1.37 Spring, Well
- Q. celussë n. “freshnet, water falling out swiftly from a rocky spring”
- Quenya equivalent of the river name S. Celos, glossed “freshnet, water falling out swiftly from a rocky spring” and derived from a combination of ✶kelu- “flow (swiftly)” and the abstract noun suffix -ssë (UTI/Celos).
- Q. ehtelë n. “spring, issue of water”
- A noun glossed “spring, issue of water”, derived from the primitive form ✶et-kelē, literally “*out-flow”, but in ancient times the [tk] was transposed to [kt] giving ektelē (SA/kel; Ety/KEL). In Quenya, this kt became ht [xt].
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon from the 1910s, this word appeared as ᴱQ. ektele “fountain”, a variant of ᴱQ. kektele (QL/35). This word was mentioned in a number of other documents from this period, including the Gnomish Lexicon (GL/31), the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/46), and the Name-list to the Fall of Gondolin (PE15/23). In Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s it appeared as ᴱQ. ehtil (PE13/136, 158). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it appeared as ᴹQ. ehtele with the gloss and derivation given above (Ety/ET, KEL).
- ᴹQ. ehtelu- vb. “to well, bubble up”
- A verb in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s, a combination of ᴹ✶et “out” and ᴹ✶kelu- “flow, well up” (PE22/103), whose phonological developments mirrored ehtelë.
Conceptual Development: It seems to be a later iteration of (archaic) ᴱQ. †kektelu- “bubble up” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a verb form of ᴱQ. †kektele “fountain” (QL/46).
- ᴹQ. kelure n. “fountain”
- A noun in the Quenya Verbal System of the 1940s glossed “fountain”, derived from the verb ᴹQ. kelu- “spring forth (of water)” and a suffix of general action: ᴹQ. -re (PE22/110).
Conceptual Development: A possible precursor is (archaic) ᴱQ. †kektele “fountain” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a combination of the roots ᴱ√KEKE¹ “bubble up” and ᴱ√KELE “flow” (QL/46), also mentioned in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/46).
- ᴱQ. tampo n. “well”
- A noun in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s given as ᴱQ. tampo “a well”, derived from the root ᴱ√TṂPṂ “build”; Tolkien considered transferring the word to ᴱ√TAPA “*stretch” (QL/93). This word also appeared in the Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/93).
Neo-Quenya: I think ᴺQ. tampo “well” might be salvaged in Neo-Quenya as a derivative of √TAM “construct”; it is used this way in Helge Fauskanger’s Neo-Quenya New Testament (NQNT).
- N. celw n. “spring, source”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s given as N. celw “spring, source” derived from the root ᴹ√KEL “go, run (especially of water), flow away downhill” (Ety/KEL). A similar form G. celu appeared in Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s beside variant celwin, but there it had the gloss “rill, stream, runlet” (GL/25).
Neo-Sindarin: If adapted to Neo-Sindarin, this word would be ᴺS. celu as suggested in Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD).
- N. eithel n. “source, spring, well, [N.] issue of water, fountain”
- A Sindarin noun for a source of water (RC/772). It appeared as an element in several names, such as Mitheithel, the Sindarin name for the river Hoarwell (LotR/200). From its glosses, it seems it could apply to a variety of water sources, including springs, wells and fountains (RC/772, SA/eithel, LR/301). It was derived from the primitive form ✶et-kelē, literally “*out-flow”, but in ancient times the [tk] was transposed to [kt] giving ektelē (SA/kel; Ety/KEL). In Sindarin, this pair of voiceless stops became spirants [xθ], and then the [x] vocalized to [i] to form the diphthong [ei].
Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon from the 1910s, there were two distinct precursors to this word, G. aithl “spring” (GL/18) and G. {ecthel >>} ectheluin “fountain, fount” (GL/31) or ecthelin (GL/25); the latter’s form was ecthel in various name lists form this period (PE13/104; PE15/23). In Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s, there was an additional form ᴱN. eithlos “fountain” with several variants (PE13/142, 158); ᴱN. aithl “spring, fount, source” also reappeared (PE13/136, 158). In The Etymologies from the 1930s, these two forms seem to have merged into N. eithel “spring, issue of water” (Ety/KEL), and this is the source of derivation given above. All of the earlier forms seem to broadly have the same etymology, and so the changes represent the evolving phonetic development of the languages.
- ᴱN. eithla- n. “to spring, well forth”
- A word in the Early Noldorin Dictionary of the 1920s given as an infinitive (and noun) eithlod “springing, welling forth”, simply a verb form of ᴱN. aithl “spring” (PE13/158). There was a similar verb G. aithla- “to spring from, bubble up, etc.” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/18), altered to aithlo- or aithl- in the Gnomish Lexicon Slips revising that document (PE13/18).
Neo-Sindarin: I think this early verb may be salvaged as ᴺS. eithela-, a verb form of S. eithel “source, spring”.
1.38 Whirlpool
- ᴹQ. hwinde n. “eddy, whirlpool”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “eddy, whirlpool” derived from the root ᴹ√SWIN “whirl, eddy” (Ety/SWIN) and the name of the tengwa [#34] (EtyAC/SWES, SWIN). This tengwa also had the name hwinde “eddy” in The Feanorian Alphabet of the 1930s (PE22/22). In The Lord of the Rings Appendix E, it was called hwesta sindarinwa (LotR/1123).
- N. chwinn n. “eddy”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s appearing as N. chwinn “eddy, whirlpool” and derived from the root ᴹ√SWIN “whirl, eddy” (Ety/SWIN). Christopher Tolkien marked it as an “adj.” in The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road, but this was a misreading of the gloss “eddy” as reported by Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne (EtyAC/SWIN). If adapted to Neo-Sindarin, this word would become ᴺS. hwind, as suggested in Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD).