4.83 Well; Health
- S. alw adj. “wholesome, *healthy”
- An adjective appearing as alw “wholesome” derived from √AL “good” in notes from around 1959, along with a plural form ely (PE17/146).
Neo-Sindarin: This root was sometimes associated with physical health (PE17/149), so I would interpret this word as “wholesome” in the sense “healthy” as well as morally good. The usual Neo-Sindarin rendering of this word would be alu instead of alw.
Conceptual Development: There was a similar word G. {awl >>} alw or alweg in Gnomish Lexicon Slips from the 1910s, but there it was glossed “lofty, of living things: trees, men” and derived from primitive ᴱ√✶alwa (PE13/109), thus probably based from the early root ᴱ√ALA² “spread” (QL/29).
- S. tharan adj. “vigorous”
- An adjective for “vigorous” derived from the Sindarin-only root √THAR “vigour” in notes from 1959 (D59), coined by Tolkien to explain the name Thranduil (< th(a)randuil) “Vigorous Spring” (PE17/27, 187).
4.84 Sick; Sickness
- N. cael n. “lying in bed, sickness, ⚠️bedridden”
- A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “lying in bed, bedridden, sickness” derived from the root ᴹ√KAY “lie down” (Ety/KAY). In The Etymologies as published in The Lost Road (LR/363) the glosses were “lying in bed, sickness”, but in their Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies Carl Hostetter and Patrick Wynne indicated that gloss “bedridden” appeared between “lying in bed” and “sickness” (EtyAC/KAL).
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume cael is the noun (= “lying in bed, sickness”) and N. caeleb “bedridden, sick” is the adjective.
- N. caeleb adj. “bedridden, sick”
- A word in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “bedridden, sick”, an adjectival form of the noun N. cael “bedridden, sick” (Ety/KAY).
- N. flaew adj. “sickly, sick, ill”
- An adjective appearing as N. flaew “sickly, sick, ill” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ON. thlaiwa < ᴹ✶slaiwā under the root ᴹ√SLIW “sickly” (Ety/SLIW). The ancient initial sl became thl which was the usual sound change in (Old) Noldorin, and then this thl became fl, a less common Noldorin sound change. Tolkien wrote an intermediate form thlaew between ON. thlaiwa and N. flaew, but then revised this form to thloew, reflecting some uncertainty on the phonetic development of ai in Noldorin. There was also a deleted variant of this root: ᴹ√LIW, where Tolkien had lhaew “ill” with the usual unvoicing of initial l in Noldorin (EtyAC/LIW).
Neo-Sindarin: In Sindarin of the 1950s and 60s, initial sl became lh instead of thl, so most Neo-Sindarin writers adapt this word as ᴺS. lhaew “sickly, sick, ill”, as suggested by Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD).
- N. fliw n. “sickness, disease”
- A noun appearing as N. fliw “sickness” in The Etymologies of the 1930s derived from ON. thlīwe < ᴹ✶slīwē under the root ᴹ√SLIW “sickly” (Ety/SLIW). The ancient initial sl became thl which was the usual sound change in (Old) Noldorin, and then this thl became fl, a less common Noldorin sound change. There was also a deleted variant of this root: ᴹ√LIW, where Tolkien had lhîw “disease” with the usual unvoicing of initial l in Noldorin (EtyAC/LIW).
Neo-Sindarin: In Sindarin of the 1950s and 60s, initial sl became lh instead of thl, so most Neo-Sindarin writers adapt this word as ᴺS. lhîw, as suggested by Hiswelókë’s Sindarin Dictionary (HSD). Based on the deleted variant of the root, I would use the word lhîw for both “sickness” and “disease”, both within a body and independent of it.
- N. gem adj. “sickly”
- An adjective for “sickly” in The Etymologies of the 1930s from the root ᴹ√GENG-WA “sick” (Ety/GENG-WĀ), where the ancient cluster ngw became mb as usual in Noldorin and Sindarin.
- N. paw n. “sickness, *illness, ailment”
- A noun for “sickness” in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√KWAM (Ety/KWAM). For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would assume it can apply to general illness and ailment as well.
Conceptual Development: The Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s had G. côma {“disease, pestilence, sickness” >>} “disease, illness” (GL/26), related to ᴱQ. qáme “sickness, nausea” and thus based on the early root ᴱ√QAMA (QL/76). This became ᴱN. côm in the Early Noldorin Grammar of the 1920s (PE13/123) and then {cóm >>} ᴱN. pau “sickness” in Early Noldorin Word-lists a bit later in this period, still cognate to ᴱQ. qāme (PE13/140, 152). The new form reflected changes in Noldorin’s phonetic developments: kw > p and ā > au instead of earlier (Gnomish) ā > ō and kwo > ko. These Gnomish sound changes were allocated to Ilkorin in the 1930s: see Ilk. côm “sickness”, also from The Etymologies of the 1930s (Ety/KWAM).