4.25 Lip
- Q. pempë n. “lip”
- A word for “lip” appearing only in its plural form pempi in 1964 notes on the parts of the mouth, where it was related to Q. pé “the closed mouth” (PE17/126). In 1968 notes on monosyllabic nouns, Tolkien said the primitive ✶pē “lip” was reduplicated to ✶pē̆pe; this is likely connected to an irregular plural form péti in the (untranslated) phrase et i péti “*out of the mouth/lips”, with dissimilation of the second p to t as suggested by Patrick Wynne (VT47/35): *pēpi > péti. The 1964 form pempe is probably also the result of reduplication, likely *peñ-peñ > pempe(ñ), since √PEÑ was the usual root for “lip” (PE21/70; PE19/102).
Conceptual Development: The earliest “lip” word was ᴱQ. kilme from the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s under the early root ᴱ√KILI “edge” (QL/46), a form also appearing in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa (PME/46). A similar form ᴱQ. kilma “lip” appeared in a list of body parts from the 1920s, along with an alternate word ᴱQ. kaile “lip” (PE14/117). There no signs of these early lip-words after that point.
Neo-Quenya: Tolkien also sometimes used Q. pé for “lip”; see that entry for discussion. For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I recommend using Q. pé mainly for “closed mouth” and pempë for a single “lip”. However, the dual form peu of pé was used of “the two lips, the mouth-opening” (VT39/9), which I would use for “a pair of lips for one person (open or closed)”, functioning as an irregular dual of pempë.
4.26 Tongue
- Q. lamba n. “(physical) tongue”
- A word for the physical tongue appearing in the Quendi and Eldar essay from 1959-60, derived from primitive ✶lab-mā = “*lick-thing” (WJ/394, 416). It was distinct from Q. lambë “tongue” = “language” (WJ/394). ᴹQ. lamba “tongue” also appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√LAB “lick” (Ety/LAB), where it was likewise distinct from ᴹQ. lambe “language”, as in ᴹQ. parmalambe “book-language” (Ety/PAR).
- S. lammen adj. “of tongue, spoken with tongue”
- An adjective for “of tongue, spoken with tongue” appearing in notes on Words, Phrases and Passages from The Lord of the Rings (PE17/46). In Notes on Names (NN) from 1957 Tolkien instead gave lammen as the first singular possessive (“my”) form of S. lam “tongue” as part of a paradigm of possessive suffixes (PE17/46), which is more consistent with the translation “of my tongue” from The Lord of the Rings in the phrase fennas nogothrim, lasto beth lammen (LotR/307). These possessive suffixes are difficult to use, however, so for purposes of Neo-Sindarin I would use the version of the phrase in which lammen is a simple adjective with “my” implied rather than explicit; see the discussion of Sindarin possessive pronouns for more information.
4.27 Tooth
- Q. carca n. “fang, [ᴹQ.] tooth, [ᴱQ.] tusk; ⚠️[Q.] rock”
- A word for “fang” (CA/carak), “tooth” (Ety/KARAK), or “tusk” (QL/48), derived from the root √KARAK of similar meaning (Ety/KARAK). In the Markirya poem from the 1960s, this word was used for “rocks” in the phrase ninqui carcar yarra “the white rocks snarling” (MC/222), but very likely this use was metaphorical for sharp rocks; in the version of the poem from around 1930, the phrase used the more ordinary word for “rocks”: ᴱQ. ondoli (MC/213). Likely the word carca is used mainly for the sharp teeth (fangs) of carnivorous animals, as opposed to ᴹQ. nelet (nelc-) as the more ordinary word for “tooth”.
Conceptual Development: The word ᴱQ. karka dates all the way back to the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s where it was glossed “fang, tooth, tusk” and derived from the early root ᴱ√KṚKṚ (QL/48). It also appeared in the contemporaneous Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa with the gloss “fang” (PME/48). ᴹQ. karka “tooth” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KARAK “sharp fang, spike, tooth” (Ety/KARAK); an earlier version of this entry gave the root (and karka?) the glosses “tooth, spike, peak” (EtyAC/KARAK).
The noun carca is only directly attested in later writings in the 1960s Markirya poem, as noted above, but other √KARAK derivatives appeared regularly in the 1950s and 60s, such as S. carch “fang” and S. carach “jaws”.
