE17/62, 153; PE22/166). It appeared as both lass and las, but I believe the latter is the suffixal form, the result of the Sindarin sound change whereby final ss shortened in polysyllables (LotR/1115). Its plural form was lais, which is of interest because normally consonant clusters prevent i-intrusion]]; compare nern and resg the plurals of narn and rasg. I am of the opinion that the ss was a particular “weak” cluster and allowed intrusion anyway; see the entry on Sindarin plural nouns for further discussion.
Conceptual Development: G. lass “a leaf” appeared all the way back in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, but there Tolkien said it was sometimes used for “petal” = G. tethlas (GL/52). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s it became ᴱN. lhas “leaf” (PE13/148) and N. lhass “leaf” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶lassē under the root ᴹ√LAS (Ety/LAS¹). These 1920s-30s forms were due to the Noldorin sound change whereby initial l was unvoiced to lh. Tolkien abandoned this sound change in Sindarin of the 1950s and 60s, so that lass “leaf” was restored.