4.24 Mouth
- Q. anto n. “mouth [as a thing for eating]; ⚠️[ᴱQ.] jaw”
- The basic Quenya word for “mouth”, appearing as the name of tengwa #13 (4) in The Lord of the Rings Appendix E (LotR/1123). It is likely derived from the root √MAT “eat” from primitive *amtō, and hence refers to the mouth as a thing for eating. Quenya has a number of other more specialized words for the mouth, however, such as Q. pé for the closed mouth, Q. ópa for the mouth opening, , Q. songa for the interior of the mouth and Q. náva for the entire mouth apparatus (tongue, lips and teeth) used for speech.
Conceptual Development: ᴹQ. anto “mouth” first appeared in notes on The Feanorian Alphabet from the 1940s, where it replaced ᴹQ. anta “jaws” (PE22/50 note #50). In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, ᴱQ. anto (antu-) was itself glossed “jaw” and was based on the early root ᴱ√MATA “eat” (QL/31, 59).
- Q. náva [ñ] n. “*mouth (including tongue, lips and teeth), speech apparatus”
- The word ñáva appeared in notes associated with the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, where it was the basis of several words having to do with consonants: Q. návear “consonants” and Q. ñáva-tengwi “consonants” as the tengwi that were “chiefly dependent on the movements in the mouth (including the lips)” (VT39/8). In drafts of this document, Tolkien instead had pávatengwi based on páva “mouth (including tongue, lips and teeth)” (VT39/19, notes #12 and #13), so presumably its replacement ñáva had a similar meaning.
In notes from around 1964 Tolkien instead had the root √KARAP for the “whole [mouth] apparatus for eating, drinking and speaking, including lips, teeth, cavity with palate and tongue”, along with an apparent noun form Q. karpa, though Tolkien indicated this word was actually used for a “phonetic system”. However, in this note he seemed to have revised {√KARAP >> √PATAK >>} √PAKAT, the last of which only had words for “speech” and not “speech apparatus”.
Neo-Quenya: Since √KARAP >> √PAKAT, for purposes of Neo-Quenya I’d retain ñava and give it the sense of páva for the entire mouth apparatus used for producing speech, and especially for producing consonants. It is likely a technical term, less commonly used than Q. anto “mouth”.
- Q. ópa n. “mouth (opening of which the lips are the edges)”
- A word appearing in some 1964 notes on various elements of the mouth, specifically referring to the “opening of which the lips, or pempi, are the edges”, from the root √OP (PE17/126). Tolkien initially wrote (and then deleted) the form {ōka} and the root {√OK}. This is likely a technical term, as opposed to the more ordinary word for mouth: Q. anto.
Conceptual Development: A similar word ᴱQ. óvo or ó “mouth” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists from the 1920s (PE16/136).
- Q. pé n. “(closed) mouth; the two lips [as dual], ⚠️lip”
- A word for the (closed) mouth (PE21/70; PE17/126) which Tolkien sometimes used as “lip” (VT39/9; VT47/12); see below. Its dual form peu referred to “the two lips, the mouth-opening” (VT39/9), as opposed to a single lip which seems to be Q. pempë (PE17/126).
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, where Tolkien gave ᴱQ. pē “the two lips, the (closed) mouth” from primitive ᴱ√PĒ (QL/72). In the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon, ᴱQ. pê was simply glossed “mouth” and was connected to G. beg “chin” (GL/22), indicating that the early root might actually have been *ᴱ√BĒ since primitive initial voiced stops were unvoiced in Early Qenya.
ᴱQ. pē “mouth” reappeared in a list of body parts from the 1920s (PE14/117), and ᴹQ. pé “mouth” appeared again in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s as an example of vocalic monosyllabic noun from primitive ✶pē (PE21/38); at the beginning of this document the primitive form was glossed “mouth, lips” (PE21/1). In The Etymologies of the 1930s it was ᴹQ. pé “mouth” derived from the root ᴹ√PEG (Ety/PEG); this entry had a difficult-to-read word inserted before its gloss, possibly “outer”, so perhaps the meaning was revised to “outer mouth” (EtyAC/PEG).
In the 1950s and 60s, the word pé was generally derived from √PEÑ (PE19/102; PE21/70; VT39/11). In notes associated with the Quendi and Eldar essay of 1959-60, Q. pē was glossed “lip” and its dual peu referred to “the two lips, the mouth-opening” (VT39/9). In 1964 notes on parts of the mouth Tolkien glossed pē as “the closed mouth” (PE17/126), but in notes from 1968 it was again glossed “lip” (VT47/12). In notes on monosyllabic nouns from this period Tolkien said ✶pē “lip” was a primitive monosyllabic vocalic noun, but that it was reduplicated to ✶pē̆pe (VT47/35). In green-ink revision to Outline of Phonology from around 1970, Tolkien again affirmed the original primitive form was pe(ñ), though the ñ was lost very early (PE19/102 note #102).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would use pé as a word meaning “mouth”, more specifically for “closed mouth” as opposed to the general word for mouth: Q. anto. For a single “lip” I would use pempë, but I would use peu as a dual form indicating both lips, whether open or closed. All these words are in general use, but pé is also used as a technical term in linguistic discussions for the close mouth in formation of consonants such as voiced and voiceless stops.
- Q. songa n. “mouth (interior cavity behind the teeth containing the tongue)”
- A word appearing in some 1964 notes on various elements of the mouth, specifically referring to the “interior cavity behind the teeth, containing tongue”, derived from the root √SOŊ (PE17/126). This is likely a technical term, as opposed to the more ordinary word for mouth: Q. anto.
Conceptual Development: An earlier word for the interior of the mouth was ᴱQ. matu “the mouth (inside)” from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√MATA (QL/59).
- G. gogail n. “mouth”
- A noun appearing as G. gogel “mouth” in The Gnomish Grammar (GG/8) and as {gogel >} gogíl or gogail “mouth” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s (GL/40). In the latter document, Tolkien said it was a combination of G. go- “together” and G. cail “lip”, from more archaic forms gwa-caíl, gwa-cil. An unrelated word G. mem “mouth” also appeared in Gnomish Lexicon (GL/57), perhaps related to G. beg “chin” which Tolkien connected to ᴱQ. pé “(closed) mouth” = “the two lips” (GL/57; QL/72).
Neo-Sindarin: I’ve used these Gnomish words as the inspiration for a neologism ᴺS. gobem “mouth”, based on the (neologism) ᴺS. pemp “lip”, where the reduction of -mp to -m finally is an irregular assimilation to the preceding voiced b: -mp > -mb > -m.