- ᴹQ. karkane n. “row of teeth”
- A word for a “row of teeth” in The Etymologies of the 1930s, an elaboration of ᴹQ. karka “tooth” (Ety/KARAK).
- ᴹQ. nelet (nelk-) n. “tooth”
- The normal Quenya word for “tooth”, appearing in The Etymologies written around 1937 derived from the root ᴹ√NELEK of the same meaning (Ety/NÉL-EK), where the final k became t. Its plural form nelki [nelci] indicates a stem form of nelk- [nelc-], since in most inflected forms the word would undergo the Quenya syncope and loose the second e. A variant form nelke (EtyAC/NÉL-EK) may reflect a reformation to align with those inflected forms.
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien had ᴱQ. nele (neli-) “tooth” under the early root ᴱ√NELE (QL/65), a word also mentioned in the contemporaneous Gnomish Lexicon (PME/65). In Early Qenya Word-lists of the 1920s Tolkien instead had ᴱQ. nyat “tooth” (PE16/136), but that seems to have been a transient idea. ᴹQ. nelet first appeared in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from 1936 alongside variant nelke, but it was replaced by nele and then later nelke was deleted as well (PE21/56 and note #12). Both nelet and variant nelke were restored in The Etymologies (see above).
Primitive √nelek “tooth” was mentioned in Common Eldarin: Noun Structure from the early 1950s, but its Quenya derivatives were not listed.
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I’d use nelet (nelc-) “tooth” as the traditional form of this word, with nelcë as a modern variant with more regular inflections.
- S. carch n. “fang, ⚠️[N.] tooth”
- The Sindarin word for “fang” (SA/carak), most notably appearing as an element in the names like S. Carchost “Fang Fort” (RC/601) and S. Carcharoth “Red Maw” (S/180), perhaps more literally “*Great Red Fang”. In The Etymologies of the 1930s, N. carch was glossed “tooth, fang” under the root ᴹ√KARAK “sharp fang, spike, tooth” (Ety/KARAK). For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use the word carch exclusively for the sharp teeth of animals (“fang”) and for “tooth” I’d use [N.] nêl or neleg.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had the word G. carc “jag, point, fang” (GL/25), likely based on the earlier form of the root: ᴱ√KṚKṚ (QL/48). This early word reflects the different phonetic developments of Gnomish versus Sindarin/Noldorin: compare G. orc (GL/63) vs. S./N. orch.
- ⚠️N. nagol n. “tooth”
- Tolkien had various “teeth” words related to the root √NAK “bite”. The earliest of these was G. naith “a tooth” from the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s, where its connection to the early root ᴱ√NAKA “bite” was made more clear by its archaic plural form nacthin (GL/59). In The Etymologies of the 1930s Tolkien had N. naes derived from primitive ᴹ✶nakse under the root ᴹ√NAK “bite” (EtyAC/NAK). As suggested by David Salo (GL/275), another variant *nagol “tooth” is suggested by the class plural naglath in the names from Lord of the Rings drafts of 1940s: Naglath Morn “Teeth of Mordor” (WR/122) and Kirith Naglath “Cleft of the Teeth” (WR/137), neither of which made it into the published version.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d recommend using N. nêl or N. neleg for “tooth” words. Primitive ᴹ✶nakse would likely produce *nach rather than naes under Sindarin’s phonetic rules; compare S. ach “neck” < ✶aks[e] (PE17/92). As for N. nagol, it was also likely abandoned.
- N. nêl, neleg n. “tooth”
- A word appearing as N. nêl “tooth” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√NELEK of the same meaning (Ety/NÉL-EK). It was one of a rare set of primitive words with final k, which was lost in very early stages of the language, to produce ON. nele (PE21/56). Its ON. plural was neleki, which produced nelig in the modern form of the language. Since the plural preserved the stop lost in the simplex, an alternate form N. neleg was restored from the plural.
This longer form neleg appeared as an element in a number of names from Lord of the Rings drafts from the 1940s: {N. Neleg Thilim “Gleaming Tooth” >>} N. Neleglos “White Tooth” (WR/106) and N. Nelig Myrn “Teeth of Mordor” (WR/113). None of these names made it into the published version. However, primitive √nelek “tooth” was mentioned as the basis for Ancient Telerin nele “tooth” in notes from the early 1950s, again with loss of final k and plural neleki (PE21/71-72).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I’d use neleg as the ordinary word for “tooth”, and limit nêl to the final element of compounds.