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Select Elvish Words 3.25-3.29: Sheep, Ram, Lamb

3.25 Sheep

Q. máma n. “sheep”
A word for “sheep” appearing in the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60 as a derivative of ✶māmā (WJ/395). It appeared again in notes from 1968 as a derivative of ✶mbāba (VT47/35), apparently with some amount of assimilation since the second primitive b > m as suggested by Patrick Wynne (VT47/36).

Conceptual Development: A similar word ᴱQ. moa “sheep” appeared in both the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s, in the former under the entry for the early root ᴱ√MAWA “cry, bleat” (QL/060). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s, the word for “sheep” was instead ᴱQ. sauve (PE16/132).

ᴺS. bam n. “sheep”
A neologism for “sheep” coined by Paul Strack in 2018 specifically for Eldamo, derived from a reduplicated word *mbambā from primitive ✶mbā “sheep”; Q. máma “sheep” shows signs of similar reduplication. This is only one of various possibilities for neologisms for “sheep”: in VinQuettaParma Wiki (VQP) Gábor Lőrinczi suggested ᴺS. maw “sheep” as a direct cognate of Q. máma, and Fiona Jallings suggested ᴺS. *baw as a derivative of ✶mbāba, a primitive form that appeared on VT47/35. Both maw and baw have other meanings in Sindarin, however, so I prefer the somewhat contrived form bam since at least it does not collide with other attested words.

3.26 Ram

ᴺQ. pollo n. “sheep”
A neologism for “ram” coined by Gábor Lőrinczi in VinQuettaParma Wiki (VQP) derived from primitive ✶pollō (PE21/82).
ᴺS. poll n. “sheep”
A neologism for “ram” coined by Gábor Lőrinczi in VinQuettaParma Wiki (VQP) derived from primitive ✶pollō (PE21/82).

3.29 Lamb

ᴱQ. eule n. “lamb”
The word ᴱQ. eule “lamb” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s as a derivative of the early root ᴱ√EWE (QL/36). Unglossed ᴱQ. eulitse seems to be a diminutive form = “*little lamb”

Neo-Quenya: I would retain this word as ᴺQ. eulë for purposes of Neo-Quenya; Helge Fausganger used this word for “lamb” in his Neo-Quenya New Testament (NQNT).

G. iol n. “lamb”
The word G. iol “lamb” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/51), clearly a cognate of ᴱQ. eule of the same meaning from the early root ᴱ√EWE (QL/36), since eu usually became io in Gnomish. G. iolinc “little lamb, lambkin” is a diminutive form (GL/51).

Neo-Sindarin: I would adapt this word as ᴺS. ŷl “lamb” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, since eu usually became ȳ in Sindarin.

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