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Select Elvish Words 5.15-5.151: Thirst, Thirsty

5.15 Thirst

ᴱN. faus n. “thirst”
A word appearing as ᴱN. faus “thirst” in Early Noldorin Wordlists of the 1920s, a noun form of better known faug “thirsty”.

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s Tolkien had G. luist “thirst” and variant luibri (GL/55) clearly from the early root ᴱ√LOYO (QL/56). He also had G. maig “thirst” with longer variant maiglos (GL/56), the latter appearing in ᴱN. Dor-na-Maiglos (LB/49), the earliest name for S. Dor-nu-Fauglith.

Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would adapt the Early Noldorin form as ᴺS. faus(t); compare to [N.] haust “bed” (Ety/KHAW).

5.151 Thirsty

ᴹQ. fauka adj. “thirsty, parched, (lit.) open-mouthed”
An adjective in The Etymologies of the 1930s glossed “open-mouthed, thirsty, parched” under the root ᴹ√PHAU̯ “gape” (Ety/PHAU).

Conceptual Development: The Qenya Lexicon had ᴱQ. {loise >>} loire (loiri-) “thirsty” under the early root ᴱ√LOYO, along with an alternate form ᴱQ. loimea as the adjective form of ᴱQ. loime “thirst” (QL/56).

Neo-Quenya: I would retain fauca “thirsty, parched, (lit.) open-mouthed” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, but use it only for extreme thirst and dry conditions (parched), as opposed to Q. soica for more ordinary levels of “thirsty”.

Q. soica adj. “thirsty”
An adjective for “thirsty” in notes from around 1960 derived from the root √SOK “drink” via i-infixion (VT39/11), which produced a small class of desiderative words in Quenya, as in “desiring to drink”. See the entry ᴹQ. fauka for earlier and alternate words for “thirsty”.
S. faug adj. “[N.] thirsty, ⚠️[S.] gape”
An adjective for “thirsty” appearing in names like Anfauglir “Jaws of Thirst”.

Conceptual Development: In the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s the word for “thirsty” was G. luib (GL/55) clearly based on the early root ᴱ√LOYO (QL/56). By Early Noldorin Word-lists of the 1920s, the word had become ᴱN. faug “thirsty” (PE13/143), and N. faug “thirsty” appeared in The Etymologies of the 1930s under the root ᴹ√PHAU̯ “gape” (Ety/PHAU). Christopher Tolkien gave faug the gloss “gape” in The Silmarillion appendix (SI/faug), but that seems to refer to the root meaning from the 1930s.

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