4.17 Horn (animal)
- ᴹQ. hyalma n. “conch, shell, horn of Ulmo”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “shell, conch, horn of Ulmo” derived from primitive ᴹ✶syalmā under the root ᴹ√SYAL (Ety/SYAL). In this document hyalma was given as the name of tengwa #33 (9), and it appeared again as the name of this tengwa in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1930s (PE22/22) and 1940s (PE22/51) with the glosses “conch” and “conch, shell” respectively. In the 1940s document, hyarmen “south” was given as an alternate name of the tengwa, and hyarmen was the name Tolkien used in The Lord of the Rings proper.
- Q. rassë n. “horn [of both animals and mountains]”
- A noun appearing as ᴹQ. rasse “horn” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√RAS “stick up” along with a variant form rasko (Ety/RAS). In that document Tolkien said it was used “especially on living animal, but also applied to mountains”. The word rasse “horn” reappeared on a (rejected) page of verb forms from 1948 (PE22/127 note #152), and again in notes from the 1950s or 60s discussing the mountain name S. Caradhras (PE17/36).
- ᴹQ. tarca n. “horn [of animals]”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “horn” derived from the root ᴹ√TARAK “horn (of animals)” (Ety/TARÁK).
Conceptual Development: A similar noun ᴱQ. taru “horn” appeared in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√TARA² (QL/89). It was also mentioned in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/89).
- N. half n. “seashell”
- A noun in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “seashell” derived from primitive ᴹ✶syalmā under the root ᴹ√SYAL (Ety/SYAL).
- S. rass n. “horn [of both animals and mountains]”
- A noun for “horn” appearing in notes on the name Caradhras “Redhorn” from the 1950s or 60s (PE17/36). This word was an element in other names as well, such as Methedras “Last Peak” and Nimras “White Horn”.
Conceptual Development: This word appeared as N. rhas “horn” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√RAS “stick up” (Ety/RAS). Christopher Tolkien gave it as rhaes in The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road (LR/383), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne corrected this to rhas in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/10). In The Etymologies it appeared beside an alternate form N. rhasg, equivalent to ᴹQ. rasko (Ety/RAS; EtyAC/RAS).
Neo-Sindarin: Some Neo-Sindarin writers adapt its variant form as ᴺS. rasg, but I recommend sticking to attested S. rass for a “horn” of both animals and mountains.
- N. tarag n. “horn; steep mountain peak”
- A noun for “horn” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√TARAK “horn (of animals)” (Ety/TARÁK). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road, Christopher Tolkien wrote that it was also used for “steep mountain pass” (LR/391), but Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne indicated that J.R.R. Tolkien’s actual words were “steep mountain peak” in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies (VT46/17). This word appeared in the name N. Taragaer “Ruddyhorn”, a precursor to Caradhras in Lord of the Rings drafts of the 1940s (RS/419, 433).
Conceptual Development: A similar word G. târ “a horn” appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/69), equivalent to ᴱQ. taru “horn” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon (QL/89).
4.18 Tail
- ᴱQ. pint (pimp-) n. “tail”
- A noun appearing as ᴱQ. pint (pimp-) “tail” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√PIPI “hang, trail” (QL/74).
Neo-Quenya: Helge Fauskanger adopted this word as ᴺQ. pimpë “tail” in his Neo-Quenya New Testament (NQNT), and I agree with this adaptation, since in later Quenya it was less likely final vowels were lost in disyllables.
4.19 Back
- ᴱQ. hakka n. “the hams, buttocks”
- A word appearing as ᴱQ. hakka in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s as a cognate to G. hacha “the hams, buttocks” (GL/47).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would adapt this word as ᴺQ. hacca “the hams, buttocks” from a Neo-Root ᴺ√KHAK “squat”.
- ᴱN. alm n. “back (from shoulder to shoulder), [G.] shoulders”
- The noun G. alm appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s with the glosses “the broad of back from shoulder to shoulder, the back, shoulders” along with a deleted variant {aldum} (GL/19). In this document it was derived from primitive ᴱ✶alđam-, and was clearly related to ᴱQ. al(da)mo “broad of the back” from the contemporaneous Qenya Lexicon under the early root ᴱ√ALA² “spread‽” (QL/29).
The forms alf, alaf appeared in Gnomish Lexicon Slips glossed “the broad of the back from shoulder to shoulder” and with the primitive form ᴱ✶aldǝmā (PE13/109). ᴱN. alm appeared in Early Noldorin Word-lists from the 1920s with the incomplete gloss “back (from shoulder …” (PE13/136). This 1920s document elsewhere had deleted forms {alf, alw} with the full gloss “the back from shoulder to shoulder” (PE13/136).
The deleted forms alf, alw are likely to be later than alm reflecting the Early Noldorin sound change of non-initial m to v (spelt f finally), a sound change that was not a feature of Gnomish as it appeared in the Gnomish Lexicon. These two deleted forms were revised to ᴱN. bost “back from shoulder to shoulder” (suffixal form -mmost), which in turn was related to ᴱN. amoth “shoulder” from primitive ᴱ✶a-mbod-t’ (PE13/137, 139); bost seems to be the last of the “back” words in these Early Noldorin Word-lists.
Neo-Quenya: The early root ᴱ√ALA² “spread‽” was the basis for ᴱQ. alda, which in later writings was derived from ✶galadā. Since it seems the early root ᴱ√ALA² >> √GAL, Gnomish alm and Early Noldorin alf might adapted as ᴺS. galf “back, shoulders” for purposes of Neo-Sindarin, with an original sense of “spread (of the body)”, originally referring to just the shoulders but later the entire back. The sense of the later root √GAL was “grow (like plants), flourish” rather than “spread”, so this is a reach semantically (though not impossible). I would use this word principally for the “back” of a body and the back of the shoulders collectively. I would use ᴺS. amoth for an individual shoulder.
Strictly speaking, ᴱN. bost is a later word for “back” than alm > alf, but I can’t figure out a way to incorporate it into the etymological framework of later versions of Tolkien’s languages, which is why I recommend ᴺS. galf “back” instead.
- G. hacha n. “the hams, buttocks”
- A word appearing as G. hacha “the hams, buttocks” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, with a Qenya cognate ᴱQ. hakka (GL/47).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would adapt this word as ᴺS. hach from a Neo-Root ᴺ√KHAK “squat”.