4.28 Neck
- Q. axë n. “neck [vertebrae], *(upper) spine; rock ridge”
- A word for “neck” appearing in notes written around 1967 as akse with (archaic) variant akas, derived from the root √AKAS “neck, ridge” (PE17/92). Tolkien specified that it was “referring properly only to the vertebrae (the bony part of the neck not including throat)”, so a more accurate translation might be “*(upper) spine”. This word could also apply to rock ridges. In an earlier version of this note Tolkien gave the form Q. axo “neck” (PE17/146), but that conflicts with Q. axo “bone” from the Markirya poem (MC/222-223).
- Q. lango n. “neck, [ᴹQ.] throat”
- A word for “neck” appearing in notes written around 1967, derived from primitive ✶langō < √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond” (PE17/92). Its primitive form meant “a passage (physical), originally applied to any route or connecting link between two places or large objects, especially such as enabled one to cross or surmount an obstacle: such as a mountain-pass, a ridge of higher land across fen-land, an isthmus etc.” (PE17/91-92). This word was then “later applied to narrower parts of a structure serving to join larger parts, especially the ‘neck’ of men and animals”. The word lango “neck” also appeared in notes from 1965, but there it was derived from √LAG, as opposed to the then-distinct root for “beyond”: √LAŊ (PE17/65).
Conceptual Development: This word dates all the way back to 1920s, where ᴱQ. lango “neck” appeared in Early Qenya Word-lists (PE16/136). It was glossed “neck” in drafts of the ᴱQ. Earendel poem (PE16/100), and as “throat” in the poem itself (MC/216). ᴹQ. lango “throat” appeared in the Declension of Nouns from the early 1930s (PE21/8), but in The Etymologies of the 1930s it was {lango >>} ᴹQ. lanko “throat” from the root ᴹ√LAK¹ “swallow” (Ety/LANK). In later writings, Q. lango “neck” was restored (see above).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I think lango can refer to both “neck” and “throat”, since its later derivation was from a word meaning “passage”, and hence could refer the passage from the mouth to the stomach and lungs. For the actual interior mechanism of the throat, however, I’d recommend the neologism ᴺQ. hlunco “pharynx, gullet” < ᴹ√SLUK “swallow”.
- ᴹQ. yatta n. “(narrow) neck, isthmus; *(lit.) joining”
- A word for “narrow neck, isthmus” in The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/YAK). Although Christopher Tolkien presented ᴹQ. yatta as if it were a derivative of ᴹ√YAK (LR/400), in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne indicated it was actually a derivative of a deleted root ᴹ√YATH, that appeared between ᴹ√YAK and ᴹ√YAT “join” (VT46/22). Although ᴹ√YATH was deleted, ᴹQ. yatta was not, and it was possible Tolkien reconceived of it as a derivate of ᴹ√YAT, as suggested by Hostetter and Wynne. As for ᴹ√YAK, Tolkien had a similar word ᴹQ. yat (yaht-) “neck” derived from that root.
Conceptual Development: In the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, Tolkien had ᴱQ. yatta “neck, also isthmus” under the early root ᴱ√ẎATA “join”, along with an archaic variant †yat (QL/105). In a list of body parts from the 1920s, Tolkien instead had ᴱQ. yat (yakt-) “neck” (PE14/117).
Neo-Quenya: It is not clear that both yaht- and yatta should coexist. For purpose of Neo-Quenya, I would just use yatta “(narrow) neck, isthmus”, as it has a clearer etymology and ᴹ√YAT has a larger set of derivatives.
- S. ach n. “neck, *(upper) spine”
- A word for “neck” appearing in notes written around 1967, derived from primitive aks based on the root √AKAS “neck, ridge” (PE17/92), where the ks became ch (IPA [x]). Tolkien specified that it was “referring properly only to the vertebrae (the bony part of the neck not including throat)”, so a more accurate translation might be “*(upper) spine”. A more ordinary word for “neck” as a passage from mouth to the stomach and lungs would be lang.
- N. iaeth n. “neck”
- A word for “neck” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from primitive ᴹ✶yakta- under the root ᴹ√YAK (Ety/KEM), where the primitive k spirantalized and vocalized to i and the resulting diphthong ai became ae, sound changes that remain plausible in Sindarin as well.
Conceptual Development: There was a similar word G. gath “neck” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s from primitive ᴱ✶yatt- (GL/36), with the Gnomish sound change of initial y to g.
Neo-Sindarin: For purpose of Neo-Sindarin, I would use iaeth for “neck” as a joining between the head and torso, as opposed to lang as a passage from the mouth to stomach and lungs [including the “*throat”] and S. ach referring the vertebrae in the neck [“*(upper) spine”].
- S. lang n. “passage; neck, *throat”
- A word for “neck” appearing in notes written around 1967, most notably as an element in tarlang “stiff-neck” = “proud” (PE17/92). It was derived from primitive ✶langō (< √LAƷA “cross, pass over, go beyond”) which meant “a passage (physical), originally applied to any route or connecting link between two places or large objects, especially such as enabled one to cross or surmount an obstacle: such as a mountain-pass, a ridge of higher land across fen-land, an isthmus etc.” (PE17/91-92). This word was then “later applied to narrower parts of a structure serving to join larger parts, especially the ‘neck’ of men and animals”. The word lang had the gloss “neck” (both in geography as well as for men and animals) in Tolkien’s Nomenclature of the Lord of the Rings as well (RC/536).
Conceptual Development: There was a similar noun N. {lhang >>} lhanc in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from the root ᴹ√LAK¹ “swallow” (Ety/LANK). This earlier word was likewise an element in N. tarlanc “stiff-necked, obstinate” (Ety/TÁRAG).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I think it is unlikely that N. lhanc (or ᴺS. *lanc) “throat” can coexist with S. lang “neck”. However, since S. lang originally referred to a “passage”, I think it can be interpreted as referring to the passage from the mouth to the stomach and lungs, and hence also used with the sense “*throat”. For the actual interior mechanism of the throat, however, I’d recommend the neologism ᴺS. lhunc “pharynx, gullet” < ᴹ√SLUK “swallow”.
4.29 Throat
See above.