5.65 Vegetables
- ᴱQ. kolosta n. “cucumber”
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An isolated word appearing ᴱQ. kolosta “cucumber” in the both the Qenya Lexicon and Poetic and Mythological Words of Eldarissa of the 1910s with no clear derivation (QL/47; PME/47).
Neo-Quenya: I’d retain ᴺQ. colosta “cucumber” for purposes of Neo-Quenya as there are no later alternatives.
- ᴱQ. lausimatl n. “vegetable food”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. lausimatl “vegetable food” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a combination of ᴱQ. laute (lausi-) “living thing, (esp.) vegetable” and ᴱQ. matl “food” (QL/52, 59).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would update this word to ᴺQ. laimamatta “vegetable food, (lit.) plant food”, a combination of the later elements Q. laima “plant” and Q. matta “food”.
- ᴱQ. lausimatwa adj. “vegetarian”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. lausimatwa “vegetarian” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s, a combination of ᴱQ. laute (lausi-) “living thing, (esp.) vegetable” and the suffix ᴱQ. -matwa “*eating” (QL/52, 59).
Neo-Quenya: For purposes of Neo-Quenya, I would update this word to ᴺQ. laimamatya “herbivorous, vegetarian, (lit.) plant-eating”, a combination of the later elements Q. laima “plant” and Q. -matya “eating”.
- Q. quëa n. “vegetable”
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A word for “vegetable” in Quenya Notes from 1957 (QN) derived from √KWĒ “live of vegetables” (PE17/159).
5.67 Pea
- ᴱQ. mildi n. “pease”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. mildi “pease” in the Qenya Lexicon of the 1910s derived from primitive ᴱ✶mldẏǝ under the early root ᴱ√MLŘL [MḶÐḶ] (QL/62), where “pease” is an archaic word for “pea”. Tolkien somewhat cryptically said it was “used plural or as yə sing”. I interpret this to mean that it could be used as a collective plural form, or as a singular with stem mildy-. Tolkien could have been indicating that its singular *milde was a back formation from its apparently plural form mildi, much how English “pea” was derived from apparently plural “pease”, originally from Latin “pisa”.
Neo-Quenya: I would adapt this word as ᴺQ. mildë (mildi-) “pea” for purposes of Neo-Quenya.
5.69 Cabbage
- ᴱQ. calar n. “lettuce”
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A word appearing as ᴱQ. kalar “lettuce” in Early Qenya Phonology of the 1920s derived from primitive ᴱ✶karase (PE14/70), where the final s became z and then r, after which the final r dissimilated to l.
Neo-Quenya: The dissimilations in later Quenya were different, with the medial r preventing the z from becoming r and instead dissimilating it back to s (PE19/73). As such, I would adapt this word as ᴺQ. caras “lettuce” for purposes of Neo-Quenya, which also has the advantage of differentiating it from Q. calar “lamp”. Note that the stem for this word would also be caras- rather than the usual carar- due to the same dissimulative forces.
5.70 Potato
- G. grothorf n. “potato”
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The word for “potato” in the Gnomish Lexicon of the 1910s was G. grothorf (with a deleted alternate form {grothor} >> grothrof), a combination of G. groth “earth” and G. orf “apple”, similar to French “pomme de terre” (GL/42). This same document had another form G. podod for “potato” (GL/64), perhaps a phonetic adaptation of the European word.
Neo-Sindarin: For purposes of Neo-Sindarin, I would adapt this word as ᴺS. cevorf “potato, (lit.) earth-apple” using the later element ᴹ√KEM for “earth”.