I’ve released Eldamo v0.7.9 which collects the discussion of Elvish roots A through M. https://eldamo.org/
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MṆGṆ-MUY
ᴱ√MṆGṆ “*butter” An unglossed root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives ᴱQ. mange “grease” and ᴱQ. manya “butter” (QL/62). G. mang “butter” from the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon is also almost certainly related (GL/56). In Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s Tolkien gave ᴱQ. mingwe “butter” (PE16/141). For purposes
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MI-MIW
√MI/IMI “in, within, [ᴹ√] inside” This invertible root had the basic sense “in(side)” for all of Tolkien’s life. It first appeared as ᴱ√IMI² “in, into” and ᴱ√MĪ² in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. imi “in, inside” and ᴱQ. mitta- “enter” (QL/42, 61). Deleted Gnomish forms
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MEHE-MET
ᴱ√MEHE “(?)ooze, *gore” A root in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s glossed “ooze”, but Tolkien marked that gloss with a “?”, and its Qenya and Gnomish derivatives all had to do with “gore”: ᴱQ. mear, G. †mais, and G. mechor (QL/60; GL/56-57). There are no signs of this root
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MBELEK-(M)BUD
√MBELEK “mighty, powerful, strong; power as force or strength; great, large” The most notable uses of this root were as the basis for the name Q. Melkor and (sometimes) the adjective S. beleg “great”. This root first appeared as ᴱ√mbelek, belek or melek in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s,
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: (M)BAD-MBAW
ᴹ√(M)BAD “duress, prison, doom, hell; *judge” The most notable derivative of this root is Q. Mandos, which in Tolkien’s earlier writings was the name of the Vala, but in later writings technically only the name of his halls. The first iteration of this root was unglossed {ᴱ√MANÐAN >>} ᴱ√Mᵇ(A)NÐ(A)N from
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MAL-MAY
√MAL “yellow, gold” This was the root for Elvish words meaning “yellow” for much of Tolkien’s life, though with some minor variations. It appeared as ᴱ√MALA² “yellow” (usually mali-) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s with derivatives like ᴱQ. malina “yellow” and ᴱQ. malikon “amber” (QL/58). It also appeared
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: MA-MAK
ᴹ√MA “interrogative base; [ᴱ√] root of indef[inite]” This root is the basis for Elvish question words. When it first appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien said ᴱ√MA was the “root of indef[inites]” (GL/55), and it served as the basis for the indefinitive suffix G. -(u)m and ᴱQ.
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LU-LUY
ᴹ√LU “*time” This root and ones like it were the basis for time words throughout Tolkien’s life. The earliest appearance of this root was as ᴱ√LUHU or ᴱ√LU’U (the latter marked by Tolkien with a “?”) in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, unglossed but with derivatives like ᴱQ. lú
Select Primitive Elvish Roots: LOG-LOY
√LOG “wet (and soft), soaked, swampy” Tolkien considered a bewildering variety of roots as the basis for the suffixal element S. -ló “flood” in Sindarin, common in river names such as S. Gwathló and S. Ringló. In a collection of notes associated with the name S. Lhûn from around 1967,